Structured Data Objects: US Patent 5,428,729 commenting on US Patent 5,008,853

The following quoted text is a comment on the following Patent Library entry US Patent 5,008,853: Representation of collaborative multi-user activities relative to shared structured data objects in a networked workstation environment (Xerox Corporation) Φ by inventors Roger A. Chang et al. in US Patent 5,428,729: System and method for computer aided software engineering (IBM Corporation).

• "Concepts relating to control of relationships between individuals in a networked workstation system are also of relevance to the present invention. Bly et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,008,853, discloses a multiuser collaborative system operating on a real-time basis. The particular focus of Bly et al. is the multiuser interface. Another aspect of Bly et al. are methods relating to access of "structured data objects". The term structured data object is used generically to denote a data object that contains a series of other data objects linked together in a predetermined manner and which may include a visual representation or a functional abstraction for a display screen. Member data objects of the structured data object may have associated sets of operations brought together for one or more functional purposes. An example of a structured data object is a word processing document with several pages, where each page is a data object and pages are preceding and subsequent pages in a predetermined order. A structured data object that is capable of holding other structured data objects is referred to as a container. Bly discloses employment of containers in a shared multiuser environment, where it is accessible to more than one user through a plurality of network coupled personal workstations.
  
  Representation of a structured data object in iconic form is discussed at column 2, lines 50-55 of Bly et al. Among the iconic representations are a container type known as a book, which is a special directory that creates a relationship among document portions within the book. Consecutive documents in a book can share a single page number series and there is a facility to automatically create a table of contents and index.
  
  Structured data objects, such as file folders and documents digitally stored in a file drawer, can be shared by many users in accordance with individually assigned access rights. This is accomplished by placing a digital copy of a structured data object on the user's desktop metaphor for the user's subsequent manipulation. Communications of revisions among users, if desired, must be specifically provided for.
  
  Bly et al. specifically relates to construction of a publication management system. (See column 11, lines 32-61). The system is implemented through the abstraction of a shared book metaphor. The desktop metaphor of each workstation includes an abstraction representing the shared data structure, which abstraction is referred to as the shared book. A new book is begun by replication of a blank shared book and naming the replicated structure. Upon opening of a shared book by a user, a listing of entries, analogous to a table of contents, is displayed. However, a shared book does not admit other container type files (see column 18, lines 50-60). Beyond the pages of text for the shared book, the shared book also includes a property sheet providing fields for items that concern the shared book as a whole. These include the shared book's name, its file service, its database, its access list, the number of remote consecutive versions among other operational details." [emphasis added]