Representing an entity as a document using a data source having active properties
View Patent ↗A document management method and system for representing entities as documents. The entities include tasks, persons, devices such as phones, printers, cameras, computational processes, and workflow applications such as trip approval processes and hiring processes. Various data sources are used. A data source generally has an associated property and content information related to the entity. A bit provider is configured to identify the data source having the associated property, retrieve the content information, and provide the retrieved content information as at least a portion of the document. Application interfaces are configured to provide the document to various applications.
1. A computer document management system for representing an entity as a document using a data source having associated properties and content information related to the entity, the system comprising:
a bit provider configured to:
i) identify the data source as having the associated properties independent of a specific user request associating the associated properties and the data source;
ii) retrieve the content information from the identified data source;
iii) provide the retrieved content information as at least a portion of the document;
further wherein at least one of said properties is an active property incorporating executable code that affects the behavior of the document within the document management system; and further comprising:
an application interface in communication with the bit provider, the application interface configured to provide the document to an application, the bit provider further configured to:
iv) receive additional content information from the application via the application interface; and
v) send the additional content information to the entity via a communications path in order to modify the document representing said entity.
2. The system of claim 1 wherein the entity is a task.
3. The system of claim 1 wherein the entity is a person.
4. The system of claim 1 wherein the entity is an object.
5. The system of claim 1 wherein the entity is a device.
6. The system of claim 1 wherein the data source is a document.
7. The system of claim 1 wherein the data source is a device.
8. The method of claim 7 wherein the device is a phone.
9. The method of claim 7 wherein the device is a printer.
10. The method of claim 7 wherein the device is a camera.