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Method of and system for collaboration web

1. 500 Acme Router Company Administrator s Home Page Welcome Ben Add 205 Title 206 207 Add or Name Go Kai 1 210 Users ada AAA AAA What s Up BISA dunk o A o p Comment 221 223 224 http www important vendor site com 531 535 227 Check out what s going on in materials interesting stuff on the horizon 4532 235 http www important media site com 541 540 ees Delete Excellent overview of our competitors all will be incorporated into the sales sheets 551 l 550A Installing Optical Router Model PT67 TOC Charlie C1 71 40 550B Calibrating Optical Router Model PT67 TOC Bill L di 3355 550C P Product Sales Sheets Toc Ben co F70 550D Updates TOC 06 01 04 03 21 04 07 10 04 People 560 Name 961 Rank Average Status Bill 561A Editor 561B E E 30 Fig 5 ssic U S Patent May 1 2012 Sheet 6 of 22 US 8 171 387 B2 600 Acme Router Company Table of Contents 605 Welcome Ben Ea 640 U S Patent May 1 2012 Sheet 7 of 22 US 8 171 387 B2 600 Acme Router Company Table of Epi 605 Welcome Ben U S Patent May 1 2012 Sheet 8 of 22 US 8 171 387 B2 800 Acme Router Company Table of Contents Welcome Ben 609 Se en ITT ARRATE 8053 Calibrating Optical Router PT67 re MA gt gt 801 806 3 Editor 5m e 811E A 8073 Due Date 811E2 811E3 811A
2. 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 8 242 has the rank 12 as would be shown in the Rank field 243 an average status of 15 as would be shown by the Average Status bar 234 It will be appreciated that while FIG 2 has described a user sequentially accessing the areas New Book area 205 Add or Name Users area 210 Add What s Up link area 215 Cur rent What s Up Links area 225 Library area 230 and People area 240 a user is able to access any number of fields or areas in any order FIG 3 shows an Add or Name Users page 300 in accor dance with one embodiment of the present invention which the user is taken to when he selects Go button 211 of FIG 2 The Add or Name Users page 300 contains a User Home link 305 a User Summary Section 310 a Name New User section 340 and an Existing Users section 350 The Home link 305 is a URL that when selected takes a user back to his Home page Preferably each user has a Home page with a format depen dent on the user type For example in one embodiment an Administrator s Home page lists the projects within the sys tem and the status of each a Writer s Home lists the projects he is currently working on and the status for each The User Summary Section 310 has 1 a first line 315 displaying the Pool of Administrators here 2 and the num ber of available Administrators in the Pool here 1 2 a second line 320 displaying the Pool of Editors 331 here 5 and the numb
3. L Section L Sub Section h i Only headings R L Only Images eee ee eee eee D only Tables Authored By nione _ Administrator Select 741735 C Editor Sees TQvi74o IPO C Writer A A A MARA 1745 Fig 17 1155 US 8 171 387 B2 Sheet 18 of 22 May 1 2012 U S Patent SESI SOL 49k 0831 ine 81 914 YIOMJOU aY ut suuojje d 19jno4 zuonrppe Surerodo pue pedes 1940 WO j1jouoq URI s1ouiojsno sjuouoduioo SIEMPIRY 1243 BUISN ainjoojtqoue uorn os ILY jojyduuis e poddns ues uoi goS3p 1e1gudo ay souls yoog 01 PPY Tans MAU T TZ UONIIS ANS 133499 ejep 3uronpo Ajjenuajod pue uonezi nn 410M39U SurAo1dur SITY SIDUBISIP 1918913 190 SI9jU20 PIP S781 arur1 ouuoo nok d ay ued SIY 10A1ou op ut suo ed 19jno1 Jeuonippe Zuurnbo mogum uoryse jurodp nu 0 UTOd e ul sars o dn nur ssoToe soo1noso1 oge101S ETS I M 100 o1 PPY Soueunopq sumundo TT uensg qns 6181 778 IM 3eog or ppy 9AH39 qO VONEIQNES TT UNS C18 T 178 I 7 398 01 ppy MITATAO T AVJI 181 0181 Z9 Ld Jonoy eon uneiqm er 1081 13u208 Indug jewydo qoreog mog jU9g euroo o AA aged YIS Kutduio Jamoy our v Ov8I 0781 U S Patent May 1 2012 Sheet 19 of 22 US 8 171 387 B2 1900 L Acme Router Company Search Page Welcome Anyone With all the words With the exact phrase With at least one of the words Without the words Date range Retur
4. It will be appreciated that the inter face 2225 can be another type of interface used to provide a graphical or other interface to the user host 2210 The data repository 2235 contains 1 documents e g books stored in a database in XML formats or in any other format suitable to store retrieve and edit documents 2 document workflow information used to assign and track workflow for each document 3 other information relating to documents including but not limited to comments and other files The suite of application programs 2230 satisfies user requests through the interface 2225 to store retrieve edit search through and perform other functions on documents stored in the document repository 2235 The suite of applica tion programs 2230 also generates data to track and update progress on the documents Thus the suite of application programs can retrieve a document stored in the data reposi tory 2235 update comments related to the document and retrieved when the document is retrieved generate current tracking and status information relating to the document such as anew writer or due date and perform other functions The suite of application programs 2230 thus preferably comprises a document control portion for among other things editing the document and a workflow control portion for among other things tracking the workflow related to the document In operation for example a user on the user host 2210 generates a requ
5. they are able to exchange messages about the manual they are able to update the manual to reflect product information discov ered in the field and they are able to generate new service manuals specifically tailored to a particular customer prod uct These and other advantages are achieved by the embodi ments of the present invention As used below manuals and other documents generated in accordance with the present invention are referred to as books As used herein books refers to electronic docu ments of many types such as electronic manuals electronic research papers and the like Book refers to any document that includes but is not limited to text images workflow and tracking statistics and other data about the book The book also optionally contains formatting tags including but not limited to Hyper Text Markup Language HTML tags Extensible Markup Language XML tags other meta tags as well as words used for formatting such as those embedded with rich text format RTF documents It will be appreciated that books can be of any length and complexity For example a book can be a single page text document such as a paper describing one feature of a product Alternatively a book can be a thousand page document describing a product in detail US 8 171 387 B2 5 and containing XML tags marking section headings such as chapter headings paragraph headings and footnotes Prefer ably the book is stored i
6. 11 wherein the document engine comprises a formatting engine configured to automatically embed the markers within the document at locations selected by a user from the Web based interface 18 The system of claim 1 further comprising a host coupled to the Web based interface the host configured to execute a Web browser 19 The system of claim 18 wherein the host is coupled to the Web based interface over a local area network 20 The system of claim 18 wherein the host is coupled to the Web based interface over a wide area network 21 The system of claim 20 wherein the wide area network comprises the Internet 22 The system of claim 18 wherein the host is coupled to the Web based interface over a secure channel 23 The system of claim 22 wherein the secure channel comprises a virtual private network 24 The system of claim 1 wherein the document engine is configured to import an object into the document in response to a command received on the Web based interface 25 The system of claim 24 wherein the object comprises at least one of a sound file an image file a table and a video clip 26 The system of claim 1 wherein the workflow control module comprises a Library area containing a book identifier a corresponding status display and a corresponding due date 27 The system of claim 1 wherein the workflow control module comprises a Book Overview panel containing a plu rality of entries each entry having a title a
7. 1401 underlining misspelled words and allowing the user to replace a single occurrence of the misspelling or multiple occurrences of the same misspell ing FIG 15 displays a Writer s page 1500 the Writer s page 1300 after the user has selected the Insert Image button 1320D shown in FIG 13 As shown in FIG 15 the user placed a cursor at the location 1509 selected the Insert Image button 1320D and selected an image from a selection of images not shown presented to the user After the user selected an image the application puts at the chosen location the note Image Photo of Back of Optical Router PT67 The application also places a link to the image in the list 1550 If the user selects the link an Insert Image interface not shown will be loaded from which the user can change the caption or the image FIG 16 shows a Table Interface 1600 that pops up over the Writing page 1300 when a user selects the Insert Table button 1320F of FIG 13 The Table Interface 1600 contains a drop down menu that allows a user to format the rows columns borders cell padding cell border and table width for the table It will be appreciated that footnotes and tables are inserted into text in a format similar to that for inserting images For example if a table were embedded into the text a message such as Table Settings and Variables for Initial Conditions 40 45 65 14 would be inserted into the text at a l
8. 2012 Sheet 16 of 22 US 8 171 387 B2 1600 Build Your Own Table Add table gt Build Your Own Table Build your own table To build your own table select the table properties below then click return to your web page You will then have the option to add content including text pictures or Web Gems Number of Choose how many columns your table will have Columns Number of Choose how many rows your table will have TOWS Table The table border will show a line around your table 1610 border Set border width to Table border color O Select another color Cellpadding This will add space between the table border and the Cell border Cell border will add a line beteween each table cell Show Cell Border Cell border color Select another color Table width Select the table width Attached Files Cisco Whitepaper on Router Configuration 1620 Format highlighted text Spell Check 1530 Insert Table Save Preview Chapter Comment from Bill We should change switch A to an optical switch since this would increase the speed of our product RT 1540 a TT Ti 1545 o Select T9 Post Fig 16 Wars 1540 1547 U S Patent May 1 2012 Sheet 17 of 22 US 8 171 387 B2 1700 amp Acme Router Company Search Page Welcome Ben With all the words 1701 7 Optimal input strength With the exact phrase 1702 With at least one of the words 1703 Without the words 1704 1705 1720 x Chapter
9. an existing document without copying and pasting Thus unlike prior art systems a user within a first document does not have to search on a search term within a library of target documents load a target docu ment containing the search term navigate to the location where the search term is located copy the desired text close the target document reload or toggle to the first document and paste the copied text into the desired location These prior art steps will be repeated for each document within the library containing the search term It will be appreciated that the methods and devices in accordance with the present invention obviate these steps reducing document generation time and minimizing errors Searching and importing search results in accordance with the present invention are discussed in more detail below for example in the discussion of FIGS 17 and 18 The reorganization section 811E allows a user to re order chapters sections and sub sections The left arrow key 811E1 and the right arrow key 811E3 move the sub section 1 2 3 within the hierarchy For example referring to FIG 8 if the left arrow key 811E1 is selected once the sub section 1 2 3 is made a section on the same level in the hierarchy as Chapter 1 Overview Alternatively if the right arrow key 811E3 is selected once the sub section 1 2 3 will become a sub section of its section e g sub section 1 2 3 1 When a user clicks once on the up arrow key 8
10. claim 4 wherein a third type of user has a corresponding third set of functions the third set of functions comprising writing a part of the book and reporting a comple tion status for work on the part of the book 6 The system of claim 1 wherein the workflow control module comprises a plurality of panels each panel associated with a workflow for one or more parts of the document 7 The system of claim 6 wherein a first panel from the plurality of panels contains an identifier corresponding to a location of a second panel from the plurality of panels 8 The system of claim 7 wherein the identifier comprises a link to the second panel 20 35 40 45 55 18 9 The system of claim 8 wherein the first panel comprises a first Web page the second panel comprises a second Web page and the link comprises a uniform resource locator for the second Web page 10 The system of claim 6 wherein at least one of the plurality of panels comprises a comment field 11 The system of claim 1 wherein the document com prises markers 12 The system of claim 11 wherein the markers corre spond to headings within the document 13 The system of claim 11 wherein the markers comprise SGML tags 14 The system of claim 13 wherein the SGML tags are XML tags 15 The system of claim 13 wherein the SGML tags are HTML tags 16 The system of claim 11 wherein the markers are rich text format control words 17 The system of claim
11. first user a Writer logs in from a remote client location where he is troubleshooting a router He searches through documents in the system library for docu ments containing chapters on How to Troubleshoot a Router He finds these chapters by navigating to a search screen and entering the search terms Troubleshoot and Router or by entering the search phrase How to Trouble shoot a Router The user then imports the relevant chapters found by his search request into a Booklet publishes the Booklet in PDF format and prints the Booklet FIG 22 is a block diagram of a system 2200 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention The system 2200 is coupled to a user host 2210 over a connection 2215 The connection 2215 is 1 an internal connection such as when the user host 2210 runs on the same platform as the system 2200 2 a local area network connection such as used for an Ethernet LAN 3 a wide area network connection such as used to connect hosts over the Internet or 4 any other type of connection between two hosts Preferably the connection 2215 is a wide area connection comprising the Internet The system 2200 comprises an interface 2225 coupled to a suite of application programs 2230 which is coupled to a data repository 2235 Preferably the user host 2210 executes a Web browser and the system 2200 operates as a Web server In the preferred embodiment the interface 2225 is a Web based interface
12. has the ability to add a new book to the system assign an Editor to a book input new chapters and sections to a book make books searchable check the work progress for specific individuals and add links to information of specific interest to individuals working on a project An Editor has fewer privileges than an Admin istrator And a Writer has even fewer privileges being able only to view sections of the book that he is working on As used herein the term user is used to refer to Administrators Editors and Writers FIG 1 shows a graphical user interface GUI log in screen 100 having a user name input field 105 a password input field 110 and a reminder link 115 that takes the userto a Help Web page not shown that helps him remember his password A user logging in from a customer site would reach the log in screen after loading the Web page on a host at the customer site The Help Web page may contain a hint it may e mail the password to a secure account where the user can read it or it may provide other means to help the user log on In a pre ferred embodiment the user s identity will determine what functions he is able to perform on documents and other files within the system It will be appreciated that if the user s login information does not match an entry in the login database the user will not be allowed access to the system Preferably the log in screen is a Web page that the user accesses from a remote locat
13. one or more searches into the document 39 The system of claim 38 wherein the Web based inter face is configured to allow both a primary user and a second ary user to access the search engine 40 The system of claim 39 wherein the system is config ured to collect one or more results of searches into a booklet 41 The system of claim 40 wherein the system is config ured to format the booklet and transmit the formatted booklet to a host computer 42 The system of claim 41 wherein the formatted booklet is a PDF file 43 The system of claim 1 wherein when one of the list of selectable users is assigned to a part the Web based interface displays the assigned user when displaying the part 44 A system comprising acomputer device comprising a document control module a workflow control module and a Web based interface coupled to the document control module and the work flow control module wherein the document module comprises a document engine to generate a hierarchi cally organized multiple part document and to access each of the multiple parts of the document the workflow control module to assign users for writing or editing the multiple parts and to set corresponding completion dates and the Web based interface to concurrently dis play a title for each of the parts and a list of selectable users for assigning to each of the parts the document engine further comprising a communications module to communicate workflow in
14. panel is a frame of data presented to a user on an electronic display using any one of a variety of formats Thus for example in one embodiment a panel is a Web page displaying a user screen such as a login screen In the preferred embodiment after an Administrator has successfully logged on he is brought to the Administrator Home Page 200 shown in FIG 2 The Administrator Home Page 200 contains a a New Book area 205 having a Title field 206 and an associated Add button 207 b an Add or Name Users area 210 having a Go button 211 c an Add What s Up Link area 215 having a Link field 220 a Com ment field 221 with an associated Up arrow 222 and a Down arrow 223 and an Add button 224 d a Current What s Up Links area 225 having a Link field 226 and a Delete button 227 e a Library area 230 having a first entry 231 the first entry 231 having a Title field 232 an Editor field 233 a Status bar 234 a Due Date field 235 and a corresponding Delete button 236 and f a People area 240 having a first entry 241 the first entry 241 having a Name field 242 a Rank field 243 and an Average Status bar 244 Each of these areas is dis cussed in more detail below It will be appreciated that other users ofthe system Editors and Writers will be brought to a screen different from that shown in FIG 2 The screen shown Editors and Writers will display only those functions for which the Editors and Writers have privileges For example
15. the U button 1320C are used to bold italicize and underline respectively portions of text within the text section 1320 that the user has highlighted The Insert Image button 1320D is used to insert an image at a location within the text section 1310 that the user has selected preferably by placing the cursor at the location The Insert Footnote button 1320E is used to insert a footnote at a location within the text section 1310 The Insert Table button 1320F is used to insert a table at a location within the text section 1310 The Insert file button 1320G is used to insert a file at a location within the text section 1310 The Spell Check button 1320H is used to check the spelling of words the Save Preview Chapter button 13201 is used to save and dis play in a Web format and the Save button 1320J is used to save the text within the text section 1310 The first comment box 1330 displays a comment from the user with the user identification Bill and the New comment box 1340 provides an area that the current user here Matt can input a comment The To pull down menu 1341 is used to select a user that the new comment in the New comment box 1340 will be addressed to The new comment will be posted when the user selects the Post button 1342 FIG 14 displays a Writer s page 1400 which represents the Writer s page 1300 after the user has selected the Spell Check button 1320G shown in FIG 13 The Writer s page 1400 contains a pop up window
16. 0 2121 2122 2123 Sub Section Sub Section 1 2 1 Understanding the Controls chapter Chapter 2 Initial Testing date published administrator Table 1 Fig 21 U S Patent May 1 2012 Sheet 22 of 22 US 8 171 387 B2 2200 2210 2225 2230 2235 2215 Fig 22 US 8 171 387 B2 1 METHOD OF AND SYSTEM FOR COLLABORATION WEB BASED PUBLISHING FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to electronic documents More par ticularly this invention relates to electronic documents hav ing a single interface that allows a user to modify track publish search through and import content into the elec tronic documents BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Many projects given their size and complexity require the collaboration of many individuals A product installation manual for example has many sections each having detailed specifications for the product Each section may be edited by one or more individuals knowledgeable in the material con tained in the section Coordinating and tracking work on the documents is generally referred to as product work flow In one prior art system company employees can check out a document to work on it and then check it back in when done The system tracks the changes everyone makes a method called versioning The system sends e mail alerts to let others know of the changes The system may also include a separate message board where employees can talk about the docu men
17. 01 HPA Swo M aged ouod SIYUM Aueduro Joynoy ouoy 0071 U S Patent May 1 2012 Sheet 13 of 22 US 8 171 387 B2 1300 Acme Router Company Table of Contents Welcome Ben Calibrating Optical Router PT67 1301 1302 TOC Chapter Two Initial Testing Status 1 75 A key differentiator for the OptiStar EdgeSwitch is its Domain Virtualized which allows data center operators to better utilize SAN resources and in scalability reliability interoperability manageability and security d SAN operations Domain Virtualization technology provides the ability to and route storage traffic between separate SAN fabrics thereby making create ever larger distributed SANs while minimizing potentially disrupt traffic The OptiStar EdgeSwitch offers built in integrated IP routing functional you to interconnect storage resources across multiple sides in a point to fashion without requiring additional router platforms in the network The connect more data centers over greater distances while improving network potentially reducing data center costs Cost saving can also result from the integration of mulitple networking single platform at the edge of the data center compared to other solution 1320A 1320B Format highlighted text 1320C 1320 Insert Table h 1320F 1320H Spell Check 1320D 13201 Save Preview Chapter Comment from Bill We should change switch A to an optical switch since this would increase the speed of ou
18. 011 91d 19moy kondo Surneqi e Po1sog 9jo duro EN juog owo PM MATABA UOSIOg ueduio 1ojno suv juoulo d suonooloiq SUNEN C T uonosgs I d qa O IT JWEN 0011 b 1 A US 8 171 387 B2 Sheet 12 of 22 May 1 2012 U S Patent 6 Ppeysuly Ho paroidy gisanbay GcZTZI ASS IdPIOAY aydur CI BIA xu ON ON SIX v0 S1 10 09 EE ey Ayue o mduz 7 1 7 woyoag qng ON ON sax v0 71 10 990p CTE prey yysuang jndu z uonoag qng 97771 ON SIX ON v0 L0 10 0s EYES tra suorIpuo eria IUT z UONI LON N SOX 0 90 10 SL WEA 8gccel Waze Sunso pemu z dey 77Z SIX decet SIX ON v0 Z1 10 001 E Na suonoslorg SUMEN Z Z uonosg qngs ON ON ON v0 91 10 0v ETT WN sjonuon eu Burpurjsiepuy pz T woNsas qns ON SOX SA 0 80 10 0 JH wf SBUINAg enu z WONI ON ON Sox v0 T1 10 0L JE WW eoueuuopoq Surzrumdo z p uonoog qng 07271 ON ON ON v0 91 10 07 TB Ma sp N BUISSISSY uoroog qns ON sx SA 70 01 10 08 r J 3 mer eAnoofqo uone1qi e uonoos ON ON ON vo vt 10 9409 EE ma MOLAAQ 1 1ajdey Ju3W3 H yoerqpea y 1usururo 1587 ajeg L9Ld Tomo reondo Suneaqe op S OOYS so vs IY ojur poje1oduoour oq TM e SIOITJOdWIOD INO JO MOTAIOAO JUATIA Woo os epou penodir mmmam dny uozuog ay uo JJms SUISOIOJUT s eriojeui ur uo SULOS seym INO JI W00 ays JOPUSA jUPHOGdUIl AA in sim 7
19. 11E2 the sub section 1 2 3 is moved to a higher sub section thus becoming sub section 1 2 2 the previous section 1 2 2 becomes the new sub section 1 2 3 When a user clicks once on the down arrow key 811E4 the sub section 1 2 3 is moved to a lower sub section thus becoming sub section 1 2 4 the previous sec tion 1 2 4 becomes the new sub section 1 2 3 The pull down menus 811D 812D 813D1 and 813D2 are used to allow an Administrator or Editor to assign each chap ter section or sub section to a writer or an editor Each pop down menu includes the name of everyone in an Admin istrator s group including the Administrator Referring again to FIG 5 when a user selects a book title he is brought to a corresponding Book Overview page Thus for example if the user selects the title identifier 555A Cali brating Optical Router Model PT67 the Book Overview page 900 shown in FIG 9 is automatically loaded and dis played to the user The Book Overview page 900 has a Title area 905 and a plurality of entries 910 915 920 925 and 930 arranged in a hierarchical fashion The Book Overview page 900 also contains a Task area 960 and a Document area 970 The first entry 910 has a Title element 910A containing the text Chapter 1 Overview a Who element 910B containing the text Bill a Complete element 910C containing a task bar indicating a 60 completion percentage for the entry a Date last Changed element 910D co
20. 1B are both URLs each containing the address of a Web page on the VPN As shown in FIG 5 the title identifier 551A has the URL Installing Optical Router Model PT67 and the table of contents identifier 551B has the URL TOC The Editor area 552 contains the text Charlie The Status area 553 contains a display indicating that the book titled Installing Optical Router Model PT67 is 40 complete The Due Date area 554 contains text 554A display ing that the due date is May 10 2004 and also contains a Delete button 554B Similarly the People area 560 contains one entry 560A having a Name field 561 containing the user identifier Bill 561A a Rank field 561B containing the text Editor thereby identifying the user Bill as an editor and an average status field 561C containing a status bar indicating that the average status for all the projects that Bill is working on is 30 complete FIG 6 is a screen shot of a Table of Contents page 600 which can be loaded for example when a user selects the TOC link 551B of FIG 5 The Table of Contents page 600 contains a Title area 615 an Editor area 620 a Due Date area 630 and a Task area 640 The Title area 615 contains a book identifier Calibrating Optical router PT67 the Editor area 620 contains the pull down menu 625 from which an editor can be selected and the Due Date area 630 contains a Due Date button not shown The Task area 640 contains an Inse
21. A 94566 7047 4 pages 22 Filed May 13 2004 65 Prior Publication Data Groove Networks Groove for the Enterprise Enterprise US 2005 0257158 Al Nov 17 2005 Solutions www groove net Feb 20 2004 3 pages A Next Page Inc Folio www nextpage com Feb 20 2004 13 51 Int CI pages G06N 3 00 2006 01 cited by examiner 92 US Oli eee nete tte 715 200 e 58 Field of Classification Search ias OA OR 715 243 254 200 74 Attorney Agent or Firm Haverstock amp Owens LLP See application file for complete search history 57 ABSTRACT A system and method directed to controlling work flow for a 56 References Cited document is disclosed The system comprises a document control module comprising a document engine and a docu U S PATENT DOCUMENTS ment portion a workflow control module for tracking and 6 009 459 A 12 1999 Belfiore et al 709 203 assigning work on the document portion and a Web based 6 028 605 A 2 2000 Conrad etal 345 354 interface coupled to the document control module and the 6 052 514 A 4 2000 Gill et al sg 715 733 kf trol module Th teni fi dt 1 6 308 188 BI 10 2001 Bernardo et al 20715234 WOLSIOW conto Immogu e AUE sysiems con tgured4o copie 6 401 125 B1 6 2002 Makarios et al 709 229 to a remote host over a network such as the Internet Prefer 6 446 113 Bl 9 2002 Ozzie etal com 709 204 ably the document is automati
22. Company Administrator s Home Page Welcome Ben a A gt I Title 206 207 Add or Name Go han 210 Users sn AA What s Up Link 215 Link m 222 Add Comment 221 223 224 Current What s Up 225 Links Libra 230 People 240 Name Rank Average Status 241 242 243 MING 234 Fig 2 U S Patent May 1 2012 Sheet 3 of 22 US 8 171 387 B2 300 Acme Router Company People Welcome Ben si aa an T i v1 Pool of Administrators 2 Available 1 310 m N 9 4 v o o Z o A m e o a n UA gt lt ei E S KA o Un t P dod Pool of Writers 30 Available 30 Purchase Additonal Users 330 Nanana E O Amina 34 a haa 1 I BI Editor 342 Name 0 A CREE ne ee uua ODE Password 349 555555 0 bem Confirm Password Administrators Ben 356 355 Editors Writers 365 Fig 3 U S Patent May 1 2012 Sheet 4 of 22 US 8 171 387 B2 400 Acme Router Company People Welcome Ben 305 a o a ga m d Pool of Writers 30 Available 28 Purchase Additonal Users 330 pew wwe ee ee eee ee O Editor 342 Name is pw CET pea a O Password 349 Eos D Confirm Password Existing Users Administrators Ben 356 355 Editors 350 Bil 36 Delete 362 Charlie 363 Delete 364 360 Writers Matt 366 Delete 368 Jane 367 Delete 369 365 Fig 4 U S Patent May 1 2012 Sheet 5 of 22 US 8 171 387 B2
23. DF box 970A in the Publish area 970 and then selects the Publish button 970F the current book is published in PDF format Similarly if the user highlights the Rich Text Format box 970B the HTML box 970C or the XML box 970D and then selects the Publish button 970F the current book will be published in RTF HTML or XML respectively FIG 11 shows a Person Overview page 1100 for the user Ben A Person Overview page shows the status of each sec tion in the current book assigned to a particular user Thus the Person Overview page 1100 contains a user name 1101 and a Book Overview section 1105 The Book Overview Section 1105 contains a title 1104 here Calibrating Optical Router PT67 and a plurality of entries 1110 1120 1130 and 1140 an average completion area 1141 and a finished completion area 1142 The Book Overview Section 1105 shows the sec tions of a book in a hierarchical structure similar to that shown in FIG 8 Each entry has a Title element a Who element a Complete element a Date Last Changed element a Comment Posted element a Feedback Request element and an Approved element Each of these elements is similar to similarly named elements in FIG 9 and will not be further discussed in detail here It will be noted that the Title elements in FIG 11 contain Title identi fiers allowing a user to load the corresponding Web page by selecting the identifier FIG 12 is a sc
24. Insert New 811B 81IEI A 811C Chapter 1 Overview Bin 0 WA 812D 811E4 812A 8128 812 NAT Lo 812C Section 1 1 Calibration Objectives ane v 813A 813B 860 63 OS i 813C1 b Section 1 1 1 A ing SubSection san Sub Section 1 1 3 810 813C2 Sub Section 1 1 2 Optimizir sa inet New a 1 d 814C Section L2 Initial Settings 314 Jane lo Ce 815A Insert New Search J 815C 815 815C1 o lt a gt Sub Section 1 2 1 Understanding the Controls v Lo Sub Section 1 2 2 Making Projections 7 15C2 Bill fO Y 814 Le Chapter 2 Initial Testing v Lo Section 2 1 Determine Initial Conditions v ds Sub Section 2 1 1 Input Strength Jane O Y Sub Section 2 1 2 Input Clarity Matt Fig 8 US 8 171 387 B2 Sheet 9 of 22 May 1 2012 U S Patent 6 914 MP us ustiand ps icu d046 1XWX O 0L6 TWIH wog yz yr ddd E 6 oN ON ON ON s24 poystury Sox ON ON ON ON SSA vO S1 10 SSA vO Z1 TO ON 40 L0 10 SSA 10 90 10 ON vO Z 1 10 ON vO 91 TO g0 6 59 A WL 40 80 10 soqomog Joy aary oye syoxes Aenmex 9010109 jm V096 096 ASS RISA Y 2096 8096 09 EE AyueyD ynduy z c uonoes qng 0 EJE new yysuans ynduy f uooeg qns 906 CIE new suonipuo EIU ouruuojeq pz uonoss xo E WN Surjso enu z deyo 001 ma suonoofo1g SUMPIA CUI uonoeg qng 06 L9 Ld moy pondo Sunesquyed em I j
25. US008171387B2 a2 United States Patent 10 Patent No US 8 171 387 B2 Lombardo 45 Date of Patent May 1 2012 54 METHOD OF AND SYSTEM FOR 7 236 966 Bl 6 2007 Jackson et al como 707 1 7340481 Bl 3 2008 Baeretal 11 SOLE A BOR STON WEB BASED 7 356 766 Bl 4 2008 Baeretal AL PUBLISHING 7 379 945 B1 5 2008 Hirsch et al M 7 401 097 B1 7 2008 Baeretal a 1 1 75 Inventor Thomas Edward Lombardo Petaluma 2002 0026314 Al 2 2002 Nakao s se 704 258 CA US 2003 0084138 Al 5 2003 Tavis etal 709 223 2003 0217105 Al 11 2003 Zircher et al 2003 0236820 Al 12 2003 Tierney et al 709 205 709 203 73 Assignee Boardwalk Collaboration Inc San 2004 0024820 Al 2 2004 Ozzie et al 709 205 Francisco CA US 2004 0083263 Al 42004 Richardson et al 709 204 2004 0148299 Al 7 2004 Teegan etal 707 100 Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this 2005 0027585 ALY 2 2005 Wodtke et al w 705 9 2005 0060662 Al 3 2005 Soares et al 715 810 patent is extended or adjusted under 35 2005 0197970 Al 9 2005 Chehade et al 705 80 U S C 154 b by 1672 days OTHER PUBLICATIONS 21 Appl No 10 846 094 User s Manual for the Examiners Automated Search Tool EAST Jul 22 1999 Documentum 5 ECM Platform Managing Content Across the Enterprise Documentum Inc 6801 Koll Center Park way Pleasonton C
26. a screen displayed to a Writer who has just logged on will not allow the Writer to add users as provided by the Go button 211 in the Add or Name Users area 210 As used herein a Web page refers to any document that can be displayed by a Web browser In accordance with embodi ments ofthe present invention a Web page includes but is not limited to 1 a static document generated once so that a copy of it is transmitted to a client that accesses it 2 a dynamic document generated by an application program running on the Web server when a Web browser requests the document or 3 an active document generated by an application pro gram running on a client host It will be appreciated that the contents of dynamic and active documents are determined by any number of criteria including but not limited to the iden tity of the user requesting the document the parameters sent as part of the request and the time of day Thus as described in more detail in some of the examples below when a user accesses a portion of a book the book s table of contents is automatically generated and displayed to the user The table ofcontents constantly changes throughout the document gen eration process as chapters are added and deleted and other sections of the book are updated The table of contents thus cannot be stored as a static document Preferably Web pages such as tables of contents are generated at a central location such as a Web server It will
27. ally loaded so that the user is able to read it The task area 960 contains a Go to TOC button 960A a Preview button 960B a Save As button 960C and a Make Live for Searches button 960D When a user selects the Go to TOC button 960A the system will load the Table of Contents page forthe current book For example ifthe user clickson the Go to TOC button 960A the Table of Contents page 800 shown in FIG 8 will be loaded When a user selects the Preview button 960B the document finished or not will open as a Web page Ifa user selects the Save As button 960C a pop up window 1000 shown in FIG 10 will we displayed As shown in FIG 10 the pop up window 1000 contains a text field 1010 and an OK button 1011 After the user enters a file or other name into the text field 1010 and selects the OK button 1011 an exact copy of the book currently accessed will be saved with the name input into the text field 1010 The copy includes the text and information about the book including comments and assignment status information Again referring to FIG 9 if a user selects the Make Live for Searches button 960D all of the content of the current book is available to a search engine for searching Preferably only the Administrator is able to use the Make Live for Searches button 960D Again referring to FIG 9 a user is able to publish a book in multiple formats For example when a user highlights the P
28. be appreciated however that in accordance with the present invention Web pages can be generated on client hosts e g remote locations from which a field engineer is working or at other locations As used herein the term identifier refers to any means for identifying an object such as a user a book title or an inter esting article Similarly heading refers to an identifier for a book chapter section and subsection In one embodiment a US 8 171 387 B2 7 heading is a title Preferably an identifier refers toa URL for a particular object For example a user identifier refers to a URL link to a user s home Web page In the drawings for this specification underlined elements denote URL links Thus the user identifier Bill refers to a URL for a Web page When a page is displayed using a Web browser and a user selects the element Bill the URL contained in the link Bill will be automatically loaded and the corresponding Web page gen erated if necessary and displayed Web pages can also con tain embedded references to other Web pages As used herein an element can be selected by navigating a cursor over the element and then clicking on a mouse button Alternatively an element can be selected by touching it such as when it is displayed on a touch sensitive screen It will be appreciated that elements can be selected in other ways In operation an Administrator is able to activate the Title field 206 and ent
29. cally formatted to include 6 449 627 BIY 9 2002 Baer et al 715 206 XML tags which allows the document to be searched and 6 462 756 B1 10 2002 Hansen etal i 715 764 6 502 134 Bl 12 2002 Makariosetal 709 225 otherwise controlled more easily Preferably the system also 6 553 365 BL 4 2008 Summerlin et al 7077 comprises a search engine for searching through the docu 6 553 402 Bl 4 2003 Makarios et al 709 201 ment portion using a variety of search criteria Preferably the 6 557 013 B1 4 2003 Ziffet al 707 205 system is configured to import search results into the docu 6 640 241 Bl 10 2003 Ozzie et al 709 204 ment 7 020 654 B1 3 2006 Najmi sis 1171 7 076 494 B1 7 2006 Baeretal sse 1 1 52 Claims 22 Drawing Sheets y CT Akay Administrators Home Page Welcome Ben rea Ada zs 206 207 Tite id or Name up jo Add 220 What s Up 215 ink D an E Aag Comment ai 223 224 nap wen important vendor site com 531 535 zr EA Enea media Bie com 541 ES 235 Links cen overview peta wal be corporate not sales sheets 542 558 U S Patent May 1 2012 Sheet 1 of 22 US 8 171 387 B2 100 Welcome to Acme Router Company s Web based Publishing System User Name A Password J Forgot your username or password 15 U S Patent May 1 2012 Sheet 2 of 22 US 8 171 387 B2 200 Acme Router
30. d able medium containing instructions for execution by a pro cessor the instructions comprising a document control module comprising a document engine for generating separate parts of a document wherein the document engine comprises a search engine to search within the separate parts for a target using search crite ria a workflow control module for assigning users to write or edit the separate parts and setting corresponding completion dates and a Web based interface coupled to the document control module and the workflow control module the Web based interface to concurrently display a title for each of the parts and a list of selectable users for assigning to each of the parts 2 The system of claim 1 wherein the workflow control module provides a plurality of sets of functions to be per formed on the parts of the document each set of functions corresponding to a type of a user 3 The system of claim 2 wherein a first type of user has a corresponding first set of functions the first set of functions comprising adding a user to the system adding to the system a book capable of being updated electronically with text and images and assigning work to a user to write or edit parts of the book 4 The system of claim 3 wherein a second type of user has a corresponding second set of functions the second set of functions comprising assigning work to a user and opening a part of a book for writing and editing 5 The system of
31. d received on the Web based interface The object is one of a sound file an image file a table and a video clip In other embodiments the workflow control module com prises a Library area containing a book identifier a corre sponding status display and a corresponding due date The workflow control module also comprises a Book Overview panel containing a plurality of entries each entry having a title area an owner area and a status area The status area contains a completion percentage area The document control module comprises a publishing engine configured to publish the document portion in a selected format The selected for mat is one of Portable Document Format PDF Rich Text Format HTML and XML In other embodiments one of the plurality of panels com prises acomment field The document control engine further comprises a search engine configured to search within the document portion for a target using search criteria The search criteria comprises at least one of a date range a search term a search area a user type and a user identity The user type is one of an administrator an editor and a writer Preferably the search engine is configured to display a location within the document portion where the search term is found The search engine is configured to display markers and text correspond ing to the location of search terms within the document por tion The markers correspond to headings within the docu ment por
32. d to Book button 1822 the application would save the heading and text for Section 1 1 and the heading and text for Sub section 1 1 2 It would create a footnote at the end of each text showing normal footnote information for the source document The headings would automatically appear in the Table of Contents of the book the user is creating but with no one assigned to them The user is able to perform a new search or return to the table of contents by selecting the New Search button 1830 or the Back to TOC button 1835 respectively In accordance with the present invention a secondary user e g auser other than an Writer Editor or Administrator has the ability to search through documents within a system library but does not have access to the application Thus the secondary user can not write documents edit documents or perform administrative tasks relating to the documents This secondary user must be registered and is given a session specific ability to generate a booklet which is a collection of search results that are published Preferably the system is configured to determine whether a secondary user has regis tered on a specific Web site and is accordingly able to access the search engine and any booklets Alternatively or addition ally the system is configured to generate a separate registra tion page from which a secondary user registers and then accesses the search engine and any booklets In contrast to a
33. e URL in the Link field 221 the comments in the Comment field 222 or both the user is able to add both to the book by selecting the Add button 224 The Administrator can also view current links in the Cur rent What s Up Links area 225 These links will appear at the top of the Writers home pages and contain links to resources on the Internet or Intranet that a manger wants everyone to read An Administrator or Editor can highlight a link in the Link sub field 226 none are shown here and then delete it by selecting the Delete button 227 When a user clicks on the Add button 224 the page reloads and the What s Up link appears in the Current What s Up Links area 225 When a user selects the delete button 227 the page reloads without the What s Up link on it anymore Within the Library area 230 the user is able to view the status of the book having the title in the Title field 232 the editor whose name appears in the Editor field 233 the status in the Status bar 234 and the due date in the Due Date sub field 235 The user is able to delete this book from the library by selecting the Delete button 236 As described in more detail below the Library area 230 contains a list of books in the system and status for each book Finally the user is able to view the progress of each person working on the book As one example using the fields shown in FIG 2 the user with the name Bill Smith in the Name field 20 25 30
34. en selected instructing the system to search only those documents that were created within the last three months Alternatively the system would have checked within the system for documents that were created at any date or those created within the last year if the Any time check box or the Last year check box respectively were checked The user is able to select what document elements are returned by the search by checking an appropriate box in the Return area 1720 For example the system can return the title of the book the title of a chapter the title of a section or the title of a sub section where the search terms were found In FIG 1700 the Chapter check box has been selected indi cating that the search will return the chapter where the search terms were found The user is able to select what areas within a document are searched by the search engine by selecting the appropriate box within the Search Area 1725 For example all of the text within a document only headings only images or only tables can be searched In FIG 1700 the All Text check box has been selected indicating that all of the text within a document will be searched By selecting the appro priate box in the Authored By section 1730 the user is able to instruct the search engine to search documents written only by selected authors For example the search engine is able to search documents written by anyone by an administrator chosen usi
35. er of available Editors here 5 3 a third line 325 displaying the Pool of Writers here 30 and the number of available Writers here 30 and 4 a Purchase Additional Users button 330 which when selected allows additional users Dashed lines in the User Summary Section 310 and throughout the following explanations are shown for read ability and generally are not displayed in the User Summary Section 310 In a preferred embodiment the system is con figured to support a predetermined number of administrators editors and writers Ifa company licensing the system desires more it is charged an amount related to the type of additional users requested In the Name New User section 340 a User Type field 349 contains check boxes next to each type of user The User Type field 349 contains a check box 341 associated with an Admin istrator a check box 342 associated with an Editor and a check box 343 associated with a writer The Name New User area 340 also contains a Name field 345 a Password Field 346 and a Confirm Password Field 347 For the example shown in FIG 3 the check box 342 has been checked indi cating that the new user is an editor The user has the name Bill entered into the Name field 345 A password is entered into the Password field 346 and reentered to confirm the password into the Confirm Password field 347 As shown in FIG 3 for security the password preferably is not echoed when typed into either the Pass
36. er the title of a new book When the Admin istrator enters the title and selects the Add button 207 a new book with the title is automatically created It will be appre ciated that any field such as the Title field 206 is activated by positioning a cursor within the field and selecting the field such as by clicking the button on a mouse Still referring to FIG 2 after the Administrator has entered a title in the Title Field 206 and clicked on the Add button 207 he can scroll to any other field within the Administrator Home Page 200 Preferably if the Administrator wishes to add the names of users already in the system or to add the names of new users he presses the Go button 211 which brings the user to the Add User Page 300 shown in FIG 3 and discussed below The Administrator may do this to allow the new users to access the system The Administrator then has the ability to assign work and grant other privileges to these new users If the Administrator wishes to add a User Resource Location URL link that visitors to the book may find interesting he activates that Link field 220 and inputs a URL In addition the Administrator can also input a comment into the Comment field 221 for example explaining what can be found at the Web page addressed by the URL in the Link field 220 The Administrator can scroll up or down within the Comment field 221 by using the Up arrow button 222 or the down arrow button 223 respectively After editing th
37. est to edit a portion of a document e g a book section In one embodiment the request is generated by selecting an identifier such as a title of a book section The US 8 171 387 B2 17 request which consists of a link to the book section is trans mitted over the connection 2215 to the interface 2225 The interface 2225 extracts the link and passes it to the suite of application programs 2230 The suite of application programs 2230 retrieves the book section from the data repository 2235 and passes the book section on to the interface 2225 For example if the book section is stored in a database in the document repository 2235 the suite of application programs 2230 formats an SQL command to retrieve the book section If the book section is stored as a dynamic document the suite of application programs 2230 generates the book section passes it on to the interface 2225 which then transmits it to the user host 2210 over the link 2215 In one embodiment the interface 2225 is a part of the suite of programs 2230 In other embodiment the data repository 2235 is distributed across multiple hosts Other embodiments are envisioned in accordance with the present invention It will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art that other modifications can be made to the embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims I claim 1 A system comprising a non transitory computer rea
38. formation 20 20 45 The system of claim 44 wherein the workflow control module is also to track ranges of progress on the writing or editing of the multiple parts 46 The system of claim 44 wherein the workflow control module displays titles of the multiple parts in a hierarchical manner 47 The system of claim 46 wherein the titles are links to the parts 48 A system comprising a workflow control module comprising a non transitory computer readable medium containing computer ex ecutable instructions for selecting titles for parts of a document arranging the parts in a user selectable hier archical structure assigning work on the parts to one or more users and tracking a range of progress of the work a document control module comprising a document engine comprising a non transitory computer readable medium containing computer executable instructions for chang ing content in the parts of the document and displaying the content and a Web based interface for accessing the workflow control module and the document control module the Web based interface to display a title for each of the parts and alist of selectable users for assigning to each of the parts 49 The system of claim 48 wherein each title is linked to an associated user page for displaying and changing a corre sponding part of the document 50 The system of claim 48 wherein the workflow control module comprises a page that displays for each of the pa
39. ion such as over a wide area network coupling a host at a customer site with a host on which the system of the present invention executes Prefer ably the remote host executes a Web client that allows the user to communicate with a Web server that forms part of the system It will be appreciated that in other embodiments the system runs on multiple hosts comprising a Web server and a back end database containing books a login database other programs and data or any combination of these Preferably the back end database or another back end database also stores a list of users allowed access to the system their pass words their status Administrator Editor or Writer It will be appreciated that other configurations can be used in accor dance with the present invention Preferably the wide area network comprises a secure channel such as a virtual private 10 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 65 6 network VPN on the Internet It will be appreciated that other channels can be used such as non secure Internet con nections local area networks wireless networks or any other connection Preferably the system is configured to couple with the host over connections automatically established by handshaking protocols or by parameters set within the system or the remote host It will also be appreciated that information such as log in screens can be presented to a user using panels other than Web pages As used herein a
40. its of orga nization The Header area 801 contains a Title area 805 an Editor area 806 and a Due Date area 807 which have been explained above in reference to FIG 7 The section 810 contains a first part 811 a second part 812 a third part 813 a fourth part 814 a fifth part 815 and a sixth part 816 As described below the parts are organized hierarchically as chapters and sections in a book It will be appreciated that in accordance with the present invention parts are alternatively organized using other relationships The first part 811 contains an Insert New button 811A a Search button 811B a title Chapter 1 Over view an editor pull down menu 811D and a reorganization section 811E The editor name shown in the editor pull down menu 811D is shown as the user with the user identifier Bill but can be changed by selecting another user identifier using the pull down menu 811D Pull down menus such as the pull down menu 811D are used to assign each corresponding Chapter Section or Sub section to a Writer or an Editor Preferably Editors also have access to this functionality Everyone in the Administrator s group including the Admin istrator appears in this list The reorganization section 811E has a left arrow button 811E1 an up arrow button 811E2 a right arrow button 811E3 and a down arrow button 811E4 each described in more detail below As shown in FIG 8 the book is arranged in a tree hierar chical struc
41. llows data center operators to better utilize SAN resources and in scalability reliability interoperability manageability and security d SAN operations Domain Virtualization technology provides the ability to and route storage traffic between separate SAN fabrics thereby making create ever larger distributed SANs while minimizing potentially disrupt traffic The OptiStar EdgeSwitch offers built in integrated IP routing functional you to interconnect storage resources across multiple sides in a point to fashion without requiring additional router platforms in the network The connect more data centers over greater distances while improving network potentially reducing data center costs Cost saving can also result from the integration of mulitple networking single platform at the edge of the data center compared to other solution require up to four separate network elements in order to archieve the same the OptiStar EdgeSwitch can support a simpler flatter solution architect hardware components customers can benefit from lower capital and operat Image Photo of Back of Optical Router PT67 Format highlighted text 1530 Insert Table Spell Check Attach File Save Preview Chapter Images Photo of Book of Optical Router PT67 Comment from Bill We should change switch A to an optical switch since this would a increase the speed of our product m To Select Post 1567 Fig 15 HEY ES isso U S Patent May 1
42. more sections of the document portion A first panel from the plurality of panels contains an identifier corresponding to the location of a second panel from the plurality of panels In other embodiments the identifier comprises a link to the second panel Preferably the first panel comprises a first Web page the second panel comprises a second Web page and the link comprises a uniform resource locator for the second Web page In another embodiment the document portion com prises markers corresponding to headings within the docu ment portion The markers comprise Standard Generalized Markup Language SGML tags such as eXtensible Markup Language XML or Hypertext Markup Language HTML tags Alternatively the markers are Rich Text Format RTF control words The document control engine comprises a formatting engine configured to automatically embed the markers within the document portion in response to an input from the Web based interface In other embodiments the system further comprises a host coupled to the Web based interface A Web browser executes on the host The host is coupled to the Web based interface over a local area network or over a wide area network such as the Internet Alternatively the host is coupled to the Web based interface over a secure channel such as a virtual private network In other embodiments the document control engine is configured to import an object into the document portion in response to a comman
43. n Search Area Authored By Optimal input strength C Any time Last three months 3 Last year El Book Chapter C Section Sub Section All Text Only headings L Only Images C Only Tables Anyone _ Administrator Select V7 1908 Editor Select TO CO Writer Publish Booklet Fig 19 DI US 8 171 387 B2 Sheet 20 of 22 May 1 2012 U S Patent 0707 lepioog YSHANA 1ojnoi ag uto DINOS SOULS ecoa or Pv mayang indu TZ uonoss qns 0107 erioog or ppy suomrpuoz eur SUS TZ uonoes Denioog o ppy 30153 jea z 181deyo lojuoo vjep guronpoi pue uonezinn 10Ajou gurAoJdui rym soouejstp juoo B EP SIOWI 32ouuoo NOA dJ ued SIY lowjou gjd 19jno1 euonrppe Suurnbor moya uorgsuJ 8 UI sayis o dr nui sso1o soomnoso1 9 TIOIS Pog 91 PPV oougunogreq Suiziundo z TT uonoos qng Loses ev SoAnoofqo uoneqme T 7 ONIS ee anood or Bev MBTAIOAQ TIAS 91d io mondo suara Jo Joo MOA e mn eseo d yysuans induy jeundo qows moX jouoAuy oumo o A sjuo1uo JO GEL Kueduio Jlomoy susy 0007 U S Patent May 1 2012 Sheet 21 of 22 US 8 171 387 B2 2100 2101 2102 2103 2104 2105 2106 lt footnote gt Good Book About Fiber Optics 2107 Sub Section Sub Section 1 1 2 Optimizing Performance 2108 section Sub Section 1 2 Initial Settings 2109 2110 2111 2112 2113 2114 2115 2116 2117 2118 2119 212
44. n accordance with one embodiment of the present invention FIG 17 is a screen shot ofa Search page in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention FIG 18 is a screen shot of the result of running a search query having the search criteria shown in FIG 17 and show ing the buttons that the user can use to import search results into an existing or new book in accordance with one embodi ment of the present invention FIG 19 is a screen shot of a Search page from which a secondary user searches within documents in a system library FIG 20 is a screen shot of a results page from which a secondary user can generate a booklet a collection of search results FIG 21 contains a table containing XML tags used to store documents in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention FIG 22 is a block diagram of a system in accordance with the present invention DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention allows users to more efficiently col laborate on documents producing documents that are more accurate more easily updated and more accessible For example in accordance with the present invention company field engineers are able to quickly view product service manu als from customer sites Using a single interface the field engineers are able to access the service manuals they are able to quickly search through the manuals for key terms helping them to quickly troubleshoot malfunctioning products
45. n discrete parts in location as an XML file or in a structured query language SQL database A system in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention allows users to log on to the system using a Web based interface to access one or more books The system also allows users to write sections of the books organize sections of the books track the progress of persons working editing sections of the books set completion due dates for sections of the books assign the editing of sections to people within an organization add to the book links to Web sites that users may be interested in exchange comments about sec tions of the books search within the books embed objects within the books including but not limited to text files still images moving video clips tables footnotes and the results of searches The system also allows users to publish portions of the books exporting text images tables and footnotes Books can be published in a variety of formats to fit the situation at hand For example a user may wish to publish a PDF version of the book for easy printing Alternatively a user may wish to publish an HTML version of a book for display on a Web site In accordance with one embodiment of the present inven tion the system allows various types of users with various privileges For example an Administrator oversees the sys tem and accordingly has the most extensive privileges Among other privileges the Administrator
46. ng the pull down menu 1735 by an editor cho sen using the pull down menu 1740 or by a writer selected using the pull down menu 1745 In FIG 1700 the Anyone check box has been selected indicating that the documents written by any author and satisfying the other search criteria will be searched The search is initiated by selecting the Search button 1750 FIG 18 shows a Search Result page 1800 for a search performed using the search criteria in FIG 17 The Search Result page 1800 shows the search phrase 1801 entered in the field 1701 of FIG 17 a first result 1820 and a second result 1840 The first result 1820 shows the book title 1810 chapter title 1811 section title 1812 and sub section title 1813 for the section containing the search terms The first few words of the result are also shown ina Result Text Area 1825 Section 1840 of FIG 18 also shows that Chapter 2 Initial Testing Sec tion 2 1 Determine Initial Conditions Sub Section 2 1 1 US 8 171 387 B2 15 Input Strength also contains the search term Chapter 1 Overview can be imported into the current book by selecting the Add to Book button 1821 Section 1 1 Calibration Objectives can be added to the current book by selecting the Add to Book button 1822 and Sub Section 1 1 2 Opti mizing Performance can be added to the current book by selecting the Add to Book button 1823 If the user selected the Ad
47. ntaining the date Jan 14 2004 a Comment Posted element 910E containing the text No a Feedback Request element 910F containing the text No and an Approved element 910G containing the text No The entries are arranged in the same hierarchical fashion as shown in FIG 8 The Comment Posted element 910E refers to a comment that the writer input at the comments interface next to the creative interface on the Writing page 1300 FIG 13 that he or she is working on Selecting the link opens the Writing page with the section being discussed in the writing panel and the comment in the appropriate comment panel Simi larly the Feedback Request element 910F means that the writer working on the section asked the Administrator Ben to read this and give feedback Selecting the appropriate link preferably does the same thing as selecting the Yes link next to it opening the Writing page with the section in question in 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 12 thetestbox The name is made a link so that the user can more easily find the feedback requests directed to him Elements contain text or identifiers Thus for example the entry 930 has a Comment Posted element 930E containing the Comment identifier Yes which hides a link to a comment posted on another page Thus when a user selects the Yes identifier contained in the element 930E the Web page con taining the comment is automatic
48. o a completion of a section of the document updating the status and editing the document In accordance with a fourth aspect of the invention a graphical user interface comprises a first panel displaying headings work assignments and status of sections of a docu ment a second panel coupled to the first panel the second panel containing a link to a section of the document and a third panel for displaying the section of the document the third panel configured for editing the section of the document The first panel the second panel and the third panel are all accessible to a host over a Web based interface BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG 1 is a user log in screen in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention FIG 2 is a screen shot of an Administrator s Home page in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention FIG 3 is a screen shot of an Administrator s Home page in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention FIG 4 isa screen shot of the Administrator s Home page of FIG 3 with additional editors and writers added in accor dance with one embodiment of the present invention FIG 5 is a screen shot of the Administrator Home page of FIG 2 with additional book titles in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention FIG 6 is a screen shot of a calendar for the completion of a book in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention FIG 7 is a screen
49. ocation where the table is to appear A link to the table would be placed below the text area FIG 17 shows a Search page 1700 that is loaded when a user searches through a book by for example selecting the Search button 636 of FIG 7 The Search page 1700 contains a Search Term section 1705 a Date Range section 1710 a Return section 1720 a Search Area section 1725 an Authored By section 1730 a Search button 1750 and a Back to Top button 1755 In operation a user is able to retrieve documents within the system 1 that contain one or more words by entering the words into the With all the Words text area 1701 of the Search Term section 1705 2 that contain an exact phrase by entering the phrase into the With the exact phrase text area 1702 3 that contain at least one word from among a group of words by entering the words into the With at least one of the words text area 1703 4 that do not contain one or more words by entering the one or more words into the Without the words text area 1704 or 5 any com bination of 1 through 4 In the example shown in FIG 1700 documents will be searched to find any that have the words optimal and input and strength preferably by using a Boolean AND search The user has the ability to select the date of the documents to be searched by selecting one of the check boxes in the Date Range area 1710 In FIG 1700 the Last three months check box has be
50. r product hl 1330 NU JA aru 2 Ci 1340 To 1341 1342 Fig 13 U S Patent May 1 2012 Sheet 14 of 22 US 8 171 387 B2 1400 ra Acme Router Company Table of Contents Welcome Ben Calibrating Optical Router PT67 Chapter Two Initial Testing Spell Check Microsoft Internet Explorer 1401 2 Spell Check Close Spell Check The underlined words might be missplelled Click to modify Cost savings can also result formt eh integration of multiple networking functions into a single platform a edge of the data center compared to toher solutions may require up to four separate network elements in o to achieve the same results Since the OptiStar Edge can support a simpler flatter solution architecture fewer hardware components customers can benefit from You can edit the word directly or choose from the spelling suggestions if any Correction platform Replace all Format highlighted text Spell Check Insert Table Save Preview Chapter Comment from Bill We should change switch A to an optical switch since this would 8 increase the speed of our product uy baa AGE iS To Select 9 Fig 14 U S Patent May 1 2012 Sheet 15 of 22 US 8 171 387 B2 1500 Pd Acme Router Company Table of Contents Welcome Ben Calibrating Optical Router PT67 1302 TOC Chapter Two Initial Testing Status cP 75 A key differentiator for the OptiStar EdgeSwitch is its Domain Virtualized which a
51. rea a user owner area and a status area 28 The system of claim 27 wherein the status area con tains a completion percentage area 29 The system of claim 1 wherein the document control module comprises a publishing engine configured to publish the document in a format selected by a user 30 The system of claim 29 wherein the selected format is one of PDF Rich Text Format HTML and XML 31 The system of claim 1 wherein the search criteria comprises at least one of a date range a search term a search area a user type and a user identity 32 The system of claim 31 wherein the user type is one of an administrator an editor and a writer 33 The system of claim 31 wherein the search engine is configured to display a location within the document where the search term is found 34 The system of claim 33 wherein the search engine is configured to display a marker and text corresponding to the location of the search term within the document US 8 171 387 B2 19 35 The system of claim 34 wherein the marker corre sponds to a heading within the document 36 The system of claim 35 wherein the heading corre sponds to at one of a book heading a chapter heading a section heading and a sub section heading of a book 37 The system of claim 36 wherein the search area is one of text a heading an image and a table 38 The system of claim 36 wherein the document control module is configured to import the result of
52. reen shot of a Writer s Home page 1200 for the user with the user identifier Matt The Writer s Home Page 1200 contains a What s Up area 1210 and a Status area 1220 The Status area 1220 contains a plurality of entries including entry 1222 The entry 1222 contains elements simi lar to those discussed above in relation to FIG 11 Underlined elements are links to sections that the user Matt is working on US 8 171 387 B2 13 Selecting the underlined element will open the element in Matt s Writing page Thus for example the Title element 1222A contains a title Chapter 2 Initial Testing Selecting the title identifier 1222A will open the identified section in Matt s Writing page Thus selecting the identifier Chapter 2 Initial Testing will load the Writing Page 1300 shown in FIG 13 The Writing Page 1300 contains a link 1301 containing a URL to the page for Calibrating Optical Router PT67 a link TOC 1302 to the table of contents for the book Calibrat ing Optical Router PT67 a slider status bar 1307 which a user can slide to indicate how much of the section he has completed a text section 1310 a function area 1320 a first comment section 1330 a second comment section 1340 a select drop down menu 1341 and a post button 1342 The text section 1310 contains the text for the section titled Chapter Two Initial Testing Within the function area 1320 the B button 1320A the I button 1320B and
53. rt New button 635 and other buttons not shown When the Due Date button is selected a drop down calendar 641 is dis played indicated by a clock 642 on the scheduled due date By selecting another date on the pull down calendar 641 a new due date is scheduled FIG 7 is a screen shot of the Table of Contents Page 600 after the Insert New Button 635 has been selected As shown 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 10 in FIG 7 when the Insert New Button 635 has been selected a pop up 650 appears The pop up 650 contains a text area 651 for entering the title of a new chapter and an OK button 652 which the user selects after entering the title in the text area 651 FIG 8 is a screen shot ofa Table of Contents page 800 after multiple Chapters and sections have been added using the Insert New button 635 of FIG 7 As shown in FIG 8 The Table of Contents page 800 contains a Header area 801 and a plurality of sections 810 and 820 While FIG 8 shows the Table of Contents page 800 containing two sections 810 and 820 it will be appreciated that the Table of Contents page 800 contains one section or more than one section if appropriate The Table of Contents page 800 preferably contains more than two sections In the embodiment shown in FIG 8 each section corresponds to a chapter in a book with each section containing sub sections It will be appreciated that each sub section can itself contain sub sections or other un
54. rts a title identifier selectable to access the part a continuous completion status and a due date 51 The system of claim 48 wherein the workflow control module comprises a single interface operable to insert new parts into the document rearrange the hierarchical structure of the parts and to search within the parts for content 52 The system of claim 51 wherein the hierarchical struc ture is designated by headings and sub headings
55. secondary user as used herein the term primary user refers to auser that has access to the applications of the system The term primary user thus refers to any one of an Administrator an Editor and a Writer FIG 19 shows a Search Page also called a Booklet 1900 available to a secondary user The Booklet 1900 is similar to the Search Page 1700 but has a Publish Booklet button 1910 After the secondary user enters the search criteria in a manner similar to that for the Search Page 1700 and selects the Search button 1908 the Booklet 2000 shown in FIG 20 is loaded and displayed When search results are returned as shown in the Booklet 2000 each result is followed by an Add to Booklet button such as the Add to Booklet buttons 2001 2002 2003 and 2010 Selecting any Add to Booklet button will cause the search result to be included in a session specific PDF document For example selecting button 2001 will cause all of Chapter 1 and its sub sections to be included in the secondary user s Booklet Selecting button 2010 will cause Section 2 1 and all of its sub sections to be included in the Booklet as well Selecting the Publish Booklet button 2020 will allow the secondary user to download a PDF con taining his search results After selecting the Publish Book let button 2020 the pop up display 2015 will appear allow ing the secondary user to title the Booklet FIG 21 shows a Table 1 of en
56. shot of a Table of Contents for a book in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention FIG 8 is a screen shot of the Table of Contents shown in FIG 7 with additional sections added to titles in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention FIG 9 is a screen shot of a Book Overview page in accor dance with one embodiment of the present invention FIG 10 is a screen shot of the Book Overview page of FIG 9 including a pop up window allowing the user to save a copy of the current book with a different title commonly referred to as a Save As function in accordance with one embodi ment of the present invention 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 FIG 11 is a screen shot of a Person Overview page in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention FIG 12 is a screen shot of a Writer s Home page in accor dance with one embodiment of the present invention FIG 13 is a screen shot of a Writing page in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention FIG 14 is a screen shot of the Writing page shown in FIG 13 with a pop up window for a spell checker in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention FIG 15 is a screen shot of the Writing page shown in FIG 13 with an embedded image in accordance with one embodi ment of the present invention FIG 16 is a screen shot of the Writing page shown in FIG 13 with a pop up of a Table Creation interface i
57. ssign sections of the document for users to work on and a way to track the progress on those sections The embodiments allow the document to be published in a variety of formats In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention a system comprises a document control module comprising a document engine and a document portion a workflow control module for tracking and assigning work on the document portion and a Web based interface coupled to the document control module and the workflow control module The work flow control module provides a plurality of sets of functions a 5 20 30 40 45 50 60 2 to be performed on the document portion each set of func tions corresponding to a type of user Preferably a first type of user has a corresponding first set of functions the first set of functions comprising adding a user to the system adding a book to the system and assigning work to a user A second type of user has a corresponding second set of functions the second set of functions comprising assigning work to a user creating a chapter in a book and creating sections in the chapter A third type of user has a corresponding third set of functions the third set of functions comprising editing a section of the book and reporting a completion status for work on the section of the book Preferably the workflow control module comprises a plu rality of panels each panel associated with a workflow for one or
58. t When the document is finished it may be locked by an administrator and made available for searches on the compa ny s intranet This prior art system integrates Microsoft Outlook Microsoft Word a server based document repository a server based full text search engine a message board and some type of project management or workflow application The system may also include reporting tools that will read through the communications and present the administrator with various statistics This system has several drawbacks First information is contained in Word documents Search queries among a num ber of documents tell users which documents contain the search terms but the queries do not tell the user where in the document the search terms are found The user must still look through each document to determine where the search terms are located Second the documents are not easily accessible to multiple users especially those at remote locations such as customer sites Third the documents cannot be easily or quickly edited and reformatted for display SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention include a method of and a system for generating organizing editing and search ing through an electronic document The embodiments pro vide a Web based graphical user interface to the document allowing users from remote locations to quickly and easily access the document The embodiments also provide an easy way to a
59. tifier Charlie 363 and its associated Delete key 364 have been added Within the Writers area 365 a user identifier Matt 366 and its associated Delete key 368 and a user identifier Jane and its associated Delete key 369 have been added FIG 5 shows the Administrator s Home page 500 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention after books have been added to it The Administrator Home page 500 differs from the Administrator s Home page 200 in that it has modified Current What s Up Links area 235 Library area 550 and People area 560 The Current What s Up Links area now contains a first area 535 and a second area 540 The first area 535 contains a link http www impor tant_vendor_site com 531 a comment 532 and a Delete key 533 The second area 540 contains a link http www impor tant_media_site com 541 a comment 542 and an associated Delete key 543 The information contained in the first area 535 and the second area 540 were added by entering the information into the appropriate fields in the Add What s Up Link area 215 and selecting the Add key 224 The Library area 550 contains a plurality of entries 550A 550B 550C and 550D The entry 550A has a Title area 551 an Editor area 552 a Status area 553 anda Due Date area 554 The Title area 551 contains a title identifier 551A and a table of contents TOC link 551B Preferably the title identifier 551A and the TOC link 55
60. tion US 8 171 387 B2 3 In other embodiments the headings correspond to at least one of a book heading a chapter heading a section heading and a sub section heading of a book The search area is one of text a heading an image and a table The document control module is configured to import the result of one or more searches directly into the document portion The Web based interface is configured to allow both a primary user and a secondary user to access the search engine The system is configured to collect one or more results of searches into a booklet to format the booklet and to transmit the formatted booklet to a host computer Preferably the booklet is format ted as a PDF file In accordance with a second aspect of the present inven tion a system comprises a document control module com prising a document engine and a document portion a work flow control module for tracking and assigning work on the document portion the workflow control module comprising a communications module for communication workflow infor mation a Web based interface coupled to the document con trol module and the workflow control module and a host coupled to the Web based interface over a network In accordance with a third aspect of the invention a method of controlling workflow related to a document comprises accessing the document using a Web based interface and using the Web based interface to perform one of tracking a status relating t
61. tries 2101 2123 for XML tags that are generated when a user creates a document in accor dance with embodiments of the present invention Two ele ment entries contain an XML tag in the left hand column and examples of sections relating to these entries Thus for example entry 2101 shows the XML tag lt book gt that would be assigned to the book titled Calibrating Optical Router PT67 XML tags are automatically generated and inserted into the text when a user creates a section or other element These XML tags allow a search engine to more efficiently search through a document and also allow a customized Web 20 30 35 40 45 50 55 65 16 browser to render the formatted document correctly For example if a user chooses to search only images by for example selecting the check box Only Images in the Search Area 1725 in FIG 17 the search engine will perform searches only within the lt image gt lt image gt tags whose open ing tag is shown in entry 2115 of Table 1 It will be appreciated that documents can be formatted in ways other than by using the XML tags shown in FIG 21 For example documents can be formatted using HTML tags using control words used in RTF to name a few formats that can be used in accordance with the present invention Alter natively documents do not have to be formatted but can contain unformatted text In operation a user logs into the system and is brought to his home page A
62. ture The book contains parts 810 and 820 The part 810 contains a first part 811 containing a first sub part 812 and a second sub part 814 The first sub part 812 contains two sub parts with titles in the fields 813C1 and 813C2 The second sub part 814 contains a two sub parts with titles in the fields 815C1 and 815C2 Each part of the book has an Insert New button and a Search button When the Insert New button is selected the system will generate a new part in the same hierarchical level as that of the section from which the Insert New button was pressed Thus for example if the Insert New button 813A is selected a pop up menu 860 is displayed The pop up menu 860 is titled Sub section 1 1 3 indicating that the new section will be on the same level as the other parts in 813 After the user inputs a title into field 861 and selects the OK button 862 a new section 1 1 3 with the entered title is created and dis played in the Table of Contents page 800 When a user selects the Search button 811B a search page FIG 17 is displayed Here the user is able to search through all of the documents a client has created in the system select text chosen from search results and import the search result into the current book by selecting the Add to Book button e g FIG 18 elements 1821 1822 or 1823 Thus in accor dance with the present invention a user is able to import US 8 171 387 B2 11 search results directly into
63. usq SWOOPS A SJU9JUO JO ALL Kueduio Jamoy susy 006 US 8 171 387 B2 Sheet 10 of 22 May 1 2012 U S Patent 6 PIUSIULA Yo ON ON ON ON SIA ON ON ON ON sax 006 ON 0001 SIX Sox 0I 914 doL6 TAX 1wiH rwo rL prn dad T0 Sl L0 v0 9l TO F0 01 10 v0 P 1 10 HSS oSeloAV 09 Aj ay El Aye imdu z z worjseg qng ysusys 1nduj 7 uondas 4ng suoloaforg SUMEN Z 7 uonoss qng E E agu sionuon ay Suipuejsiapuy D 7 wouseg qns QOULULIOJIOg SUIZIWINdY z p WONDEg qns spooN Bulssassy uonooS qng 09 EE 118 8016 06 L9Ld MOH pondo Suyneaqyes US anode AA sjuojuo JO AQL utduio J9moy sunny SUOIIPUOD Peug suruuajag 7 uonoeg 3unsa 29110 z Jodeyo L L3 Surf H0 6 VO 6 SBUINIAS eurup z UON 2A199 O uoneiqie uonoos V0I6 MalAI9A0 Jade emi emi 0L6 096 0 6 St 076 S16 016 US 8 171 387 B2 Sheet 11 of 22 May 1 2012 U S Patent SZ Paystun b ZhII m wwe o eee meee eee wm ee ee eee ee we wee ee ew ew ww ow we eH ee ee ew mmm mee mm ETIKETA 4 vO LO TO suonrpuo eniup unuiojaq 7 UOHo9S OPTI 90 71 10 ON ON SIX ON ON ON ON ON isoanboy A9eQp39H juaumuro 158 IWA vO p 1 10 09 EHHH m8 8016 v
64. word field 346 or the Confirm Password field 347 After a user has checked one of the check boxes 341 342 and 343 and input the name and password into the Name field 344 the Password field 346 and the Confirm Password field 347 the user selects the Add button 348 to add the new user to the system The Existing Users area 350 displays information about the users existing in the system database The Existing Users area 350 contains an Administrators area 355 an Editors area 360 and a Writers area 365 The Existing Users area 350 shows that there is only one Administrator currently in the system denoted by a user identifier the link Ben 356 Preferably the link Ben 356 indicates the name of the user and also provides a link to the user s Home page Because the Editors area 360 contains no links no editors are currently recognized by the system e g not stored in a user database Similarly US 8 171 387 B2 9 because the Writers area 365 contains no links there are no writers currently in the system FIG 4 shows an Add or Name Users page 400 which is the Add or Name Users page 300 after editors have been added to the Editors area 360 and writers have been added to the Writers area 365 Identical numbers in the figures refer to the same element In the exemplary Add or Name Users page 400 shown in FIG 4 within the Editors area 360 a user identifier Bill 361 and its associated Delete key 362 and a user iden

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