US Patent 5,107,443: Private regions within a shared workspace (Xerox Corporation)

Title: Private regions within a shared workspace
Patent Number: US Patent 5,107,443
Issued: April 21, 1992
Filed: September 7, 1988
Parent case: n/a
Inventor(s): Smith, Randall B. et al.
Assignee: Xerox Corporation
Referenced at issuance: US Patent 4,962,475 (IBM Corporation), US Patent 4,974,173 (Xerox Corporation), & US Patent 5,008,853 (Xerox Corporation) Φ.
Referenced after issuance: US Patent 5,220,657 (Xerox Corporation) Φ
Blogger comment:

There were 11 references to prior patents at issuance, including US Patent 4,962,475, US Patent 4,974,173, and US Patent 5,008,853, referenced above. The remaining 8 references are unremarkable for the scope and purposes of this blog.

An advanced search at USPTO online on May 9, 2008 for distinguishing references to this patent after its issuance using ref/5107443 reveals 144 references. A more refined search reveals US Patent 5,220,657.

Abstract:

In a shared navigable workspace that is presented at more than one workstation, a region is made private in response to a user request. The user can also indicate the region's level of privacy by indicating levels of access of different users.

Independent claims (as numbered):

1. A method comprising:

presenting a shared workspace at each of first and second workstations, the shared workspace being perceptible as including a region, the region being perceptible as having a position within the shared workspace; the region having a first level of privacy applicable to the first workstation and a second level of privacy applicable to the second workstation;

the step of presenting the shared workspace comprising:

presenting first and second display objects within the shared workspace, the first display object indicating a position of the region within the workspace, the region being presented at the first workstation with the first level of privacy and at the second workstation with the second level of privacy;

receiving a signal from the first workstation requesting that the first display object be positioned on the second display object; and

in response to the signal, presenting the shared workspace with the first display object superimposed on the second display object such that at least part of the second display object is in the region, the part of the second display object that is in the region being presented at the first workstation with the first level of privacy and at the second workstation with the second level of privacy.

3. A method of presenting a navigable shared workspace at each of first and second workstations, the method comprising:

receiving, at the first workstation, a first signal indicating a first part of the shared workspace to be presented at the first workstation;

receiving, at the second workstation, a second signal indicating a second part of the shared workspace to be presented at the second workstation; the first part and the second part each including a region within the shared workspace; and

in response to the first and second signals, presenting the first part of the shared workspace at the first workstation and presenting the second part of the shared workspace at the second workstation; the first part of the shared workspace presented at the first workstation having a first set of display features in the region and the second part of the shared workspace presented at the second workstation having a second set of display features in the region, the first set of display features being different than the second set of display features;

the step of receiving the first signal comprising receiving a signal selecting a selectable transition unit in a third part of the shared workspace presented at the first workstation, the step of presenting the first and second parts of the shared workspace comprising ceasing to present the third part of the shared workspace at the first workstation and beginning to present the first part of the shared workspace at the first workstation.

4. A method comprising:

presenting a shared workspace at first and second workstations; the shared workspace including a pointer; the shared workspace further including a private region with a boundary, the private region having a level of privacy applicable to the first workstation, the level of privacy indicating whether the first workstation has sufficient access to the private region to move the pointer into the private region;

the step of presenting the shared workspace comprising:

presenting the shared workspace with the pointer outside the boundary of the private region and, if the level of privacy indicates that the first workstation has sufficient access to move the pointer into the private region, presenting a key display object within the shared workspace at the first workstation;

receiving a signal from the first workstation requesting movement of the pointer into the private region; and

responding to the signal based on the level of privacy of the private region; the substep of responding to the signal comprising presenting the pointer in the private region if the signal also requests that the key display object move into the private region but continuing to present the pointer outside the private region's boundary if the signal does not also request that the key display object move into the private region.

5. A method comprising:

presenting a shared workspace at first and second workstations; the shared workspace including a pointer; the shared workspace further including a private region that contains a selectable display unit, the private region having a level of privacy applicable to the first workstation, the level of privacy indicating whether the first workstation has sufficient access to the private region to select the selectable display unit;

the step of presenting the shared workspace comprising:

presenting the shared workspace with the pointer and the private region containing the selectable display unit;

receiving a signal from the first workstation requesting positioning of the pointer on the selectable display unit and selection of the selectable display unit; and

responding to the signal based on the level of privacy of the private region; the substep of responding to the signal comprising selecting the selectable display unit if the level of privacy indicates that the first workstation has sufficient access to select the selectable display unit and not selecting the selectable display unit if the level of privacy indicates that the first workstation does not have sufficient access.

6. A method comprising:

presenting a shared workspace at each of first and second workstations;

the step of presenting the shared workspace comprising:

presenting the shared workspace including first and second display objects within the shared workspace, the first display object indicating a position of a region within the workspace;

receiving a signal from the first workstation requesting that the first display object be positioned on the second display object such that the second display object is entirely within the region; and

in response to the signal, presenting the shared workspace with the first display object superimposed on the second display object such that the second display object is entirely in the region.

7. A method comprising:

presenting a shared workspace at each of first and second workstations;

the step of presenting the shared workspace comprising:

presenting the shared workspace with first and second display objects within the shared workspace, the first display object indicating a position of a region within the workspace;

receiving a signal from the first workstation requesting that the first display object be positioned on the second display object such that only a part of the second display object is in the region; and

is response to the signal, presenting the shared workspace with the first display object superimposed on the second display object within the shared workspace such that only the part of the second display object is in the region.

8. A method comprising:

presenting a shared workspace at each of first and second workstations;

the step of presenting the shared workspace comprising:

presenting first, second, and third display objects within the shared workspace, the first and third display objects respectively indicating opposite corners of a rectangular region within the workspace;

receiving a first signal from the first workstation requesting that the first display object be positioned on the second display object;

in response to the first signal, presenting the shared workspace with the first display object superimposed on the second display object such that at least part of the second display object is in the region;

receiving a second signal from the first workstation requesting that the third display object be positioned on the second display object; and

in response to the second signal, presenting the shared workspace with the third display object superimposed on the second display object such that at least part of the second display object remains in the region.

9. A method of operating a system including a first workstation with a first display means, and a second workstation with a second display means; the system further including means for presenting a shared workspace on the first and second display means, presentation of the shared workspace producing the perception that a first workspace shown on the first display means is the same as a second workspace shown on the second display means; the shared workspace further being perceptible as including a region; the method comprising the steps of:

presenting the first workspace at the first display means, the first workspace including the region, the region being perceptible as having a position within the shared workspace and having a boundary that is within the shared workspace, the first workspace including a first set of display features within the boundary of the region; and

presenting the second workspace at the second display means, the second workspace including the region, the region being perceptible as having a position within the shared workspace and having a boundary that is within the shared workspace, the second workspace including a second set of display features within the boundary of the region, the second set of display features appearing the same as the first set of display features;

receiving a first signal from the first workstation indicating a change in level of privacy of the region; and

in response to the first signal, modifying one of the first and second sets of display features to appear differently than the other so that the region has a first level of privacy in the first workspace and a second level of privacy in the second workspace, the first and second levels of privacy being different.

14. A method of operating a system including a first workstation with a first display means, and a second workstation with a second display means; the system further including means for presenting a shared workspace on the first and second display means, presentation of the shared workspace producing the perception that a first workspace shown on the first display means is the same as a second workspace shown on the second display means, the shared workspace further being perceptible as including a region; the method comprising the steps of:

presenting the first workspace at the first display means, the first workspace including the region, the region being perceptible as having a position within the shared workspace and having a boundary that is within the shared workspace;

presenting the second workspace at the second display means, the second workspace including the region, the region being perceptible as having a position within the shared workspace and having a boundary that is within the shared workspace;

receiving a first signal from the first workstation requesting that the region within the shared workspace be made private;

in response to the first signal, storing privacy data indicating that the level of privacy of the region at the first workstation is different than the level of privacy at the second workstation;

after the step of storing privacy data, receiving a second signal from the first workstation requesting an operation involving the region; and

responding to the second signal based on the privacy data.

21. A method of operating a system including a first workstation with a first display means, and a second workstation with a second display means; the system further including means for presenting a shared workspace on the first and second display means; presentation of the shared workspace producing the perception that a first workspace shown on the first display means is the same as a second workspace shown on the second display means, the shared workspace further including a pointer, the shared workspace further being perceptible as including a region; the method comprising the steps of:

presenting the first workspace at the first display means, the first workspace including the region, the region being perceptible as having a position within the shared workspace and having a boundary that is within the shared workspace, the pointer being outside the region and visible in the first workspace;

presenting the second workspace at the second display means, the second workspace including the region, the region being perceptible as having a position within the shared workspace and having a boundary that is within the shared workspace, the pointer being outside the region;

receiving a first signal from the first workstation requesting that the region within the shared workspace be made private;

in response to the first signal, storing privacy data indicating the region has a first level of privacy in the first workspace and a second level of privacy in the second workspace, the first and second levels of privacy being different, so that the first workstation has sufficient access to move the pointer into the region, and the second workstation does not have sufficient access to move the pointer into the region;

receiving a second signal from the first workstation requesting movement of the pointer into the region; and

responding to the second signal based on the stored data indicating the level of privacy of the region.

23. A method of operating a system including a first workstation with a first display means, and a second workstation with a second display means; the system further including means for presenting a navigable shared workspace on the first and second display means; presentation of the shared workspace producing the perception that a first workspace shown on the first display means is the same as a second workspace shown on the second display means, the shared workspace further being perceptible as including a region; the shared workspace further including a selectable transition unit for requesting transition to the region; the method comprising the steps of:

presenting the first workspace at the first display means, the first workspace including the selectable transition unit;

presenting the second workspace at the second display means, the second workspace including the region, the region being perceptible as having a position within the shared workspace and having a boundary that is within the shared workspace;

storing privacy data indicating that the region has a level of privacy so that the first workstation has sufficient access to make a transition to the region;

receiving a first signal from the first workstation indicating user selection of the selectable transition unit to request transition to the region;

responding to the first signal based on the privacy data by making a transition to the region so that the first workspace includes the region, the region being perceptible as having a position within the shared workspace and having a boundary that is within the shared workspace.

Pardalis CEO Presents to UIC 2008 Spring Meeting

Pardalis CEO Presents to UIC 2008 Spring Meeting
Traceback, Trace-forward and the Semantic Web

 
LANSING, MI, May 8, 2008 — Steve Holcombe, CEO of Pardalis, Inc., presented to the University and Industry Consortium 2008 Spring Meeting held at the Sheraton Lansing Hotel. The conference was hosted by the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station at Michigan State University. Mr. Holcombe was a member of an panel of recognized experts which discussed various issues pertaining to traceability.

"Steve added significant value to the entire meeting by his participation," said Lori Tisher, co-chair of the Consortium. "His articulation of data analysis and management issues regarding traceability was particularly enlightening.  As a result, we plan to focus on this issue in greater detail at a future meeting."

About Pardalis, Inc.

Pardalis' mission is to promote the granular sharing of confidential, trustworthy and traceable data along complex supply chains, and within the emerging Semantic Web, by empowering information owners and producers with innovative Common Point Authoring™ methods. For more information, visit http://www.pardalis.com.

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© Pardalis, Inc., 1994-2008. All Rights Reserved. Pardalis, the Pardalis logo and Common Point Authoring are registered trademarks or trademarks of Pardalis. All other trademarks mentioned are property of their respective owners.

Wal-Mart's Widening Lens of Sustainability

The following Social Innovation Conversations podcast is produced by the Center for Social Innovation at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Andrew Ruben & Jib Ellison
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Lens of Sustainability
[runtime: 00:54:16, recorded 2006-12-07]

 
At the time of this audio Andy Ruben was the Vice-President for corporate strategy and sustainability at Wal-Mart. He is now head of Branding at Sam's. Jib Ellison is the founder of Blu Skye Sustainability Consulting which is characterized as Wal-Mart's sustainability partner. The conversation was moderated before Stanford MBA students.

The central theme of this audio is made by Ellison early in the conversation.

"The greatest untapped source of competitive advantage in our time - in [the United States] in particular - is found in ... radical adoption of sustainability principles into [for profit] business systems." (emphasis added)

What makes this all very interesting are representations - supported by anecdotes - by both Ellison and Rubin that Wal-Mart is shifting from its Every Day Low Price mindset toward a broader vision that they call the lens of sustainability.

Ruben and Ellison assert - and, in many respects, compellingly so - that Wal-Mart's sustainability vision is inexorable. And there seems to be a very good sense and understanding - especially by Ruben -  that Wal-Mart's sustainability vision will rely heavily upon trusted information sharing among and between the many participants of complex, international supply chains feeding into the world's largest retailer.

If so, the work of EPCglobal and the W3C will no doubt come to feel the gravitational pull of Wal-Mart's sustainability vision. The question will then be whether these consortiums will develop nimble, architectural standards supportive of data ownership by information producers, big and small. See also Dataportability, Traceability and Data Ownership elsewhere in this blog.

These are the kinds of tools that Wal-Mart will need to overcome the social, political and economic fear factors to information sharing that seem to exponentially increase each time a new fragment of participation is added to a product supply chain. 

US Patent 4,962,475: Method for generating a document utilizing a plurality of windows associated with different data objects (IBM Corporation)

Title: Method for generating a document utilizing a plurality of windows associated with different data objects
Patent Number: US Patent 4,962,475
Issued: October 9, 1990
Filed: March 15, 1988
Parent case: This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 686,565 filed Dec. 26, 1984, now abandoned.
Inventor(s): Hernandez, Irene H. et al.
Assignee: IBM Corporation
Referenced at issuance: n/a
Referenced after issuance: US Patent 5,107,443 (Xerox Corporation) Φ and US Patent 5,655,130 (Unisys Corporation)
Blogger comment:

There were 8 references to prior US patents at issuance, none of which are remarkable for the scope and purposes of this blog. There is also reference to a prior Japanese patent 59-125425 (Jul., 1984) but no comment is made in that regard at this time.

An advanced search at USPTO online on May 9, 2008 for distinguishing references to this patent after its issuance using ref/4962475 reveals 88 references. Another more advanced search of the claims of the 89 referenced patents reveals US Patent 5,107,443 and US Patent 5,655,130.

Abstract:

A method for tailoring a master document to obtain a special document. The master document is made up of data objects and portions of the data objects. Included in the portions are pointers to corresponding data objects. The portions are windowed and displayed. Selection of a window will result in a view port being opened through the window into a corresponding data object. The data object can then be scrolled to obtain a desired portion to be included in the special document. As each desired portion is obtained, it is stored and becomes part of the special document.

Independent claims (as numbered):

1. In a computer system having a display screen, a method of generating a tailored document from data objects making up a master document within said computer system, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) generating, responsive to operator control, computer system signals to display a portion of a plurality of said data objects of said master document in a plurality of windows on said display screen, respectively, with different portions in each of said plurality of windows thereby forming view ports into each of said plurality of data objects when selected;

(b) generating, responsive to operator control, computer system signals to scroll said portion of a selected one of said plurality of data objects in one of said plurality of windows corresponding thereto to position a desired portion of said selected one of said plurality data objects viewable in said one of said plurality of windows for inclusion in said tailored document;

(c) repeating step (b) until a desired portion of each of the remaining ones of said plurality of data objects is positioned within a respective one of said plurality of windows; and

(d) generating, responsive to operator control, computer system signals to include each desired portion of said plurality of the respective data objects in said tailored document stored in said computer system upon a termination of the display of said plurality of windows while maintaining a link between said desired portions and said master document.

4. In a computer system having a display screen, a method of generating a tailored document from a collection of data objects making up a master document and a corresponding collection of portions of said data objects within said computer system, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) generating, responsive to operator control, computer system signals to window a plurality of said portions of said master document and displaying said plurality on said display screen;

(b) generating, responsing to operator control, computer system signals to select one of said displayed portions for creating a view port into a corresponding data object;

(c) generating, responsive to operator control, computer system signals to scroll said corresponding data object in said view port to obtain a desired portion of said corresponding data object positioned within said view port for inclusion in said tailored document;

(d) generating, responsive to operator control, computer system signals to store said desired portion in said computer system to build said tailored document within said computer system in response to the selection of another one of said displayed portions; and

(e) generating, responsive to operator control, computer system signals to include each desired portion of said collection of data objects in said tailored document in the order each of said desired portions is stored upon a termination of the display of said plurality of said portions.

The Disruption of Cloud Computing

Any move toward 'Cloud Computing', like any move toward the Semantic Web, will have to mean a greater and greater need for on-demand data traceability that goes way beyond mere password protection.

Listen to the NPR report, Cloud Computing Puts Computer Resources on Tap.

See also Peter Rip's journal entry entitled The Quiet Disruption in Process.

At the very least, data ownership is about on-demand data traceability. That is, knowing who is doing what with one's information when one wants to know.

People and businesses need to feel as comfortable with placing their valuable information into the hands of an online company as they are in placing their valuable money into the hands of their banker. See Banking on Granular Information Ownership.

The calculus is really just that simple.