Providing content using dynamic action templates

• US 9,922,021 B2
• Filed: 08/13/2013
• Issued: 03/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Castro, Paul C., Huang, Yun-Wu
• Primary Examiner(s): Baderman, Scott
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lee, Sookil
• Application Number:
  US13/965,777
• Publication Number:
  US 20140229827A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,680 Days
• Field of Search: 715273
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/186 Templates

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing content using dynamic action templates are provided. A method for providing content to at least one user, comprises corresponding at least one action to at least one action template, associating the content with the at least one action, and presenting the content to the at least one user, wherein the at least one action template is appended to the content.

Claims

1. A system for providing content to at least one user, comprising:

a graphical user interface engine capable of creating a graphical user interface control for each action of a plurality of predetermined actions displayed with the content;

wherein the plurality of predetermined actions comprise at least two of an ask action seeking a response to an inquiry, a rating action seeking a rating of the content, an input action requiring an affirmative input, and an approve action requiring approval of a change or activity;

wherein which of the plurality of predetermined actions displayed with the content is dynamically altered in response to a change in at least one circumstance requiring an update of the content;

wherein the graphical user interface control for each action is used for activating or deactivating at least one action of the plurality of predetermined actions;

a management module capable of corresponding the at least one action to at least one action template, associating the content with the at least one action, and appending the at least one action template to the content without modifying the content, wherein the associating comprises activating the at least one action via a corresponding graphical user interface control for the at least one action without modifying the content;

wherein the graphical user interface engine is further capable of rendering a user interface based on the at least one action template for customizing the at least one action template upon activating the at least one action;

wherein the customizing comprises specifying one or more response labels based on one or more inquiries in the at least one action template, and specifying a destination where one or more responses to the one or more inquiries in the at least one action template are to be transmitted;

a choreograph engine capable of routing the content including the at least one action template appended thereto to an electronic device of the at least one user, wherein the at least one action template solicits a first response from the at least one user;

wherein the at least one action template comprises a replicated portion of the content which is edited by the at least one user without the at least one user accessing and modifying the content, and the edited replicated portion is transmitted from the electronic device of the at least one user as at least part of the first response; and

a handler module capable of receiving the first response from the at least one user;

wherein the management module is further capable of appending at least one other action template to the content without modifying the content, so that the content to which the at least one other action template is appended is the same as the content routed to the at least one user;

wherein the choreograph engine is further capable of routing the content including the at least one other action template appended thereto to an electronic device of at least one other user;

wherein the at least one other action template is different from the at least one action template and solicits a second response from the at least one other user different from the first response, and a selection of the at least one other action template is based on a stage within a workflow, and one or more details about the at least one other user;

wherein the handler module is further capable of receiving the second response from the at least one other user, and forwarding the first and second responses to the destination to trigger a process based at least in part on the first and second responses;

wherein the handler module is further capable of automatically determining the destination based on a knowledge sent from the management module which specifies the destination that will trigger the process based on the first and second responses;

wherein the first and second responses are forwarded to the destination while dispatching the content to one or more other users;

wherein the content is stored in a file;

wherein an update of the content in the file is performed exclusively via the at least one action template and the at least one other action template to correspond the content to the first and second responses; and

wherein the update is performed without any user, including the at least one user and the at least one other user, opening the file including the content.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the content includes at least one of a webpage, a textual document or a spreadsheet.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the management module is capable of displaying the at least one action template via the user interface for customizing the at least one action template.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein:

the first response from the at least one user is inputted via the at least one action template, and

the second response from the at least one other user is inputted via the at least one other action template.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the first response from the at least one user is inputted via the at least one action template, and

the second response from the at least one other user is inputted via the at least one other action template.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic device of the at least one user and the electronic device of the at least one other user are each a mobile device capable of receiving and sending electronic communications over a network.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one user and the at least one other user each authorize the update of the content in the file via respective approval portions of the at least one action template and the at least one other action template.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the selection of the at least one other action template based on the stage within a workflow comprises:

determining that the first response indicates approval of the content by the at least one user; and

selecting the at least one other action template, wherein the at least one other action template comprises a request for further action by the at least one other user based on the approval of the content.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the process comprises at least one of competitor information gathering, a publicity task, exception handling, budgeting and product management.

10. An article of manufacture comprising a computer readable storage medium comprising program code tangibly embodied thereon, which when executed by a computer, performs method steps for providing content to at least one user, the method steps comprising:

displaying the content with a plurality of predetermined actions comprising at least two of an ask action seeking a response to an inquiry, a rating action seeking a rating of the content, an input action requiring an affirmative input, and an approve action requiring approval of a change or activity, wherein which of the plurality of predetermined actions displayed with the content is dynamically altered in response to a change in at least one circumstance requiring an update of the content;

creating a graphical user interface control for each action of the plurality of predetermined actions to be used for activating or deactivating at least one action of the plurality of predetermined actions;

corresponding the at least one action to at least one action template;

associating the content with the at least one action, wherein the associating comprises activating the at least one action via a corresponding graphical user interface control for the at least one action without modifying the content;

rendering a user interface based on the at least one action template for customizing the at least one action template upon activating the at least one action;

wherein the customizing comprises specifying one or more response labels based on one or more inquiries in the at least one action template, and specifying a destination where one or more responses to the one or more inquiries in the at least one action template are to be transmitted;

presenting the content to the at least one user, wherein the at least one action template is appended to the content without modifying the content;

soliciting a first response from the at least one user via the at least one action template;

wherein the at least one action template comprises a replicated portion of the content which is edited by the at least one user without the at least one user accessing and modifying the content, and the edited replicated portion is transmitted from a device of the at least one user as at least part of the first response;

receiving the first response from the at least one user;

dispatching and presenting the content to at least one other user without modifying the content so that the content dispatched to the at least one other user is the same as the content presented to the at least one user, wherein;

at least one other action template different from the at least one action template is appended to the content dispatched to the at least one other user;

the at least one other action template solicits a second response from the at least one other user different from the first response; and

a selection of the at least one other action template is based on a stage within a workflow, and one or more details about the at least one other user;

receiving the second response from the at least one other user;

forwarding the first and second responses to the destination to trigger a process based at least in part on the first and second responses, wherein the forwarding comprises automatically determining the destination based on a knowledge sent from the management module which specifies the destination that will trigger the process based on the first and second responses, and wherein the first and second responses are forwarded to the destination while dispatching the content to one or more other users;

wherein the content is stored in a file; and

updating the content in the file, wherein the updating is performed exclusively via the at least one action template and the at least one other action template to correspond the content to the first and second responses, wherein the updating is performed without any user, including the at least one user and the at least one other user, opening the file including the content.

11. The article of manufacture of claim 10, wherein the method steps further comprise authorizing the updating of the content in the file via respective approval portions of the at least one action template and the at least one other action template.

12. The article of manufacture of claim 10, wherein the selection of the at least one other action template based on the stage within a workflow comprises:

determining that the first response indicates approval of the content by the at least one user; and

selecting the at least one other action template, wherein the at least one other action template comprises a request for further action by the at least one other user based on the approval of the content.

13. The article of manufacture of claim 10, wherein the process comprises at least one of competitor information gathering, a publicity task, exception handling, budgeting and product management.