US20110119353A1 - Method and Apparatus for information exchange over a web based environment - Google Patents

Abstract

With the ever increasing size and the explorative growth of digital document and content, the traditional electronic information exchanging tool such as email and instant message, web-meeting etc. can not fully satisfy massive user's needs. With the development of central controlled distributed scalable virtual machine (CCDSVM) and the web-based computer user working (operating) environment (WCUWE), the problems mentioned above can be easily solved by introduce a common “dynamic work space” technology of this invention within frame work of CCDSVM and WCUWE. With “dynamic work space” technology , user can use conventional browser to instantly post or un-post messages, digital documents or contents or said resources without install specialized software, without size limitation, with security, and further to obtain capability of anywhere and anytime peer-to-peer exchanging information within organized user-group or in one-to-one fashion. In addition, WCUWE of CCDSVM provides each user a private work space and each group a common work space under the dynamic work space umbrella, therefore, WCUWE provide users of CCDSVM a safe secure infrastructure hierarchy for users or group of users to efficiently manage, sharing, and access the right information in time anywhere on the network.

Description

PRIORITY
• This patent application is a divisional application for U.S. patent application Ser. No. of 11/732,496 filed on Apr. 2, 2007 and assigned to assignee (Sheng Tai Tsao) of present invention, which herein is incorporated by reference in its entirety. The application Ser. No. 11/732,496 has claimed the benefit of the priority of the U.S. provisional application No. 60/787,653. The application Ser. No. 11/732,496 is also the continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/713,904 filed on Aug. 6, 2002 and assigned to assignee (Sheng Tai Tsao) of present invention and entitled “Concurrent Web Based Multi-Task Support for Control Management System” which is based on U.S. provisional application No. 60/401,238. The application Ser. No. 11/732,496 is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/713,905, filed on Aug. 12, 2002 and assigned to assignee (Sheng Tai Tsao) of present invention and entitled “Distributed Virtual SAN” which is based on U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/402,626. The patent application Ser. No. 10/713,904 now is a U.S. Pat. No. 7,418,702. The patent application Ser. No. 10/713,905 now is a U.S. Pat. No. 7,373,990. All of the above prior applications are herein incorporated by reference in each one's entirety.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
• The present invention generally relates to communications network. More specifically, the present invention relates to web based communications system.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
• With increasing popularity of using the Internet and World Wide Web (“the Web”) for the rapidly changing digital world, individuals as well as enterprises, exchange (or swap) large volumes of information through the Web. The demand for larger and faster information exchange has increasingly grown in recent years. For example, various business meetings and conferences are conducted over the Web with attendees scattered around the world. To enhance the communication between the meeting attendees, not only voice (and/or image) information is important, but also information exchange can be critical.
• Fast, volume, and secure information exchange is important in enhancing the efficiency of a communications network. A problem associated with a conventional network is limited size and speed. For example, a typical email system limits the size of each email, such as 10 megabytes, thereby a reasonable speed of delivery of such email can be achieved. Another problem associated with a conventional network is that various hosts require software installation before a user can use their platform. For example, Skype™ requires users to install its proprietary software on the user's systems before it allows them to use its platform.
• Accordingly, there is a need in the art to provide a faster, more secure, volume information exchange over the Web.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
• The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for information exchange over a web environment.
• With the development of central controlled distributed scalable virtual machine (CCDSVM) and the web-based computer user working (operating) environment (WCUWE), the problems mentioned in the previous section can easily be solved by introducing a “dynamic work space” technology of this invention within the frameworks of CCDSVM and WCUWE.
• With dynamic work space technology, one or more login users of CCDSVM, each using a browser of any system and from anywhere, can instantly perform tasks. For example, each user can post or un-post messages, files, folders, or other resources on systems of CCDSVM with group-based model or non-group 1-to-1 model to one or more audiences on the network. This technology will also achieve larger scales of secure information exchange without size limitation and the installation of special software.
• The implementation of this invention has provided users with a web-browser based, 1-click system that is capable of securing exchanges of messages, files, folders, or other resources on systems crossing network domains without size limitation.
• Additional features and benefits of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description, figures, and claims set forth below.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
• The present invention will be understood more fully from the detailed description given below and from the accompanying drawings of various embodiments of the invention, which, however, should not be taken to limit the invention to the specific embodiments, but are for explanation and understanding only.
• FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a layout of a CCDSVM with a central control management system and multiple provisioned systems, client system and console system in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a layout of a CCDSVM with which users from their web-browser of provisioned system can communicate with each other in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 2B is a block diagram illustrating a layout of a CCSDVM with only a single control management system to be accessed by massive client systems in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a software for a CCDSVM in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 4A illustrates an example of a dynamic work space in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 4B illustrates an example of resources which may be assigned to a user-group common work space in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 4C illustrates an example of a user private work space and possible assigned system resources in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 5 illustrates an example of resource objectives on systems in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 6A illustrates an example of displaying a web-page with 4 sections in web-browser of user X in user-group-1 during an interactive online meeting in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 6B illustrates an example of displaying a web-page with 4 sections in web-browser of user Y in user-group-1 during interactive online meeting in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 6C illustrates an example of displaying a web-page with 4 sections in web-browser of user X in user group-1 before interactive online meeting in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 6D illustrates an example of displaying a web-page with 4 sections in web-browser of user Y in user group-1 before interactive online meeting in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 6E illustrates an example of a displayed web-page that each massive online user can access and view from each of their browser without login to CCDSVM during said user X and user Y in user-group-1 online meeting in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 7A illustrates one-to-one, peer-to-peer post or un-post messages and folders of user X in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 7B illustrates one-to-one, peer-to-peer post or un-post messages and folders of user Y in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 8A is an example of a web-based graphic presentation view of assigned resources in a user X′s private work space in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 8B is an example of a web-based graphic presentation of assigned resources in the private work space of user Y in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 8C is an example of a web-based graphic presentation view of user Y′s private work space after user X dynamically posted and shared “folder2” in user X′s private space in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 9A is an example of a pop-up menu for folder in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 9B is an example of a pop-up menu for file in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 10A is an example of a non pop-up operation menu for folder in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 10B is an example of a non pop-up operation menu for folder in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 11 is an example of a center view of a list of posted files or folders in sharable file & folder area of a common work space of a user X in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
• Embodiments of the present invention are described herein in the context of a method, system and apparatus for providing a web based communications network with fast, volume, and secure information exchange. Those of ordinary skill in the art will realize that the following detailed description of the present invention is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. Other embodiments of the present invention will readily suggest themselves to such skilled persons having the benefit of this disclosure. Reference will now be made in detail to implementations of the present invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The same reference indicators will be used throughout the drawings and the following detailed description to refer to the same or like parts.
• In the interest of clarity, not all of the routine features of the implementations described herein are shown and described. It will, of course, be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made in order to achieve the developer's specific goals, such as compliance with application- and business-related constraints, and that these specific goals will vary from one implementation to another and from one developer to another. Moreover, it will be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time-consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking of engineering for those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure.
• In accordance with the present invention, the components, process steps, and/or data structures described herein may be implemented using various types of operating systems, computing platforms, computer programs, and/or general purpose machines. In addition, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that devices of a less general purpose nature, such as hardwired devices, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or the like, may also be used without departing from the scope and spirit of the inventive concepts disclosed herein. Where a method comprising a series of process steps is implemented by a computer or a machine and those process steps can be stored as a series of instructions readable by the machine, they may be stored on a tangible medium such as a computer memory device (e.g., ROM (Read Only Memory), PROM (Programmable Read Only Memory), EEPROM (Electrically Eraseable Programmable Read Only Memory), FLASH Memory, Jump Drive, and the like), magnetic storage medium (e.g., tape, magnetic disk drive, and the like), optical storage medium (e.g., CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, paper card and paper tape, and the like) and other known types of program memory.
• Those of ordinary skill in the art will realize that the following detailed description of the present invention is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. Other embodiments of the present invention will readily suggest themselves to such skilled persons having the benefit of this disclosure. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that these specific details may not be required to practice to present invention. In other instances, well-known circuits and devices are shown in block diagram form to avoid obscuring the present invention. In the following description of the embodiments, substantially the same parts are denoted by the same reference numerals.
• While particular embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will now be apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure that many more modifications than mentioned above are possible without departing from the inventive concepts disclosed herein. Therefore, the appended claims are intended to encompass within their scope all such modifications as are within the spirit and scope of this invention.
• The present invention can be implemented by a web based system operated in a network infrastructure, such as a central controlled distributed scalable virtual machine (“CCDSVM”).FIG. 1 illustrates a CCDSVM in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. A CCDSVM includes a group of provisionedsystems3, acontrol management system2,console systems1, andclient systems10. The control management system (“control system”)2 is configured to control a group of systems (“provisioned system”)3. The console systems (“console systems”)1 provide management while client systems10 (“client systems”) initiate accessing provisionedsystems3 or thecontrol system2 via a web-browser over a network infrastructure, such as the Intranet, an Internet, and/or a LAN.
• The network infrastructure (“network”) includes all necessary hardware and software that facilitate various users from different geographic locations to communicate through the Internet, an Intranet, and/or a LAN. The hardware of the network includes network connection media, wireless media, circuitry components, and communication equipments. The network connection media includes various cables such as Ethernet and/or optical fiber. The wireless media is capable of establishing wireless communication links through air. The circuitry components include processor, data bus, memory devices, and/or circuit board. The communication equipments, such as switches, routers, gateways, and/or adapters, are used to provide a communications network. It should be noted that there are other possible elements of communication equipment that may be needed to form a communication link, but they are not necessary to understand the present invention.
• The software infrastructure includes Internet Protocol (“IP”) addresses and system name identification software such as Domain Name System (“DNS”), firewall software, IP gateway set-up software, IP broadcast, and so forth. The communication protocols over the network could be IP-based standard or non-standard proprietary protocols such as Hypertext Transfer Protocol (“HTTP”) over Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (“TCP/IP”) or Simple Object Access Protocol (“SOAP”) over TCP/IP. It should be further noted that some IP based protocols are proprietary protocols and some are non-IP based protocols.
• A web-browser is an application program that allows a user to access information over the Web, such as Windows Internet Explorer (“IE”), FireFox, Netscape, and/or Mozillar. A web-browser could also be any proprietary software, which uses web-protocols such as HTTP, WAP, SOAP for communication over the network. The web-browser can be implemented with any suitable programming languages such as C, C++, Java, or XML, or a combination of the suitable languages.
• A web page, on the other hand, is a displayable information resource that is accessible through web-browser. The web page may be hosted by a web server via a web server system and can be transmitted (or retrieved) by a web-browser.
• Provisioned systems3,client systems10,console systems1, andcontrol management system2 are computational systems, which could be server system, desktop or laptop system, handheld devices such as PDA, wireless phone, and so forth. The computational systems include CPUs, storage devices, and memory controller. The storage devices include internal memory such as read-only memory (“ROM”) and/or random access memory (“RAM”). The storage devices may further include external storage devices such as magnetic disks or tapes, which include redundant array of inexpensive drives (“RAID”), just bunch of disk drive (“JBOD”) and memory stick. The associated storage controller can be Integrated Drive Electronics (“IDE”), Small Computer System Interface (“SCSI”), Fiber optical controller, or a combination of above-mentioned devices.
• The computational systems also include a native non-embedded or real-time embedded OS running, which could be Linux, or Windows, Unix, or proprietary OS. It should be noted that the present invention may include multiple control systems at different layers of system configuration topology wherein each of the control systems is capable of communicating with each other through a network. The control systems at middle layers play dual roles as both control system and provisioned system in the system configuration topology.
• FIG. 1 illustrates a CCDSVM platform with multiple clients in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The CCDSVM includesconsole systems1,control management system2, provisionedsystems3, and networks11-12, wherein the networks11-12 are used inter-connecting with all systems of CCDSVM andclient systems10.
• TheConsole system1 is a computational system having a web-browser or web-console9 wherein the web-browser9 is used by privileged users for accessing the CCDSVM platform. TheWeb browser9, which could be on any system, permits a user to access information from the CCDSVM by following a web URL link. For example, a privileged user enters a web URL of “https://69.107.28.123/stt/sttwebos” on a command line ofweb browser9 and once the link is established, the user can obtain information hosted by the web-based computer user work/operation environment (“WCUWE”). TheConsole system1, in one embodiment, further includessoftware modules13, wherein thesoftware modules13 may be used to facilitate communication between theconsole system1 and thecontrol management system2.
• TheControl system2, in one embodiment, is a server system, a desktop or a laptop system with memory and storage capabilities. TheControl system2 includes web server software7 and console supportingsoftware6. TheConsole supporting software6 includes web serverinterface software modules5 and controlmanagement software modules4. Thecontrol management system2 may also have web-browser9 used as a web-console9 of thecontrol system2. The Web server software7 sends/receives data to/from web-console9 of theconsole system1 orclient system10 orcontrol system2. The Web server software7 is configured to provide secure sockets layer (“SSL”) encryption to encrypting the data before transmission to enhance the security. The Web server software7 could be commercially available software such as Apache™ from open source, or IIS from Microsoft or a proprietary software. The Web server software modules7 andconsole support software6 modules can be implemented by any suitable or a combination of any suitable programming languages such as C, C++, Java, JavaScript, HTML, or XML.
• Theconsole supporting software6 communicates withservice software modules8 of provisionedsystems3. TheWeb server interface5 of theconsole support software6 is capable of providing special functions that are otherwise performed by web server7. If no provisionedsystem3 is coupled to the CCDSVM platform,control management system2, in one embodiment, is reconfigured to continue monitoring systems over the network while the CCDSVM platform is also reconfigured to a single stand-alone system, as shown inFIG. 2B. Users can access and/or obtain data objects or system resources via the web-browser9, which can be resided at anyclient system10 orconsole system1.
• TheProvisioned system3, in one embodiment, is a computational system, wherein the system may contain suitable native operating system (“OS”). TheProvisioned systems3 can be automatically provisioned by thecontrol system2 through an automatic system service pool construction protocol. The Provision process, also known as pooling process, is a method allowing thecontrol system2 to control one or more network systems by reconfiguring the network systems. For example, when a provisioned system boots up via a communication protocol, thecontrol system2 obtains provisioned system's name, IP address, and system information wherein the system information includes network information, storage information, file system information and so forth. Each provisionedsystem3 can be monitored, accessed, and/or operated by a user(s) on a web-browser9 of theconsole system1. In an alternative embodiment,provisional system3 is controlled by users through theclient systems10 via thecontrol system2 with proper users' authentication. Each provisionedsystem3 containsservice software modules8, which is used to communicate with servers across a network. For example, theservice software modules8 of the provisionedsystem3 can communicate with thecontrol management software4 of thecontrol system2 to carry out tasks for viewing or operating on resources of the provisionedsystem3. TheService software8 can communicate with the web-browser9 of theclient system10 orconsole system1 to transfer data between them or deliver service to them, or to communicate with another provisionedsystem3 to send or receive data.
• TheService software modules8 may include special software modules having compatible functionalities of the web-server software7 of thecontrol system2 and to dedicate handling HTTP protocol or other web protocols if there is needs for web-based communication with theclient10 or with other provisionedsystem3 or with thecontrol system2. TheSoftware modules8 could be commercially available web server software7 or any proprietary software. Theservice software modules8 could be implemented with any suitable programming languages such as C, C++, Java, or JavaScript.
• Net11 andNet12 are network infrastructures that are capable of providing communication links between thecontrol management system2,console system1,client system10, and/or provisionedsystems3.
• TheClient systems10 may not be a part of the CCDSVM, but with the permission and authorization, users from the web-browser9 of theclient system10 can login to the CCDSVM and access the permitted resources of the CCDSVM using web-browser9 by following a web URL link of CCDSVM. While privileged users can obtain, manage, access, and/or operate system resources on the CCDSVM through the WCUWE, regular (non-privileged) users at theclient systems10 may be permitted to access only limited system resources of the CCDSVM.
• The CCDSVM configuration, in one embodiment, includes four data flow paths. First data path is a communication link between theweb browser9 of the client host10 (orconsole host1 or control management system2) and web handling software on the control system2 (such as the web-server7 and/or console support software6). With this path of data flow, whenever a user sends a request from the web-browser9 to the web-server7 and further passed to theconsole support software6, theconsole support software6 collects required information from each target systems and converts them into standard structured information (web-format) for web communication. The targeted system could be one of the provisionedsystems3 or thecontrol system2. The information collected by theconsole support software6 of thecontrol system2 could be the system status, or the storage information, or the network information, or the user authentication profile, or the file system information, or files & folders information oncontrol system2, or any targeted provisionedsystem3. TheConsole support software6 then passes this converted structured information to web server software7 and further transmits it to the web-browser9 throughcommunication link Net11 and/orNet12 so that the collected information can be displayed and viewed by aconventional web browser9, as shown inFIG. 1.
• The communication protocol used between the web-browser9 of the client system10 (orconsole system1 or control system2) and the web server7 of thecontrol system2 could be HTTP, HTTPS (SSL encrypted HTTP protocol) or any suitable web protocols for web communication, which could successfully transmit the data across the world wide web, or could also be other standard or proprietary IP-based on non-IP-based protocols. This data path may be referred to as theconsole support software6 transmits data to/from the web-browser9.
• The second data path is the data flow through communication links between thecontrol system2 and provisionedsystems3. Requests targeted to a provisionedsystem3 are passed from theconsole support software6 of thecontrol system2 to theservice modules8 of the provisionedsystems3 throughcommunication link network12. When those requests are received by the targeted provisioned system, theservice modules8 of the provisionedsystem3 carry out the requested tasks, and then send a response back to theconsole support software6 of thecontrol system2. The implementation of the actual products of this invention on the second data path may use proprietary TCP/UDP/IP based protocols for the communication between the provisionedsystems3 and thecontrol system2. However, other standards or proprietary IP-based or any suitable non-IP-based protocol are also possible. The communication protocols used between theconsole support software6 of thecontrol system2 and theservice modules8 of the provisionedsystem3 can be any suitable IP based or non-IP based protocols, whichever is suitable to transmit data between them. The typical data flow through this path could be the boot message, system status, network information, or storage information of the provisionedsystem3, as shown inFIG. 1.
• The third data path is the data flow between the provisionedsystems3 and theclient system10 orconsole system1 via communication link11-12. Referring back toFIG. 1, theconsole support software6 of thecontrol system2 may present a web link, which points to an object on a provisionedsystem3, to a user working on a web-browser9 of theclient system10 orconsole system1 orcontrol system2. The object pointed by the web link on the provisionedsystem3 could be a text file, MPEG video, PDF document, MS Power Point, Word documentation, etc. It also could be a link of another web service program. From theweb browser9, a user can directly access the information on a provisionedsystem3 pointed by the web link without go through thecontrol system2 again. In this case, theservice modules8 of the provisionedsystem3 also include web server software modules7 or equivalent one to directly support theweb browser9 as mentioned before. The communication protocols with the third path could be the web protocols such as HTTP or WAP. Alternatively, the communication protocols can be other standards or proprietary IP-based or non-IP-based protocols. To simplify the discussion, the data transmitted on this path will be mentioned as theservice software module8 that send data to or receive data from the web-browser9 and vice versa.
• The fourth data path is data flow through the communication link between the provisionedsystem3 and another provisionedsystem3. With this path, theservice modules8 of one provisionedsystem3 can directly transmit data or information to theservice modules8 of another provisionedsystem3 via acommunication link Net12 without going through thecontrol system2. The implementation of the actual products of this invention, for example, uses a proprietary IP-based protocol for communications between the two provisionedsystems3. The principle of this invention, however, does not rely on or limit to proprietary protocol. It should be noted that other standard or proprietary IP-based or any suitable non-IP-based protocol may also be possible. The data and information transmitted through the fourth data path can be various types of data. For example, a user on web-browser9 may open a file folder on a provisionedsystem3 and further the user can also instruct to transfer a file from a current target provisionedsystem3 to another provisionedsystem3 by a mouse click. The data file will then be transferred directly between the two provisionedsystems3 without going through thecontrol system2.
• FIG. 2 illustrates a variation of the CCDSVM platform for web browser-based communication in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The CCDSVM platform illustrated inFIG. 2 is similar to the platform illustrated inFIG. 1 except every provisionedsystems3 includes a web-browser9. Thus, with proper authentication process, each user of the provisionedsystems3 may access, manage their own provisionedsystem3 from a web-browser9 either on their own local provisionedsystem3 or on any client system anywhere on the network. It should be noted that when a user is registered with a provisionedsystem3, the user is authorized to access provisionedsystem3 locally but not access the CCDSVM. On the other hand, when a user is registered with the CCDSVM, the user may be then authorized to access one or multiple provisionedsystems3 and thecontrol system2 of the CCSDVM.
• FIG. 2B illustrates another example of a variation of the CCDSVM, in which there is no provisionedsystems3 in the CCDSVM. Thus theControl system2 can run on its own and the CCDSVM has degenerated into a single stand-alone system (FIG. 2B), and users through the web-browser9 on any client system3 (or onconsole system1, or on stand-alone control system2) are allowed to access and operate the permitted data objects and system resources on the stand-alone control system2.
• Unless specifically specified, the consolesupport software modules6 of thecontrol system2, the provisionedsystems3, theservice software modules8 of provisionedsystem3, and the web-browser9 ofcontrol system2,client system10, andconsole system1 are referred to the CCDSVM platform illustrated inFIG. 1.
• A web-based computer user work/operation environment (“WCUWE”) of the CCDSVM is a software infrastructure, as illustrated inFIG. 3 The WCUWE provides each permitted user to log into the CCDSVM, and further provide each login user a private web-browser based user operating environment, which is a private work space including the assigned and permitted resources on thecontrol system2 or on the provisionedsystem3 across a network. The WCUWE further provides each user from a single web-browser to perform various permitted tasks and operations over various system resources (as show inFIG. 5), wherein the tasks can be performed concurrently from a single login web-browser.
• The mentioned tasks include allowing privileged users to create users, groups, assign users to each group, to assign initial associated system resources to each user or group, and to save the information of created users and groups into a database stored on a storage media of the control system. The information needed for creating users or groups include user names, user IDs, assigned security permissions, passwords, access points, group names, group IDs, maximum members in a group, and so forth. The tasks also include various system operations such as manage network, storage, file system, folder, files, messages, user security, and so forth.
• The database is organized as one or more lists of tables, wherein each of the lists contains various resources. For example, the resources could be one or multiple users information, one or multiple systems information, one or more network cards, and one or more disk drives information. The storage media could be a system's internal storage or disk drive, for example.
• The WCUWE of the CCDSVM includes the software modules of present invention. For example, the software includes theconsole support modules6 of thecontrol system2,service software modules8 of provisionedsystem3,other service software13 ofconsole system1. The current implementation of the WCUWE is based on a proprietary design of this invention. However, the nature and spirit of this invention does not limit to proprietary designed software. The WCUWE of the CCDSVM also includes other proprietary software modules or conventional software such as the web-server modules7 of thecontrol system2, and the web-browser9 of thecontrol system2, theclient system10, andconsole system1.
• The WCUWE of CCDSVM can be implemented with any suitable or combination of various suitable programming languages such C, C++, Java, JavaScripts, HTML, XML, and so on. To simplify the discussion, the WCUWE will be used to represent software modules in CCDSVM described above.
• Users of the CCDSVM may be created by the CCDSVM though a given process. Also, any users on the Internet, Intranet, or LAN without registering with the CCDSVM may also access the CCDSVM. The WCUWE of the CCDSVM provides user to access various resources and perform various tasks, for example, through a preferred model of mouse clicking on graphically represented resource objects displayed in theweb browser9.
• The WCUWE is designed to be operated on a CCDSVM platform, and specially is designed to provide dynamic work space (FIG. 4A) to each user associated with various CCDSVM. The WCUWE further supports tasks of instantly posting or un-posting user's private resources information to peer members in a group or to each peer user of the CCDSVM not in a group or not in same group, or to massive public users on the network, where the massive public users do not have accounts with the CCDSVM platform.
• The dynamic work space of the WCUWE is a centrally controlled collection of each group's work space and/or user's work space. TheConsole support software6 of thecontrol system2 of the CCDSVM will assign each user a private work space and each group a common work space when each user or group account is created by a privileged user after the corresponding WCUWE software modules on thecontrol system2 and on the provisionedsystem3 enter into an operational mode. When a user or a group account is created, each user or group is assigned with specific security scopes and permissions. An important aspect of the WCUWE of the CCDSVM is that it assigns each user and/or each user-group a working space based on user and group security permission.
• A work space is an organized information structure, which can be saved on storage media of memory or disk drives or both of the memory and disk drives by theconsole support software6. A work space is created during a privileged user performing the tasks of creating user or group. The work space will be initiated and assigned with system resources of the CCDSVM as shown inFIG. 5. Various system resources on either provisionedsystem3 and/or oncontrol system2 include respective memory, system-groups, systems in system-group, file systems, file folders, files, storage media, network media and so on without limits. Thecommon work space15, as shown inFIG. 4B of each group may be initially assigned with information of system resources (illustrated inFIG. 5) such as users in this group, message area, file systems, folders and files on a specific provisionedsystem3 or on thecontrol system2, and so on without limits. The resources of the common work space may also be dynamically assigned or allocated by permitted user after creating group account. For example, during an online interactive meeting, a user posts a file to the common work space, so that a new entry of a file node is added to a file and a folder tree area of common work space. In addition, each group may be assigned with one or multiple users, wherein each user can also be assigned with aprivate work space16 as shown inFIG. 4A andFIG. 4C during user account creation time. The private work space may also be initially assigned with system resources of the CCDSVM during user account creation time. Alternatively, the private work space is dynamically assigned with the resources of the CCDSVM after the account being created.
• For example, a privileged user can dynamically permit or deny a general user to access a list of storage devices. During the operation, at one second, a user may see a list from the user's web-browser, and at another second, the general-user can no longer see the list. Also, if an authorized user permitted to access a list of storage devices on a provisioned system and further taking one of devices offline so that the device list on the provisioned system will have one less devices to be displayed.
• In another example, at one second, a privileged user allows a general user to access a file J in a folder N on a system M of the CCDSVM, and at another second, the privileged user resets previously granted permission, thereby, the general user can view and access the file J in the folder N on the system M of the CCDSVM at one time, and a second later, the general user can no longer view and access the file J. The actual implementation ofconsole support software6 ofcontrol system2 has achieved this capability.
• In addition, each type of resources in the work space is organized as a list of tables and can be stored in storage media on thecontrol system2. The integrity of security of each group is protected by limiting different resources to different groups. As such, each group is authorized to have a limited view over assigned system resources on the provisionedsystem3 as well as on thecontrol system2. The same security integrity at user level can be achieved by assigning different system resources of the provisionedsystem3 and/or thecontrol system2 to different individual user based on assigned security permissions. Therefore, each user is authorized to access and view the assigned resources.
• FIG. 4B has shown an example of assignedresources including users17,message area18, and folders and filesarea19, andothers20 in thecommon work space15 of a user group. The messages from each user in the user-group's common message area18, and the information of the folders and files in the common files andfolder area19 can be shared by all users in a same user-group. All resources in each group's common work space can be selectively displayed in the web-browser9 on each login user's local system, who belongs^-to a same user group after the resources in said group workspace being converted to presentable web-format (web-page) by theconsole support software6 on thecontrol system2 of the CCDSVM.
• FIG. 4C has shown an example of assigned resources in the private work space (16) for a individual user, which includes resources inprivate message area21, private file,folder area22, and private network or storage orother information area23. The assigned resources only can be exclusively viewed and accessed by the designated user unless he/she agrees to share with peer user crossing group boundary or with peer user in same group. The folder (directory) is a data structure which can hold one more files and sub-folders at logical file system level and at physical level on storage media.
• FIG. 8A has shown an example of displaying an actually implemented portion of a web-page encoded with assigned resources in theprivate work space16 of an user X, which includes a system-group-A33 on said network, multiple provisionedsystems3 under the system-group-A,private folders32 and34 of the user X on a system, and files underfolders32 in a displayedprivate work space16 of the user X.
• FIG. 8B has shown another example of displaying an actually implemented portion of a web-page encoded with assigned resources in theprivate work space16 of an user Y, which includes acontrol system2, private folder and files35 that belong to the user Y in theprivate work space16 of the user Y.
• The private work spaces of user X and user Y may also includeprivate message area21 and other resources, which are not displayed inFIG. 8A &FIG. 8B because the WCUWE is designed to dynamically display part of each user'sprivate work space16 whenever there is needs.
• It is notable that said user X and user Y, may be in same user-group such as said group-1. However, each of them could have a significant different scope of each one'sprivate work space16 assigned by theconsole support software6 ofcontrol system2 due to they have been assigned with very different resources on the systems depending on each user's roles and security permissions, which are setup by said privileged user of the CCDSVM through web-based user interfaces that are provided by theconsole support software6. This is the beauty of the invention of WCUWE for CCDSVM.
• TheFIG. 6C andFIG. 6D are examples of web-page displaying in the web-browser9 of the user X and user Y in a user-group-1 before an interactive online meeting. As shown inFIG. 6C andFIG. 6D, the user X or user Y or other users (who's web-page/browser did not depicted) in the same user-group-1 have entered a group online meeting after each of their login to the CCDSVM from a web browser on the user's local system across said network. Further, all users can get an identical web-page provided by theconsole support software6 of thecontrol system2 except with different contents in the displayed private work space section of the web-page due to each user has been assigned with different resources. The web-page screen layout provided by saidconsole support software6 contains four sections:
• • 1) a private user message input area (section-1),
  • 2) a message displaying section forcommon message area18 illustrated inFIG. 4B that all users in the user-group-1 (section-2) can access,
  • 3) a file and/or folder display section for the group common file andfolder area19 illustrated inFIG. 4B that all users in the same user-group-1 (section-3) can access, and
  • 4) a file and folder tree displaying and management section (section-4) for the folder and file tree in the private file andfolder area22 of a user's private work space illustrated inFIG. 4C.
• Initially, the section-1, section-2, and section-3 are all empty due to no one has post any file or message yet. Theconsole support software6 obtains each login user's a portion of assigned folders and files for online meeting from the private file andfolder area22 of theprivate work space16 of each user which stored on said storage media as illustrated inFIG. 4C, and further convert said file or folder information into the presentable web-format (web-page) to be displayed in said section-4 of a web-page of the web-browser9 on each user's local system. The choice of total four sections of web-page layout and the order of each section on the browser screen is irrelevant to this invention since other choices are also possible, and further, this invention does not have limitation on what web-screen layout shall be. The information of file or folder includes the system name where the file or folder resided, the named and path of the file or folder, the owner of file or folder, the time stamps, the size of the file and so on without limitation.
• During the interactive online meeting, theconsole support software6 provides each user to post or un-post files or folders targeting to said section-3 of a web page for displaying group's common documents and contents management section with several steps. First, for example, providing said user X to click on a targeted file “Doc 1”24 or a folder one at a time in section-4 of a web page for displaying said file and folder management area of said userprivate work space16. Second, select the operation of either post or un-post from an operation menu (seeFIG. 9A,FIG. 9B,FIG. 10A andFIG. 10B). Finally click on the selected operation to submit the task of either post or un-post the selected file or folder.
• Each user with permission may perform un-post operation if such user has at least a previously posted file or folder, which has already displayed in the section-3 of the common document and content management section of the web-browser9 for all login users of the same user-group, seeFIG. 6A orFIG. 6B for example.
• If a file is selected, said file operation menu is used and if a folder is selected, said folder operation menu is used respectively. It is also possible to only provide one menu for both file and folder operation by theconsole support software6. The operation menu either can be pop-up menu for folder as shown inFIG. 9A or pop-up menu for file as shown inFIG. 9B, or non-pop-up menu for folder as shown inFIG. 10A or non-pop-up menu for file as shown inFIG. 10B. The choice of the operation menu is irrelevant to this invention although the actual implementation of this part of invention has used pop-up menu, and as matter of the facts that there is no limitation on how the operation menu is to be designed in this invention.
• In the example ofFIG. 6A, the user X can post a file named “Doc 1”24 to said section-3 of the common document and content display section of the web page in said web-browser9, In the example ofFIG. 6B, the user Y can also post a file named “picture 1”25 to the common document and content display section of the web page in said web-browser9. In addition, another not depicted user Z posted a file of “project code”. The files or folders posted could be the one located on saidcontrol system2 or on provisioned any provisionedsystem3 of the CCDSVM.
• In addition, during the interactive online meeting, theconsole support software6 of thecontrol system2 also facilitates each user to be able to post message to massive users in the same group from said section-1 of the web page via private user message input section by typing a message and click on the “send” button. In the example ofFIG. 6A, the user X posted a message of “Msg1 of user X”26. In the example ofFIG. 6B, the user Y also posted a message of “Msg2 of user Y”27. In addition, another non depicted user posted a message of “Msg3 of user Z”. As a result, all of three messages were displayed in the same said section-2 of a web page in each user's browser.
• In a specific situation, theconsole support software6 also provides permitted user to un-post the previously posted message. Just for example, inFIG. 6A, saidconsole support software6 provides the permitted user X to select a previously posted “Msg2 of user Y”27 from said section-2 of the common message display section of a web page in said web-browser9 of the user X, and select un-post operation from said operation menu and submit the selected un-post task.
• The detailed information of how the post or un-post task to be implemented will be discussed in next two paragraphs. In addition, with this invention, the action of the “post” information such as posting information of files or folders or messages or other resources is equivalent to the action of “share” information. The action of “un-post” information is equivalent to the action of “un-share” previously posted or shared information, in other words, “remove” previously posted or shared information.
• After submitting and transmitting information of the post or un-post task from the web-browser9 of theconsole system1 orclient system10 orcontrol system2 to thecontrol system2, theconsole support software6 of thecontrol system2 obtains and parses the requested task to determine: who is the original user initiating the task; what is the type of the task; what is the type of the associated resources for the task to work on; who is the targeted user; and what is the time stamp, and may also include other information without limitation. TheConsole support software6 further determines that if the task is to post a file or folder from said original user, theconsole support software6 picks up the corresponding file or folder information from the file andfolder area22 ofprivate work space16 of the original user as illustrated inFIG. 4C and deposits such information to the file andfolder area19 of thecommon work space15 of said group as illustrated inFIG. 4B in this case.
• If the task is to un-post a previously posted file or folder, which posted from a specific user, in said common work space of said group, the saidconsole support software6 search for the corresponding information of file or folder, in the file folder area of said common work space of said group and further remove the entry of matched information from said common work space of said group after it is found.
• If the task is to post a message to users in said group, the parsed message will be stored intoprivate message area21 of the original user'sprivate work space16 illustrated inFIG. 4A and 4C and also is copied tomessage area18 of thecommon work space15 of said user group by theconsole support software6 as illustrated inFIG. 4A and 4B.
• If a task is to un-post (delete/remove) a previously posted message, theconsole support software6 searches for a matching message in saidcommon message area18 of saidcommon work space15 illustrated inFIG. 4B of said user group and remove such message entry if it is found based on the message and the original user's identification and other associated information such as time stamp, security permission and so on without limitation.
• It shall be noticed that the task of un-posting a file or folder of this invention does not actually delete the physical file and folder from original user'sprivate work space16. In addition, a lock protection mechanism is deployed whenever a message or information of a file or folder is written, stored, or deposited to either saidprivate space16 or saidcommon work space15, or to said disk drives or other storage media. Throughout the rest of discuss, the lock protection is assume to be a default action without further mentioning whenever a write/store/deposit action take place. As matter the fact, each task of posting file, folder, and message as well as task of un-posting the previously posted file or folder, or message performed by multiple users in multiple groups with this invention can be executed by theconsole support software6 instantly with memory speed.
• FIG. 6A andFIG. 6B illustrate that after theconsole support software6 of thecontrol system2 successfully executing the tasks for each user in each group, any user in a user-group can get a fresh view of said section-2 of the common messages display area of the user-group-1, and a fresh view of said section-3 of the common documents & contents display area of the user-group-1 from each user's web-browser9 on theclient system10 or oncontrol system2 or onconsole system1 ofFIG. 1.
• The user can manually click on a refresh-button, which does not show onFIG. 6A andFIG. 6B, to refresh the corresponding part of screen of either said section-2 or section-3. Also said corresponding part of browser screen of said section-2 or section-3 can be automatically refreshed via updated web page. As mater of the fact, optionally, theconsole support software6 can encode a run-time script into said web-page, which is encoded with said presentable web-format and to be displayed in said web-browser9 after each user login to the CCDSVM and start a group online meeting.
• Thereafter the run-time script will automatically and periodically perform the tasks of refreshing said section-2 and section-3 of theweb browser9 screen. The frequency of the periodic refreshing can be adjusted by saidconsole support software6 of the CCDSVM depending on the needs of the meeting, which typically can range from 1 to 3 seconds and there is no limitation on this aspect. Also, with the preferred example, said run-time script provided by the WCUWE is a JavaScript, however, other type of programming scripts or methods are also possible and there is no limitation on what kind of run-time program shall be used in this invention. In addition, theconsole support software6 can provide each user the choices of either automatic or manual refreshing said web-browser9.
• Upon performing the task of refreshing said section-2 or section-3 in a web page of said web-browser9 screen, a request of updating such screen will be generated and sent from said web-browser9 to thecontrol system2. Further, theconsole support software6 obtains and parses each request to determine what user-group, and which part of saidcommon work space15 of said user-group need to be updated.
• Based on the information of each parsed request, theconsole support software6 of thecontrol system2 retrieves the updated resources and objectives from saidcommon work space15 of said user-group illustrated inFIG. 4A and 4B, which includes recent posted files, folders, or messages from each user in said group, and also includes the updated list of files and folders or messages after un-post one or more files or folders, or messages by users in the same group. Finally, theconsole support software6 of thecontrol system2 converts retrieved information of resources and objects to presentable web-format (web-page).
• If the request is to update the group messages, the converted information is sent to the section-2 of group common message display area via the updated corresponding web-page for theweb browser9. If the request is to update the group common files and folders display area, the converted information is sent to the section-3 of said web-browser9 via the updated web page. Therefore, after refreshing said section-2 and section-3 in said web-browser9, each user can have an identical view of all posted files and folders for the ection-3 of the group common document display area of saidbrowser9, and can have an identical view of all messages in the section-2 of group common message display area on said web-browser9, which posted by all other users in the same user-group. Meanwhile saidconsole support software6 still allow each user kept most of resources and objects in their ownprivate work space16 un-exposed to other users in the same group during the online interactive meeting.
• For example, as illustrated in ofFIG. 6A, the user X at his/her said web-browser9 can see “picture 1”25 posted by the user Y in the group common file and folder display area but not other information in the user Y'sprivate work space16 area, and plus the “Doc 1” posted by the user X himself. Also, as illustrated in ofFIG. 6B, the user Y at his/her said web-browser9 can see “Doc 1”24 posted by the user X in the group common file and folder display area but not other information in the user X's private file and folder display area of the user X'sprivate workspace16, and plus the “picture 1” posted by the user Y himself.
• A difference between a conventional Internet group communication model and the group based communication model described in the present invention is that theconsole support software6 of thecontrol system2 provides each user to control post or un-post said resources from user's own private work space while the conventional Internet communication model are not capable of performing posting/un-posting task. Also, for example, un-posting a previous posted folder with the WCUWE of the CCDSVM does not delete the materials in user'sprivate work space16 while the delete operation with said existing Internet group communication model will completely delete the posted folder. The dynamic work space of this invention represents a true beauty of the combined security protection for the information and flexibility and efficiency for the online meeting provided by the WCUWE of the CCDSVM to each users and groups.
• In addition, with a preferred example, since the posted information of each files are encoded by saidconsole support software6 with a web link and displayed in said section-3 of the web-browser9, therefore, each user in a user-group can click on said link to download the files, which located in the private file and folder area of theprivate work space16 of their peer users in the user-group, from a system where the file is actually located. For example, the user X can download said “picture 1” of the user Y, where the “picture 1” may reside either on thecontrol system2 or any provisionedsystem3; and the user Y can also download said “Doc 1” of the user X, where the “Doc 1” may also reside either on thecontrol system2 or any provisionedsystem3. This achieves a true peer-to-peer exchanging files on permitted system between permitted users in a same user-group. In addition, there is no size limitation on the file size for file to be downloaded, which is a gifted benefit from Internet technology. Besides the exampled and understandable method of download, other methods of retrieving peer users' digital documents or contents are also possible by deploying a more efficient proprietary file transfer mechanism to achieve the same results of said exchanging file. It shall be noted that the said method of download is only applicable to said files and does not apply to folder and other said resource information. To obtain a targeted peer user's entire folder and the underneath files and sub folders, as mentioned a special files and folder transfer method is required.
• As shown inFIG. 9A & 9B, andFIG. 10A & 10B, theconsole support software6 of thecontrol system2 also provides each user to perform many other tasks during online meeting through said operation menu such as upload, rename, delete, copy/paste for file and file-folders and so on without limitation. The upload operation allows each user to dynamically upload files one a time through the web-browser9 from the local storage of theclient system10 orconsole system1 into said user's private work space on thecontrol system2 during the meeting, and further to be posted into said common work space of an user-group which each user belong to.
• The mouse click driven copy/past operation allows the files and folders from the permitted folders of the permitted provisionedsystem3 to be dynamically and physically copied to each users' private work space on thecontrol system2, and the information of said files and folders could further to be displayed in said web-page of theweb browser9 on each user's local system and to be further posted into thecommon work space15 of the user-group that each user belongs in addition to directly posting these files or folders on the provisional systems as described in previous paragraph of without physically copying over. As matter of the fact, operations provided by theconsole support software6 of thecontrol system2 have added efficiency to posting or un-posting files and folders for each user depending on the real needs.
• Additionally, saidconsole support software6 provides each user of each user-group with capability of saving the posted messages in thecommon message area18 of saidcommon work space15 of said each user-group into a file in the common file & folder area of saidcommon work space15 of the user-group. Further, the saved file can be viewed, and downloaded by each user in the user-group after it is posted. Besides whenever there is needs, saidconsole support software6 provides users to reset message area to be empty by removing all message entries in the message area of said user-group'scommon work space15.
• The important fact is that the designed WCUWE of the CCDSVM has provided concurrent users each from a single web browser on the user's local system anywhere on the network to securely perform permitted various tasks, which could be run concurrent within a single web-browser. Because of the consolesupport software modules6 of thecontrol system2 facilitate each users have exclusive view for resource objects in theirprivate work space16 and in saidcommon work space15 of a user-group which each user belongs to, and facilitate each user to manage resource objects in their own private space, the multiple users in multiple groups can concurrently post or un-post files, folders, messages, or other resource objects without interfere users in other user-groups. Thus, the work spaces of each user and each group are well protected.
• Hence, theconsole support software6 of thecontrol system2 provides privileged users to perform tasks of creating multiple users and user-groups on the control system, and each group can be assigned with variable size of users for online interactive meeting. The total number of the users and the total number of the user-groups, and the maximum number of the users per groups that the WCUWE of the CCDSVM can support is an implementation issue and depends on the capacity of thecontrol system2. The WCUWE of the CCDSVM and CCDSVM has been designed with unlimited scalability for both users and provisionedsystems3. On the other hand, the spirit of this invention does not limit to with the boundary issues of the WCUWE and the CCDSVM.
• FIG. 8A andFIG. 8B illustrate that each user-X and user-Y has a differentprivate work space16 than others, and each user has assigned with different system resources. Without joining any group or participating any group meeting, theconsole support software6 of thecontrol system2 can also provide user X and user Y with peer-to-peer model to instantly post files or folders one a time to each other, or instantly un-post the previous posted files and folders through similar steps as the posting or un-posting materials in group online meeting model:
• • 1) facilitate each user from web UI capable of selecting a resource object to submit a task such as via mouse clicking on a source for a file or folder for performing post or un-post;
  • 2) facilitate the user selecting post operation task if user want to post any file or folder through operation menu; or facilitate user selecting un-post operation task from operation menu if said user like to un-post a previously posted file or folder;
  • 3) upon submitting said task, facilitating each user to provide a response to a prompt of “who is a targeted user?” which provided by saidconsole support software6, and further submit the selected task;
  • 4) Thereafter, theconsole support software6 obtains and parses task information including the information of the original user, the source of file or folder, type of operation, targeted user and other information;
  • 5) If the type of operation is to post a file or folder, said consolesupport software modules6 deposit the source information of said file or folder to the private file and folder area of theprivate work space16 of a targeted user. If said operation type is un-post a file or folder, theconsole support software6 search a previously posted file or folder information from the private file and folder area of theprivate work space16 of said targeted user that matches the said source information of the file or folder, if a match is found, the corresponding entry of the file or folder is removed from the private file and folder area of the private work space of the targeted user; and
  • 6) Upon refreshing the web-page in the web-browser9 on each user's local system, the consolesupport software modules6 retrieve and convert the updated information in the private file and folder area of theprivate work space16 of the targeted user into presentable web-format (web-page) and transmit said web-page to the web-browser9 on each user's local system for displaying and viewing.
• For example, as illustrated and shown inFIG. 8A, the user X from aweb browser9 can follow said steps 1) to 3) to post his “folder 2”32 in the displayed files and folders area of theprivate work space16 of the user X's web-browser9 to into the user Y's web UI. As shown inFIG. 8B, upon the user Y refreshing his/her web-browser9 on the user Y's local system by walking on any system node or folder node on the displayed resource tree, the user Y will see said “folder 2”32 in his/her displayed private file and folder tree in theprivate work space16 of the user Y such as illustrated and shown inFIG. 8C. As matter of the fact, when walking on a system node, and file or folder node on a folder tree in the web-browser9, a refreshing web-page screen request is generated and to be handled as described previously and in the steps described above.
• In addition to post messages in the group-based communication involving parties with two or more users, the WCUWE of the CCDSVM also provide each user to post message to each other user in non-group based 1-to-1 model. TheFIG. 7A andFIG. 7B have shown an example of the user X and user Y, who may not be in a same user-group, however, theconsole support software6 of thecontrol system2 provides each user to share and exchange messages with each other from a three-section web-page displayed in saidweb browser9.
• The section-3 of the web-page in saidweb browser9 facilitates each user to work with same said steps for non-group based 1-to-1 posting files and folders or un-posting previously posted files or folders as described previously. The section-3 included inFIG. 7A and 7B just for a demonstration of how flexible of this invention is for displaying information of theprivate work space16 of each user. Further, the number of sections in the screen layout and the order of each section in the web-page display really is not a limitation to this invention.
• The section-1 is a user message input area together with an additional input field of “To who” due to unlike in group online meeting, the consolesupport software modules6 have no knowledge of who is the targeted user in this case. The User can posting a message with similar said steps as previous discussed previously of this invention. Nevertheless, unlike with group meeting messaging model, after obtaining and parsing information of the messages from each user, theconsole support software6 of thecontrol system2 will deposit the message to both targeted peer user and the original user's message areas of theprivate work space16. Further, with same steps that described previously for displaying messages in each user's browser each user can view both own message and messages from peer user in section-2 of browser.
• For example, as shown inFIG. 7A, the user X input a message of “msg4 of user X”30 and type “user Y” in input field of “To who”, and then submit the message by clicking on “Send” button. Similar as shown inFIG. 7B, the user Y can input a message of “Msg3 of user Y”31, and type “user X” in input field of “To who”, and then submit the message. Upon the refreshing web-page at web-browser9 of each user, the user X will see themessage30 he/she sent and themessage31 from the user Y. Also the user Y will see bothmessages30 and31 at same time.
• Again, the design choice of three sections of a web-page display and the order of each section are illustrating a preferred example of implementation for non-group based peer user communication. This invention does not limited by web-screen display layout, for example, a screen display only with said section-1 and section-2 are also possible and so on without limitation.
• The WCUWE of the CCDSVM has provided a security hierarchy for members of any team to work together cross multiple locations. With said security hierarchy and said steps of posting or un-posting message, file and folder, theconsole support software6 of thecontrol system2 can facilitate only team leader with capability of posting folder or file to be viewed, shared, and accessed by all team members or by an individual member in non-group meeting based environment. In addition, the consolesupport software modules6 also facilitates each team member to post or un-post his/her files or folders to only a specific peer user one a time in non-group-meeting based environment. Again the files or folders could be on saidcontrol system2 or on any provisionedsystem3.
• It is relatively straightforward for the WCUWE of the CCDSVM, more specifically the consolesupport software modules6, to support massive online users, who do not have account with the CCDSVM and can not log into the CCDSVM to view the dynamically posted files, folders, or messages by the users with user account of the CCDSVM.
• In a preferred example, such as shown inFIG. 6E, theconsole support software6 of thecontrol system2 provides a web-page to massive online users, who do not have to login the CCDSVM. The web-page could be layout with two major sections with section-1 to display messages in the sharable message area in a designated user-group'scommon work space15 while the section-2 for displaying files or folders in the sharable file or folder area in said designated user-group'scommon work space15.
• For users belong to same said designated user-group, each user from a web-browser on the user's local system on said network is able to login to the CCDSVM and obtain the group online meeting web-page as shown inFIG. 6A for the user X and inFIG. 6B for the user Y. Further as described previously, each user in said group can instantly post message to said message area of a designated user-group'scommon work space15, or post file or folder to the sharable file and folder area in the designated user-group'scommon work space15. Also, each user in the user-group can instantly un-post the previously posted files or folders by removing the corresponding file or folder entry in the file and folder area of the designated user-group'scommon work space15, or un-post the previously posted messages from the common message area of thecommon work space15 of said user-group as described in previous.
• Meanwhile as previously described and as shown inFIG. 6E, said web-page in theweb browser9 for massive online users, who have no account with CCDSVM, can be dynamically updated, displayed, and viewed by said massive users anywhere through their own web browser on each one's local system accordingly with the same pace as dynamically displaying in said section-2 and section-3 of the web-page in theweb browser9 as shown inFIG. 6A andFIG. 6B. Again, said two sections of the web-page display layout is a preferred example and it does not limit this invention because with this invention other layout is also possible, for example, it may be desired to have web-page layout only contains one section, which is either for messages or file or folder's display depending on the application's need.
• As shown inFIG. 8A,FIG. 8B, andFIG. 8C, with non-group based peer-to-peer post or un-post files and folders model, people may often do not remember how many files and folders has been posted for sharing. For example, as shown inFIG. 8A, the user X can select “folder 2”32, then select a post operation from a operation menu, and provide a target “user Y” to share the “folder 2”32. As show inFIG. 8C, the user Y can see “Folder 2”32 posted by the user X in the web-browser9 of the user Y after the user X posted “Folder 2”32. If the user X selects and posts various files or folders to other dozen people, the user X will have difficult time to remember what has been shared and who are targeted users. As shown inFIG. 11, the consolesupport software modules6 of thecontrol system2 can provide each user, the user X for example, a summarized view of a control list of how many files or folders being posted by him or her and to which users (who).
• As illustrated and shown inFIG. 11 for the personal sharing management, in view from the user X's web-browser9, an entry of posted “Folder 2”30 is listed at bottom of said control list and it is posted/shared to the user Y. Further, saidconsole support software6 can provide each user selectively un-post the previously posted files and folders by clicking on the “delete shared?” operation menu for a corresponding entries in the displayed share control list of a web-page and further to generate a un-post operation task. For example, the user X clicks on “delete share?” to un-post “Folder 2”32. Thereafter, as described before, saidconsole support software6 of thecontrol system2 will execute the un-post task. Further upon refreshing the targeted user Y's web-page in the web-browser9, in stead of seeing “Folder 2”32 as shown inFIG. 8C, the user Y will see an updated display of an updated web-page as shown inFIG. 8B, where the “Folder 2”30 has been removed. The operation menu for “delete share?” depicted here just for example and it could be displayed in any other form.
• In addition to let original user in a group to control the un-posting file or folder in the group based communication, theconsole support software6 of the control system2) may also provide a privileged user to un-post the previously posted files or files in said displayed file and folder section of said web-page. To support this capability, the consolesupport software modules6 will provide an operation menu to associate with said displayed files and folders in said display section, further to allow privileged user to perform similar un-post operation. After receiving the un-post operation, the consolesupport software modules6 will perform similar said searching for selected file or folder in the group file andfolder area19 of the groupcommon work space15 of said group as illustrated inFIG. 4B, if there is a match, the corresponding entry will be deleted. Also, the file and folder section of the web-page in the web-browser9 can be refreshed accordingly as described before.
• Having briefly described embodiments of the web based network environment in which the present invention operates,FIG. 12 illustrates an example of acomputer system200, which is anexemplary client system10, provisionedsystem3,control system2, orconsole system1 in which the features of the present invention may be implemented. Process of the web based information exchange can be implemented in any processor-based computer system, such as a PC, a workstation, or a mainframe computer. It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that other alternative computer system architectures may also be employed.
• Referring back toFIG. 12,computer system200 includes aprocessing unit201, aninterface bus211, and an input/output (10″)unit220.Processing unit201 includes aprocessor202, amain memory204, asystem bus211, astatic memory device206, abus control unit205, amass storage memory207, and a webinformation exchange module230.Bus211 is used to transmit information between various components andprocessor202 for data processing.Processor202 may be any of a wide variety of general-purpose processors or microprocessors such as Pentium™ microprocessor, Motorola™68040, or Power PC™ microprocessor.
• Main memory204, which may include multiple levels of cache memories, stores frequently used data and instructions.Main memory204 may be RAM (random access memory), MRAM (magnetic RAM), or flash memory.Static memory206 may be a ROM (read-only memory), which is coupled tobus211, for storing static information and/or instructions.Bus control unit205 is coupled to buses211-212 and controls which component, such asmain memory204 orprocessor202, can use the bus.Bus control unit205 manages the communications betweenbus211 andbus212.Mass storage memory207, which may be a magnetic disk, an optical disk, hard disk drive, floppy disk, CD-ROM, and/or flash memories for storing large amounts of data. Web basedinformation exchange230, in one embodiment, is a network control component for facilitating information exchange over the Web. It should be noted that web basedinformation exchange230 could be software or hardware or a combination of software and hardware components.
• I/0unit220, in one embodiment, includes adisplay221,keyboard222,cursor control device223, andcommunication device225.Display device221 may be a liquid crystal device, cathode ray tube (“CRT”), touch-screen display, or other suitable display device. Display221 projects or displays images of a graphical planning board.Keyboard222 may be a conventional alphanumeric input device for communicating information betweencomputer system200 and computer operator(s). Another type of user input device iscursor control device223, such as a conventional mouse, touch mouse, trackball, or other type of cursor for communicating information betweensystem200 and user(s).
• Communication device225 is coupled tobus211 for accessing information from remote computers or servers, such as server or other computers as illustrated inFIG. 1, throughnetwork11 or12 as illustrated inFIG. 1.Communication device225 may include a modem or a network interface device, or other similar devices that facilitate communication betweencomputer200 and the network.Computer system200 may be coupled to a number of servers via a network infrastructure such as the infrastructure illustrated inFIG. 1.
• The present invention has been described in considerable details with reference to certain examples. However, other versions and examples are also possible, therefore, the spirit of this invention shall not be limited to these examples and/or embodiments. Also, the claims of this invention will label with numbering and in most cases, the numbering does not represent any sequence or order unless specifically described as the steps of a method.

Claims (24)

1. A computer system supports users to create and manage virtual directories, which comprises:

at least a network interface device and workspace memories;

the computer system

communicates to a plurality of networked systems, collects and organizes information from each networked system across a communication network, and

provides web services and user interfaces (“UI”) for displaying information of the computer system and the plurality of networked systems for each of a plurality of users from a web based on the user's local system accessing said information;

wherein the computer system

provides workspaces to one or more privileged users,

authenticates each privileged users accessing said information and through instant posting said information into targeted one or more web pages to create one or more virtual directories, and

facilitates and validates the plurality of users accessing each virtual directory.

2. The computer system ofclaim 1, wherein said computer system communicates to a plurality of networked systems further comprises:

automatically discovering each networked system going online, collecting information from each networked system, and organizing the collected information which includes one or multiple groups of the networked systems (service pools) across the communication network that is one of corporate Intranet, Internet, LAN or WAN.

3. The computer system ofclaim 1, wherein said for a plurality of users' web based accessing said information further comprises:

facilitating and permitting each user single sign on the computer system once and further accessing permitted said information.

4. The computer system ofclaim 1, wherein said provides workspaces to one or more privileged users further comprises:

creating each user's account, assigning the user a private workspace which is initialized with permitted said information, dynamically loaded into memory, and displayed into web browser on the user's local system in response to the user's accessing.

5. The computer system ofclaim 4 further comprises:

assigning user accessing one or more information on the computer system and on one or more networked system.

6. The computer system ofclaim 4 further comprises:

creating one or more group accounts, and assigning each group at least a user and a group workspace which to be exclusively accessible by the group member, and displaying information in the group workspace into web browser in response to each permitted user's accessing.

7. The computer system ofclaim 1, wherein said through posting said information into targeted one or more web pages to create one or more virtual directories further comprises:

facilitating the privileged user inputting one file folder information at a time from displayed private workspace in the web UI to post the inputted file folder information through the privileged user assigned group workspace into a targeted web page, and

generating an updated said targeted web page including information in the group workspace in response to each said user accessing the virtual directory.

8. The computer system ofclaim 1, wherein said through posting said information into targeted one or more web pages to create one or more virtual directories further comprises:

facilitating the privileged user capable of inputting one file information at a time from displayed private workspace in the web UI to post the inputted file information through the privileged user assigned group workspace into a targeted web page, and

generating an updated said targeted web page including information in the group workspace in response to each said user accessing the virtual directory.

9. The computer system ofclaim 1, wherein said through posting said information into targeted one or more web pages to create one or more virtual directories further comprises:

facilitating the privileged user capable of inputting one message at a time from displayed private workspace in the web UI to post the inputted message through the privileged user assigned group workspace into a targeted web page, and

generating an updated said targeted web page including information in the group workspace in response to each said user accessing the virtual directory.

10. The computer system ofclaim 1, wherein said authenticating one or more privileged users creating one or more virtual directories further comprises:

facilitating the privileged user capable of inputting one hardware information at a time from displayed private workspace in the web UI to post the inputted hardware information through the privileged user assigned group workspace into a targeted web page, and

generating an updated said targeted web page including information in the group workspace in response to each said user accessing the virtual directory.

11. The computer system ofclaim 8, wherein said post the inputted file information further comprises:

creating an application program virtual directory through said posting, and facilitating each said user accessing one or more application programs in the virtual directory.

12. The computer system ofclaim 8, wherein said post the inputted file information further comprises:

creating a document virtual directory through said posting, and facilitating each said user accessing one or more documents in the virtual directory.

13. The computer system ofclaim 8, wherein said post the inputted file information further comprises:

creating a video and audio virtual directory through said posting, and facilitating each said user accessing one or more streaming video and audio in the virtual directory.

14. The computer system ofclaim 1, wherein said through posting said information into targeted one or more web pages to create one or more virtual directories further comprises:

facilitating the privileged user inputting one information at a time from displayed private workspace in the web UI to instantly delete an previously posted information in a targeted web page that matches the inputted information through the privileged user assigned group workspace.

15. The computer system ofclaim 1, wherein said workspace further comprises:

dividing each workspace into multiple sections , wherein each section is designated to store a specific type of resource information that includes message section, file and file-folder section, and hardware resource hardware information section

16. The computer system ofclaim 1, wherein said through posting said information into targeted one or more web pages further comprises:

depositing an inputted information from a specific section in the user's private workspace into a corresponding specific section of the user's assigned group workspace with memory speed in response to the posting operation.

17. the computer system ofclaim 14, wherein said deleting information further comprises:

finding and deleting an information with memory speed from a corresponding specific section of the user's assigned group workspace that matches the user's inputted information in response to the deleting operation.

18. The computer system ofclaim 1, wherein said workspaces further comprises:

depositing non-message type of a posted resource information without actually copying or moving the actual physical resource into the group workspace in response to the post operation, and

deleting non-message type of resource information from the group workspace without removing or deleting the actual physical resource in response to the delete operation.

19. The computer system ofclaim 18 further comprises:

deploying lock protection over the targeted group workspace for each said depositing and withdrawing operation.

20. The computer system ofclaim 1, wherein said creating one or more virtual directories further comprises:

facilitating the user select a resource node from a web folder tree in the web UI to input an information for posting information into a targeted web page or deleting a previously posted information from a targeted web page, wherein

each node of the web folder tree bound with a operating menu including operating options of posting and withdrawing.

21. The computer system ofclaim 1, wherein said creating one or more virtual directories further comprises:

facilitating the user manual typing an information into a text inputting field in the web UI to input an information for posting information into a targeted web page or deleting a previously posted information from a targeted web page.

22. The computer system ofclaim 1 further comprises:

said computer system is one of wireless personal communication devices, laptop system, desktop system, or server system which configured with

a control management organizing the resources on the computer system and from the network, controlling the user space operation for the computer system; and

a web server operatively coupled to the control management providing web services and user interfaces (“UI”) which includes

creating private and group workspace,

transmitting and displaying information in workspace via web UI including displaying information through web folder tree, and

receiving, executing, and responding to one or more requests submitted from each web browser.

23. The computer system ofclaim 1, wherein said networked system further comprises:

a least a network interfaces and

a service agent which comprising at least a service module communicating the computer system for receiving, executing and responding each requested task transmitted from the computer system, and comprising at least a service module providing requested web service directly to each requested system after receiving a user request transmitted from the control system.

24. The computer system ofclaim 1 further comprises:

said user's local system is one of the computer system or a remote system across the world wide web.

Images