Web-based sharing of documents
A technique is disclosed that enables telecommunications endpoints to conveniently share the addressing information—that is, the Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI)—of documents that are available on the World Wide Web. In particular, a server is used to provide a bookmark service. The server acts as a repository of tag-URI pairs, in which each tag functions as a shorthand label for the corresponding URI. In the disclosed technique, a first user creates the tag for the intended URI by assigning a keyword to represent the URI as part of a bookmark tag-URI pair that the server stores. The created tag is presumably shorter than the URI that it represents, making the tag more convenient to use. A second user is then able to retrieve and use the URI by specifying the tag to the bookmark server. In essence, the technique of the illustrative embodiment enables the sharing of Web documents by sharing the bookmarks to those documents.
1. A method comprising:
receiving, via a computer network and from a first endpoint associated with a first user, digital data comprising a tag and a uniform resource identifier identifying a document located on a document server at a computer network address corresponding to the uniform resource identifier, wherein the tag is uniquely linked with the uniform resource identifier and with no other uniform resource identifiers such that a request for the tag provides the document by forwarding the uniform resource identifier;
upon determining that a second web browser associated with a second endpoint would not be able to reconstruct the document, receiving, via the computer network and from the first endpoint, a parameter describing how to reconstruct the document, wherein the parameter comprises at least one of (i) a password required to retrieve the document from the document server, (ii) state information corresponding to what the first user has selected on a first web browser associated with the first endpoint while the first user is viewing the document via the first web browser, (iii) information contained in a cookie required to retrieve the document from the document server, (iv) a locally executable script associated with the document, or (v) a document object model associated with the document; and
upon determining that the tag is unique in an address space for tags:
retrieving the document by using the parameter to yield a retrieved document;
storing, via a processor, the tag, the retrieved document, and the uniform resource identifier in a folder specific to the first user, wherein the folder is accessible only to the first user and members of a designated organization;
receiving, by the processor, a request from the second endpoint associated with a second user who is a member of the designated organization, the request comprising text; and
when the text matches the tag, transmitting, by the processor, the uniform resource identifier and the retrieved document to the second endpoint.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tag is a first tag, the method further comprising:
receiving a second tag from the first user;
determining whether the second tag already exists within the address space for tags; and
when the second tag already exists within the address space, transmitting a rejection to the first user.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the document is retrieved from the first endpoint, the document originating from a web server.
4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
determining whether the uniform resource identifier is sufficient to reconstruct the document; and
when the uniform resource identifier is insufficient to reconstruct the document, requesting the parameter from the first endpoint.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, from the first endpoint, a plurality of parameters describing how to reconstruct the document, wherein the plurality of parameters comprises (i) the password required to retrieve the document from the document server, (ii) the state information corresponding to what the first user has selected on the web browser associated with the first endpoint while the first user is viewing the document via the web browser, (iii) the information contained in the cookie required to retrieve the document from the document server, (iv) the locally executable script associated with the document, and (v) the document object model associated with the document,
wherein the document is retrieved by further using the plurality of parameters.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein a browser plugin allows the first user to post tags to the folder.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first user is a customer and the second user is a call center employee.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the folder specific to the first user is created upon receiving the tag and the uniform resource identifier.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
storing the parameter in the folder.
10. A system comprising:
a computer processor; and
a computer memory storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
receiving, from a first endpoint associated with a first user, a tag and a uniform resource identifier identifying a document located on a document server at an address corresponding to the uniform resource identifier, wherein the tag is uniquely linked with the uniform resource identifier and with no other uniform resource identifiers such that requests for the tag provides the document by forwarding the uniform resource identifier;
upon determining that a second web browser associated with a second endpoint would not be able to reconstruct the document, receiving, from the first endpoint, a parameter describing how to reconstruct the document, wherein the parameter comprises at least one of (i) a password required to retrieve the document from the document server, (ii) state information corresponding to what the first user has selected on a web browser associated with the first endpoint while the first user is viewing the document via the web browser, (iii) information contained in a cookie required to retrieve the document from the document server, (iv) a locally executable script associated with the document, or (v) a document object model associated with the document; and
upon determining that the tag is unique in an address space for tags:
retrieving the document by using the parameter to yield a retrieved document;
storing the tag, the retrieved document, and the uniform resource identifier in a folder specific to the first user, wherein the folder is accessible only to the first user and to members of a designated organization;
receiving a request from a second endpoint associated with a second user who is a member of the designated organization, the request comprising text; and
when the text matches the tag, transmitting the uniform resource identifier and the retrieved document to the second endpoint.
11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the first user is a customer and the second user is a call center employee.
12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the folder specific to the first user is created upon receiving the tag and the uniform resource identifier.
13. The system of claim 10 , the computer-readable storage medium storing additional instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform further operations comprising:
storing the parameter in the folder.
14. The system of claim 10 , wherein the tag is a first tag, the computer-readable storage medium storing additional instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform further operations comprising:
receiving a second tag from the first user;
determining whether the second tag already exists within the address space for tags; and
when the second tag already exists within address space, transmitting a rejection to the first user.
15. The system of claim 10 , wherein the document is retrieved from the first endpoint, the document originating from a web server.
16. The system of claim 15 , the computer-readable storage medium storing additional instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform further operations comprising:
receiving, from the first endpoint, a plurality of parameters describing how to reconstruct the document, wherein the plurality of parameters comprises (i) the password required to retrieve the document from the document server, (ii) the state information corresponding to what the first user has selected on the web browser associated with the first endpoint while the first user is viewing the document via the web browser, (iii) the information contained in the cookie required to retrieve the document from the document server, (iv) the locally executable script associated with the document, and (v) the document object model associated with the document,
wherein the document is retrieved by further using the plurality of parameters.
17. The system of claim 16 , the computer-readable storage medium storing additional instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform further operations comprising:
determining whether the uniform resource identifier is sufficient to reconstruct the document; and
when the uniform resource identifier is insufficient to reconstruct the document, requesting the parameter from the first endpoint.
18. A computer-readable storage device storing instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
receiving, from a first endpoint associated with a first user, a tag and a uniform resource identifier identifying a document located on a document server at an address corresponding to the uniform resource identifier, wherein the tag is uniquely linked with the uniform resource identifier and with no other uniform resource identifiers such that requests for the tag provides the document by forwarding the uniform resource identifier;
upon determining that a second web browser associated with a second endpoint would not be able to reconstruct the document, receiving, from the first endpoint, a parameter describing how to reconstruct the document, wherein the parameter comprises at least one of (i) a password required to retrieve the document from the document server, (ii) state information corresponding to what the first user has selected on a web browser associated with the first endpoint while the first user is viewing the document via the web browser, (iii) information contained in a cookie required to retrieve the document from the document server, (iv) a locally executable script associated with the document, or (v) a document object model associated with the document; and
upon determining that the tag is unique in an address space for tags:
retrieving the document by using the parameter to yield a retrieved document;
storing the tag, the retrieved document, and the uniform resource identifier in a folder specific to the first user, wherein the folder is accessible only to the first user and to members of a designated organization;
receiving a request from a second endpoint associated with a second user who is a member of the designated organization, the request comprising text; and
when the text matches the tag, transmitting the uniform resource identifier and the retrieved document to the second endpoint.
19. The computer-readable storage device of claim 18 , wherein the folder specific to the first user is created upon receiving the tag and the uniform resource identifier.
20. The computer-readable storage device of claim 18 , having additional instructions stored which result in operations comprising:
storing the parameter in the folder.