Granted Patent B2

US 6,999,962 · App. 10/217,025 · Granted Feb 14, 2006

Abstract

Claims (47)

1. A system operating on a network, comprising:

a shared document repository coupled to the network, the shared document repository providing shared access to document objects stored therein;

a recommender system coupled to the network, the recommender system providing at least one of a user valuation and a user recommendation for identified document objects; and

a client computer coupled to the network and communicating with the shared document repository and the recommender system over the network, the client computer coupling functions of the shared document repository and the recommender system over a network;

wherein the client computer queries data from the shared document repository and the recommender system, the data received from the shared document repository including an element providing a link that references a function at the recommender system,

wherein the link to the recommender system providing access to at least one of viewing and submitting the at least one of the user evaluation or the user recommendation for the document objects in the shared document repository, the link including parameter data that is specified with metadata of the document objects provided by the shared document repository, and

wherein the client computer merges the data queried from the shared document repository and the recommender system to define a user interface to provide a list of the document objects in the shared document repository and the at least one of the user evaluation and the user recommendation from the recommender system.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the user interface is represented using a series of web pages that are viewed in a browser.

3. The system according to claim 2 , further comprising:

first objects displayed on the user interface that once selected initiate retrieval of documents, to the client computer, that are uniquely identified by the document objects in the shared document repository; and

second objects displayed on the user interface that once selected initiate retrieval of the user recommendations of documents, to the client computer, that are stored at the recommender system.

4. The system according to claim 2 , further comprising:

first objects displayed on the user interface that once selected initiate retrieval of documents, to the client computer, that are uniquely identified by the document objects in the shared document repository; and

second objects displayed on the user interface that once selected initiate submission of recommendations of documents, from the client computer, that are stored at the recommender system.

5. A method for integrating over a network functions of a recommender system into a shared document repository, the shared document repository allowing users to share documents using a browser that operates as part of a user interface of a client computer, the method comprising:

querying the shared document repository with the browser for displaying document objects stored therein;

receiving data from the shared document repository concerning the document objects together with a plurality of hyperlinks associated therewith, at least a first one of the hyperlinks activating a function in the recommender system and a second one of the hyperlinks activating a function in the shared document repository;

displaying in the browser the document objects and one or more icons related to each document object;

receiving input indicating selection of one of the one or more icons;

directing the browser to a link to the recommender system associated with the selected icon, wherein the link to the recommender system provides access to at least one of viewing and submitting at least one of a user evaluation and a user recommendation for the document objects in the shared document repository, the link including parameter data that is specified using metadata of the document objects provided by the shared document repository;

activating a function of the recommender system identified by the hyperlink, the function being activated at the recommender system with the parameter data; and

merging the data received from the shared document repository with a resource provided by the activated function to display in the browser the document objects, the one or more icons and the at least one of the user evaluation and the user recommendation.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein selection of a first icon of the one or more icons invokes a review function of the recommender system, the review function displaying in the browser a review form that allows input of comments on a document object in the shared document repository that is related to the first icon.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein selection of a second icon of the one or more icons invokes access to a review database of the recommender system, the review database containing reviews of documents stored in the shared document repository, the method further comprising:

selecting the second icon;

identifying a document object related to the selected second icon; searching reviews of the identified document in the review database; and

displaying in the browser reviews found for the shared document related to the selected second icon.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the second icon indicates a predicted level of quality of the identified document.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the recommender system provides personalized prediction with information identifying a user stored at the client computer.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the recommender system uses user-access limitations and identifies a user by a login access with a URL having an access function for generating a login screen.

11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the shared document repository uses user-access limitations and identifies a user by a login access.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein similar login access information is used for the shared document repository and the recommender system.

13. A method for dynamically coalescing at a client computer, functions of a recommender system with documents stored in a shared document repository, comprising:

querying with the client computer the shared document repository for a list of objects in a folder of the shared document repository;

receiving at the client computer from the shared document repository the list of the objects in the folder of the shared document repository;

providing from the recommender system at least one of a user evaluation and a user recommendation for the object in the folder of the shared document repository;

providing an access by the client computer to a function of the recommender system with parameter data associated with the list of objects in the folder of the shared document repository, the function being identified by the shared document repository and the parameter data being provided by the shared document repository, the function providing access to at least one of viewing and submitting the at least one of the user evaluation and the user recommendation the objects in the folder;

merging at the client computer results received from the recommender system and the shared document repository in a user interface of the client computer, the merged results providing the list of the objects in the folder of the shared document repository with the at least one of the user evaluation and the user recommendation received from the recommender system.

14. The method according to claim 13 , further comprising:

receiving an input indicating selection of one of the objects in the merged results displayed in the user interface of the client computer, the objects being associated with at least one of the shared document server and the recommender system; and

at least one of objects accessing the shared document server to retrieve data associated with the selected one object;

and accessing the recommender system with metadata associated with the object provided by the shared document server to retrieve recommendations associated with the selected one object.

15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the data associated with the selected one object is one of document content and document metadata provided by the shared document server.

16. The method according to claim 13 , further comprising:

receiving input indicating selection of an object in the merged results displayed in the user interface of the client computer, the object being associated with at least one of the shared document server and the recommender system; and

at least one of accessing the shared document server to retrieve data associated with the selected one object and submitting to the recommender system with metadata associated with the object provided by the shared document server recommendations associated with the selected one object.

17. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the data associated with the selected one object is one of document content and document metadata provided by the shared document server.

Assignments (9)