Content management system that renders a document to a user based on a usage profile that indicates previous activity in accessing the document

• US 8,112,715 B2
• Filed: 07/31/2007
• Issued: 02/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Cragun, Brian John, Petri, John Edward
• Primary Examiner(s): Do, Chat
• Assistant Examiner(s): SALOMON, PHENUEL S
• Application Number:
  US11/831,480
• Publication Number:
  US 20090037400A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,652 Days
• Field of Search: 715/744, 715/745, 715/765, 715/229, 707/757
• US Class Current: 715/745
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/335 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles filtering in web context G06F16/9535, G06F16/9536

Abstract

A content management system (CMS) monitors a user'"'"'s activity for a document, generates corresponding usage data for the user, and binds the usage data to corresponding sections of the document. A relevance policy may be defined for a user and/or for a user'"'"'s role. The CMS may then render the document to the user based on the usage data and the relevance policy. The rendered document may include displayed sections, hidden sections, and accentuated sections. The result is a document rendered to a user in a way that hides sections that are not of interest, displays sections of interest, and accentuates sections of high interest, all based on usage data that indicates how the document was accessed in the past.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor;

a memory coupled to the at least one processor;

a repository residing in the memory;

a document residing in the repository, the document comprising a plurality of sections corresponding to a plurality of elements and usage data for at least one of the plurality of elements added to each corresponding section of the document based on previous access to the document, wherein the usage data includes user usage data specific to a user and profile usage data related to a role of the user;

a content management system residing in the memory and executed by the at least one processor, the content management system comprising;

a relevance marking mechanism that generates from the usage data at least one relevance marker in the document that is used by the rendering mechanism to determine when to display, hide, and accentuate elements in the document; and

a rendering mechanism that renders the document to the user in a manner that displays and hides elements of the document based on the at least one relevance marker in the document.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the rendering mechanism accentuates at least one displayed element based on the usage data.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the rendering mechanism provides a mechanism for the user to display hidden elements in the document.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a relevance policy specified by a user that indicates at least one criterion that determines when sections of the document are displayed, hidden and accentuated.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a user activity monitor that monitors activity of the user while accessing the document, and generates from the activity of the user corresponding usage data for the user.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising an override policy residing in the memory that causes the rendering mechanism to display an element of the document that would normally be hidden according to the usage data.

7. A computer-implemented method for a content management system to render a document to a user, the method comprising the steps of:

(A) monitoring usage of the document during a first access of the document and generating therefrom usage data for a plurality of sections in the document, wherein the usage data includes user usage data specific to the user and profile usage data related to a role of the user;

(B) adding the usage data from step (A) for the plurality of sections in the document to each corresponding section in the document;

(C) generating from the usage data at least one relevance marker in the document that is used to determine when to display, hide, and accentuate elements in the document; and

(D) when the user requests a second access of the document, rendering the document to the user in a manner that displays and hides elements of the document based on the at least one relevance marker in the document.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising the step of accentuating at least one displayed element based on the usage data.

9. The method of claim 7 further comprising the step of providing a mechanism for the user to display hidden elements in the document.

10. The method of claim 7 further comprising a relevance policy specified by a user that indicates at least one criterion that determines when sections of the document are displayed, hidden and accentuated.

11. The method of claim 7 further comprising the step of monitoring activity of the user while accessing the document, and generating from the activity of the user corresponding usage data for the user.

12. The method of claim 7 further comprising the step of displaying an element of the document that would normally be hidden according to the usage data due to an override policy mandating display of the element.

13. An article of manufacture comprising:

(A) a content management system comprising;

a repository;

a document residing in the repository, the document comprising a plurality of sections corresponding to a plurality of elements and usage data for at least one of the plurality of elements added to each corresponding section of the document based on previous access to the document, wherein the usage data includes user usage data specific to a user and profile usage data related to a role of the user;

a relevance marking mechanism that generates from the usage data at least one relevance marker in the document that is used to determine when to display, hide, and accentuate elements in the document;

a rendering mechanism that renders the document to the user in a manner that displays and hides elements of the document based on the at least one relevance marker in the document; and

(B) computer-readable media bearing the content management system.

14. The article of manufacture of claim 13 wherein the rendering mechanism accentuates at least one displayed element based on the usage data.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 13 wherein the rendering mechanism provides a mechanism for the user to display hidden elements in the document.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 13 wherein the content management system further comprises a relevance policy specified by a user that indicates at least one criterion that determines when sections of the document are displayed, hidden and accentuated.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 13 further comprising a user activity monitor that monitors activity of the user while accessing the document, and generates from the activity of the user corresponding usage data for the user.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 13 further comprising an override policy that causes the rendering mechanism to display an element of the document that would normally be hidden according to the usage data.

19. A computer-implemented method for a content management system to render a document to a user, the method comprising the steps of:

(A) monitoring usage of the document by a user during a first access of the document and generating therefrom usage data for a plurality of sections in the document;

(B) adding the usage data from step (A) for the plurality of sections in the document to each corresponding section in the document;

(C) reading a user-defined relevance policy that specifies a plurality of criteria that determine when to display, hide and accentuate the plurality of elements in the document;

(D) generating from the usage data and the relevance policy a plurality of relevance markers in the document for a plurality of elements in the document, the plurality of relevance markers indicating when to display, hide and accentuate the plurality of elements in the document;

(E) when the user requests a second access of the document, rendering the document to the user in a manner that displays, hides and accentuates elements of the document based on the plurality of relevance markers, the rendered document including a button corresponding to each hidden element in the document for displaying the corresponding hidden element; and

(F) displaying an element of the document that would normally be hidden according to the usage data due to an override policy mandating display of the element.