CA2295289A1 - Automatic migration between web-based services - Google Patents
Automatic migration between web-based services Download PDFInfo
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- CA2295289A1 CA2295289A1 CA 2295289 CA2295289A CA2295289A1 CA 2295289 A1 CA2295289 A1 CA 2295289A1 CA 2295289 CA2295289 CA 2295289 CA 2295289 A CA2295289 A CA 2295289A CA 2295289 A1 CA2295289 A1 CA 2295289A1
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Abstract
A method and computer program product is provided to migrate user information from one internet-based service provider to another. The migration of user information includes obtaining access information from a user, which is used to access the respective source and destination service providers. Once access is obtained, the user information on the source service provider is located and transferred to the destination service provider.
After the transfer is complete, the user is notified of the success or failure of the migration and the source and destination service providers are closed.
After the transfer is complete, the user is notified of the success or failure of the migration and the source and destination service providers are closed.
Description
~HN"J~ 1A '00 ,A5:34PM IGf~ & MOSS (613)230-87551'HA IYU~ P.6r49UD
Lxrrc~s MF,iiiinst T.ctb~i N~. T~L394374890US PATk?N'Y',APP~,I~ATi~N
Docket No. 14781.5.1 .
U1~TIT~b ~T~,A, A'I~ CATZON
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sTi~YE~ rrATOn arid CYN A. ~A7 YA
for ., AUTaMATING MIGRATIQN laETw~N'iY>~$-kA.~ED 4E~tYYC1~:S
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JAN-~~~10.=~0__0$?3~M BARRIGAR & MOSS (613)230-8755FAH ~a~ p,7i4gOZ
HACKGRO'UNp OF TAE INV
1. Retxted Ann4eAt~
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~. 'fhis'alrplication claims the benefit of ~(J'.S. Provisional hpplir,,ativn ;arxlal No.
4 '~ 'GQI1 d 5,048', ~tlcd lalu~ry 8,1999, and entitlod °'Web Automation Qf Fyn~rril Tvligration," .
~whi~h is ie~earporatad hcrcia by rerFercnce.
. , s , '6 ~ ~ 2. . T~eh'Inld of the huveptlon , s, ~ 'fhe present invcntiou xGlaies to collecting and txsrr,sferring information on thr world 9. wide' weh. Mars speciFtrally, tho present invention relates to a matt~od of automating the t o process of truutsferring user inFotmatian from one interact based service provider to anothcw ~, t 1 ~ intcrnct based sorvice providor. .
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. . , ' t,3 3. ' . The Prior State of t! ~~A~"
1~i ~ The capabilities and resources of the world wido wsb (WWW'~ or internct have - ' ~ts ~p,~odcd in resent years. At one time, the inttrnet was used almost exchxsivcly by 14 ' 1'a9eaxCllCxs to caliaborate wul sf~aro Information. Today, the inlemet ha8 became an .1~ ~ imnic~se network capable of sharing, dlatrfbutiu~ and di9a3eminating large qttantitics of data.
°~~a~ ~~I
t 8 ~ 'Clic interntt has become a fertile aommarcial landscape with ><~iv~
dntetprlaos competing to ~ravide esistom~cra with products, information and services of every etzipa.
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r ~.~ ~ ~ ~ zo . . ~ Con*un,ers can purcl~~xe sroccries, books, cars, vidboa, computer hardwa~~e uad zt ~soR'wara, a1o ' ng with rnarty other gouda and services directly oa the irtternet. Cansulners iZ, uovyr h~tve~ ,access to financial services such as banks, stock brokers and lcndcxa and can , 23 sub~sckibt is inCvrmatlon sorviees and papers ~ well as access other ser,ricas ralatod to za, travel and cntcrtai~ment. Colnmunicaiion services, incilrding faxing and 'messaging, arc ;
- hagC Z " n4a4e~Ne. L4781.5.1 j ' ,' I,~~- ~,~ ,~~!,~;~", P~r~ $4,PM BARRIGAR 8~ M4SS (613)230-875~f~ NO. P.8i4~d ' ' t al$o awailablc on the intanset. Other interact enterprises or sertriccs aet es portals, tltrottgh .
- z ~ which a, cansulncr cart a,eoess services as well as other areas of the intarnat. Portals arc t particularly asafal becm~ctsa they search and ontvgori~c irtformaGon end web sites on the 4 illtcrrtct, whioh enables copsumars to more headily find that for which thdy search. 'fho ' ~~ lr>~.~rr)et provides almost limitless posaibllities. ' . , , ~ Internet, or web-based s~rviae l7rovidors, in an ctFort to batter serve their cus-tamers, arc motivhtcd to leaarn aboua the pcvpte they scrvv. 7<n !'set, many intemet-based serviee 8 ~ prdviders'rcquiro a new customer to provldo them wfth,a signiftcant amvount of information sill order to effectively service the ouatomtt . For instance, an itsi~ntt services that notilics its cugtortlers wf louv airfarta needs to know which flights the austomerc y~teftrx to fty. The t~t ' irrtcrnat trttval scarier may ~Jso need to know the ouatomcr's.target prioo ranges preferred 02 ui~liiwrc, frequent fllcr ttvaount numbc~ra, credit card nwnbcr for payment, home alddrcsa for ~1~ ,.dclivGry of ticket, meal prcfcrencea. s~tirt~ prefert;nces and destinations. 't'hi's it~ornwtiol~, l~ obviously, raust be supplied by the custa~mer.
1i , Another ittttxnet service aitraatiug many consumers i$ ~irlte'rnct or web-baaed e-mail t~b service providcr9. ~IJstablisl~ an acex~wit with an s~ma91 service provider requires little t~ ~ 'mare than a user name atxl R ewer althnu h most e-mail rovidcrs . , , , p~ d. $ p require fulditionfil .
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t s anfarmation such as the consumer's home addrcas and telephoac tnunber.
R!Y'ectivaly usin0 a t q ~thc account, however, re uircs much more information. lt~tcrnct ~rn~ '1 counts ~ ~, , , 9 , I ax tto generally . , w ~, , , , .~,~~ zo offer can ,actdres$ book which, once filled with the itt~ormaxiot~
for iho uaar's frequent ~ ;
w ' .. ~ ~ ~ ~ , 3 ~ I ,correspondents, atraamlines the experience of compasittg end sending tmaih The flddress ;
book ma Contain o-mail addresses a n o Y , Photo utrtbers, contact yerspng sad, other tnfonration - 23 entered, by iha use. Inttmet e-mgil providers may'~also lmbvidc other uneritios suoh ns z~ cal cedars, whioh also rcduire the user to inpuk infoimatian. Clearly, a user dcdicatcrs a .
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t .signiFrattt amount supplying information about tbamselvts as well, as entering information into the' ~uldroas beak end ether aatan.itles provided 'by the a-rrtail service provider. '1 bus ~ ' information belongs to the user and dta e-rnnil provider is merely storiaB
the information not only as a co~vamicncc for the user but also as a selling paint to retain the user as a customer.
Another typ4 of user-owned ixtFotrnation tlyat accumulasca on. an itttceuet e-mail account is , the mt.sssgcs that a user receives and sends, 7 Regardless of the apeaific interoot-based servirt considered, iho iong pracrss of I. , entering extensive user information induces a forced loyalty by xsising the cost of switahi>5g to another sbrvicc provider. Thd account holder seeking to migrate td an, altctaativc provider tn of the same service faces a loss of the bane6t of having entered extensive user illformation 11; ~ in the Original intcrnot-based service. The ntoro customer infonnatiott chat reqidoa on tlse fa intcrnGt-based service providtt's servers, the greater the cost of sruiiching to art alternative pmvtdcr,bccauso the task afre-cntcrlng the infonnation again is dauatlng.
Ikftorrtel-basbtl a~ervice ptaviders undarscaad I these Cosis., '~'ha forced loyalty , ,t 5 described flbovo, is referred to in the Internet aarvicts industry as "arickincss." ray 16 ~nlttxiiniisug Qzo ofFort required for users to trnttx user ml'oratati~, service providers aikn to .?~ , . , , reduce attrition and keep their sites customer-sticky. Thus ii~taKnet based service prnvidcry rn , _ , . , ~3 ~ ~ ~ ~ , t 8 ~ ~, have an incea ties to maxiutixe the investment of ttm~e necessary to' enter the tnfotmatiorr, as rl9 1 wall as ,the dlftieulty of r~.sily trnnsfcrnng that inforcnaiian to another web service. The stirki:acss of an intemot~bascd provider itrduces man caste Y mess to continue using tin w ~ ~ ~ S a 2t, idferiox web-service even when supvrlor altarnativcs exist.
Whlle.atsothcr s~:nrice provider ;
W ay btttcr meet a user's zzccds and pxeii~rences, that use may not Ix willing to throw away .r , ,23. , the time and eFFori ho or ehc invcSatEd entering usex information in order to gain the 24, vdvantages ~a swperlor provider offers. 'This underscores the ncai for the ability, to quickly - rags 4 - L7oclce~ Ns, i4is~.s. r ,JAH-~A~ 30.,:.t~0 ..0~:35[?M BARRIGAR & MOSS (613)230-8755E~AX NU. P.l~i4~
y . ! sud aaslly ~switoh service providers in order to lake advaataga of technological advances and supericsr products.
~ "flse,sticklnsss Qf intsrnet based service provfdexs results in hart from the tact that the , , 4~ browsing ex~srience, from a client's perspective, is R sfiriotly manual process. Wcb j brows~Cz's arc used by revple who navigate the web and manually interact with web pages 6, ~ ~t~rou~h, kcysirokas and mouse clicks to eisher input or retrieve vadoua founs of data. As far ~ ~ as web servers are concerned, the psooess is mono automated as demonstrated by web rages ~ , ~ ~, thht gather dt~ta'about :s user. ?he data provided by a user is Typically being gathered by a ~ nyftchine and nut a human. In other words, the data gathering proooss is automated. 1'!tc ~ ~ , ~ 10, web axperlenca, !'i-om the pout of view of a user, is trot aulQmakad. The, prcsant invention ~ ~ 1 ~ - ,gives ~Oplo the ability to automata the transfer of their information from one web-based ' ~ ~ 2 5ervioc to ariotlier.
t3 ~ ~ The ability to ea.9tly migrate $om one intarnet based p,ocvt8~ to arrothas iA important s~ to both users and providers. I>Z the inhtal phases of an ilttcrrrct-based service's availability, ~5 virtually all uerv accounfa relent customers who any t~ew to iha~iniernet-hosed market sor t4 ~suah~ a'scrvico. DurTug this plisse, tbar~e is typically a flood of Gustomcra misrating from >
traditionnlly-based services to their Internet-based corollary. Because, network ccon,omlcs i ~d ~ ~ ~ ~ is ~ t 8 ~con;Fer , significant economic advantagcKS on the internerrbased services that cartttre the , ~ < ~ ~ ~ ~ l9 . largest market abate, the Internet-based setvitx's top prtoriiy Burins this hasp is ca tudn ,. .;~ ~ ~~~ ' . »
as many' of the new cttstomars of such a service as possible. 'There ate few incentives to '~ ~~s ~ ~ ~i clepXoy tccHnoiot3ies chat streaml3ta~ t'he migration process duciog this phase, from the ;, , ,22 pcSW~~<ive of either the customers or the service providnss.
xs A~ morn arid more potential customers obtain Chair first intcrmt-besvxi account in a 2a pprtiaular,serviee ate, the growth in the total number of new acoounts slows sigoificWtly - Pegb 5 - nocirscNa t~~81_sn t,. , t m,J market for that pariicttlur interact-based service onxrs a second phase, in which the 'ohailonges of lcaeping existing account holders, and attracting account holders Them rivpl 3 i~rovidcrs rises in prlorlty. During this second phase, #hc~a6ility to more Basil tai y grFtie from ~, , ~ 4 one 'service' 'to another 19 highly valued by customers, as wail as by compctii~p service provi~l~crs hoping to attract the mars of exist~g p~vi,lers with ~yntivc ~unotional'rty, ø' and improved sarviccs.
'During this seaotxl phase, customers ara more oxperiertoed and nioro domnndlng;
having alromdy ~pcp~aoced life wl#h one intexnet-based pror~idor of such scrvicos. Second phase; cttstomery ar.; comparison shopncsrs. They evalualc f»t~rnet-bssad providers at a ,'lo number of levels of competitive dillfcrcntlstlon. Some of the itoms that cttatorners avaluato t.t ~ .a~'tlae relittblllty azrd speed oPservicc, the, eASC of use of the site, the irna-faca with the sits, Iz , the use of adVartisin~. and the r~oct~d applications.
~ is . Seco~ ply~c customers yvg<rt to u~ the service that offers the bca~t fttnctlanality.
't~ liowavar,~a user who contemplates miSrating to an i~pteiaoet-tensed servico prvvidcr that ,15 better meets his or hex nocds faces the barriers to migration discussed above, Currently, .16 - extansive user cr~tod information cannot be cxtraoted from an intot~.~~
~,ico provider, oxoept by a tedious fiald-by field cut and paste. I , y ~ ~ a~ , I s ~ ~ this problem is addrosaad b~~ the presant inrrontion which automates filio collection t~ , and transfer oC usar infotrnation ftom o~ae interact-based seryico provtdar to another.
In ~~~~~~~ 20~. ~raddttibci id bcuefiting customers ax a t~ult of attdamlini their nB abtlety to aeleat cho best <.pr~~ ~ . , 1=y ~, xt; intrrc~et~ba,~~ed sorvico provider,, the migration functionality d4scxibcd hereto also helps 22 ~ croatc a morn competiti'vd caarlcciplacc. When customers can mom easily ah~~a servica ~ , , ~ 23. pra~xicin~, impmvamonts in functionality and service are memo rapidly rewarded.
~ , , - r'~° G - buat~o~t'vo, 14T81.S.i JtllY'~JHf'i 1b 'bb b5:~bh'~7 FiHh~lhHh X~ MU55 (bl;~)~;~b-~i'/55~fiJ1 'PIU, h'.1~/4f~r ~ - ~ Tcchtlnlogfcal fnnovators and c~ntrepratoeurs benefit, aA wall Rs 'the cusiomors who exnerionco more rapid adva<scos in; thn duality of availabio aarvioes.
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al~,cTS aav~ sun~w~Y a1~ ~x~ nw~rrrorr Z' . The present invecttion teas boat developed in rtisponse to the present stag of tho art, ~ aizd in parttcutar, in rvsponsc to these and otho; pxoblexns and noeds that have not been fully 4' ar completely solved. Thus, it is tut overall object of $ic prGSent invention to provide an s ntrthod ~ and ovmputer program product for rni gt~ting user lnfannation !'ram ono internal . ~ ~ service providor to another Internet ~yioe provider. , ~ ~ , rt is.anuther objxt of otle embodiment of the prcsent.iav~tttian-to import user rrlated . ', g dflut from one intormct service provider to another. ' ' , It is t~ t~rther object of one embodiment of iho prrsant invcntinn to acport user is related data from one intornet sorvicc provider to another.
,' it is yet another abject of one embodiment of the present ittveation to delete user ,' , to ralat~d infoctrttrtiota fmm an intrmet servioo px~vidor:
13 . ~ It is ~ furihar object of one embodiment oCthc prescttt iavcntioa to copy user relr~red t 4 wit~formaliQn from an intcrnet :3crvice provider. ' 15 Tt is an eddiltonal obj~xt o.f one embodiment oCthe present invention to ~.tttamatc the t G migratiam of user rnlatod information from ono itrternct servicx provider to anoth~tr.
t~ . rt is y$t another object of one embodiment of the presoat inventlan to keep ttscrs' '. ~ , ~i y ~ p ~ ~ ,1~ ~iriforniatiori i a their control. .
5~ ~ ~~~
5~ ~: ~ ~ 19 Yha ~iulgratiou oP user information from one interr~et-based service provider to 'n ~,~" ?o I snotitcr is vary dift;icult becaust the various Internet-based scrvico providors employ ~~~ 2s, ditfercnt data struemrox, formats, and presentxtton etylas to storo and provide usdr access to 22 tlto uscc information stored on the provider's servers. Typically, the user information could 23, ,be traoai'c~rrcd cxr migr~tad only by n tedious cut and pate proceduro.
In such condiuoox, it a~ can be e~cicr to isntcr the information egaiu rather than cut and pn~xtc.
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ihe~e problems, the prassnt ltwcntion pr~avide$ methods and computer program products io z simplify and automate tho migtatioa of user information Iber',veen intornax-baced servlcc 3' providors.
Tho first 9tcp reqttirce the user to.not only iniiiaicl rtha mib~,nii,an, but also supply a s: ' uacr'name ~ password, which enable access to the nsor infarmadon. Ai'te~
iha usar rtalne and'passwarci have been obtained for both the solmao and destinatiolt iniernet-based service Iprovidrcs, 'a portal object is created for each ,provider. The patio! objact is specilio to a I s , , panicular provider and is able to handle ih~c data organization and format of that provider.
3 'fhe' portal obJect also stlppiita routinaa that. enable ihE xtaer infbrmation stored on en . 10' inte. 'rnc>"baacd $ervic,: provider to be located and transfc~,xed.
Onca the user information has been located, xt ~ transfetxed ox sent to the new prnvidatr., The information can be yottt u~n~ standard data transfer lmdcodur~s, or in an c-mail:, e-mait.mossagos stored on a pmvider oan 6e forwandod to iha new destination in ord8r 'to j~re,Rervu the o-mail header information. , .
is 1 ~ , ' After the user information has been transferred, the user has ,the option of deleting 16 the 'uscr'inl'~orrxmtion from the aouroe provider, or tits uaet can Ieavo the user informataan as ' , n ; it was ~ !'our~d. Next, the sourer and destination scrv)ee providers art< 'closed usual lY bY
t 8 ~ ' , J a~giog out.
t 9 °' , ' , .pcddltional objectx and advatWges of the invention will be set forth ir; t)to dG.ocri do r xo ' yvhich follows, and W past will be obvious from the description, or may be loerned ' bY the <' ~ 21 prtretlcc.of the invention. The objects and advantages of tlw invention may be realized and Z2 obtained by means of tha instnsments and combinations particularly pointed out irt the 23 , ,appended claims, xhase and other objects nud features of the present invoation will became ~d ~ . ' ,' ~ - ~~~ g - Ih~duu114o.14781,5,!
~iHN" ,JRIV 10 ~' 00 ~ ~ 05: 37PM HARRI6AR & MOSS ( 613 ) 230-8'7551-~AX NU, P.15f49j ~ , more fully ataparcnt from the followi>zg description srld appended claims, or may be learrlcd . I 2 ' ~'by the practice of the inrrc~rtioa as set forth horeinafler.
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Irt order that the meumar in w~oh ~o ~4ve-rooitod and other advantage and obJccrs of ihc jltVO~tIpF~ are obtained, a morC particular descriptidii of the invention bricfily desoribed s~hovc,~ril1 be rerulercd by reference to specific embodiments th~Qf which ate illustrated in ~I s tire appended drawings. Lrnderstewding thot chase drawlttgs depict only typical embodiments ~ , / ~of th'e' invention and are not thcrefoir to be considered limiting of it's scope, the invention 1 ~ ' ~ ~ / wflt bo~dcsoribcd and cxploined with additional specificity sad detail through the use of the accompanying drawings in vwttich:
~, '~ I~ figure t is an exrumplc systatrt that provides a suitable opa~i~g ~mi~~ant Tor laic 1 ' ~' ~o ~ prcscntinvention; , i t ' Figure 2 is a black ~ii~ra~, of one etulmdiment a system iIlustr acing the mi~vn vP
~ 2 ' user data from one intcrnet based service provider to another intamet_bused, service .
13 ~ prpVid2C;
t4 ' , t~igurrs 3 is a flow chart illustrating cxemplaty steps fbr migrating user data from one - , i s intomot-bescd service provider to another Internet-based servicz provider;
~f~ figure ~4a is a block diagram ilhttng the clew of user data wlxen the migration ~ ~ druei resides with the dostittation provider;
~ d6 ~ ~ t $° . ~ ~ Figure 4b is a block diagram illustrating the rt~igracion ofuser dad when the ~~~~g, , ~, 5 ,I ; ~' ~' mi gnation'drivor rvsi~des on a source provider; , . . , .
,~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 20 / rigurc-~c is a block diagram illustrating the migration of user dad when the ~ -~ v ~ 2 ~ tlti~ti'8n dtivar is indapendan a of the ,source provider, the dostinatioa provider, and the a2 aser;,tmd ,. , z3 ~ , rigi~re ~d illusiratos the migration of user data whpu the W
ig~taomiriv~ ~sidcs on a . 24 , uscr,computcr.
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D ~'AIL» DTs~aCRIPTION Olf "f~ PR1~FE $Mg 1'!~e prosant f rtvciuion providos mmthods ~u,d computer nro~ram products for . , ~, auiuitutting the, trxn:;fcr of information over tho interact. 1,-mail migration is ono 4 ~ .ent~bodimcnt of the present invention aad is used hercu~ to describe the preso~nt invention.
., The prr~sont inveiritQtt, ltowaver, is not liznitod to o-mail cnigraiian, but can be usod with any itytcrnet"baserl service stcuirrg uaer iaforrn>ation and the discussion: is therefore not to ba 9 . tais~sitrued es liyiting, but as oxomplary.
An iute~n~at-baaod service provider e~bles ~ user to use the interact to receive or usoe ?, . the sc,cvic~ provided. Ono sucli aerv~ico is intemcirbasat e-mail. fn order to use fnt~moi-t ~ based.,o-meal; a vacr fast establishes yr creates an account. Typically;
all shat is rccluirvd to ,t 1 ~ establish an a~;cour~t is a user name and a user password. Marry Internet-based c-rrtail provide~a ofFac opparluaities for thm user to eater much more ittfprmaiion as disouased ' ~ 13 ~~ above. ;~s a resvtli, a u~r typically entara a substm»tial amour of informa~tivo to cffcctivaly I a ~ use a web-based ern>zi1 sarvxce. Tlta irrfarrnation supplied by the toast is mair~teined and f s .I stored by iho intaxnat-baaod service provider.
Once a ugdr has entered the perxonal information, the servfco tray be used almost t 7 , immediately- To conduct nzessaging or io send and receive o-mails, ~a uaa may access both a ~ t B ;, sc4tt a,nd raooivod measagos and tt,e ~.~~1 ~tadata. The tnessa~es aro what is sent to the i«tarided recE innt or p recipients and may cazxlprfae,text, graphics. imaecs. sounds and intcrrtdt links. L.mail metadata as information dr data that concerns the actua.t mcasage.
,.
. ~ ~ ' I, Address books, uBar Battings, amd sarvrr settings arc cacamplcs of e-mail mctadata. Matadata za ,also iioRcritxs how, when, and by whom a particular set of data wns eolloctad. as ~.vcll as .
Z3 , -how that data is farntaitcd. In other words, metadata is data about dale. 1~'or example, 24 metfidaia ~boirt art e-mail message may include, but la not limited xo, thn name of the ~ Page 12 - ' r~~xNo. ta~x~.a.t viul~ ,Jtllt lYJ YJYJ YJJ~JOrI'I D1~11CIC1t71~11C 0t I'NJJ 101JICJC1-OIJ,a lllf ~1V~ r.lOi~.17) recipient, the nanny of the sender, the font of tho massage text in the e-mail, the byte size of ' z the e-mail and tho addmss oftht; recipient. / , ~l~ncaiet-based c-mail pt~oviders ate d9sti.ugu9shablt~in several ~. Mach provider 4 . typicmtty ~torcs the data represewing o-mail messages and, e-mail metadata in a different manner, or location. Internet-basod e-mail providers taay also use proprietary formsts acrd ~ r prcs~.'ntatian layouts for their o-mail sy~aton~s, and in or~i~ Cot a user to switch i~otn one . - ' ~ xcrvice provider to another, these prob)cms must be oveocome.
All internee-bused service providers use a considerable amount of hardurora and ~ - softw~ to implement their services. 1'he herdware~ etxd so~warc, in the case of o-~ji to providers is frequently rofcrred to as an e.3nai1 sarvEt. Fi~pre 1 is not only art aacamplc sysieru oCa suitable operailrtg environment iPorthe rrcsGat fnvcrrtivn, but is also illusirutlva tz ~ o,Pthc hardrovare and software empioyed by Internet-based, service providdrs to provide their t 9 sc,rvi~~o.
t4~ , , The cmbodhrtencs of the present invention tnay comprise a special purpose ar ~, t5 gcanoral purpose cotnputar a~mprisin~ various computer lxardwaro.
1?mbodiments within tho ~4, scope of tho p~samt invention also include computer-readable media huvin~
computer- , ,~ , ~ 17 - exccueablo insttvctiona or data stcucturcs si.umd thereon. Such cott~putert~adablo media car, t a,I beg tu~ty nvuilable roadie which eau be accessed by a gel purpose or special pucposo 1 s c~ornpucaa, k3y way of, example, and not limitation, auah eompubtr-x,eadable media can r ,~~~ ~ zu enmprisd R,~iM, ROM, fiFPRUM> CD-IOM or other optical clislc storago, magnetic disk , r ~~ . , , , , y; 21 storago or gther magnetic storage devices, or arty other m~adium which can be used to store 22 I ~ the desired cxsoulablc instructions or data structures and, wb~ch can be accessed by a general , za purliosv, or.special purpo~ computer.
. , zø , ' ,, ~ ; . ~ - Page 13 - Dvck>a Ne. ~a~a ~.s. f ~~-1~'1.19._'.~.,~5~~$PM BpRRIC,AR & M45S (6137230-8755~H1t NU~ , P.19i49d When infortratioa 3s transferred or provided aver a network or other eoirr~iunfcations conncctfon to n computer, tho computer properly views ihc cotfnootio>x ~q a computer-rosdablo meditou. Thus, such a oonnaction is also properly texmod a computor-re.~dablc ~mechu<n. Combinations of the above should also be irielttded within the scdpa of s , computer-readable u~edia. Computer-executable inqitruetians, comprise, for example, instructions attd data which cause a geneeat purpose computer, gpociel purpose computer, or ' apcci~xl purpvsc vrocossirg device to pctform a certain function or group of functions. The ~cornp!ut~er-axocutable instructions and associated data structurds l~aprcseu~t an exumplo of pro,~ram coda means for executing floc steps al'the inwcation disaloscd herein.
,td ; ~ l7i~urc 1 and the following discussion arc intended to provide a brief, ~encrt~]
~ a dcscriptiou of a a~uitabid computing environmrnt in which lho invention may be ! 2 ~ lmplomcnlcd. Alihou~h not requixed, the inrrontlon will ba described in the getnoral conLOkL
~ s ~ ,Qt' cornputcr-exccutablo instructions, such as progiam modules, being cXecuied by a personal t d ~ computer. (~enorall~r, program modples include routines, rirograms, abaeats, components, / t ~ doss structurc~.s, ate. that perform particular ta.Rks or implcn~t particular abstract data types.
16 Moreover, those skilled in the art will apy~rcciata that the invention may ba practiced with ~othcr~ computer system t,~.anfigwatious. it~cauding'hand-bold davioes, mufti-processor id ~~ ~ ~ ~ , t s ' systems, microrroccssar-based or programmable consumer eloctror~ics, network PCs, i~irucarnputcra, mainframe computern, and the like. The invention may also be practiced in , ~ ~, zo / distributed computing envirorunrrnts where tasks are parfonmcd by remote processing ~. ~~:~
K ~ a ~ 2 t dcsvicca that nra linked through s communications netwoxic. 1n a distributed computing , ~ cyivinonment, program moduteq may be located in both local and reuxrote momo store a . . , ry a 23 dcvlr"es.
X14 , - Pale 14 - . vo~:d rro. is»< t.s.l ~~ YJ~~J7~I'I l3hiNQCIS~HK 3t I'IVS~ 1413JC3YJ~iif3~tlA tYV~ 1".CW47!
s ~ , W~ raPcrenco to Figure 1, an cxst~oplaty sysiea~n for imph~.mentIng the Invention z ia~alitdCa a gencrai purpoac compttiiag device in tht form of a convanttonal computer 20, including a processing unit 21, a system memory 22, arid s system bus 23 that couples various system compon~ts including the system memory to the processing , unit.
The ~syslem, bus 23 rtaay be any of several types of bus slruct~urs irvcludiag a memory bus dr ' ~ menic~ry controller, a peripheral bus, and a local b~ using auy ~olf a variety of bus ~~ s~~hiweniras. The system memory inaludca txad only memory (1~01~ 24 rtndlrandom x ttccass mattiary (li.Alvt) 25. A basic inps~t/outpttt system (HI(7S) 26, c4ntaini~ the basic routinwrs that hole to trax~sPer information between elements within the computtr 20, such as d'uriaig stext-up, azay be scored in RbM 24. The computer 20 may also include a ma~nelic t 1 hard disk drirrc 27 for seeding f~att~ arid writing to s magnetic hard disk, not shown, a 12 ruagnatic disk drive 28 for readir~ firo~, or wrlt~ng to a iamovabta ittagactlc disk 29, and an ~3 opt~,c~rt dlak drive 30 for reading from or vvrtiiiat~ to roulave~blo oplieal disk 31 Ruoh ats n t4 C;I7~-I;.UM or other optical media. The ma~atic hard disk drive 27, mapnetio disk drive 28, I5 and laptiea4 disk drlrre 30 arc connected to the sy9tem bus 23 by a hard disk drive iaterPaeo W 32, a magrtotie disk driv,a-3aterCace 33, and an optical drtvc interface 34, ra;sptelively. The t y ' drives .and tht:ir asaxlated com iorreadable media Im provide ,nonvolatllc slcragc of d ~ ~ ~ t R coruputor readable instructions, data strttot<tres, ptogratn unadttlcs, and othvs data for iho ~~ ~ S I~ ' cam user 20. Atttwu h the excm 1 a vi ent 9 ~ P , Ji P ~5' n ~ deacn'bod herorn emltbyg a raatxnztic hard diste 2'i, a rcnnovablm magn~ctio disk 29 and a z~emavs~ble optic*1 disk 31. it should bo ~ a ~ appreciated by those skilltd in the art that ether types of computer readable media whi eh ot~rl stooc data that is aocosslblc by a computer, such as magnetic cassettes,.
flash niGntory card,, z3 digital ~rldea disks, Bernoulli carhidges, random acc~ceeax memories (RAMs), read only a~ ' uenaori~ (R.OM], and the like, may also be ustd in the exemplary operating environsnent.
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,~1," rauxrslxr or program modules may be stored on iha hard disk, magnetic disk 29, ;vptia~l disk 3I, ,ROM 24 or RAM 25, including . an operating system 35, one or more tappH~ta~on programs 36, ether progrfun modules 37, and pragrant data 3$. A
user may cater , ~ ~comn~e~r~ds cmd information into tl~o computer 20 through input devices such as a kcf board s d~ and~ointing device 42. Other input devices (>aot shawa) may,iraolude a micraphot~a, jay 6 s~ok, ~emc pad, satellite dish, scanner, or the like' Thane arid other input devices arc often z ,~am~ypdcd to I the. pracesaing unit 21 through a setlal port imcxfacc 46 that is co~lod to ityatem bas 23, but may be eonnccted by othor intctfaccs, such as a parallel port, port 9 ~ air o v~rrivctttal serial b,us (tJBH). ti monltar 47 or other typo of diapiay device is also lfl conk w systom bue 23 via as interface, such as video adsptsr 48. In addition io the t t mon$~r, personal connp~tcrs typically include other peripheral output devices (not shnwn), 12 i ~ apankets and nrlntcrs. , , , 1~ ~ The computer 20 may oporate in a rtetworkal errvironmen'l using logical catanuetioas la to arrm or lttoro rromatc computers, such as g ~remone camputor 49. ltemotc computer 44 may a ; ba arlpther personal camputcr, a server, a rotrtee, s network PC, a peer device or other t6 co~tsmor< network n4dc, fu'td typically inaludc~s many or si'11 of the elements described mbove i rolaid~e to the computer 20, although only a rncmary siarage device ~0 bas bean lllu~lratcd ~ 1a; in i~lgurel 1. The logical cotmectionaj depicted in Tigare 1 include a Iloaal area oelwvork ca ~Ct~ ~ f~; (l.Al~ 51 and a wide e~rea aelwork (vVA~ 52 that arc presented here by way of example a arid oot timitavtion. Such networking environments are commonplace in olYicas enterrriso--~ ~ 2t wide catppuler networks, intranots atld the IAternak. ~ ' Z~ - When tzted in a LA1H networking cinvironment, .the romputor 20 is connected to the z3 local network 5I through a network interface or adsptcr 53. When used in a WAN
,z~ nat,~parjcfag ~environmem, the cr~mpute~ 20 typically ineludaa a modoi;tx~54 or ether means for ' - Page 16 - ~ txxtxelao. uW.s.t . .~~, : ~ ,: '~ , Jf~~-1..~.~...:~~.,. ~.y~PM BARRIGflR & MOSS (613)230-875~.r,'~X HU, P.22i49' t establishing communications overt the wide area nZtwork SZ, such as the lntornct. 'the modoni~ SA~, which may be iutQxnal or ayttcrnal, 9s connected t4 the systcm~
bus 23 via thc~
serial port intatWcc 46. In R networl'rad en~uironmdit, ,program nnoduJes dtpictxd rclatlvo to 4 , tho computer 24, or portlonx thereof, may lye stood in the remote memory storage davico. It . I, ~ 5, will, be~.apprecietcd that the aQCwork conncctlons shown are exemplary, and other means of , ostabli~shing a communications link between the comQut~s may lxi ,tsad.
~ ~ ~ ~ Comgu'tcr 20, illustrated in Figure x is also rcpre~cntalive of the hardwaro and ' 8' ~ sofl~nrttre icscd by iatcmnet-based service providers, Cvmputcr 20, with rc~fcsr~ca to int~t-~ based c..inail , providers, is rap~reaentative of,the servers and server sof~wara necossary to , 1 O , ,ptrividC ~tse~ with intarnet basod c-mail, I t t ~ , ,, , As usod herein "source portal" and "destination portal" may nei'~ to a wob based ' m scrvico provides, a web page, a Plcu~lity of linked web ptigss, one or snore web pages, a , t 3 ; daml?a~ or ether data repository, a data store that xs taaally or ramoioly accessed, or any m other camputex, device or lntarrtct domaist staving, aooess to user data or any combination ' 19 ~ thereof. ' Ib Fi~utc 2 is a block diagram ropreaertting tho migration of user I~nfom~ation from one t9 intetnct~ba9ed serVlcc provider to another. ,1n a gabaral adtisc, hlgitre 2 is also rcpr~eseniativa W ~ ~ l8' r uF customer rni ration. Source ,, $ portal, 70 is eun irternet.basod s~rv9ts provider that, in this /embodinn~t, provides Internet-bases e-mail. Destination portal 72 9s also an intemet-based ~~ .zo c-rnail~sorvioa provider. User information 74 is stored on s4urco ttal'~0 and co 1m mprlscs, c "~. ,~ a ~ 21 mail mmaaagcs, may mctadata, user preferonce, address books and other user related ~d ' p 2z - user supplied information, Sottrx postal 7o comprises sesrrvcr hardware and server softw~, 23 which permit soured portal 70 to provide int~emet 'basmd e-mail servicos.
~lser i>aformation
Lxrrc~s MF,iiiinst T.ctb~i N~. T~L394374890US PATk?N'Y',APP~,I~ATi~N
Docket No. 14781.5.1 .
U1~TIT~b ~T~,A, A'I~ CATZON
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. dOH~T D. )~ '~, IU,n~.~ w. r~~nA~
sTi~YE~ rrATOn arid CYN A. ~A7 YA
for ., AUTaMATING MIGRATIQN laETw~N'iY>~$-kA.~ED 4E~tYYC1~:S
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JAN-~~~10.=~0__0$?3~M BARRIGAR & MOSS (613)230-8755FAH ~a~ p,7i4gOZ
HACKGRO'UNp OF TAE INV
1. Retxted Ann4eAt~
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~. 'fhis'alrplication claims the benefit of ~(J'.S. Provisional hpplir,,ativn ;arxlal No.
4 '~ 'GQI1 d 5,048', ~tlcd lalu~ry 8,1999, and entitlod °'Web Automation Qf Fyn~rril Tvligration," .
~whi~h is ie~earporatad hcrcia by rerFercnce.
. , s , '6 ~ ~ 2. . T~eh'Inld of the huveptlon , s, ~ 'fhe present invcntiou xGlaies to collecting and txsrr,sferring information on thr world 9. wide' weh. Mars speciFtrally, tho present invention relates to a matt~od of automating the t o process of truutsferring user inFotmatian from one interact based service provider to anothcw ~, t 1 ~ intcrnct based sorvice providor. .
.. ~~ ~ , .
. . , ' t,3 3. ' . The Prior State of t! ~~A~"
1~i ~ The capabilities and resources of the world wido wsb (WWW'~ or internct have - ' ~ts ~p,~odcd in resent years. At one time, the inttrnet was used almost exchxsivcly by 14 ' 1'a9eaxCllCxs to caliaborate wul sf~aro Information. Today, the inlemet ha8 became an .1~ ~ imnic~se network capable of sharing, dlatrfbutiu~ and di9a3eminating large qttantitics of data.
°~~a~ ~~I
t 8 ~ 'Clic interntt has become a fertile aommarcial landscape with ><~iv~
dntetprlaos competing to ~ravide esistom~cra with products, information and services of every etzipa.
. ..
r ~.~ ~ ~ ~ zo . . ~ Con*un,ers can purcl~~xe sroccries, books, cars, vidboa, computer hardwa~~e uad zt ~soR'wara, a1o ' ng with rnarty other gouda and services directly oa the irtternet. Cansulners iZ, uovyr h~tve~ ,access to financial services such as banks, stock brokers and lcndcxa and can , 23 sub~sckibt is inCvrmatlon sorviees and papers ~ well as access other ser,ricas ralatod to za, travel and cntcrtai~ment. Colnmunicaiion services, incilrding faxing and 'messaging, arc ;
- hagC Z " n4a4e~Ne. L4781.5.1 j ' ,' I,~~- ~,~ ,~~!,~;~", P~r~ $4,PM BARRIGAR 8~ M4SS (613)230-875~f~ NO. P.8i4~d ' ' t al$o awailablc on the intanset. Other interact enterprises or sertriccs aet es portals, tltrottgh .
- z ~ which a, cansulncr cart a,eoess services as well as other areas of the intarnat. Portals arc t particularly asafal becm~ctsa they search and ontvgori~c irtformaGon end web sites on the 4 illtcrrtct, whioh enables copsumars to more headily find that for which thdy search. 'fho ' ~~ lr>~.~rr)et provides almost limitless posaibllities. ' . , , ~ Internet, or web-based s~rviae l7rovidors, in an ctFort to batter serve their cus-tamers, arc motivhtcd to leaarn aboua the pcvpte they scrvv. 7<n !'set, many intemet-based serviee 8 ~ prdviders'rcquiro a new customer to provldo them wfth,a signiftcant amvount of information sill order to effectively service the ouatomtt . For instance, an itsi~ntt services that notilics its cugtortlers wf louv airfarta needs to know which flights the austomerc y~teftrx to fty. The t~t ' irrtcrnat trttval scarier may ~Jso need to know the ouatomcr's.target prioo ranges preferred 02 ui~liiwrc, frequent fllcr ttvaount numbc~ra, credit card nwnbcr for payment, home alddrcsa for ~1~ ,.dclivGry of ticket, meal prcfcrencea. s~tirt~ prefert;nces and destinations. 't'hi's it~ornwtiol~, l~ obviously, raust be supplied by the custa~mer.
1i , Another ittttxnet service aitraatiug many consumers i$ ~irlte'rnct or web-baaed e-mail t~b service providcr9. ~IJstablisl~ an acex~wit with an s~ma91 service provider requires little t~ ~ 'mare than a user name atxl R ewer althnu h most e-mail rovidcrs . , , , p~ d. $ p require fulditionfil .
~,. . ~ .
t s anfarmation such as the consumer's home addrcas and telephoac tnunber.
R!Y'ectivaly usin0 a t q ~thc account, however, re uircs much more information. lt~tcrnct ~rn~ '1 counts ~ ~, , , 9 , I ax tto generally . , w ~, , , , .~,~~ zo offer can ,actdres$ book which, once filled with the itt~ormaxiot~
for iho uaar's frequent ~ ;
w ' .. ~ ~ ~ ~ , 3 ~ I ,correspondents, atraamlines the experience of compasittg end sending tmaih The flddress ;
book ma Contain o-mail addresses a n o Y , Photo utrtbers, contact yerspng sad, other tnfonration - 23 entered, by iha use. Inttmet e-mgil providers may'~also lmbvidc other uneritios suoh ns z~ cal cedars, whioh also rcduire the user to inpuk infoimatian. Clearly, a user dcdicatcrs a .
. , ' ~~ ~ ' , 1)od~~f,No_ 147Ql.S.I
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t .signiFrattt amount supplying information about tbamselvts as well, as entering information into the' ~uldroas beak end ether aatan.itles provided 'by the a-rrtail service provider. '1 bus ~ ' information belongs to the user and dta e-rnnil provider is merely storiaB
the information not only as a co~vamicncc for the user but also as a selling paint to retain the user as a customer.
Another typ4 of user-owned ixtFotrnation tlyat accumulasca on. an itttceuet e-mail account is , the mt.sssgcs that a user receives and sends, 7 Regardless of the apeaific interoot-based servirt considered, iho iong pracrss of I. , entering extensive user information induces a forced loyalty by xsising the cost of switahi>5g to another sbrvicc provider. Thd account holder seeking to migrate td an, altctaativc provider tn of the same service faces a loss of the bane6t of having entered extensive user illformation 11; ~ in the Original intcrnot-based service. The ntoro customer infonnatiott chat reqidoa on tlse fa intcrnGt-based service providtt's servers, the greater the cost of sruiiching to art alternative pmvtdcr,bccauso the task afre-cntcrlng the infonnation again is dauatlng.
Ikftorrtel-basbtl a~ervice ptaviders undarscaad I these Cosis., '~'ha forced loyalty , ,t 5 described flbovo, is referred to in the Internet aarvicts industry as "arickincss." ray 16 ~nlttxiiniisug Qzo ofFort required for users to trnttx user ml'oratati~, service providers aikn to .?~ , . , , reduce attrition and keep their sites customer-sticky. Thus ii~taKnet based service prnvidcry rn , _ , . , ~3 ~ ~ ~ ~ , t 8 ~ ~, have an incea ties to maxiutixe the investment of ttm~e necessary to' enter the tnfotmatiorr, as rl9 1 wall as ,the dlftieulty of r~.sily trnnsfcrnng that inforcnaiian to another web service. The stirki:acss of an intemot~bascd provider itrduces man caste Y mess to continue using tin w ~ ~ ~ S a 2t, idferiox web-service even when supvrlor altarnativcs exist.
Whlle.atsothcr s~:nrice provider ;
W ay btttcr meet a user's zzccds and pxeii~rences, that use may not Ix willing to throw away .r , ,23. , the time and eFFori ho or ehc invcSatEd entering usex information in order to gain the 24, vdvantages ~a swperlor provider offers. 'This underscores the ncai for the ability, to quickly - rags 4 - L7oclce~ Ns, i4is~.s. r ,JAH-~A~ 30.,:.t~0 ..0~:35[?M BARRIGAR & MOSS (613)230-8755E~AX NU. P.l~i4~
y . ! sud aaslly ~switoh service providers in order to lake advaataga of technological advances and supericsr products.
~ "flse,sticklnsss Qf intsrnet based service provfdexs results in hart from the tact that the , , 4~ browsing ex~srience, from a client's perspective, is R sfiriotly manual process. Wcb j brows~Cz's arc used by revple who navigate the web and manually interact with web pages 6, ~ ~t~rou~h, kcysirokas and mouse clicks to eisher input or retrieve vadoua founs of data. As far ~ ~ as web servers are concerned, the psooess is mono automated as demonstrated by web rages ~ , ~ ~, thht gather dt~ta'about :s user. ?he data provided by a user is Typically being gathered by a ~ nyftchine and nut a human. In other words, the data gathering proooss is automated. 1'!tc ~ ~ , ~ 10, web axperlenca, !'i-om the pout of view of a user, is trot aulQmakad. The, prcsant invention ~ ~ 1 ~ - ,gives ~Oplo the ability to automata the transfer of their information from one web-based ' ~ ~ 2 5ervioc to ariotlier.
t3 ~ ~ The ability to ea.9tly migrate $om one intarnet based p,ocvt8~ to arrothas iA important s~ to both users and providers. I>Z the inhtal phases of an ilttcrrrct-based service's availability, ~5 virtually all uerv accounfa relent customers who any t~ew to iha~iniernet-hosed market sor t4 ~suah~ a'scrvico. DurTug this plisse, tbar~e is typically a flood of Gustomcra misrating from >
traditionnlly-based services to their Internet-based corollary. Because, network ccon,omlcs i ~d ~ ~ ~ ~ is ~ t 8 ~con;Fer , significant economic advantagcKS on the internerrbased services that cartttre the , ~ < ~ ~ ~ ~ l9 . largest market abate, the Internet-based setvitx's top prtoriiy Burins this hasp is ca tudn ,. .;~ ~ ~~~ ' . »
as many' of the new cttstomars of such a service as possible. 'There ate few incentives to '~ ~~s ~ ~ ~i clepXoy tccHnoiot3ies chat streaml3ta~ t'he migration process duciog this phase, from the ;, , ,22 pcSW~~<ive of either the customers or the service providnss.
xs A~ morn arid more potential customers obtain Chair first intcrmt-besvxi account in a 2a pprtiaular,serviee ate, the growth in the total number of new acoounts slows sigoificWtly - Pegb 5 - nocirscNa t~~81_sn t,. , t m,J market for that pariicttlur interact-based service onxrs a second phase, in which the 'ohailonges of lcaeping existing account holders, and attracting account holders Them rivpl 3 i~rovidcrs rises in prlorlty. During this second phase, #hc~a6ility to more Basil tai y grFtie from ~, , ~ 4 one 'service' 'to another 19 highly valued by customers, as wail as by compctii~p service provi~l~crs hoping to attract the mars of exist~g p~vi,lers with ~yntivc ~unotional'rty, ø' and improved sarviccs.
'During this seaotxl phase, customers ara more oxperiertoed and nioro domnndlng;
having alromdy ~pcp~aoced life wl#h one intexnet-based pror~idor of such scrvicos. Second phase; cttstomery ar.; comparison shopncsrs. They evalualc f»t~rnet-bssad providers at a ,'lo number of levels of competitive dillfcrcntlstlon. Some of the itoms that cttatorners avaluato t.t ~ .a~'tlae relittblllty azrd speed oPservicc, the, eASC of use of the site, the irna-faca with the sits, Iz , the use of adVartisin~. and the r~oct~d applications.
~ is . Seco~ ply~c customers yvg<rt to u~ the service that offers the bca~t fttnctlanality.
't~ liowavar,~a user who contemplates miSrating to an i~pteiaoet-tensed servico prvvidcr that ,15 better meets his or hex nocds faces the barriers to migration discussed above, Currently, .16 - extansive user cr~tod information cannot be cxtraoted from an intot~.~~
~,ico provider, oxoept by a tedious fiald-by field cut and paste. I , y ~ ~ a~ , I s ~ ~ this problem is addrosaad b~~ the presant inrrontion which automates filio collection t~ , and transfer oC usar infotrnation ftom o~ae interact-based seryico provtdar to another.
In ~~~~~~~ 20~. ~raddttibci id bcuefiting customers ax a t~ult of attdamlini their nB abtlety to aeleat cho best <.pr~~ ~ . , 1=y ~, xt; intrrc~et~ba,~~ed sorvico provider,, the migration functionality d4scxibcd hereto also helps 22 ~ croatc a morn competiti'vd caarlcciplacc. When customers can mom easily ah~~a servica ~ , , ~ 23. pra~xicin~, impmvamonts in functionality and service are memo rapidly rewarded.
~ , , - r'~° G - buat~o~t'vo, 14T81.S.i JtllY'~JHf'i 1b 'bb b5:~bh'~7 FiHh~lhHh X~ MU55 (bl;~)~;~b-~i'/55~fiJ1 'PIU, h'.1~/4f~r ~ - ~ Tcchtlnlogfcal fnnovators and c~ntrepratoeurs benefit, aA wall Rs 'the cusiomors who exnerionco more rapid adva<scos in; thn duality of availabio aarvioes.
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al~,cTS aav~ sun~w~Y a1~ ~x~ nw~rrrorr Z' . The present invecttion teas boat developed in rtisponse to the present stag of tho art, ~ aizd in parttcutar, in rvsponsc to these and otho; pxoblexns and noeds that have not been fully 4' ar completely solved. Thus, it is tut overall object of $ic prGSent invention to provide an s ntrthod ~ and ovmputer program product for rni gt~ting user lnfannation !'ram ono internal . ~ ~ service providor to another Internet ~yioe provider. , ~ ~ , rt is.anuther objxt of otle embodiment of the prcsent.iav~tttian-to import user rrlated . ', g dflut from one intormct service provider to another. ' ' , It is t~ t~rther object of one embodiment of iho prrsant invcntinn to acport user is related data from one intornet sorvicc provider to another.
,' it is yet another abject of one embodiment of the present ittveation to delete user ,' , to ralat~d infoctrttrtiota fmm an intrmet servioo px~vidor:
13 . ~ It is ~ furihar object of one embodiment oCthc prescttt iavcntioa to copy user relr~red t 4 wit~formaliQn from an intcrnet :3crvice provider. ' 15 Tt is an eddiltonal obj~xt o.f one embodiment oCthe present invention to ~.tttamatc the t G migratiam of user rnlatod information from ono itrternct servicx provider to anoth~tr.
t~ . rt is y$t another object of one embodiment of the presoat inventlan to keep ttscrs' '. ~ , ~i y ~ p ~ ~ ,1~ ~iriforniatiori i a their control. .
5~ ~ ~~~
5~ ~: ~ ~ 19 Yha ~iulgratiou oP user information from one interr~et-based service provider to 'n ~,~" ?o I snotitcr is vary dift;icult becaust the various Internet-based scrvico providors employ ~~~ 2s, ditfercnt data struemrox, formats, and presentxtton etylas to storo and provide usdr access to 22 tlto uscc information stored on the provider's servers. Typically, the user information could 23, ,be traoai'c~rrcd cxr migr~tad only by n tedious cut and pate proceduro.
In such condiuoox, it a~ can be e~cicr to isntcr the information egaiu rather than cut and pn~xtc.
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ihe~e problems, the prassnt ltwcntion pr~avide$ methods and computer program products io z simplify and automate tho migtatioa of user information Iber',veen intornax-baced servlcc 3' providors.
Tho first 9tcp reqttirce the user to.not only iniiiaicl rtha mib~,nii,an, but also supply a s: ' uacr'name ~ password, which enable access to the nsor infarmadon. Ai'te~
iha usar rtalne and'passwarci have been obtained for both the solmao and destinatiolt iniernet-based service Iprovidrcs, 'a portal object is created for each ,provider. The patio! objact is specilio to a I s , , panicular provider and is able to handle ih~c data organization and format of that provider.
3 'fhe' portal obJect also stlppiita routinaa that. enable ihE xtaer infbrmation stored on en . 10' inte. 'rnc>"baacd $ervic,: provider to be located and transfc~,xed.
Onca the user information has been located, xt ~ transfetxed ox sent to the new prnvidatr., The information can be yottt u~n~ standard data transfer lmdcodur~s, or in an c-mail:, e-mait.mossagos stored on a pmvider oan 6e forwandod to iha new destination in ord8r 'to j~re,Rervu the o-mail header information. , .
is 1 ~ , ' After the user information has been transferred, the user has ,the option of deleting 16 the 'uscr'inl'~orrxmtion from the aouroe provider, or tits uaet can Ieavo the user informataan as ' , n ; it was ~ !'our~d. Next, the sourer and destination scrv)ee providers art< 'closed usual lY bY
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t 9 °' , ' , .pcddltional objectx and advatWges of the invention will be set forth ir; t)to dG.ocri do r xo ' yvhich follows, and W past will be obvious from the description, or may be loerned ' bY the <' ~ 21 prtretlcc.of the invention. The objects and advantages of tlw invention may be realized and Z2 obtained by means of tha instnsments and combinations particularly pointed out irt the 23 , ,appended claims, xhase and other objects nud features of the present invoation will became ~d ~ . ' ,' ~ - ~~~ g - Ih~duu114o.14781,5,!
~iHN" ,JRIV 10 ~' 00 ~ ~ 05: 37PM HARRI6AR & MOSS ( 613 ) 230-8'7551-~AX NU, P.15f49j ~ , more fully ataparcnt from the followi>zg description srld appended claims, or may be learrlcd . I 2 ' ~'by the practice of the inrrc~rtioa as set forth horeinafler.
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Irt order that the meumar in w~oh ~o ~4ve-rooitod and other advantage and obJccrs of ihc jltVO~tIpF~ are obtained, a morC particular descriptidii of the invention bricfily desoribed s~hovc,~ril1 be rerulercd by reference to specific embodiments th~Qf which ate illustrated in ~I s tire appended drawings. Lrnderstewding thot chase drawlttgs depict only typical embodiments ~ , / ~of th'e' invention and are not thcrefoir to be considered limiting of it's scope, the invention 1 ~ ' ~ ~ / wflt bo~dcsoribcd and cxploined with additional specificity sad detail through the use of the accompanying drawings in vwttich:
~, '~ I~ figure t is an exrumplc systatrt that provides a suitable opa~i~g ~mi~~ant Tor laic 1 ' ~' ~o ~ prcscntinvention; , i t ' Figure 2 is a black ~ii~ra~, of one etulmdiment a system iIlustr acing the mi~vn vP
~ 2 ' user data from one intcrnet based service provider to another intamet_bused, service .
13 ~ prpVid2C;
t4 ' , t~igurrs 3 is a flow chart illustrating cxemplaty steps fbr migrating user data from one - , i s intomot-bescd service provider to another Internet-based servicz provider;
~f~ figure ~4a is a block diagram ilhttng the clew of user data wlxen the migration ~ ~ druei resides with the dostittation provider;
~ d6 ~ ~ t $° . ~ ~ Figure 4b is a block diagram illustrating the rt~igracion ofuser dad when the ~~~~g, , ~, 5 ,I ; ~' ~' mi gnation'drivor rvsi~des on a source provider; , . . , .
,~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 20 / rigurc-~c is a block diagram illustrating the migration of user dad when the ~ -~ v ~ 2 ~ tlti~ti'8n dtivar is indapendan a of the ,source provider, the dostinatioa provider, and the a2 aser;,tmd ,. , z3 ~ , rigi~re ~d illusiratos the migration of user data whpu the W
ig~taomiriv~ ~sidcs on a . 24 , uscr,computcr.
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D ~'AIL» DTs~aCRIPTION Olf "f~ PR1~FE $Mg 1'!~e prosant f rtvciuion providos mmthods ~u,d computer nro~ram products for . , ~, auiuitutting the, trxn:;fcr of information over tho interact. 1,-mail migration is ono 4 ~ .ent~bodimcnt of the present invention aad is used hercu~ to describe the preso~nt invention.
., The prr~sont inveiritQtt, ltowaver, is not liznitod to o-mail cnigraiian, but can be usod with any itytcrnet"baserl service stcuirrg uaer iaforrn>ation and the discussion: is therefore not to ba 9 . tais~sitrued es liyiting, but as oxomplary.
An iute~n~at-baaod service provider e~bles ~ user to use the interact to receive or usoe ?, . the sc,cvic~ provided. Ono sucli aerv~ico is intemcirbasat e-mail. fn order to use fnt~moi-t ~ based.,o-meal; a vacr fast establishes yr creates an account. Typically;
all shat is rccluirvd to ,t 1 ~ establish an a~;cour~t is a user name and a user password. Marry Internet-based c-rrtail provide~a ofFac opparluaities for thm user to eater much more ittfprmaiion as disouased ' ~ 13 ~~ above. ;~s a resvtli, a u~r typically entara a substm»tial amour of informa~tivo to cffcctivaly I a ~ use a web-based ern>zi1 sarvxce. Tlta irrfarrnation supplied by the toast is mair~teined and f s .I stored by iho intaxnat-baaod service provider.
Once a ugdr has entered the perxonal information, the servfco tray be used almost t 7 , immediately- To conduct nzessaging or io send and receive o-mails, ~a uaa may access both a ~ t B ;, sc4tt a,nd raooivod measagos and tt,e ~.~~1 ~tadata. The tnessa~es aro what is sent to the i«tarided recE innt or p recipients and may cazxlprfae,text, graphics. imaecs. sounds and intcrrtdt links. L.mail metadata as information dr data that concerns the actua.t mcasage.
,.
. ~ ~ ' I, Address books, uBar Battings, amd sarvrr settings arc cacamplcs of e-mail mctadata. Matadata za ,also iioRcritxs how, when, and by whom a particular set of data wns eolloctad. as ~.vcll as .
Z3 , -how that data is farntaitcd. In other words, metadata is data about dale. 1~'or example, 24 metfidaia ~boirt art e-mail message may include, but la not limited xo, thn name of the ~ Page 12 - ' r~~xNo. ta~x~.a.t viul~ ,Jtllt lYJ YJYJ YJJ~JOrI'I D1~11CIC1t71~11C 0t I'NJJ 101JICJC1-OIJ,a lllf ~1V~ r.lOi~.17) recipient, the nanny of the sender, the font of tho massage text in the e-mail, the byte size of ' z the e-mail and tho addmss oftht; recipient. / , ~l~ncaiet-based c-mail pt~oviders ate d9sti.ugu9shablt~in several ~. Mach provider 4 . typicmtty ~torcs the data represewing o-mail messages and, e-mail metadata in a different manner, or location. Internet-basod e-mail providers taay also use proprietary formsts acrd ~ r prcs~.'ntatian layouts for their o-mail sy~aton~s, and in or~i~ Cot a user to switch i~otn one . - ' ~ xcrvice provider to another, these prob)cms must be oveocome.
All internee-bused service providers use a considerable amount of hardurora and ~ - softw~ to implement their services. 1'he herdware~ etxd so~warc, in the case of o-~ji to providers is frequently rofcrred to as an e.3nai1 sarvEt. Fi~pre 1 is not only art aacamplc sysieru oCa suitable operailrtg environment iPorthe rrcsGat fnvcrrtivn, but is also illusirutlva tz ~ o,Pthc hardrovare and software empioyed by Internet-based, service providdrs to provide their t 9 sc,rvi~~o.
t4~ , , The cmbodhrtencs of the present invention tnay comprise a special purpose ar ~, t5 gcanoral purpose cotnputar a~mprisin~ various computer lxardwaro.
1?mbodiments within tho ~4, scope of tho p~samt invention also include computer-readable media huvin~
computer- , ,~ , ~ 17 - exccueablo insttvctiona or data stcucturcs si.umd thereon. Such cott~putert~adablo media car, t a,I beg tu~ty nvuilable roadie which eau be accessed by a gel purpose or special pucposo 1 s c~ornpucaa, k3y way of, example, and not limitation, auah eompubtr-x,eadable media can r ,~~~ ~ zu enmprisd R,~iM, ROM, fiFPRUM> CD-IOM or other optical clislc storago, magnetic disk , r ~~ . , , , , y; 21 storago or gther magnetic storage devices, or arty other m~adium which can be used to store 22 I ~ the desired cxsoulablc instructions or data structures and, wb~ch can be accessed by a general , za purliosv, or.special purpo~ computer.
. , zø , ' ,, ~ ; . ~ - Page 13 - Dvck>a Ne. ~a~a ~.s. f ~~-1~'1.19._'.~.,~5~~$PM BpRRIC,AR & M45S (6137230-8755~H1t NU~ , P.19i49d When infortratioa 3s transferred or provided aver a network or other eoirr~iunfcations conncctfon to n computer, tho computer properly views ihc cotfnootio>x ~q a computer-rosdablo meditou. Thus, such a oonnaction is also properly texmod a computor-re.~dablc ~mechu<n. Combinations of the above should also be irielttded within the scdpa of s , computer-readable u~edia. Computer-executable inqitruetians, comprise, for example, instructions attd data which cause a geneeat purpose computer, gpociel purpose computer, or ' apcci~xl purpvsc vrocossirg device to pctform a certain function or group of functions. The ~cornp!ut~er-axocutable instructions and associated data structurds l~aprcseu~t an exumplo of pro,~ram coda means for executing floc steps al'the inwcation disaloscd herein.
,td ; ~ l7i~urc 1 and the following discussion arc intended to provide a brief, ~encrt~]
~ a dcscriptiou of a a~uitabid computing environmrnt in which lho invention may be ! 2 ~ lmplomcnlcd. Alihou~h not requixed, the inrrontlon will ba described in the getnoral conLOkL
~ s ~ ,Qt' cornputcr-exccutablo instructions, such as progiam modules, being cXecuied by a personal t d ~ computer. (~enorall~r, program modples include routines, rirograms, abaeats, components, / t ~ doss structurc~.s, ate. that perform particular ta.Rks or implcn~t particular abstract data types.
16 Moreover, those skilled in the art will apy~rcciata that the invention may ba practiced with ~othcr~ computer system t,~.anfigwatious. it~cauding'hand-bold davioes, mufti-processor id ~~ ~ ~ ~ , t s ' systems, microrroccssar-based or programmable consumer eloctror~ics, network PCs, i~irucarnputcra, mainframe computern, and the like. The invention may also be practiced in , ~ ~, zo / distributed computing envirorunrrnts where tasks are parfonmcd by remote processing ~. ~~:~
K ~ a ~ 2 t dcsvicca that nra linked through s communications netwoxic. 1n a distributed computing , ~ cyivinonment, program moduteq may be located in both local and reuxrote momo store a . . , ry a 23 dcvlr"es.
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s ~ , W~ raPcrenco to Figure 1, an cxst~oplaty sysiea~n for imph~.mentIng the Invention z ia~alitdCa a gencrai purpoac compttiiag device in tht form of a convanttonal computer 20, including a processing unit 21, a system memory 22, arid s system bus 23 that couples various system compon~ts including the system memory to the processing , unit.
The ~syslem, bus 23 rtaay be any of several types of bus slruct~urs irvcludiag a memory bus dr ' ~ menic~ry controller, a peripheral bus, and a local b~ using auy ~olf a variety of bus ~~ s~~hiweniras. The system memory inaludca txad only memory (1~01~ 24 rtndlrandom x ttccass mattiary (li.Alvt) 25. A basic inps~t/outpttt system (HI(7S) 26, c4ntaini~ the basic routinwrs that hole to trax~sPer information between elements within the computtr 20, such as d'uriaig stext-up, azay be scored in RbM 24. The computer 20 may also include a ma~nelic t 1 hard disk drirrc 27 for seeding f~att~ arid writing to s magnetic hard disk, not shown, a 12 ruagnatic disk drive 28 for readir~ firo~, or wrlt~ng to a iamovabta ittagactlc disk 29, and an ~3 opt~,c~rt dlak drive 30 for reading from or vvrtiiiat~ to roulave~blo oplieal disk 31 Ruoh ats n t4 C;I7~-I;.UM or other optical media. The ma~atic hard disk drive 27, mapnetio disk drive 28, I5 and laptiea4 disk drlrre 30 arc connected to the sy9tem bus 23 by a hard disk drive iaterPaeo W 32, a magrtotie disk driv,a-3aterCace 33, and an optical drtvc interface 34, ra;sptelively. The t y ' drives .and tht:ir asaxlated com iorreadable media Im provide ,nonvolatllc slcragc of d ~ ~ ~ t R coruputor readable instructions, data strttot<tres, ptogratn unadttlcs, and othvs data for iho ~~ ~ S I~ ' cam user 20. Atttwu h the excm 1 a vi ent 9 ~ P , Ji P ~5' n ~ deacn'bod herorn emltbyg a raatxnztic hard diste 2'i, a rcnnovablm magn~ctio disk 29 and a z~emavs~ble optic*1 disk 31. it should bo ~ a ~ appreciated by those skilltd in the art that ether types of computer readable media whi eh ot~rl stooc data that is aocosslblc by a computer, such as magnetic cassettes,.
flash niGntory card,, z3 digital ~rldea disks, Bernoulli carhidges, random acc~ceeax memories (RAMs), read only a~ ' uenaori~ (R.OM], and the like, may also be ustd in the exemplary operating environsnent.
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,~1," rauxrslxr or program modules may be stored on iha hard disk, magnetic disk 29, ;vptia~l disk 3I, ,ROM 24 or RAM 25, including . an operating system 35, one or more tappH~ta~on programs 36, ether progrfun modules 37, and pragrant data 3$. A
user may cater , ~ ~comn~e~r~ds cmd information into tl~o computer 20 through input devices such as a kcf board s d~ and~ointing device 42. Other input devices (>aot shawa) may,iraolude a micraphot~a, jay 6 s~ok, ~emc pad, satellite dish, scanner, or the like' Thane arid other input devices arc often z ,~am~ypdcd to I the. pracesaing unit 21 through a setlal port imcxfacc 46 that is co~lod to ityatem bas 23, but may be eonnccted by othor intctfaccs, such as a parallel port, port 9 ~ air o v~rrivctttal serial b,us (tJBH). ti monltar 47 or other typo of diapiay device is also lfl conk w systom bue 23 via as interface, such as video adsptsr 48. In addition io the t t mon$~r, personal connp~tcrs typically include other peripheral output devices (not shnwn), 12 i ~ apankets and nrlntcrs. , , , 1~ ~ The computer 20 may oporate in a rtetworkal errvironmen'l using logical catanuetioas la to arrm or lttoro rromatc computers, such as g ~remone camputor 49. ltemotc computer 44 may a ; ba arlpther personal camputcr, a server, a rotrtee, s network PC, a peer device or other t6 co~tsmor< network n4dc, fu'td typically inaludc~s many or si'11 of the elements described mbove i rolaid~e to the computer 20, although only a rncmary siarage device ~0 bas bean lllu~lratcd ~ 1a; in i~lgurel 1. The logical cotmectionaj depicted in Tigare 1 include a Iloaal area oelwvork ca ~Ct~ ~ f~; (l.Al~ 51 and a wide e~rea aelwork (vVA~ 52 that arc presented here by way of example a arid oot timitavtion. Such networking environments are commonplace in olYicas enterrriso--~ ~ 2t wide catppuler networks, intranots atld the IAternak. ~ ' Z~ - When tzted in a LA1H networking cinvironment, .the romputor 20 is connected to the z3 local network 5I through a network interface or adsptcr 53. When used in a WAN
,z~ nat,~parjcfag ~environmem, the cr~mpute~ 20 typically ineludaa a modoi;tx~54 or ether means for ' - Page 16 - ~ txxtxelao. uW.s.t . .~~, : ~ ,: '~ , Jf~~-1..~.~...:~~.,. ~.y~PM BARRIGflR & MOSS (613)230-875~.r,'~X HU, P.22i49' t establishing communications overt the wide area nZtwork SZ, such as the lntornct. 'the modoni~ SA~, which may be iutQxnal or ayttcrnal, 9s connected t4 the systcm~
bus 23 via thc~
serial port intatWcc 46. In R networl'rad en~uironmdit, ,program nnoduJes dtpictxd rclatlvo to 4 , tho computer 24, or portlonx thereof, may lye stood in the remote memory storage davico. It . I, ~ 5, will, be~.apprecietcd that the aQCwork conncctlons shown are exemplary, and other means of , ostabli~shing a communications link between the comQut~s may lxi ,tsad.
~ ~ ~ ~ Comgu'tcr 20, illustrated in Figure x is also rcpre~cntalive of the hardwaro and ' 8' ~ sofl~nrttre icscd by iatcmnet-based service providers, Cvmputcr 20, with rc~fcsr~ca to int~t-~ based c..inail , providers, is rap~reaentative of,the servers and server sof~wara necossary to , 1 O , ,ptrividC ~tse~ with intarnet basod c-mail, I t t ~ , ,, , As usod herein "source portal" and "destination portal" may nei'~ to a wob based ' m scrvico provides, a web page, a Plcu~lity of linked web ptigss, one or snore web pages, a , t 3 ; daml?a~ or ether data repository, a data store that xs taaally or ramoioly accessed, or any m other camputex, device or lntarrtct domaist staving, aooess to user data or any combination ' 19 ~ thereof. ' Ib Fi~utc 2 is a block diagram ropreaertting tho migration of user I~nfom~ation from one t9 intetnct~ba9ed serVlcc provider to another. ,1n a gabaral adtisc, hlgitre 2 is also rcpr~eseniativa W ~ ~ l8' r uF customer rni ration. Source ,, $ portal, 70 is eun irternet.basod s~rv9ts provider that, in this /embodinn~t, provides Internet-bases e-mail. Destination portal 72 9s also an intemet-based ~~ .zo c-rnail~sorvioa provider. User information 74 is stored on s4urco ttal'~0 and co 1m mprlscs, c "~. ,~ a ~ 21 mail mmaaagcs, may mctadata, user preferonce, address books and other user related ~d ' p 2z - user supplied information, Sottrx postal 7o comprises sesrrvcr hardware and server softw~, 23 which permit soured portal 70 to provide int~emet 'basmd e-mail servicos.
~lser i>aformation
2~ 7~4 is stared an source portal 70 sad imay be accessed by a user vis ugor computer !;0 o~w , ,, -Page 17- , t)ookvtuo. u7~t.e.i s ' , t lnti:rnat connection 7&. It is understood that user computer 8o is representative of any dcvico cariablG of accessm~ the intarnet, including but not limited to, portablt ooraputers, pagers, anti, mobile telephones. ' 4 ' User infoanatian 74 is eroated by a user ~rrhcn the user subscribes to the soxviap ' ' S ~ ' provided by source pattal 70, This information iriahxies a user name and a user passwos~d, 6 , which are 'used as seourity measures to cotrcetly identify flit user as well as for aocassitsg ~ sosiroc user information 74, Destination portal 72 is similar is source portal 70, in that s , destination porl.al 74 typically providca the sarnc or similar services.
1;~lowover, user ' 9 information can xnisrace from sounc portal 70 to~destination portaa.72 when tile servicA:9 ' ~ m ,providi:d by the rospecuve isortals are diffsre~nt.
~ t , In rigucc 2, either deslintttloa portal 72, source portal 70. or a user may initiate the , to ~ ~.trausfar or migration of user information 74 to destination portal T~.
once user isefonnation ' I t3 I 74 is extracted from source portal 70, it may bo raForrnntted and stared as user isxformation . ' , tA 76 Qn destination portal 72. Mi~ratlon driver 9Z is illustrated as being potentially accesxiblc ,t'S by soiu'ca'pert~l 70, destination portal 72, or user computer 80.
Pr~cferably, all transfer of 'tG~r user. infvtsnation 7ri is through migration dtivcr 92. However, losatlon or migravtirn~ driver , ,. ,t ~I n2 can altar ass will bo described in refcc~ncc to FiQu~~e 4a through 4d below.
~ ~ a W ~ ~ s Tho transfer or misration of veer. information Ecom source portal '~0 tn destination "~ ~ I. t 9 ~ ndrtal 72 be ins with a user su 1 'u access information. The xcc c~ , 8 pP Yi 8 ass imFormatlon is ~athc,~rcd from a user via user input page $4 displayed on monitor ii2. The across ~1 ' ,information is Cnderst a on tho iremcxrts of source ortal 0 ~F' P ~u p '7 and deatmatton portal ' ' ~ ' 72, 'flsn mess infhrmatton required for source portal, 7o is tho information neccbsary u~
r . ~3 acccsa ~~ser information 74, which is typienlly the namo~of source portal 70, a user name and 2~ ~t uacr password. The name of souree portal 7A is typically a domain name.
P'umhe~r access - Page 18 - , , sx~>~tHo. sa~an.s.s J~~;,JRN 1~_ '00 _ 05:4~PM HRRRIGHR & MOSS (613)236-8755~AX ~, P.24r494 inforvuaiion may also ineludQ the cLesW anon portal, as well as the user namo and user psrssword for the destination portal such That user information may be stored as user ~ ~ i~nfarrnbtion 76 on desti~tion pc~rial T2. , ° , ~ ~ By providi~ the user name and the user password for bath the sourco portal sad the ~ ylostlnatlon portal. the automated proeass of migraaieg the user information is nuthoriy,~ed by 6 ~ ~ the u9cr. . A user also supplies discretionary informalson, which la tylsically the dean the agar dc~sircs UD mlgratc or transfer. For ir~stancc, a user ray choose to migrate the addross boob, fi ~ ~ but not iha old messages. The di$cmtio nary inforbnatiolx is also g8theled or user input page 8~t, and may be rcprcsrmtod i,t Fi,TIVIL or any othor suitable language or fprmet. !'ho aecoss ' 1Q and di~,CrGtiotlacy infostrtatioln may tUrthar be traasmit~d in n oookio or any olhmr suitablo ~ n / mcthoyc~r protocol.
t~~~ , Once user input page 84 is completed by the usrx, the misratiou process is initiated.
1~ ~ ,As the migrutyon of usoa~ data or veer infatxnatiort, occurs, status window 8b is shown to the ttscr oay naonitac 82. Status window $6 is typically implaincntad~with javasctipt, and displays t s the information in H fML, but carp be implementod in other equally cffectivd wayg_ status ~,~1G vyindaw 86 eptdgfna or displays ilrformx(3on relating to the user int'unnatxo~~ boittg i 7 ' txnnsfori~ed ftorn source portal 70 to deslinatlon portal 7Z, the percetituga op the migration . t s aorrxpleted; and errotst chat occur in the migratian'process, ae wtl! ss the success or failure of N ~~ 19 ti,o raigra~tion. Status wind4w 86 ma' also dis y p ay or contain other infdrmatton. Sruri,s 2p ~ wfnda.~ 8~ is not mcossary for the migration to occur, but is o oonvEnicnrc to the user, ~9 ~ . , * ~ ,2i ~ Statt~ wieuiovr 8b is preferably implemented using server pu~c tcschnoloQy which ir>dicatcs 22 that the user recclvea live updates from the migration pracoss, vWltich is typically executing ' 2~ os1 rkstination port~nl 'T.t.
r Z4, ' -1'ago 19 - noc~~rro. t4~a~.~.4 .
;lAff-'1~L!-ri ~l~.w d~2.. ~~~ 91t'r~ tiHKrtlc~ ~ rxm5 c em~~e-aw~tin ttu. , r. ~~~4y , , i , , ' Lastly, user confirmation pane 88 is displayed which in~dicabcs the sueccss or failure of it~o ontire nnigratian process. If the migration of user information 74 from source ports!
) '10~to destination portal 73 was successful, than the user is noted on user confirmation lnga .8~, which is then automatically closed. In sum, user interface 9D
gathers tho access s _ and dtsorrtionary Information ,needod to initiato the musratlon process, shows tho u~r status 6 ~ infornmtiaii and notifies the user of the success or ihilure of the ntlgrRtion.
figure 2, further illustrmttas ono mnbodiment of migration driver 92, which ws x rasponsiblc 1=or thv aarual migration of user information 94. Migratioa driver 92 is iypi~catly implcmentod in a script executing on destination portal 72 and is an example of camput:er to cx~ecutssblt instructiarle for mlgratin~ user int'ormation 74. Migration dyrivat' 9~ oxocutcs t t ~ using portal abjocts, 94,which supply vaxious routines to mi~ian driver 92. Fxcmplary i2 rouun~ include: get - a matins that performs HTTP communications and builds H'fMf, v3~ ~ parse ~rccs; and login- a routine which pormfis migmtioa driver 9z to access a portal. Uther t4 ~ rautinos include OpcnAddrmssNook, Raad~ddrcssBook, and AddAddross, which are t5 ~ rcotincs relating to the raanipulation of user irrfoxmation contained in address books. Penal . t G' obj acts 94 have other muti~ needed to complete the n~figxatiori process . ~Or iiaaituncc, i t a !7, user desired to retriove cblendal' infortnatf4n from source portal 70, than portal objects 94 , ~ t8 would have routinoa that would open, read, write, and class the cal~dars at the nartict~lar 19' portals. ~ I
~' ~~ 12~ tlrtothcr routine used b arts) objects 94 fs IDacwncnt Clbjoct Model support YP
< a.r ~ 2t 'nlodale (HDOM). HDaM is a subclass of HTMt.::parscr and inherits the parse ruactian.
22' ' When a web page from a pax~l is rcuievvc~ such ae the login ~gc ~ of source portal 70, i~3 ' Ii~T)OM parses the pa~o to form a tree which aonsiats of a,list of taga~
follower! by a subtxoo ~~h ' ofcoclx tag"n ZLttributo sv.-t and any nested tags. The HI30M module also builds liars of links - ha'~C Z0 - TMd~No. 14781_5.1 JAfi~I'~uvl~(wai~~4iv~~i~~ ;I~rl'I i3HfC1'(14~1-N'C 8t I'NJJ
ICIJJG,3YJ~GfJ~J'1'IA ItV. r'.Gb~4~
.
t , for cash document lag for batter lookup cfhcicncy. Qther pages of soutrx pot'tal 70 ara , ' 2 , almil~rly parsecl_ ~ . ~ The lookup directiva associated with, I17~OM is the main query or retrIcvul ~ ~ ,mach~nism. 'tWhcn dcstinatiorr portrit 72 attempts to ace~oss source portal 70,, tire login page / of~scfttrca portal 7D is parsed with iIIaOM and then migration driver 92, using XIDOM, must I 6 ~ ~, lookup tho fiel~3 where the lagin name of tlva uaac is to ba inserted. Tha lookup dircciive is a st~~in~ which identifies tlx desired T~TML. objcctlelomant to be retrieved tend it has n spaciflc $ I syntax, which iS tha text "doe" followed by a period, A tag-spec folfovys the period, which 9 ' ~ ldeniifies the tag migration drivar 92 is trying to locatt. The property fohaws the tug-spr.~:, ' ' ~ to ,. rvlvoh cars, las ~ lint of all tag rtlributes, nil text belwcan opining and clowirtg tags, ox art 11 attribulc m'tmo such as a CTRL or an action or some other aitributc. For example, the 13' 'properly "hrof' indicates that the U t~L is to be retuu~nt~. Tho property "b.t~xl" indiCat~ts that .t a ~ the 'bolded text is to be returned. This list of properties is not exhaustive, hut is oxempl>ary to I of paicxttial properties. Othor HD4M routines include pargc curd parsc~'tlc. In othar words, is HDOM ,caw be viewed as a routine of ports! object 94 and 1~~M ha9 it9 omn separate t cs routfnas.
,. ., , portal abjcots 94 also aoaomplish various tasks chat are >nxessary for . .
'~ tB oolhlxtuntcation. This inoludts initialising the ITTIv~, headers and the LVJly objects, selling ~ ~~ 19' ~ /uP'~Y P~xY inrornnation and handling cookies. Also, portal objects 94, in cornbiztation with Hl.7bM modules enable miaratio>a driver 9z to ,locata and saareh for specific -~~' ~ ~ ' ? t '311~Qxt~LiOh Such as tlrre iaformatiol~ found in stn address boak.
' , , ~ ~z, l1s doscribod abova, portal objects 94 canstitatc a nines of objects and postal I23 sttbclRSSes ~a therefore related to specific yortals. When migrntioa driver 92 is excauting, >s portal objact 94 is created for both source portal 70 arid dcstirt>:~tion, portal 72. The portal , - pa~c 21 ~ no~No. t4~c>"s,~
JAH'lt'~~i~jvn~2,.~~~'4~t'~ ~Hra~lc~ ~ r~55 lbl~J~;~-~'r5~rtx, nu, , r.~'f/qy t ' ' objoct crcattd for source portal 70 wil! dj ffcr from the portal object created fox destination portHl 72 such that tho speclflc portal objects can bandta the difyererioas that exist between sourewpot'tal 74 and dcstlnation portal 7a. Thoso difl'~rrcaces includa tracking and trav.:raing ih4 nppropriata IIRLs, providing any required input, mapping address book entries into a s common hash, and other portal specific tasks, ' higure ~ illustxatcs one ombodimcnt of a method for migrating t~cer information front one'iutcrnbi-bns~d sorvice providar to another, 1n step 10A, the user access information is obtained. U;~er acoass s'nforntation is needed t4 pain access to,thus user information o~n the ' r.~rtfcular portal and typically comprisoa a user uaimo anct.a user password.
In step 100, usor ~o ' 4ccaxs information iu ps~aforably obtained for both tha source and dcstlnalion portals. User t r ' .accass information is an indication that the usor has provided pormission or authority to 92 erttcr a portal ~d access tho usa<~ information stored at that portal.
13 ' , /In atop 102, a portal object is far both the sourcC and destination portals.
t~' Tharc can too more than vna source portal and more than rn~e destination portal and a portal 15 object is created for c~ch distinct portal. As described above, a portal ohjaet provides tlx tb a~itti,o routtncs for e~rch separate portal, yet oath portal objext is ~apecifia to a particular portal.
, a~ i'Qr oxmmplc, whila each Ixartal orijcct providGS a got routlae, the get routine is usttaliy ~ ~,~ ~ ~ ~ , t s diffcTencc for each portal because the portals are x~ot aimilarly.organizad ar designed.
a tv , In slap 104, the solace and destination portals arc opened and accda~d.
l~rpically, ,~' ~ ~ ~ 2q ttti5lC11taily using the prevhusiy obtained user name and nsci password tc~ eatar the portal.
~ ~ ~ ~ zt ~ In ninny inslaasccs, opening a portal is synonymous wlth'logglng onto that portal via the login wcls patio pxes,Gr~tad by that portal bparrir~ a portal ~~rally regattas the uco of the o .
,.
a3 ~ pr~vi ously created portal object attd associated t~o~utines. For example; when tl portal is first 24 uecassed, ihc.usor name and user password must be supplied to cho source portal. The portal - Page 22 - , ~ DaofcotNu. ia~at,s.i JAH,1JR~'! se,_:ea t 05:42PM HRRRIGRR & MOSS (613)230-8755'HA IYV. , 1 '' abjoGt created far that portal will employ itS own IBM roulitso to parse and fuid whore o~n the login pago tlxa near name and password are to bo supplied. Wizen this task is completed.
~ 1 ' the ukcr name and password are supplied to the Source tlortal.
~ , , Atrtec tl~p sanroe and dostinatlo>i partalr baud baGn opened or nocesscd is slop 104, 5' lbo'ttsar information located on tho source portal is migrated tv tixe destination portal. The ' ~ ' ml~ration of user ittforlmation invoitrcs more that trsnsfsrring or mtrieving user lnfQrmation.
The , mlgrrltion of uxr data irwalvcs finding or , ldcatina 'the user data by triivarsing the al?rrQpriato i.iltLs relatod to the source gortal and aoalysci~ag or detarmiuing what that data represents, i.c. address entries, nmrea, e-mail text, elo, Once tho user data or uifrn7ttation Io ~ ~hns -boon found, the user infot~aation is then itenafarred to the dasiination portal and can -~ y occur in various ways. Far Example, the e..mail capability 4f the souxco portal ruay be t~ cmplhycd,to c:nlail the uSCr lnfonna$on, v~ioh, includes existing ~-rnail mess~cs, to the 4~ destination portal. Ia other ambodimc~ats, the user inFarmatlon is simply copied and t4, transmitted to the destination portal whoa it is stored or written to atarage modiujn oC the t s ~ ~deatinstion portal. These examples are not intetxded to be liiaiting, but ate exemplary of i6 ways to ttnn,efcr the usor information.
t~ A,(tor the user information has been transftrr~, the final step ralatos to the user , a to inforrnAtlon xlill pre~snt on the source portal. The usAC has vazious opiioml, some oPvuhich ,, ~C~ ~ 19 include deleting the user infonaetton from the sourcc,portal, altering the usei iriforttution ~~~ ~20 ~ and copying the user information. 1n step 108, the stxe~ of the migration is reported w the , .~ -$ $ m user. Tike inforrnatfon ~digplayed in sap 108 aan include, but'1~
awe limited to, the paroent of , 3z , user information traa9utitted, the success or ~ilurc oftha misration, arzd the state oFthe data r't 23 rcmainirrg on the source pozt~l.
, , ~ Z~ - ' ' ~ ~ , , ' ~8$C ~3 - DDCkClNO. 14781.5,1 J~_JWV 10 '00 05~42PM HRRRI(~1R & MOSS (613)230-8'~55fH?S NU~ P.29~49~
tv uu ~w~. v~~, ' ~, , Ifn. step l Itl, both the source end destination ~attals ace closed.
'This is represented, z i~l eno cmbodixnont, as logging out. 'this incuras the closed portal knows thatt iho user is no ~ longer present and is vnt using the user irifoznnation.
I Fisur~s Qa, through 4d ara intended io fllustrato exemplary s9luatic~ns whioh may arisb'in coittoxt of the present invention. Figurex 4a through 4d are not i»tc~ndod to limit the , 6 ~ sc~po of the iuaventivr~, rather that' art; intended as exemplary emboduuonts. Additionally, ' , ~ - ~ ' Fiburcs'4a through 4d damanstratc that the atl of miQratTng user data from a source to e~
destination uan involve a varying numbcx of active parlidpants.
' ' '~ ' Figure 4a illnsttates a source 202, which may be an mternet baked web pace, an :, , ; to ii~t~rnct based serYice pmvidor, a source pnrtal, o~r any other type of computer, software, s 1 databs~se or other storage dewico that contains or stores ustr data.
Destittatiott 214 ie similar ' ' ~ ~ tz ~io souraa 202 but it is nvt necoxsary that source 202 acid dcstiastlon 214 be exactly alika.
i ~ ' P or; i nstaa~ce, xaumoo 202 may be a web page and deatlnation 214 may be an inGarnet bawd ' 1 ' l~ 'service, provider, !n ar~y event, wer data is typically retrieved from ~sotsrct 202 and .~ s tt,~taasferred or stored at destination 214.
~ 6 Source 2b'> is typically connected writh doatlnation ,214 .via an intcmct conacdion ' ', t~ 218, but any ocher type of connection, including direct connccClons, ate possttble. 1n this s caa~o, migration driver 212 residua at deatfnativx<~214, A user, axffng a user interface at user 14 computer 84, 8efecta ct source 203 cud a desi~tion Zld. In this embodiment, d~Unation , ~ ~~ ~ 214 eucecutos migration driver 212 to reirieva the user's data, iirom source 202. Updates may .e8s-' , x,: = 3t , be sent to usar corn utcr $4 durin the' mi p g gratioa'of tlic user data over connection 21b, ' 22 , ~-wltich,may also ba ut Inttrnet coxmoction or other connociic~rr.
0 ,, , ?3 ~ figure 4h is xirailar to Figure 4a, with the dilYvrenec that migration drlvcr 212 ' ~t ,resides at source 202. (n the erdbodim,cat of 1?igura 4b, soctrca 202 acaca~cs the user data , ' , , ~ , - liigo ~ - Dack~No. t4ySi.s,~
~~_JAfVylO,«A0~~05:43PM HRRRIGRR & MOSS 1613)230-8755~'AX (~I(J. P.30~49u eirh~r using rnigrviion driver 212 and ~rthcr executes migration driver 212 to send the, user data to destination 214. Hccauso e~ser data is already proecut at source 202, it is possi6lo that source 202 may access the ua~' Vita without acing migratlarn driver 212. In 1iguros 4a and 4b, the tr~.ns~fcr cr migration of user data is from a sourrx io a dcatitlevtion even though ihc ', txrigratiort~ waR inltiatcd by a user.
$
Fi~urc 4c illustrators ut cmbodim~t of the preset invention whcsre thvYl party 220 , , hoists mep,rat'son driver 212. Again, the usor selects both the 1' source and the destinntion of the ~ pus4r' data, but tho traasfar of use data occurs from 9ourcs 202 to destination 214 through 9 i'hir~l party 220. Third party 220, may be an interrnst service - provider, a parial or ether .~o device capa'blc of hostfng and exrcutlng migration rlrivcr 212.
t In ltlgure 4d, migration drivtr 212 is present on near computer $4. As illuslratGd, ' i~~igration driver 212 was retrieved or downloaded from third t2 peuty;220, but user aamputor , ' 80, may obtain iuigtation driver 212 in othtr mas~t~crs. The user ~ gelaats a source and a .
~
~
m ~lcstirration and executes mlgratlan driver 212. ' The mlgratian or transfer of user data is f~utn l5 /the source to migration driver 212 to the destination in this cast. preferably, the user t6 inforrnat.;o~n passes through migration arivrr 212 in ouch .of rtes embodimorit3 desoribed . , , . , . h t ei ~' t it i b ibl f i i i d , er n, s pasa u e or m grat on r ver 212 to cau9c the user data to lx transfcrccd , ' w "
~ ',drxcdti~ .fr~dm s~urea 202 to destination 214. ' ~ /
~
~
) The present invention trlay be carbodied in other ccific forma
1;~lowover, user ' 9 information can xnisrace from sounc portal 70 to~destination portaa.72 when tile servicA:9 ' ~ m ,providi:d by the rospecuve isortals are diffsre~nt.
~ t , In rigucc 2, either deslintttloa portal 72, source portal 70. or a user may initiate the , to ~ ~.trausfar or migration of user information 74 to destination portal T~.
once user isefonnation ' I t3 I 74 is extracted from source portal 70, it may bo raForrnntted and stared as user isxformation . ' , tA 76 Qn destination portal 72. Mi~ratlon driver 9Z is illustrated as being potentially accesxiblc ,t'S by soiu'ca'pert~l 70, destination portal 72, or user computer 80.
Pr~cferably, all transfer of 'tG~r user. infvtsnation 7ri is through migration dtivcr 92. However, losatlon or migravtirn~ driver , ,. ,t ~I n2 can altar ass will bo described in refcc~ncc to FiQu~~e 4a through 4d below.
~ ~ a W ~ ~ s Tho transfer or misration of veer. information Ecom source portal '~0 tn destination "~ ~ I. t 9 ~ ndrtal 72 be ins with a user su 1 'u access information. The xcc c~ , 8 pP Yi 8 ass imFormatlon is ~athc,~rcd from a user via user input page $4 displayed on monitor ii2. The across ~1 ' ,information is Cnderst a on tho iremcxrts of source ortal 0 ~F' P ~u p '7 and deatmatton portal ' ' ~ ' 72, 'flsn mess infhrmatton required for source portal, 7o is tho information neccbsary u~
r . ~3 acccsa ~~ser information 74, which is typienlly the namo~of source portal 70, a user name and 2~ ~t uacr password. The name of souree portal 7A is typically a domain name.
P'umhe~r access - Page 18 - , , sx~>~tHo. sa~an.s.s J~~;,JRN 1~_ '00 _ 05:4~PM HRRRIGHR & MOSS (613)236-8755~AX ~, P.24r494 inforvuaiion may also ineludQ the cLesW anon portal, as well as the user namo and user psrssword for the destination portal such That user information may be stored as user ~ ~ i~nfarrnbtion 76 on desti~tion pc~rial T2. , ° , ~ ~ By providi~ the user name and the user password for bath the sourco portal sad the ~ ylostlnatlon portal. the automated proeass of migraaieg the user information is nuthoriy,~ed by 6 ~ ~ the u9cr. . A user also supplies discretionary informalson, which la tylsically the dean the agar dc~sircs UD mlgratc or transfer. For ir~stancc, a user ray choose to migrate the addross boob, fi ~ ~ but not iha old messages. The di$cmtio nary inforbnatiolx is also g8theled or user input page 8~t, and may be rcprcsrmtod i,t Fi,TIVIL or any othor suitable language or fprmet. !'ho aecoss ' 1Q and di~,CrGtiotlacy infostrtatioln may tUrthar be traasmit~d in n oookio or any olhmr suitablo ~ n / mcthoyc~r protocol.
t~~~ , Once user input page 84 is completed by the usrx, the misratiou process is initiated.
1~ ~ ,As the migrutyon of usoa~ data or veer infatxnatiort, occurs, status window 8b is shown to the ttscr oay naonitac 82. Status window $6 is typically implaincntad~with javasctipt, and displays t s the information in H fML, but carp be implementod in other equally cffectivd wayg_ status ~,~1G vyindaw 86 eptdgfna or displays ilrformx(3on relating to the user int'unnatxo~~ boittg i 7 ' txnnsfori~ed ftorn source portal 70 to deslinatlon portal 7Z, the percetituga op the migration . t s aorrxpleted; and errotst chat occur in the migratian'process, ae wtl! ss the success or failure of N ~~ 19 ti,o raigra~tion. Status wind4w 86 ma' also dis y p ay or contain other infdrmatton. Sruri,s 2p ~ wfnda.~ 8~ is not mcossary for the migration to occur, but is o oonvEnicnrc to the user, ~9 ~ . , * ~ ,2i ~ Statt~ wieuiovr 8b is preferably implemented using server pu~c tcschnoloQy which ir>dicatcs 22 that the user recclvea live updates from the migration pracoss, vWltich is typically executing ' 2~ os1 rkstination port~nl 'T.t.
r Z4, ' -1'ago 19 - noc~~rro. t4~a~.~.4 .
;lAff-'1~L!-ri ~l~.w d~2.. ~~~ 91t'r~ tiHKrtlc~ ~ rxm5 c em~~e-aw~tin ttu. , r. ~~~4y , , i , , ' Lastly, user confirmation pane 88 is displayed which in~dicabcs the sueccss or failure of it~o ontire nnigratian process. If the migration of user information 74 from source ports!
) '10~to destination portal 73 was successful, than the user is noted on user confirmation lnga .8~, which is then automatically closed. In sum, user interface 9D
gathers tho access s _ and dtsorrtionary Information ,needod to initiato the musratlon process, shows tho u~r status 6 ~ infornmtiaii and notifies the user of the success or ihilure of the ntlgrRtion.
figure 2, further illustrmttas ono mnbodiment of migration driver 92, which ws x rasponsiblc 1=or thv aarual migration of user information 94. Migratioa driver 92 is iypi~catly implcmentod in a script executing on destination portal 72 and is an example of camput:er to cx~ecutssblt instructiarle for mlgratin~ user int'ormation 74. Migration dyrivat' 9~ oxocutcs t t ~ using portal abjocts, 94,which supply vaxious routines to mi~ian driver 92. Fxcmplary i2 rouun~ include: get - a matins that performs HTTP communications and builds H'fMf, v3~ ~ parse ~rccs; and login- a routine which pormfis migmtioa driver 9z to access a portal. Uther t4 ~ rautinos include OpcnAddrmssNook, Raad~ddrcssBook, and AddAddross, which are t5 ~ rcotincs relating to the raanipulation of user irrfoxmation contained in address books. Penal . t G' obj acts 94 have other muti~ needed to complete the n~figxatiori process . ~Or iiaaituncc, i t a !7, user desired to retriove cblendal' infortnatf4n from source portal 70, than portal objects 94 , ~ t8 would have routinoa that would open, read, write, and class the cal~dars at the nartict~lar 19' portals. ~ I
~' ~~ 12~ tlrtothcr routine used b arts) objects 94 fs IDacwncnt Clbjoct Model support YP
< a.r ~ 2t 'nlodale (HDOM). HDaM is a subclass of HTMt.::parscr and inherits the parse ruactian.
22' ' When a web page from a pax~l is rcuievvc~ such ae the login ~gc ~ of source portal 70, i~3 ' Ii~T)OM parses the pa~o to form a tree which aonsiats of a,list of taga~
follower! by a subtxoo ~~h ' ofcoclx tag"n ZLttributo sv.-t and any nested tags. The HI30M module also builds liars of links - ha'~C Z0 - TMd~No. 14781_5.1 JAfi~I'~uvl~(wai~~4iv~~i~~ ;I~rl'I i3HfC1'(14~1-N'C 8t I'NJJ
ICIJJG,3YJ~GfJ~J'1'IA ItV. r'.Gb~4~
.
t , for cash document lag for batter lookup cfhcicncy. Qther pages of soutrx pot'tal 70 ara , ' 2 , almil~rly parsecl_ ~ . ~ The lookup directiva associated with, I17~OM is the main query or retrIcvul ~ ~ ,mach~nism. 'tWhcn dcstinatiorr portrit 72 attempts to ace~oss source portal 70,, tire login page / of~scfttrca portal 7D is parsed with iIIaOM and then migration driver 92, using XIDOM, must I 6 ~ ~, lookup tho fiel~3 where the lagin name of tlva uaac is to ba inserted. Tha lookup dircciive is a st~~in~ which identifies tlx desired T~TML. objcctlelomant to be retrieved tend it has n spaciflc $ I syntax, which iS tha text "doe" followed by a period, A tag-spec folfovys the period, which 9 ' ~ ldeniifies the tag migration drivar 92 is trying to locatt. The property fohaws the tug-spr.~:, ' ' ~ to ,. rvlvoh cars, las ~ lint of all tag rtlributes, nil text belwcan opining and clowirtg tags, ox art 11 attribulc m'tmo such as a CTRL or an action or some other aitributc. For example, the 13' 'properly "hrof' indicates that the U t~L is to be retuu~nt~. Tho property "b.t~xl" indiCat~ts that .t a ~ the 'bolded text is to be returned. This list of properties is not exhaustive, hut is oxempl>ary to I of paicxttial properties. Othor HD4M routines include pargc curd parsc~'tlc. In othar words, is HDOM ,caw be viewed as a routine of ports! object 94 and 1~~M ha9 it9 omn separate t cs routfnas.
,. ., , portal abjcots 94 also aoaomplish various tasks chat are >nxessary for . .
'~ tB oolhlxtuntcation. This inoludts initialising the ITTIv~, headers and the LVJly objects, selling ~ ~~ 19' ~ /uP'~Y P~xY inrornnation and handling cookies. Also, portal objects 94, in cornbiztation with Hl.7bM modules enable miaratio>a driver 9z to ,locata and saareh for specific -~~' ~ ~ ' ? t '311~Qxt~LiOh Such as tlrre iaformatiol~ found in stn address boak.
' , , ~ ~z, l1s doscribod abova, portal objects 94 canstitatc a nines of objects and postal I23 sttbclRSSes ~a therefore related to specific yortals. When migrntioa driver 92 is excauting, >s portal objact 94 is created for both source portal 70 arid dcstirt>:~tion, portal 72. The portal , - pa~c 21 ~ no~No. t4~c>"s,~
JAH'lt'~~i~jvn~2,.~~~'4~t'~ ~Hra~lc~ ~ r~55 lbl~J~;~-~'r5~rtx, nu, , r.~'f/qy t ' ' objoct crcattd for source portal 70 wil! dj ffcr from the portal object created fox destination portHl 72 such that tho speclflc portal objects can bandta the difyererioas that exist between sourewpot'tal 74 and dcstlnation portal 7a. Thoso difl'~rrcaces includa tracking and trav.:raing ih4 nppropriata IIRLs, providing any required input, mapping address book entries into a s common hash, and other portal specific tasks, ' higure ~ illustxatcs one ombodimcnt of a method for migrating t~cer information front one'iutcrnbi-bns~d sorvice providar to another, 1n step 10A, the user access information is obtained. U;~er acoass s'nforntation is needed t4 pain access to,thus user information o~n the ' r.~rtfcular portal and typically comprisoa a user uaimo anct.a user password.
In step 100, usor ~o ' 4ccaxs information iu ps~aforably obtained for both tha source and dcstlnalion portals. User t r ' .accass information is an indication that the usor has provided pormission or authority to 92 erttcr a portal ~d access tho usa<~ information stored at that portal.
13 ' , /In atop 102, a portal object is far both the sourcC and destination portals.
t~' Tharc can too more than vna source portal and more than rn~e destination portal and a portal 15 object is created for c~ch distinct portal. As described above, a portal ohjaet provides tlx tb a~itti,o routtncs for e~rch separate portal, yet oath portal objext is ~apecifia to a particular portal.
, a~ i'Qr oxmmplc, whila each Ixartal orijcct providGS a got routlae, the get routine is usttaliy ~ ~,~ ~ ~ ~ , t s diffcTencc for each portal because the portals are x~ot aimilarly.organizad ar designed.
a tv , In slap 104, the solace and destination portals arc opened and accda~d.
l~rpically, ,~' ~ ~ ~ 2q ttti5lC11taily using the prevhusiy obtained user name and nsci password tc~ eatar the portal.
~ ~ ~ ~ zt ~ In ninny inslaasccs, opening a portal is synonymous wlth'logglng onto that portal via the login wcls patio pxes,Gr~tad by that portal bparrir~ a portal ~~rally regattas the uco of the o .
,.
a3 ~ pr~vi ously created portal object attd associated t~o~utines. For example; when tl portal is first 24 uecassed, ihc.usor name and user password must be supplied to cho source portal. The portal - Page 22 - , ~ DaofcotNu. ia~at,s.i JAH,1JR~'! se,_:ea t 05:42PM HRRRIGRR & MOSS (613)230-8755'HA IYV. , 1 '' abjoGt created far that portal will employ itS own IBM roulitso to parse and fuid whore o~n the login pago tlxa near name and password are to bo supplied. Wizen this task is completed.
~ 1 ' the ukcr name and password are supplied to the Source tlortal.
~ , , Atrtec tl~p sanroe and dostinatlo>i partalr baud baGn opened or nocesscd is slop 104, 5' lbo'ttsar information located on tho source portal is migrated tv tixe destination portal. The ' ~ ' ml~ration of user ittforlmation invoitrcs more that trsnsfsrring or mtrieving user lnfQrmation.
The , mlgrrltion of uxr data irwalvcs finding or , ldcatina 'the user data by triivarsing the al?rrQpriato i.iltLs relatod to the source gortal and aoalysci~ag or detarmiuing what that data represents, i.c. address entries, nmrea, e-mail text, elo, Once tho user data or uifrn7ttation Io ~ ~hns -boon found, the user infot~aation is then itenafarred to the dasiination portal and can -~ y occur in various ways. Far Example, the e..mail capability 4f the souxco portal ruay be t~ cmplhycd,to c:nlail the uSCr lnfonna$on, v~ioh, includes existing ~-rnail mess~cs, to the 4~ destination portal. Ia other ambodimc~ats, the user inFarmatlon is simply copied and t4, transmitted to the destination portal whoa it is stored or written to atarage modiujn oC the t s ~ ~deatinstion portal. These examples are not intetxded to be liiaiting, but ate exemplary of i6 ways to ttnn,efcr the usor information.
t~ A,(tor the user information has been transftrr~, the final step ralatos to the user , a to inforrnAtlon xlill pre~snt on the source portal. The usAC has vazious opiioml, some oPvuhich ,, ~C~ ~ 19 include deleting the user infonaetton from the sourcc,portal, altering the usei iriforttution ~~~ ~20 ~ and copying the user information. 1n step 108, the stxe~ of the migration is reported w the , .~ -$ $ m user. Tike inforrnatfon ~digplayed in sap 108 aan include, but'1~
awe limited to, the paroent of , 3z , user information traa9utitted, the success or ~ilurc oftha misration, arzd the state oFthe data r't 23 rcmainirrg on the source pozt~l.
, , ~ Z~ - ' ' ~ ~ , , ' ~8$C ~3 - DDCkClNO. 14781.5,1 J~_JWV 10 '00 05~42PM HRRRI(~1R & MOSS (613)230-8'~55fH?S NU~ P.29~49~
tv uu ~w~. v~~, ' ~, , Ifn. step l Itl, both the source end destination ~attals ace closed.
'This is represented, z i~l eno cmbodixnont, as logging out. 'this incuras the closed portal knows thatt iho user is no ~ longer present and is vnt using the user irifoznnation.
I Fisur~s Qa, through 4d ara intended io fllustrato exemplary s9luatic~ns whioh may arisb'in coittoxt of the present invention. Figurex 4a through 4d are not i»tc~ndod to limit the , 6 ~ sc~po of the iuaventivr~, rather that' art; intended as exemplary emboduuonts. Additionally, ' , ~ - ~ ' Fiburcs'4a through 4d damanstratc that the atl of miQratTng user data from a source to e~
destination uan involve a varying numbcx of active parlidpants.
' ' '~ ' Figure 4a illnsttates a source 202, which may be an mternet baked web pace, an :, , ; to ii~t~rnct based serYice pmvidor, a source pnrtal, o~r any other type of computer, software, s 1 databs~se or other storage dewico that contains or stores ustr data.
Destittatiott 214 ie similar ' ' ~ ~ tz ~io souraa 202 but it is nvt necoxsary that source 202 acid dcstiastlon 214 be exactly alika.
i ~ ' P or; i nstaa~ce, xaumoo 202 may be a web page and deatlnation 214 may be an inGarnet bawd ' 1 ' l~ 'service, provider, !n ar~y event, wer data is typically retrieved from ~sotsrct 202 and .~ s tt,~taasferred or stored at destination 214.
~ 6 Source 2b'> is typically connected writh doatlnation ,214 .via an intcmct conacdion ' ', t~ 218, but any ocher type of connection, including direct connccClons, ate possttble. 1n this s caa~o, migration driver 212 residua at deatfnativx<~214, A user, axffng a user interface at user 14 computer 84, 8efecta ct source 203 cud a desi~tion Zld. In this embodiment, d~Unation , ~ ~~ ~ 214 eucecutos migration driver 212 to reirieva the user's data, iirom source 202. Updates may .e8s-' , x,: = 3t , be sent to usar corn utcr $4 durin the' mi p g gratioa'of tlic user data over connection 21b, ' 22 , ~-wltich,may also ba ut Inttrnet coxmoction or other connociic~rr.
0 ,, , ?3 ~ figure 4h is xirailar to Figure 4a, with the dilYvrenec that migration drlvcr 212 ' ~t ,resides at source 202. (n the erdbodim,cat of 1?igura 4b, soctrca 202 acaca~cs the user data , ' , , ~ , - liigo ~ - Dack~No. t4ySi.s,~
~~_JAfVylO,«A0~~05:43PM HRRRIGRR & MOSS 1613)230-8755~'AX (~I(J. P.30~49u eirh~r using rnigrviion driver 212 and ~rthcr executes migration driver 212 to send the, user data to destination 214. Hccauso e~ser data is already proecut at source 202, it is possi6lo that source 202 may access the ua~' Vita without acing migratlarn driver 212. In 1iguros 4a and 4b, the tr~.ns~fcr cr migration of user data is from a sourrx io a dcatitlevtion even though ihc ', txrigratiort~ waR inltiatcd by a user.
$
Fi~urc 4c illustrators ut cmbodim~t of the preset invention whcsre thvYl party 220 , , hoists mep,rat'son driver 212. Again, the usor selects both the 1' source and the destinntion of the ~ pus4r' data, but tho traasfar of use data occurs from 9ourcs 202 to destination 214 through 9 i'hir~l party 220. Third party 220, may be an interrnst service - provider, a parial or ether .~o device capa'blc of hostfng and exrcutlng migration rlrivcr 212.
t In ltlgure 4d, migration drivtr 212 is present on near computer $4. As illuslratGd, ' i~~igration driver 212 was retrieved or downloaded from third t2 peuty;220, but user aamputor , ' 80, may obtain iuigtation driver 212 in othtr mas~t~crs. The user ~ gelaats a source and a .
~
~
m ~lcstirration and executes mlgratlan driver 212. ' The mlgratian or transfer of user data is f~utn l5 /the source to migration driver 212 to the destination in this cast. preferably, the user t6 inforrnat.;o~n passes through migration arivrr 212 in ouch .of rtes embodimorit3 desoribed . , , . , . h t ei ~' t it i b ibl f i i i d , er n, s pasa u e or m grat on r ver 212 to cau9c the user data to lx transfcrccd , ' w "
~ ',drxcdti~ .fr~dm s~urea 202 to destination 214. ' ~ /
~
~
) The present invention trlay be carbodied in other ccific forma
3 wfthQU art' SP t d~ tag 1 ,~. .
~
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, ~ a0 from iia spirit or easeutial characteristics. The described cmbodimerria ~ ' are to be considered N 21 ~in all respects only es illustrative and Trot restrictive. The I scope of the inveiriion is, ~~a~
I~ ~ tlierefore, irdicatcxi by the appended claims rather than by , the foregoing description. III
7.2 23, ohar~es ~whlch come within the maanlng arid range or oquivalenay of the eisims are to be za embrcicc~,l wfthin thoi~t scopre. - , ' . , . ra~~ 2s - tlocketNo.147i1.5.1 .
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I~ ~ tlierefore, irdicatcxi by the appended claims rather than by , the foregoing description. III
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Claims (36)
1. In a system having a source portal and a destination portal, a method for migrating user information maintained by the source portal to the destination portal, the method comprising the steps of:
obtaining from the user, access information needed to access the user information maintained by the source portal;
entering the source portal using the access information;
locating the user information on the source portal;
extracting the user data from the source portal and sending the user information to a destination portal; and storing the user information on the destination portal.
obtaining from the user, access information needed to access the user information maintained by the source portal;
entering the source portal using the access information;
locating the user information on the source portal;
extracting the user data from the source portal and sending the user information to a destination portal; and storing the user information on the destination portal.
2. A method as in claim 1, wherein the access information comprises a user name and a user password.
3. A method as in claim 1, wherein the user information comprises one or more of the following:
e-mail messages, e-mail metadata, addresses, user preferences, or information entered into the source portal by the user.
e-mail messages, e-mail metadata, addresses, user preferences, or information entered into the source portal by the user.
4. A method as in claim 1, wherein the step of entering the source portal comprises supplying the access information to a login web page of the source portal.
5. A method as in claim 1, wherein the step of extracting the user information further comprises the step of traversing the source portal to find the location of the user information on the source portal.
6. A method as in claim 1, further comprising the step of forwarding the user information on the source portal via an e-mail.
7. A method as in claim 1, further comprising the step of deleting the user information on the source portal.
8. A method as in claim 1, further comprising the step of copying the user information on the source portal.
9. A method as in claim 1, further comprising the step of logging the user out of both the source and destination portals.
10. A method as in claim 1, further comprising the step of updating the user as to the status of the migration of user information.
11, A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 1.
12. In a system having a source portal, a method for extracting user data from the source portal, the method comprising the steps of:
accessing the source portal using user access information said user access information being provided by a user:
traversing the source portal to locate the user data;
copying the user data; and disposing with the user data as indicated by the user.
accessing the source portal using user access information said user access information being provided by a user:
traversing the source portal to locate the user data;
copying the user data; and disposing with the user data as indicated by the user.
13. A method as in claim 12, wherein the access information comprises a user name and a user password.
14. A method as in claim 12, wherein the user access information is entered into a login web page of the source portal.
15. A method as in claim 12, wherein the user data further comprises information entered into the source portal by the user.
16. A method as in claim 15, wherein the user data further comprises one or more of the following:
e-mail messages, e-mail metadata, addresses, financial data, scheduling, data, or user preferences.
e-mail messages, e-mail metadata, addresses, financial data, scheduling, data, or user preferences.
17. A method as in claim 12, further comprising the step of creating at least one portal object.
18. A method as in claim 17, wherein the source portal and the destination portal are each associated with a separate portal object.
19. A method as in claim 18, wherein the portal object comprises methods used in one or more of the steps of claim 12.
20. A method as in claim 12, further comprising the step of deleting the user data located at the source portal.
21. A method as in claim 12, wherein the step of disposing with the user data comprises one or more of the following:
deleting the user data located at the source portal;
refraining from deleting the user data located at the source portal;
transferring the user data to a destination portal;
storing the user data at the destination portal;
reformatting the user data for storage at the destination portal;
storing the user data in a local repository on the user computer; and reformatting the user data for storage on the user's computing device.
deleting the user data located at the source portal;
refraining from deleting the user data located at the source portal;
transferring the user data to a destination portal;
storing the user data at the destination portal;
reformatting the user data for storage at the destination portal;
storing the user data in a local repository on the user computer; and reformatting the user data for storage on the user's computing device.
22. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the steps recited ins claim 12.
23. In an environment having a source portal and a destination portal, a method for permitting, a user to automate the transfer of user information from the source portal to the destination portal comprising the steps of:
obtaining from the user, a first user name and a first user password for the source portal and a second user name and a second user password for the destination portal;
accessing the source portal and the user information using said first user name and said first user password;
accessing the destination portal using said second user name and said second user password;
retrieving the user information from the source portal and writing the user information to the destination portal; and closing the source portal and the destination portal.
obtaining from the user, a first user name and a first user password for the source portal and a second user name and a second user password for the destination portal;
accessing the source portal and the user information using said first user name and said first user password;
accessing the destination portal using said second user name and said second user password;
retrieving the user information from the source portal and writing the user information to the destination portal; and closing the source portal and the destination portal.
24, A method as is claim 23, further comprising the step of creating at least one portal object, wherein the source portal and the destination portal are each associated with a separate portal object.
25. A method as in claim 24, wherein the postal object comprises methods used in one or more of the steps of claim 23.
26. A method as in claim 23, wherein the stop of receiving the user information further comprises the steps of:
traversing the source portal to locate the user information;
copying the user information; and sending the user information to the destination portal.
traversing the source portal to locate the user information;
copying the user information; and sending the user information to the destination portal.
27. A method as in claim 23, wherein the step of writing the user information to the destination portal further comprises the step of storing the user information at the destination portal such that it may be accessed by the user.
28. A method as in claim 23, further comprising the step of displaying to the user, the status of the transfer of the user information.
29. In an environment having a plurality of source portals and a plurality of destination portal, a method for migrating user information from the source portal to the destination portal, the method comprising the steps of:
allowing a user to select, through a user interface, a source and a destination;
and executing a migration driver, wherein the migration driver causes the user data located at the source to be transferred to the destination.
allowing a user to select, through a user interface, a source and a destination;
and executing a migration driver, wherein the migration driver causes the user data located at the source to be transferred to the destination.
30. A method as defined in claim 29, wherein the migration driver resides at the destination.
31. A method as defined in claim 29, wherein the migration driver resides at the source.
33. A method as defined in claim 29, wherein the migration driver resides at a computer of the user.
33. A method as defined in claim 29, wherein the migration driver resides with a third early.
34. A method as defined in claim 29, wherein the transfer of the user data from the source to the destination is through the migration driver.
- page 33 -
- page 33 -
35. In a system having a source portal and a destination portal, a computer program product for migrating user information from the source portal to the destination portal, the computer program product comprising:
a computer-readable medium carrying computer-executable instructions for implementing the method wherein the computer-executable instructions comprise:
program code means for obtaining user access information;
program code means for opening the source portal and the destination portal using the user access information;
program code means for locating the user information on the source portal and for transferring the user information to the destination portal;
and program code means for storing the user information on the destination portal,
a computer-readable medium carrying computer-executable instructions for implementing the method wherein the computer-executable instructions comprise:
program code means for obtaining user access information;
program code means for opening the source portal and the destination portal using the user access information;
program code means for locating the user information on the source portal and for transferring the user information to the destination portal;
and program code means for storing the user information on the destination portal,
36. A computer program product as in claim 35, wherein the computer executable instructions further comprise program code means for creating at least one portal object.
Applications Claiming Priority (4)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| US11504899P | 1999-01-08 | 1999-01-08 | |
| US60/115,048 | 1999-01-08 | ||
| US47943900A | 2000-01-07 | 2000-01-07 | |
| US09/479,439 | 2000-01-07 |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2295289A1 true CA2295289A1 (en) | 2000-07-08 |
Family
ID=31890768
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA 2295289 Abandoned CA2295289A1 (en) | 1999-01-08 | 2000-01-10 | Automatic migration between web-based services |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA2295289A1 (en) |
Cited By (3)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EP1681880A2 (en) * | 2005-01-13 | 2006-07-19 | Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. | Data retrieval from computing systems |
| US7325067B1 (en) * | 2000-11-27 | 2008-01-29 | Esaya, Inc. | Personalized account migration system and method |
| US20090043903A1 (en) * | 2003-06-12 | 2009-02-12 | Malik Dale W | Validating user information prior to switching internet service providers |
-
2000
- 2000-01-10 CA CA 2295289 patent/CA2295289A1/en not_active Abandoned
Cited By (8)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US7325067B1 (en) * | 2000-11-27 | 2008-01-29 | Esaya, Inc. | Personalized account migration system and method |
| US7836197B2 (en) * | 2000-11-27 | 2010-11-16 | Esaya.Com, Inc. | Personalized account migration system and method |
| US8631159B2 (en) * | 2000-11-27 | 2014-01-14 | Linkedin Corporation | Personalized account migration system and method |
| US20090043903A1 (en) * | 2003-06-12 | 2009-02-12 | Malik Dale W | Validating user information prior to switching internet service providers |
| US8145720B2 (en) * | 2003-06-12 | 2012-03-27 | At&T Intellectual Property I, Lp | Validating user information prior to switching Internet service providers |
| EP1681880A2 (en) * | 2005-01-13 | 2006-07-19 | Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. | Data retrieval from computing systems |
| EP1681880A3 (en) * | 2005-01-13 | 2006-11-08 | Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. | Data retrieval from computing systems |
| US7853666B2 (en) | 2005-01-13 | 2010-12-14 | Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. | Data retrieval from computing systems |
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