Client-server system for maintaining application preferences in a hierarchical data structure according to user and user group or terminal and terminal group contexts

• US 6,105,063 A
• Filed: 05/05/1998
• Issued: 08/15/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hayes, Kent Fillmore Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dinh, Dung C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Dzung C
• Application Number:
  US09/073,162
• Time in Patent Office: 833 Days
• Field of Search: 709/220, 709/221, 709/222, 709/223, 709/226, 709/228, 713/100, 717/11
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/45 Network directories; Name-to-address mapping
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A system with a network interconnecting a server and a plurality of user stations. A system administrator models users of the system, or user groups, terminals and terminal groups as a hierarchy and sets desktop and user application preferences for each group and for the individual users separately. For a selected group context, say the group of all users of the system, or some subgroup under the group that represents all users, a default set of preferences are determined for a selected user application. The default set is then modified according to preferences that are specifically set forth in the selected group. These preferences may then again modified by a set of preferences that belong specifically to the user.

Claims

1. In a network system comprising a network interconnecting a server and a plurality of user stations, wherein the server stores a plurality of user applications for downloading to user stations, a method of managing user configuration preferences for applications executing at a user station, said method comprising

representing all users of the system in a tree hierarchy consisting of an AllUsers group node containing all system users, and a plurality of descendant group nodes each containing selected ones of the users that belong to the group represented by the descendant group node, each node containing configuration preferences for selected ones of the applications available on the system,

assigning a group priority order for each user that is a member of more than one group,

with respect to any given user requesting execution of a selected application, determining the group priority order for the user, and

building a set of configuration preferences from the tree by

determining the first group from the group priority list from which a set of preferences can be derived for the selected application,

coalescing the preferences into a set for the selected application by traversing the tree from the AllUsers group node to the first group, collecting the preferences specified at each node for the selected application and modifying the collected preferences as each node is traversed with the preferences specified at that node for the selected application.