PROVIDING AN ACCESS MECHANISM ASSOCIATED WITH A DOCUMENT PART TO DETERMINE AN ACTION TO TAKE IF CONTENT OF THE DOCUMENT PART IS INACCESSIBLE

• US 20110035811A1
• Filed: 08/07/2009
• Published: 02/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/07/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: REES, ROBERT THOMAS OWEN, Balinsky, Helen
• Granted Patent: US 8,327,458 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/29
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6209 to a single file or object, e.g. in a secure envelope, encrypted and accessed using a key, or with access control rules appended to the object itself
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/131 Fragmentation of text files, e.g. creating reusable text-blocks; Linking to fragments, e.g. using XInclude; Namespaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]

Abstract

A modular document is composed of plural parts, where at least a particular one of the parts is associated with an access right policy that restricts access to the particular part. In response to a request to access the modular document, it is determined based on the access right policy whether content of the particular part is accessible in an electronic device. In response to determining that the content of the particular part is inaccessible in the electronic device, an access mechanism associated with the particular part is accessed to determine an action to take with respect to the particular part when presenting the modular document.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by an electronic device, a modular document that is composed of plural parts, wherein at least a particular one of the parts is associated with an access right policy that restricts access to the particular part;

in response to a request to access the modular document, determining based on the access right policy whether content of the particular part is accessible in the electronic device; and

in response to determining that the content of the particular part is inaccessible in the electronic device, accessing an access mechanism associated with the particular part to determine an action to take with respect to the particular part when presenting the modular document.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein accessing the mechanism comprises accessing an alternative rendering definition that defines an alternative way of presenting the particular part if the content of the particular part is inaccessible when attempting to present the modular document.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the alternative rendering definition is associated with a function to perform the action.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the alternative rendering definition is embedded in the particular part.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the alternative rendering definition is linked to the particular part.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the alternative rendering definition is outside the particular part but included in the modular document.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein accessing the access mechanism comprises accessing a conditional update program that defines how the particular part is to be modified if the content of the particular part is inaccessible when attempting to present the modular document.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the conditional update program further defines any update permitted by a requesting entity'"'"'s access rights.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

executing the conditional update program to modify the content of the particular part; and

presenting the modular document with the modified content of the particular part.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein modifying the content of the particular part comprises producing a summary or a redacted version of the content of the particular part or adding an annotation with respect to the particular part.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic device is a source electronic device, the method further comprising:

receiving a request to send the modular document from the source electronic device to a destination electronic device;

determining whether the destination electronic device is not allowed to access any of the parts based on the access policies of the parts; and

in response to determining that the destination electronic device is not allowed to access any given one of the parts, omitting the given part from a package for the modular document that is sent to the destination electronic device.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the modular document that is composed of the plural parts comprises receiving the modular document that is composed of plural component documents that are to be combined to allow presentation of the modular document, wherein at least a particular one of the component documents is associated with the access right policy that restricts access to the particular component document.

13. An electronic device comprising:

a storage media to store a modular document that is composed of plural parts; and

a processor to;

associate an access right policy with at least a particular one of the parts that defines one or more criteria under which content of the particular part is inaccessible; and

associate an access mechanism with the particular part that defines an action to take with respect to the particular part when presenting the modular document and when the content of the particular part is inaccessible based on the access right policy.

14. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured to further:

determine whether a destination electronic device to which the modular document is to be sent is able to satisfy the access right policy of the particular part; and

in response to determining that the destination electronic device is unable to satisfy the access right policy of the particular part, omit the particular part from a package containing the modular document that is sent to the destination electronic device.

15. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein a policy of how the particular part is to be provided in a package for the modular document is associated with either the modular document or particular part.

16. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the access mechanism includes an alternative rendering definition.

17. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the access mechanism comprises a conditional update program.

18. The electronic device of claim 17, wherein the conditional update program is to apply a modification to content of the particular component document.

19. An article comprising at least one computer-readable storage medium containing instructions that upon execution cause a processor to:

receive a modular document that is composed of plural component documents that are to be combined to allow presentation of the modular document, wherein at least a particular one of the component documents is associated with an access right policy that restricts access to the particular component document;

in response to a request to access the modular document, determine based on the access right policy whether content of the particular component document is accessible in the electronic device; and

in response to determining that the content of the particular component document is inaccessible in the electronic device, access an access mechanism associated with the particular component document to determine an action to take with respect to the particular component document when presenting the modular document.

20. The article of claim 19, wherein the access mechanism comprises one of an alternative rendering definition and a conditional update program.