Method and system for providing a common collaboration framework accessible from within multiple applications

• US 7,827,242 B2
• Filed: 08/31/2007
• Issued: 11/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Li, Jenny S., Schiefer, Josef, Touma, Maroun, Stibler, Stephen, Lei, Hui, Li, Chung-Sheng, Cohen, Mitchell A., Mohan, Rakesh, Nayak, Nitinchandra R., Heath, Fenno F. III
• Primary Examiner(s): WINDER, PATRICE L
• Application Number:
  US11/848,308
• Publication Number:
  US 20070294348A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,159 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/205, 709/226
• US Class Current: 709/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

The invention provides a system adapted to enable contextual collaboration within a computer network. The invention provides a collaboration manager that supports manipulation of collaboration spaces. The collaboration spaces contain one or more collaboration elements that have potentially different collaboration modalities. The context manager maintains resources and resource interrelationships within contexts. The resources can include collaboration elements, processes, tasks, business objects, users, and/or roles. A view generator selects a set of the resources to be displayed to a user of the computer network. The invention also includes an interface adapted to allow applications to specify commands to manipulate collaboration spaces, commands to maintain resources and resource interrelationships within contexts, and queries for context-sensitive views.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for enabling contextual collaboration within a computer network, said method comprising:

receiving a user request for a collaboration space within said computer network;

creating, by a computing device, a collaboration space containing a plurality of collaboration elements of different collaboration modalities in response to said user request for said collaboration space, said collaboration space associated with a specific business context;

issuing, by said computing device, a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of said collaboration space in response to said user request;

maintaining, by said computing device, resources and resource interrelationships within contexts, said resources including at least one of collaboration elements, processes, tasks, business objects, users, and roles;

selecting, by said computing device, a set of said resources to be displayed to a user,

accessing, by said computing device, a library of context rules implemented by one of industry standard process ontologies and proprietary schemes;

executing, by said computing device, context rules from said library of context rules associated with said specific business context; and

outputting to said user said set of resources, and context-specific collaboration content based on said executing said context rules from said library of context rules.

2. The method in claim 1, further comprising:

managing, by said computing device, lifecycles of said collaboration spaces;

maintaining, by said computing device, membership lists, user profiles, and role associations in said collaboration spaces;

adding and removing, by said computing device, said collaboration elements; and

performing modality-specific operations, by said computing device, on said collaboration elements.

3. The method in claim 1, wherein said maintaining process comprises:

creating, deleting, opening, and closing, by said computing device, said contexts;

adding, by said computing device, resources and associations between said resources in said contexts; and

removing, by said computing device, said resources and said associations from said contexts.

4. The method in claim 1, wherein said selecting process comprises:

retrieving resources, by said computing device, related to a given context;

retrieving resources, by said computing device, related to a given resource within a context; and

retrieving resources, by said computing device, related to a given resource across contexts.

5. The method in claim 1, further comprising:

storing, by said computing device, information on collaboration spaces.

6. The method in claim 1, further comprising:

redirecting operations, by said computing device, on said collaboration elements to external collaboration capabilities.

7. The method in claim 1, further comprising:

using, by said computing device, a context model to describe resource associations and resource interrelationships.

8. The method in claim 1, further comprising:

maintaining, by said computing device, a set of view rules adapted to specify policies for view generation.

9. A computer-implemented method of providing collaboration between different applications used by multiple users in a computerized network, said method comprising:

receiving a user request for a collaboration space within said computerized network;

establishing, by a computing device, at least one collaboration space supporting different modes of collaboration in response to said user request for said collaboration space, said collaboration space associated with a specific business context;

issuing, by said computing device, a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of said collaboration space in response to said user request;

accessing, by said computing device, a library of context rules implemented by one of industry standard process ontologies and proprietary schemes;

executing, by said computing device, context rules from said library of content rules associated with said specific business context;

permitting, by said computing device, said users to collaborate through said different applications using said different modes of collaboration maintained in said collaboration space; and

outputting context-specific collaboration content, by said computing device, based on said executing said context rules from said library of context rules to all said applications, such that all said collaboration content is transparently accessible by said users natively from within each application.

10. The method in claim 9, further comprising:

selecting, by said computing device, a limited set of resources maintained within said collaboration space to be displayed to a user of said computerized network based on user needs.

11. The method in claim 9, further comprising:

maintaining, by said computing device, said collaboration space using a collaboration manager.

12. The method in claim 11, wherein said maintaining includes at least one of creation, deletion, archival, search and query of said collaboration spaces.

13. The method in claim 11, wherein said maintaining includes said collaboration manager interacting with collaboration technology servers.

14. The method in claim 9, further comprising:

creating instances of collaborative interaction, by said computing device, within said collaboration space using application program interfaces.

15. A program storage device readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method for enabling contextual collaboration within a computer network, said method comprising:

receiving a user request for a collaboration space within said computer network;

creating a collaboration space containing a plurality of collaboration elements of different collaboration modalities in response to said user request for said collaboration space said collaboration space associated with a specific business context;

issuing a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of said collaboration space in response to said user request;

maintaining resources and resource interrelationships within contexts, said resources including at least one of collaboration elements, processes, tasks, business objects, users, and roles;

selecting a set of said resources to be displayed to a user;

accessing, by said computing device, a library of context rules implemented by one of industry standard process ontologies and proprietary schemes;

executing, by said computing device, context rules from said library of context rules associated with said specific business context; and

outputting to said user said set of resources, and context-specific collaboration content based on said executing said context rules from said library of context rules.

16. The program storage device in claim 15, further comprising:

managing lifecycles of said collaboration spaces;

maintaining membership lists, user profiles, and role associations in said collaboration spaces;

adding and removing said collaboration elements; and

performing modality-specific operations on said collaboration elements.

17. The program storage device in claim 15, wherein said maintaining process comprises:

creating, deleting, opening, and closing said contexts;

adding resources and associations between said resources in said contexts; and

removing said resources and said associations from said contexts.

18. The program storage device in claim 15, wherein said selecting process comprises:

retrieving resources related to a given context;

retrieving resources related to a given resource within a context; and

retrieving resources related to a given resource across contexts.

19. The program storage device in claim 15, wherein said method further comprises storing information on collaboration spaces.

20. The program storage device in claim 15, wherein said method further comprises redirecting operations on said collaboration elements to external collaboration capabilities.

21. The program storage device in claim 15, wherein said method further comprises using a context model to describe resource associations and resource interrelationships.

22. The program storage device in claim 15, wherein said method further comprises maintaining a set of view rules adapted to specify policies for view generation.

23. A service for enabling contextual collaboration within a computer network, wherein said service:

receives a user request for a collaboration space within said computer network;

creates a collaboration space containing a plurality of collaboration elements of different collaboration modalities in response to said user request for said collaboration space˜

said collaboration space associated with a specific business context;

issues a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of said collaboration space in response to said user request;

maintains resources and resource interrelationships within contexts, said resources including at least one of collaboration elements, processes, tasks, business objects, users, and roles;

selects a set of said resources to be displayed to a user,

accessing, by said computing device, a library of context rules implemented by one of industry standard process ontologies and proprietary schemes;

executing, by said computing device, context rules from said library of context rules associated with said specific business context; and

outputting to said user said set of resources, and context-specific collaboration content based on said executing said context rules from said library of context rules.

24. The service in claim 23, wherein said service further:

manages lifecycles of said collaboration spaces;

maintains membership lists, user profiles, and role associations in said collaboration spaces;

adds and removes said collaboration elements; and

performs modality-specific operations on said collaboration elements.

25. The service in claim 23, wherein if said service maintains said membership lists, said service:

creates, deletes, opens, and closes said contexts;

adds resources and associations between said resources in said contexts; and

removes said resources and said associations from said contexts.

26. The service in claim 23, wherein if said service selects a set of resources to be displayed, said service:

retrieves resources related to a given context;

retrieves resources related to a given resource within a context; and

retrieves resources related to a given resource across contexts.

27. The service in claim 23, wherein said service further stores information on collaboration spaces.

28. The service in claim 23, wherein said service redirects operations on said collaboration elements to external collaboration capabilities.

29. The service in claim 23, wherein said service uses a context model to describe resource associations and resource interrelationships.

30. The service in claim 23, wherein said service maintains a set of view rules adapted to specify policies for view generation.