Method, system and program product for preserving a user state in an application

• US 20050086323A1
• Filed: 10/17/2003
• Published: 04/21/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Robinson, Gerald R.
• Granted Patent: US 7,472,190 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms

Abstract

Under the present invention, milestones or points of closure are provided at predetermined locations within a workflow of an application. Typically, the milestones are provided at completion points of tasks in the workflow. To this extent, as the user proceeds through the workflow, he/she is associated with the milestones corresponding thereto. The associations are stored (optionally with any corresponding data) in a persistent storage. In the event of a failure, the milestone associations are used to transport the user back to the last milestone with which he/she was associated.

Claims

1. A method for preserving a user state in an application, comprising:

providing milestones at predetermined locations within a workflow of the application;

associating a user with a particular milestone; and

transporting the user to the particular milestone when the user logs into the application.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the associating step comprises associating the user with a particular milestone based on a user identification.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising recording the association of the user with the particular milestone in a persistent storage to preserve the user state.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising recording data corresponding to the particular milestone in the persistent storage.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined locations correspond to tasks in the workflow.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the user performing a task in the workflow corresponding to the particular milestone, prior to the associating step.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the application is a web application

8. A system for preserving a user state in an application, comprising:

a milestone system for providing milestones at predetermined locations within a workflow of the application;

a user association system for associating a user with a particular milestone; and

a user transportation system for transporting the user to the particular milestone when the user logs into the application.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the user association system records the association of the user with the particular milestone in a persistent storage to preserver the user state.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the user association system further records data corresponding to the particular milestone in the persistent storage.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the user is associated with the particular milestone based on a user identification.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the predetermined locations correspond to tasks in the workflow.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the user performs a task in the workflow corresponding to the particular milestone prior to being associated with the particular milestone.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the application is a web application.

15. A program product stored on a recordable medium for preserving a user state in an application, which when executed, comprises:

program code for providing milestones at predetermined locations within a workflow of the application;

program code for associating a user with a particular milestone; and

program code for transporting the user to the particular milestone when the user logs into the application.

16. The program product of claim 15, wherein the program code for associating records the association of the user with the particular milestone in a persistent storage to preserve the user state.

17. The program product of claim 16, wherein the program code for associating further records data corresponding to the particular milestone in the persistent storage.

18. The program product of claim 15, wherein the user is associated with the particular milestone based on a user identification.

19. The program product of claim 15, wherein the predetermined locations correspond to tasks in the workflow.

20. The program product of claim 15, wherein the application is a web application.