System, method and article of manufacture for providing an attribute system with primitive support of dynamic and evolvable roles in support of fluid and integrative application development

• US 6,535,884 B1
• Filed: 07/11/2000
• Issued: 03/18/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Thornton, James D., Aoki, Paul M., Smith, Ian E., Rodriguez, Thomas K., Petersen, Karin, Edwards, W. Keith
• Primary Examiner(s): Shah, Sanjiv
• Application Number:
  US09/614,046
• Time in Patent Office: 980 Days
• Field of Search: 707/100, 707/101, 707/102, 707/104, 707/10, 707/9, 709/223, 705/7
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/252 between a Database Management System and a front-end application
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation

Abstract

A system, method and article of manufacture are provided for managing data items. One or more roles are defined with each role comprising a set of attributes. The roles may then be then associated with zero, one, or more data items. The data item may be assigned a value for each of the attributes of the role(s) that have been associated with the data item.

Claims

1. A method for managing a data item, comprising:

(a) defining one or more roles, wherein each role comprises a set of attributes;

(b) associating at least one of the roles to a data item; and

(c) assigning the data item a value for each of the attributes of the one or more roles associated with the data item.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the data item has at least one attribute associated therewith prior to the associating of the one or more roles to the data item.

3. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein associating of one or more roles to the data item further comprises determining whether the data item has one or more attributes in common with the set of attributes of the role.

4. A method as recited in claim 3, wherein assigning the data item a value for each of the attributes of the one or more roles associated with the data item further comprises assigning at least one value for each attribute of the set of attributes of the role that the data item does not include.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the set of attributes of the role include one or more values indicative of properties of the data item.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising permitting the addition of one or more attributes to the data item.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the data item has at least one attribute not included in the set of attributes of the one or more roles associated with the data item.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein at least two of the roles share a common attribute.

9. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein associating one or more of the roles to the data item further comprises creating an alias for at least one of the attributes of the set of attributes of the role.

10. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising storing the values assigned to the data item in a database.

11. A method as recited in claim 10, further comprising retrieving the values of all of the attributes of a role upon receipt of a query for one of the attributes of the respective role.

12. A computer program embodied on a computer readable medium for managing a data item, comprising:

(a) a code segment that defines one or more roles, wherein each role comprises a set of attributes;

(b) a code segment that associates at least one of the roles to a data item; and

(c) a code segment that assigns the data item a value for each of the attributes of the one or more roles associated with the data item.

13. A computer program as recited in claim 12, wherein the data item has at least one attribute associated therewith prior to the associating of the one or more roles to the data item.

14. A computer program as recited in claim 13, wherein the code segment that associates of one or more roles to the data item further comprises a code segment that determines whether the data item has one or more attributes in common with the set of attributes of the role.

15. A computer program as recited in claim 14, wherein the code segment that assigns th e data item a value for each of the attributes of the one or more roles associated with the data item further comprises a code segment that assigning at least one value for each attribute of the set of attributes of the role that the data item does not include.

16. A computer program as recited in claim 12, wherein the set of attributes of the role include one or more values indicative of properties of the data item.

17. A computer program as recited in claim 12, further comprising a code segment that permits the addition of one or more attributes to the data item.

18. A computer program as recited in claim 12, wherein the data item has at least one attribute not included in the set of attributes of the one or more roles associated with the data item.

19. A computer program as recited in claim 12, wherein at least two of the roles share a common attribute.

20. A system for managing a data item, comprising:

(a) logic that defines one or more roles, wherein each role comprises a set of attributes;

(b) logic that associates at least one of the roles to a data item; and

(c) logic that assigns the data item a value for each of the attributes of the one or more roles associated with the data item.