User-creatable custom workflows

• US 9,262,239 B2
• Filed: 05/10/2013
• Issued: 02/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: Rusu, Ionut Adrian
• Primary Examiner(s): DAO, TUAN C.
• Application Number:
  US13/891,753
• Publication Number:
  US 20140337863A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,012 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/103 Workflow collaboration or project management

Abstract

This document describes techniques enabling users to customize their applications through workflows. In contrast to often-simplistic rules, these user-selectable workflows can be arbitrary and nearly limitless in number and complexity. Further, these workflows do not require that an application designer build them by adding or altering code of the application. The techniques enable users to create workflows by connecting exposed events and exposed actions of an application. These connections, referred to as “synapses,” are used by the techniques to build workflows, thereby permitting users to customize the application.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

exposing event-action pairs from respective operation histories of a plurality of discrete and separable applications;

receiving selection of a first exposed event, the first exposed event internal to a first application of the plurality of discrete and separable applications and selected from a plurality of events from a first operation history of the first application;

receiving selection of a first exposed action, the first exposed action internal to the first application and selected from a plurality of actions of the first operation history;

creating a first synapse connecting the first selected event to the first selected action;

receiving selection of a second exposed event, the second exposed event internal to a second application of the plurality of discrete and separable applications and selected from a second operation history of the second application, the second application being a stand-alone application separate from the first application;

receiving selection of a second exposed action, the second exposed action internal to the second application and selected from the second operation history;

creating a second synapse connecting the second selected event to the second selected action; and

building a workflow using the first and second synapses, the workflow configured to perform the first and second selected actions responsive to the respective first and second selected events.

2. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 1, wherein the first selected action is a specific activity that is executed by the first application if the first event occurs.

3. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 1, further comprising receiving selection of an event filter, the event filter a condition for the first selected action to be executed, and wherein building the workflow configures the workflow to cause the first application to perform the first selected action responsive to the condition being satisfied.

4. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 1, further comprising receiving selection of an action parameter, the action parameter mapped to a static or varying value, and wherein building the workflow configures the workflow to cause the first application to perform the first selected action including the static or varying value.

5. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving selection of another exposed event internal to the first application, the exposed event capable of being caused by the selected action;

receiving selection of another exposed action internal to the first application; and

creating another synapse connecting the selected other event and the selected other action, and

wherein building the workflow also uses the other synapse, the workflow configured to cause the first application to perform the first selected action responsive to the first selected event and then, after the first selected action, perform the other selected action responsive to the other selected event caused by the other selected action.

6. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 1, wherein the workflow is built using a liquid markup language.

7. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 1, wherein the operation histories of the plurality of discrete and separable applications comprises an activity log of interactions of a user with the plurality of discrete and separable applications.

8. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 1, wherein the first application is an email application and the second application is a graphic design program.

9. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media comprising computer-readable instructions that, responsive to execution by one or more processors, perform operations comprising:

exposing, in a user interface, selectable items including;

one or more event contexts;

events, each of the events tailored to at least one of the event contexts;

event filters;

action contexts;

actions; and

action parameters from respective operation histories of a plurality of separate applications; and

building a workflow based on selections of one or more of said selectable items exposed from the respective operation histories of the plurality of separate applications, the selections received through the user interface, the workflow configured to cause, responsive to a selected event occurring within a selected event context to which the selected event is tailored and with a selected event filter satisfied, a selected action, the selected action performed within a selected action context and according to a selected action parameter.

10. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media according to claim 9, wherein the exposing presents a graphically selectable list of the event contexts, the events, the event filters, the action contexts, the actions, or the action parameters.

11. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media according to claim 9, wherein the events exposed are tailored to the selected event context.

12. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media according to claim 9, wherein the operation histories of the plurality of separate applications comprises an activity log of interactions of a user with the plurality of separate applications.

13. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media according to claim 9, wherein the events are presented in the user interface responsive to selection of one of the one or more event contexts, the events presented being tailored to the selected event context.

14. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media comprising computer-readable instructions that, responsive to execution by one or more processors, perform operations comprising:

receiving a history including an activity log of a user'"'"'s interactions with, and operations performed by, a plurality of stand-alone applications, each of the plurality of stand-alone applications designed to perform an activity independent of others of the stand-alone applications;

determining, based on the history, synapses correlating events and actions between the plurality of stand-alone applications, the correlated events and actions determined from the operations performed by the plurality of stand-alone applications, the synapses unable to be correlated within a single application of the plurality of stand-alone applications;

enabling selection of one of the synapses; and

responsive to selection of one of the synapses, building a workflow based on the selected synapse determined from the history, the workflow configured to cause a stand-alone application of the plurality of stand-alone applications to perform the correlated action of the selected synapse responsive to occurrence of the correlated event from another stand-alone application of the plurality of stand-alone applications of the selected synapse.

15. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media according to claim 14, wherein the correlated event is one of the operations performed by the other stand-alone application without interaction by the user and the correlated action is one of the operations performed by the stand-alone application, the correlated action caused by interaction with the user.

16. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media according to claim 14, wherein the history includes timing of the operations and the interactions and determining synapses is based at least in part on amounts of time between the operations performed by the plurality of stand-alone applications and the interactions with the plurality of stand-alone applications by the user.

17. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media according to claim 14, wherein receiving the history includes scanning the activity log of the user and determining synapses includes finding patterns of activities in the activity log and correlating sequential operations in the found patterns.

18. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media according to claim 14, wherein enabling selection of the one or more synapses includes presenting, in a user interface, selectable events and actions.

19. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media according to claim 14, wherein determining the synapses determines, based on the history, action parameters to include with the correlated action.

20. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media according to claim 14, wherein determining the synapses determines, based on the history, an event filter that is a condition to the correlated action.

21. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media according to claim 14, wherein the other stand-alone application is an email application and the stand-alone application is a graphic design program.