Workflow-enabled client

• US 8,713,144 B2
• Filed: 06/09/2008
• Issued: 04/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Rhodes, Bradley J., Chemishkian, Sergey, Schwartz, Edward, Phillips, Daja, McFarland, Max E., Mariotti, Andrea, Yu, Haixia, Griffin, Michael G. E., Savitzky, Stephen R., Wolff, Gregory J., Case, Patty
• Primary Examiner(s): JACOBS, LASHONDA T
• Application Number:
  US12/135,715
• Publication Number:
  US 20090077216A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,150 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/224, 709/203, 709/227
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

A workflow-enabled client comprises a client and a workflow manager interface unit. The workflow manager interface unit couples the client to a workflow manager to provide the automatic discovering, distributed processing and dynamic user interface generating functionality of the present invention. A communication manager of the workflow-enabled client has a registration unit that registers, and unregisters, the client with the workflow manager such as by providing a name, a data and other commands. A polling module uses a received location from the workflow manager to retrieve data. The process control module performs a plurality of processing functions such a processing polled data, storing it or providing it to other clients. The process control module can also initiate other clients. The present invention also includes a number of novel methods including a method for registering a client, a method for polling data, and a method for initiating other clients.

Claims

1. A method for performing a task in a workflow-enabled system, the method comprising:

registering, by a workflow manager, a first workflow-enabled client to receive a first service;

sending a first location identifier to the first workflow-enabled client from the workflow manager;

registering, by the workflow manager, a second workflow-enabled client to receive a second service;

sending a second location identifier to the second workflow-enabled client from the workflow manager;

advertising, by the workflow manager, the first and second workflow-enabled clients and their first and second services to a workflow-enabled provider so that the workflow-enabled provider can discover the first and second workflow-enabled clients responsive to the workflow-enabled provider being capable of performing the first and second services;

receiving from the workflow-enabled provider data corresponding to the first service performed by the workflow-enabled provider for the first workflow-enabled client; and

enabling to be retrieved by the first workflow-enabled client the data corresponding to the first service, the retrieval performed using the first location identifier.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein registering the first workflow-enabled client includes generating and sending a network request.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the network request includes a name of the first workflow-enabled client and a user name.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the network request includes one from the group of a scan request, a print request, a question, a persistence Boolean, authorization information, print data, a location of print data, and requirements for the workflow-enabled provider.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein the network request is an HTTP request.

6. The method of claim 1 comprising:

receiving a request for information about the first service; and

transmitting a response with a file list.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a polling request for data using the first location identifier.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the polling request includes

an HTTP request including the first location identifier.

9. The method of claim 1 comprising receiving polling request including the first location identifier to retrieve polled information, and further comprising enabling retrieval of the data using the polled information and the first location identifier.

10. The method of claim 1 comprising:

un-registering, by the workflow manager, the first workflow-enabled client responsive to receiving a request to a location specified by the first location identifier.

11. The method of claim 1 comprising requesting data from the second workflow-enabled client and wherein registering the second workflow-enabled client is based on the data from the first workflow-enabled client.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the first service performed by the workflow-enabled client is a scan operation and data produced from scanning by the workflow-enabled provider is retrievable by the first workflow-enabled client.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the second service performed by the second workflow-enabled client includes one from the group of printing, facsimile transmission, or transmission by an electronic mail.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the first service performed by the workflow-enabled client is a scan operation;

and further comprising;

retrieving data including data produced from scanning by the workflow-enabled provider using the second location identifier;

registering, by the workflow manager, a third workflow-enabled client based on the data retrieved using the second location identifier;

receiving a third location identifier for the third workflow-enabled client; and

retrieving the data using the third location identifier; and

wherein activation of the third workflow-enabled client includes one from the group of printing, facsimile transmission or transmission by an electronic mail.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the first service performed by the first workflow-enabled client includes a scan operation and the retrieved data is data produced from scanning by a workflow enabled provider.

16. The method of claim 1 comprising:

enabling retrieval of data using the first location identifier so the workflow-enabled client processes the retrieved data.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein processing includes one from the group of storing the retrieved data in a database, performing optical character recognition on the retrieved data, emailing the retrieved data, faxing the retrieved data, creating a web page from the retrieved data, filtering the retrieved data and aggregating the retrieved data.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the registering includes receiving a printable file, and wherein the printing is performed by the workflow-enabled provider.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the registering specifies a requirement for authorization and a code, and the workflow-enabled provider requires the code be input and verified before printing the printable file.

20. An apparatus for controlling performance of a task in a workflow-enabled system, the apparatus comprising:

one or more processors;

a workflow manager stored on a memory and executed by the one or more processors, the workflow manager registering a first workflow-enabled client to receive a first service receiving registration of a second workflow-enabled client to receive a second service advertising the first and second workflow-enabled clients and their first and second services to a workflow-enabled provider so that the workflow-enabled provider can discover the first and second workflow-enabled clients responsive to the workflow-enabled provider being capable of performing the first and second services, receiving from the workflow-enabled provider data corresponding to the first service performed by the workflow-enabled provider for the first workflow-enabled client, and enabling to be received by the first workflow-enabled client the data corresponding to the first service, the retrieval performed using the first location identifier.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 further comprising a workflow interface unit that includes a user interface module for dynamically generating user interfaces displayable by the first workflow-enabled client, the user interface module adapted for communication with the conventional client device.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the workflow interface unit includes a process control module for controlling communication over the network, the process control module adapted to communicate with and for controlling the conventional client device, the process control module initiating the registration for the second workflow-enabled client based upon data received from the workflow manager.

23. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the workflow interface unit includes a communication manager for sending requests and receiving responses to and from the workflow manager over the network, the communication manager adapted for generating the requests and for extracting information from the requests.

24. A method for performing a task in a workflow-enabled system, the method comprising:

connecting a first workflow-enabled client for communication with a network;

registering the first workflow-enabled client to receive a first service with a workflow manager;

assigning an identifier to the first workflow-enabled client receiving the first service;

connecting a second workflow-enabled client for communication with the network;

registering the second workflow-enabled client to receive a second service with the workflow manager;

advertising, by the workflow manager, the identifier and the first and second services of the first and second workflow-enabled clients to a workflow enabled provider so that the workflow-enabled provider can discover the first and second workflow-enabled clients responsive to the workflow-enabled provider being capable of performing the first and second services; and

receiving and processing requests from the workflow-enabled provider at the first workflow-enabled client.