Unifying navigation model
First Claim
1. A portal system comprising:
- an integration layer comprising a navigation service module residing on a first programmable machine, the navigation service module defining a connector interface and;
a data layer comprising a plurality of application sources, each of the application sources creating an application-specific hierarchy, the plurality of application sources residing on one or more additional programmable machines that communicate over a network with the navigation service module on the first programmable machine, and an equal number of navigation connectors to the navigation service, each one of the plurality of application sources providing one of the navigation connectors by implementing the defined connector interface on the one or more additional programmable machines and by generating one or more navigation nodes that represent data objects in the each one of the plurality of application sources; and
a presentation layer that resides on the first programmable machine and that comprises one or more navigation applications that obtain navigation information from the navigation service module, the navigation service module uniting the navigation nodes provided by the plurality of navigation connectors to provide a homogeneous view of navigation information from the plurality of application sources by uniting the application-specific navigation hierarchies from each of the plurality of application sources into a unified, consistent application hierarchy that is presented to one or more clients running on one or more client machines.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and techniques to provide a unifying navigation model with a navigation service that provides an interface to information sources. In general, in one implementation, the technique includes: uniting navigation hierarchies from different application sources, and providing a unified navigation area based on the united navigation hierarchy. Uniting the navigation hierarchies can involve supplying a navigation service with a navigation object model that provides, to a presentation layer, a homogeneous view of navigation information from the different application sources. Providing the unified navigation area can involve displaying a navigation window in a portal presentation, the navigation window including navigation links to resources of the different application sources, and the navigation links being organized according to the united navigation hierarchy.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A portal system comprising:
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an integration layer comprising a navigation service module residing on a first programmable machine, the navigation service module defining a connector interface and; a data layer comprising a plurality of application sources, each of the application sources creating an application-specific hierarchy, the plurality of application sources residing on one or more additional programmable machines that communicate over a network with the navigation service module on the first programmable machine, and an equal number of navigation connectors to the navigation service, each one of the plurality of application sources providing one of the navigation connectors by implementing the defined connector interface on the one or more additional programmable machines and by generating one or more navigation nodes that represent data objects in the each one of the plurality of application sources; and a presentation layer that resides on the first programmable machine and that comprises one or more navigation applications that obtain navigation information from the navigation service module, the navigation service module uniting the navigation nodes provided by the plurality of navigation connectors to provide a homogeneous view of navigation information from the plurality of application sources by uniting the application-specific navigation hierarchies from each of the plurality of application sources into a unified, consistent application hierarchy that is presented to one or more clients running on one or more client machines. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method comprising:
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operating one or more navigation applications residing on a first programmable machine in a presentation layer of a navigation model architecture, a navigation service module residing on the first programmable machine in an integration layer of the navigation model architecture, and a plurality of application sources residing on one or more additional programmable machines in a data layer of the navigation model architecture, the one or more additional programmable machines communicating over a network with the navigation service module on the first programmable machine, each of the application sources creating an application-specific hierarchy; implementing a connector interface on the one or more additional programmable machines, the connector interface being defined by the navigation service module and causing each of the plurality of application sources to provide one navigation connector to the navigation service for each of the plurality of application sources, each navigation connector providing one or more navigation nodes that represent data objects in the one of the plurality of application sources that provides the navigation connector; and uniting the navigation nodes to provide, via the one or more navigation applications, a homogeneous view of navigation information from the plurality of application sources by uniting the application-specific navigation hierarchies from each of the plurality of application sources into a unified, consistent application hierarchy. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. An article comprising a machine-readable medium storing instructions operable to cause one or more machines to perform operations comprising:
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operating one or more navigation applications residing on a first programmable machine in a presentation layer of a navigation model architecture, a navigation service module residing on the first programmable machine in an integration layer of the navigation model architecture, and a plurality of application sources residing on one or more additional programmable machines in a data layer of the navigation model architecture, the one or more additional programmable machines communicating over a network with the navigation service module on the first programmable machine, each of the application sources creating an application-specific hierarchy; implementing a connector interface on the one or more additional programmable machines, the connector interface being defined by the navigation service module and causing each of the plurality of application sources to provide one navigation connector to the navigation service for each of the plurality of application sources, each navigation connector providing one or more navigation nodes that represent data objects in the one of the plurality of application sources that provides the navigation connector; and uniting the navigation nodes to provide, via the one or more navigation applications, a homogeneous view of navigation information from the plurality of application sources by uniting the application-specific navigation hierarchies from each of the plurality of application sources into a unified, consistent application hierarchy by merging two or more of the navigation nodes from two or more of the application sources that are related to a same issue. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification