WO2017027702A1

WO2017027702A1 - Document management system and method

Info

Publication number: WO2017027702A1
Application number: PCT/US2016/046542
Authority: WO
Inventors: Steven P. URRY; Joanna G. BOICE
Original assignee: Synergy Technology Solutions, Llc
Priority date: 2015-08-13
Filing date: 2016-08-11
Publication date: 2017-02-16

Abstract

A document management system may include a file repository in logical communication with a controller and configured to store a stored file. The system may also have a link table in logical communication with the controller. The controller may store a record in the link table indicating an association of the file with a plurality of folders. In this manner, different users having different access permissions to different folders may access the file, and the file may be readily organized into multiple folders without need of multiple copies of the file.

Description

TITLE: DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for document management, and more specifically, for managing and synchronizing documents across multiple folders for multiple users with different access privileges.

BACKGROUND

In many instances, files are desired to be stored in network-based storage, such as cloud storage services. Moreover, multiple individuals often desire access to files, and are desired to be given different access privileges to different files. However, to organize files among different users with different access privileges, multiple copies of files are frequently created. Moreover, a single file may be desired to be associated with multiple storage locations, or projects (e.g., with multiple folders) and thus the file may be duplicated in several different locations. However, this proliferation of multiple copies of files facilitates errors, such as facilitating discrepancies among different versions of files. Significant time and resources may be consumed by conforming all copies to the most recent changes, particularly when changes are made by multiple users, or by multiple users during overlapping times. Furthermore, such files are often desired to be distributed to outside organizations, desirous of the most recent version of such files, but with different file access privileges.

SUMMARY

In various embodiments, a system for document management is disclosed. The system may include a file repository in logical communication with a controller and configured to store a file, and a link table in logical communication with the controller. The controller may be configured to store a record in the link table indicating an association of the file with a plurality of folders.

In various embodiments, the plurality of folders in the system may comprise a first folder and a second folder. A first remote user device may be authorized to access the first folder and a second remote user device may be authorized to access the second folder. A change to the file by the first remote user device may be propagated to the file in the file repository, and the change to the file in the file repository may be propagated to the second remote user device. In various embodiments, the controller may comprise a process supervisor, a file repository I/O module, a user I/O module, a link table I/O module, and an access control module. The file repository I/O module may be configured to communicate with the file repository. The user I/O module may be configured to communicate with a remote user device. The link table I/O module may be configured to communicate with the link table. The access control module may be configured to instruct the process supervisor regarding access permissions for the remote user device. In various embodiments, the user I/O module may also be configured to retrieve a file repository record indicating all files associated with each of the plurality of folders in response to the remote user device having a proper permission. The user I/O module may also be configured to populate a screen display of the remote user device with the file repository record indicating all files associated with each of the plurality of folders.

In various embodiments, a method and article of manufacture (collectively, the "method") of creating a file is disclosed. The method may include receiving, by a user I/O module of a controller, an instruction to create a file from a first remote user device, directing, by a process supervisor of the controller, a link table I/O module to evaluate whether the folder pre-exists in a link table, and directing, by the process supervisor, the link table I/O module to create such a folder and indicate an association between the file and the folder in a record of the link table, in response to the folder not pre-existing in the link table. The method may further include evaluating, by process supervisor of the controller, whether an additional instruction to designate an additional associated folder is received by the user I/O module from the first remote user device.

In various embodiments, the method may comprise directing, by the process supervisor, a file repository I/O module to save the file into a file repository in response to the evaluating indicating that no additional instruction is received. In various embodiments, the method may also comprise receiving, by the user I/O module of the controller, a second instruction to open the folder from the first remote user device; directing, by the process supervisor of the controller, an access control module to confirm whether the first remote user device has a proper permission to access the folder; and directing, by the process supervisor of the controller, the link table I/O module to retrieve a file repository record indicating all files associated with the folder in response to the first remote user device having the proper permission. In various embodiments, the method may further comprise receiving, by the user I/O module of the controller, a selection of the file by the first remote user device; instructing, by the process supervisor of the controller, the file repository I/O module of the controller to retrieve the file from the file repository; and displaying, by the user I/O module of the controller, a content of the file at the screen display of the first remote user device.

In various embodiments, the system and method may also comprise assigning a file symbol to a file name of the file, wherein the file symbol comprises at least one of a "=" symbol, a "@" symbol, or a "#" symbol. The system and method may also comprise assigning a folder symbol to a folder name of the folder, wherein the folder symbol comprises at least one of a "=" symbol, a "@" symbol, or a "#" symbol.

The foregoing features and elements may be combined in various combinations without exclusivity, unless expressly indicated herein otherwise. These features and elements as well as the operation of the disclosed embodiments will become more apparent in light of the following description and accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The subject matter of the present disclosure is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification. A more complete understanding of the present disclosure, however, may be obtained by referring to the detailed description and claims when considered in connection with the drawing figures, wherein like numerals denote like elements.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating various system components of a document management system, in accordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating various system components of a document management system controller, in accordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 3 illustrates a process flow for saving a file by a document management system, in accordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 4 illustrates a process flow for accessing a file by a document management system, in accordance with various embodiments; and

FIG. 5 illustrates an example user interface dialog of a document management system, in accordance with various embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description of exemplary embodiments herein makes reference to the accompanying drawings and pictures, which show various embodiments by way of illustration. While these various embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the disclosure, it should be understood that other embodiments may be realized and that logical and mechanical changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Thus, the detailed description herein is presented for purposes of illustration only and not of limitation. For example, the steps recited in any of the method or process descriptions may be executed in any order and are not limited to the order presented. Moreover, any of the functions or steps may be outsourced to or performed by one or more third parties. Furthermore, any reference to singular includes plural embodiments, and any reference to more than one component may include a singular embodiment.

A document management system may enable users to engage and interact through electronic devices. For instance, a user may access, modify, create, save, organize, upload, download, and/or otherwise interact with one or more files located in one or more folders, according to various features and mechanisms discussed herein.

For instance, files may be stored in network-based storage, such as cloud storage services. Moreover, multiple individuals may often desire access to files, and are desired to be given different access privileges to different files. For example, a single file may be desired to be associated with multiple storage locations, or projects (e.g., with multiple folders). Such files are often desired to be distributed to outside organizations, again, desirous of the most recent version of such files, but with different file access needs. Thus, the system provides a mechanism whereby files may be associated with multiple organizational folders, each with different access provisions and accessible to different users, yet with automatic provisions to ensure the most up to date version of the file is available to all users.

In various embodiments, a document management system is configured to associate different access privileges with different folders. A single file may be associated with different folders. While a single file may be associated with many folders, only a single copy of the data within the file is maintained, and that single copy is accessible via any of the associated folder. In this manner, different users may have access to some folders but not others. Thus, a relevant file may be associated with various projects, or various transactions, or various subprojects, or various subtransactions, and/or the like, depending on what folders the relevant file is associated with. Different users may access the file and may edit the file, or email or otherwise share the file. When a user updates or changes a file, these changes propagate to all users who have access to any folder associated with the file, because there is only one copy of the file (rather than a separate copy in every folder).

Moreover, symbols may be graphically presented proximate to file names and/or folder names on an electronic device so that a user may identify the status of the file. For instance, a file may be sent by email. The recipient may be uncertain of whether the file resides in the document management system, or is merely a local copy of the file. In various embodiments, a "=" symbol may be inserted prior to a file name or a folder name in the email message to indicate that the file attached to the email is actually a link to a file residing in the document management system. Moreover, a file name and/or folder name may include an "@" symbol adjacent to a name of a user of the document management system to indicate an association of the file with an individual or a "#" symbol adjacent to a keyword inserted into the filename to indicate that the file is associated with a keyword. In this manner, searching of the document management system may be facilitated by enabling users to search for associations between files and users and/or keywords. With reference to FIG. 1, such keywords, symbols, names, associations and/or the like may be stored in a file repository 110 or a link table 150 for access at future times.

With continuing reference to FIG. 1, a document management system 5 may operate within a system environment 10. A system environment 10 may comprise a document management system 5, a network 160, and one or more remote user device 170. A system environment 10 may comprise any characteristic of one or more user, surrounding geography, surrounding business environment, or any other factor or characteristic related to an interaction or potential interaction between a user and a document management system 5. Various aspects of the document management system 5 may interact with features of the system environment 10, whether or not depicted in FIG. 1 herein. In various embodiments, the document management system 5 may acquire awareness of the system environment 10 through a variety of inputs. For instance, the document management system 5 may acquire data from internal databases, external databases, service providers, third-party databases, a remote user's mobile device, data from internal databases, social media, and/or other sources.

In various embodiments, a system environment 10 may include the location of one or more remote user devices 170, such as a first remote user devices 170-1, a second remote user device 170-2, and any number 'n" of remote user devices 170, such as a N^th remote user device 170-n. A system environment 10 may include whether a user is located at a customer facility, whether a user is traveling toward or away from a jobsite, whether a user is inside or outside a jobsite, and/or a user's general or specific location, direction of travel, and behavior. In that regard, the system environment 10 may track the user via GPS, and/or the like. In various embodiments, the system environment 10 may track the user based on geofencing. Geofencing is a concept known in the art, which may enable a party to set up triggers so that when a device (e.g., a cellular phone or a user computer) enters (or exits) a geofencing boundary defined by the party, data can be tracked. For example, a geofencing boundary may be established around a one mile radius of a location. The system environment 10 may track the user's position within the geofencing boundary, based on GPS from the user's cellular phone, computer, and/or through any other suitable means.

In various embodiments, the system environment 10 may include a user's file access history, file access permissions, and other logged activities and/or any other information regarding the actions of a user. The user's file access history, file access permissions, other logged activities, and/or any other information regarding the actions of the user may be tracked using any suitable method. The system environment 10 may comprise any characteristic related to the user, and/or historical information. Some or all of the system environment 10 data may be stored in a file repository 110 or link table 150 for access at future times.

Thus, a system environment 10 may include any detail, fact, historical information, item information, and/or predicted future behavior of a user. The system environment 10 may receive the detail, fact, historical information, item information and/or predicted future behavior of a user from any suitable source, such as, for example, through system creation and utilization, and/or the internet. A system environment 10 may include information related to one or more remote user devices 170, such as data entered, searches performed, geodata, BLE ("Bluetooth Low Energy") activities, travel, frequently visited locations, and any other information related to one or more remote user device 170, such as may be useful for authentication, audit, security, access, and/or other desired uses.

In various embodiments, and with reference to FIGs. 1 and 2, a document management system 5 may comprise a file repository 110, a controller 130, a link table 150 and one or more network 120, 140, 160. For instance, a network 120 may be in communication with the file repository 110 to the controller 130, and a network 140 may be in communication with the link table 150 to the controller 130.

Moreover, a network 160 may be in communication with the document management system 5 to one or more remote user device 170, for instance a first remote user device 170-1, a second remote user device 170-2, and any number 'n' of remote user devices 170-n.

Remote user device 170 may be in communication with and/or operatively coupled to (e.g., in "logical communication" with) document management system 5 via network 160. In various embodiments, network 160, network 140, and/or network 120 are portions of the same larger network, although in other embodiments, network 160, network 140, and/or network 120 are discrete networks. For example, if document management system 5 is located at the boundary of a proprietary intranet, the network 160 may comprise the internet, and the network 140 (and network 120) may comprise a proprietary intranet.

Network 120, network 140, and/or network 160 may be any suitable communication network. In this regard, network 120, network 140, and/or network 160 may be configured to receive communications from document management system 5 and/or remote user device 170. Moreover, network 120, network 140, and/or network 160 may be configured to facilitate the communications from document management system 5 and/or remote user device 170 in substantially real time. In various embodiments, network 120, network 140, and/or network 160 may include at least a portion of document management system 5 and/or remote user device 170.

A remote user device 170 may comprise a computer, a smartphone, a tablet, a terminal, or any other device or system whereby a file may be accessed and/or changed, or whereby communications may be initiated. For example, a remote user device 170 may comprise any device, interface, a website, an app, program, and or device running a website, app, and/or program. A remote user device 170 may have various different input and output capabilities. For example, a remote user device 170 may comprise a plain-text display, may comprise a graphical display, and/or may comprise a rich audio-visual user interaction mechanism.

A remote user device 170 may comprise a portable device whereby a user may interact with the document management system 5. For example, a remote user device 170 may comprise a phone, a tablet, for example, an iPad®, a laptop, and/or any other suitable electronic device. In various embodiments, a remote user device 170 may comprise an iPhone®, a Blackberry®, a device running an Android® operating system, a Nokia® phone, a Windows® phone, and/or any other data access and/or telephony device.

A file repository 110 may comprise a database wherein files are stored. For instance, a file repository 110 may comprise a server, or a cloud service, and/or a non-volatile memory, such as a hard drive, a flash memory device, or any storage mechanism as desired.

A link table 150 may comprise a database wherein records are stored associating files with one or more logical organization device, such as a folder. For instance, while a single copy of a file may be stored in a file repository 110, the file may be associated with multiple folders or other logical organization devices. This association may be recorded in one or more record stored in a link table 150. A link table 150 may comprise a server, a cloud service, and/or a non-volatile memory, such as a hard drive, a flash memory device, or any storage mechanism as desired.

A controller 130 may comprise a processor configured to establish connectivity among the file repository 110, the link table 150 and one or more remote user device 170. A controller 130 may take action, issue instructions, receive instructions, create files, store files, create folders, enforce file and/or folder access rules, transmit or receive data such as emails, and/or associate files with folders as desired. A controller 130 may execute various methods, such as will be discussed further herein with reference to FIGs. 3 and 4, and provide various output or receive various input or take various actions such as may be discussed with reference to FIG. 5.

With ongoing reference to FIG. 1 and with specific reference to FIG. 2, a controller

130 may comprise various modules. For instance, controller 130 may comprise a file repository I/O module 132, a user I/O module 134, a link table I/O module 136, an access control module 138, and a process supervisor 131. The various modules may facilitate various methods and communication among various system components. For instance, the file repository I/O module 132 may conduct communication between the controller 130 and the file repository 110. The user I/O module 134 may conduct communication between the controller 130 and one or more remote user device 170. The link table I/O module 136 may conduct communication between the link table 150 and the controller 130. The process supervisor 131 may direct the operation of the file repository I/O module 132, the user I/O module 134, the link table I/O module 136, and the access control module 138. The access control module 138 may instruct the process supervisor 131 regarding the access permissions each remote user device 170 should have to each file and/or folder.

Having discussed various structural aspects of a document management system 5 operating in a system environment 10, a document management system 5 may operate according to various methods.

With reference to FIGs. 1-3, a method 300 of creating a file may include receiving an instruction to create a file (step 302). For example, a first user may submit via a first remote user device 170-1 a request to create a file. The request may be submitted via a user interface on the first remote user device 170-1. The request may comprise any suitable and/or desired data, such as a folder name and/or path, a file name, a file symbol, a folder symbol, and/or the like. The request may be received by the user I/O module 134 of a controller 130. The method may further include receiving an instruction to designate an associated folder for the file (step 304). For instance, the user may submit, via a first remote user device 170-1, an instruction to designate an associated folder for the file. The user may designate any suitable folder, such as, for example, a folder corresponding to a company and/or entity representing the user. The instruction may be received by the user I/O module 134 of the controller 130. The process supervisor 131 of the controller 130 may direct the link table I/O module 136 to evaluate whether the folder pre-exists in the link table 150 (step 306). If such a folder does not exist, the process supervisor 131 directs the link table I/O module 136 to create such a folder and indicate an association between the file and the associated folder stored in a record of the link table 150 (step 310). In various embodiments, the association between the file and the associated folder may be indicated via metadata in the file. The process supervisor 131 may interoperate with the access control module 138 to set access control limits for the folder and store these links in the link table 150. In various embodiments, the access control limits may be set during file creation dynamically by a system administrator and/or automatically by access control module 138. If such a folder does exist, the process supervisor 131 directs the access control module 138 to confirm that the first remote user device 170-1 is authorized to modify the folder, and the process supervisor 131 directs the link table I/O module 136 to create an association between the file and the associated folder and store the association in a record in the link table 150 (step 310). The process supervisor 131 of the controller 130 may subsequently evaluate whether additional instructions to designate additional associated folders have been received by the user I/O module 134 from the first remote user device 170- 1 (step 312). If so, the process proceeds to step 304. If not, the process continues to step 314, wherein the process supervisor 131 directs the file repository I/O module 132 to save the file into the file repository 110. In this manner, a file may be saved and may be associated with one or many folders. Moreover, a second user device 170-2 may at any time access the file and/or a folder to retrieve the file and may enjoy access to the most recent version of the file, even if the second user device 170-2 accesses the file via folders to which the first user device 170-1 is not privileged to access.

With reference to FIGs. 1-2, and FIG. 4, a method 400 of opening a selected file is disclosed. For example, a method 400 of opening a selected file may include receiving an instruction to open a folder (step 402). For example, a first user may submit by a first remote user device 170-1 a request to open a folder. The request may be received by the user I/O module 134 of a controller 130. The user I/O module 134 may pass the request to a process supervisor 131 which then interoperates with an access control module 138 to confirm that that first remote user device 170-1 has proper permissions to access the desired folder. In that regard, the access permissions may comprise an access permission such as "access", to allow access to the folder, or "no access", to not allow access to the folder. The access permissions may also comprise permissions such as create, read, write, delete, and/or any other suitable access permission. Subsequently, the process supervisor 131 of the controller 130 may direct the link table I/O module 136 to retrieve records indicating all the files that are associated with the requested folder and may direct the user I/O module 134 to populate a screen display of the first remote user device 170-1 with the names of the associated files (step 404). In that regard, the link table I/O module 136 may retrieve the records from the file repository 110, and may select the appropriate files based on metadata, tags, and/or the like, indicating that the file belongs to a specified folder. For instance, one such example screen display is depicted in FIG. 5. The controller 130 may receive a selection of a file by a user, the selection transmitted by the first remote user device 170-1 and received by the user I/O module 134. The user I/O module 134 may pass the selection to the process supervisor 131, which instructs the file repository I/O module 132 to retrieve the file from a file repository 110. The file repository I/O module 132 may open the file and may interoperate with the process supervisor 131 and user I/O module 134 to display the contents of the file at the first remote user device 170-1 (Step 408).

With reference to FIG. 5, at various steps in the different methods, the process supervisor 131 may interoperate with the user I/O module 134 to present a user interaction dialog 500 on the first remote user device 170-1. For instance, a user interaction dialog 500 may provide various graphical features whereby a user may identify which folders are associated with which files. In that regard, the user I/O module 134 may communicate with the file repository 110 to retrieve a file repository record comprising folders and associated files contained therein. A user may create new folders to be associated with a file. In that regard, the user I/O module 134 may communicate with the file repository 110 to create a new folder in the file repository 110. A file may be selectively associated with different folders. A file may be emailed to a user, and/or an associative link similar to that stored in the link table 150 may be emailed to a user, so that the user may interact from their own remote user device with the document management system 5 to readily access the file (comprising the most up-to-date version) which resides in the file repository 110 and is associated with one or more folder. A user interaction dialog 500 may comprise a file name text box 502. The file name text box 502 may display the name of a selected file 510, or may permit a user to enter a filename of a file 510, or in various embodiments, text associated with an "@" or an "=" symbol as discussed herein for searching. The user interaction dialog 500 may depict various folders 512, 516, 518 and/or subfolders 514, 520 with which a file 510 is currently associated, or with which a user may elect to associate the file 510. The user interaction dialog 500 may depict the instant file 510 and show its current association with various folders, and/or proposed associations with various folders. The user interaction dialog 500 may include a new folder creation tool 508 whereby the user may create new folder(s) to be associated with the file 510. The user interaction dialog 500 provides the user the ability to save the associations via a save click button 504, and provides the user the ability to email the file as discussed herein, and save the associations via an email and save click button 506. Upon activation of the email and save click button 506, an email is generated having a "=" associated with the filename of the file 510, as discussed herein. In various embodiments, the user I/O module 134 may generate the symbols. The symbols may communicate with link table 150 and/or file repository 110 to retrieve an appropriate symbol, keyword, name, association and/or the like. In this manner, method 500 may permit a user to readily allow others to access and/or modify a file while ensuring that any modifications are substantially instantaneously propagated, via controller 130, to the display of the remote user device of all users seeking to access the file 510.

As such, with reference to FIGs. 1-5, a document management system 5 may include a file repository 110 in logical communication with a controller and comprising a stored file 510 and a link table 150 in logical communication with the controller 130. The controller 130 may be is configured to store a record in the link table 150 comprising an association of the file 510 with a plurality of folders. For instance, the plurality of folders may include a first folder and a second folder. A first remote user device 170-1 may be authorized to access the first folder and a second remote user device 170-2 may be authorized to access the second folder. A change to the file 510 by the first remote user device 170-1 is propagated, via controller 130, to the file 510 in the file repository 110, whereby the change is propagated to the second remote user device 170-2, because both user devices 170-1, 170-2 access the same file 510, which is associated with multiple folders with different access rules.

Any communication, transmission and/or network discussed herein may include any system or method for delivering content (e.g. data, information, metadata, etc.), and/or the content itself. Moreover, the system may provide a standardized API interface for remote user devices and/or software, merchants and third-party systems and devices. In this manner, a seamless user experience is presented, e.g., services may be delivered in a variety of system environments 10 and in document management systems 5 and in systems of systems having different devices and technologies. The content may be presented in any form or medium, and in various embodiments, the content may be delivered electronically and/or capable of being presented electronically. A file may comprise a website or device (e.g., Facebook, YouTube®, AppleTV®, Pandora®, xBox®, Sony® Playstation®), a uniform resource locator ("URL"), a document (e.g., a Microsoft Word® document, a Microsoft Excel® document, an Adobe .pdf document, etc.), an "ebook," an "emagazine," an application or microapplication (as described herein), an SMS or other type of text message, an email, facebook, twitter, MMS and/or other type of communication technology. In various embodiments, a channel and/or a file may be hosted or provided by a data partner.

A network may comprise at least one of a merchant website, a social media website, affiliate or partner websites, an external vendor, a mobile device communication, social media network and/or location based service. Networks may include at least one of a website, a social media site, affiliate or partner websites, an external vendor, and a mobile device communication. Examples of social media sites include Facebook®, foursquare®, Twitter®, MySpace®, Linkedln®, and the like. Examples of affiliate or partner websites include Dropbox®, Google Drive®, and the like. Moreover, examples of mobile device communications include texting, email, and mobile applications for smartphones.

The phrase user shall include any person, entity, business, government organization, business, software, hardware, machine associated with an account.

In various embodiments, the methods described herein are implemented using the various particular machines described herein. The methods described herein may be implemented using the below particular machines, and those hereinafter developed, in any suitable combination, as would be appreciated immediately by one skilled in the art. Further, as is unambiguous from this disclosure, the methods described herein may result in various transformations of certain articles.

The present system or any part(s) or function(s) thereof may be implemented using hardware, software or a combination thereof and may be implemented in one or more computer systems or other processing systems. However, the manipulations performed by embodiments were often referred to in terms, such as matching or selecting, which are commonly associated with mental operations performed by a human operator. No such capability of a human operator is necessary, or desirable in most cases, in any of the operations described herein. Rather, the operations may be machine operations. Useful machines for performing the various embodiments include general-purpose digital computers or similar devices.

In various embodiments, the embodiments are directed toward one or more computer systems capable of carrying out the functionality described herein. The computer system includes one or more processors, such as processor. The processor is connected to a communication infrastructure (e.g., a communications bus, cross over bar, or network). Various software embodiments are described in terms of this exemplary computer system. After reading this description, it will become apparent to a person skilled in the relevant art(s) how to implement various embodiments using other computer systems and/or architectures. Computer system can include a display interface that forwards graphics, text, and other data from the communication infrastructure (or from a frame buffer not shown) for display on a display unit.

Conventional data networking, application development and other functional aspects of the systems (and components of the individual operating components of the systems) may not be described in detail herein. Furthermore, the connecting lines shown in the various figures contained herein are intended to represent exemplary functional relationships and/or physical couplings between the various elements. It should be noted that many alternative or additional functional relationships or physical connections may be present in a practical system.

The various system components discussed herein may include one or more of the following: a host server or other computing systems including a processor for processing digital data; a memory coupled to the processor for storing digital data; an input digitizer coupled to the processor for inputting digital data; an application program stored in the memory and accessible by the processor for directing processing of digital data by the processor; a display device coupled to the processor and memory for displaying information derived from digital data processed by the processor; and a plurality of databases. Various databases used herein may include: client data; merchant data; financial institution data; and/or like data useful in the operation of the system. As those skilled in the art will appreciate, user computer may include an operating system (e.g., WINDOWS®, OS2, UNIX®, LINUX®, SOLARIS®, MacOS, etc.) as well as various conventional support software and drivers typically associated with computers.

Computer system also includes a main memory, such as for example random access memory (RAM), and may also include a secondary memory. The secondary memory may include, for example, a hard disk drive and/or a removable storage drive, representing a floppy disk drive, a magnetic tape drive, an optical disk drive, etc. The removable storage drive reads from and/or writes to a removable storage unit in a well-known manner. Removable storage unit represents a floppy disk, magnetic tape, optical disk, etc. which is read by and written to by removable storage drive. As will be appreciated, the removable storage unit includes a computer usable storage medium having stored therein computer software and/or data.

In various embodiments, secondary memory may include other similar devices for allowing computer programs or other instructions to be loaded into computer system. Such devices may include, for example, a removable storage unit and an interface. Examples of such may include a program cartridge and cartridge interface (such as that found in video game devices), a removable memory chip (such as an erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM), or programmable read only memory (PROM)) and associated socket, and other removable storage units and interfaces, which allow software and data to be transferred from the removable storage unit to computer system.

Computer system may also include a communications interface. Communications interface allows software and data to be transferred between computer system and external devices. Examples of communications interface may include a modem, a network interface (such as an Ethernet card), a communications port, a Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) slot and card, etc. Software and data transferred via communications interface are in the form of signals which may be electronic, electromagnetic, optical or other signals capable of being received by communications interface. These signals are provided to communications interface via a communications path (e.g., channel). This channel carries signals and may be implemented using wire, cable, fiber optics, a telephone line, a cellular link, a radio frequency (RF) link, wireless and other communications channels.

The terms "computer program medium" and "computer usable medium" and "computer readable medium" are used to generally refer to media such as removable storage drive and a hard disk installed in hard disk drive. These computer program products provide software to computer system.

Computer programs (also referred to as computer control logic) are stored in main memory and/or secondary memory. Computer programs may also be received via communications interface. Such computer programs, when executed, enable the computer system to perform the features as discussed herein. In particular, the computer programs, when executed, enable the processor to perform the features of various embodiments. Accordingly, such computer programs represent controllers of the computer system.

In various embodiments, software may be stored in a computer program product and loaded into computer system using removable storage drive, hard disk drive or communications interface. The control logic (software), when executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform the functions of various embodiments as described herein. In various embodiments, hardware components such as application specific integrated circuits (ASICs). Implementation of the hardware state machine so as to perform the functions described herein will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art(s).

In various embodiments, the server may include application servers (e.g., WEB

SPHERE, WEB LOGIC, JBOSS). In various embodiments, the server may include web servers (e.g., APACHE, IIS, GWS, SUN JAVA® SYSTEM WEB SERVER).

A web client includes any device (e.g., personal computer) which communicates via any network, for example such as those discussed herein. Such browser applications comprise Internet browsing software installed within a computing unit or a system to conduct online transactions and/or communications. These computing units or systems may take the form of a computer or set of computers, although other types of computing units or systems may be used, including laptops, notebooks, tablets, hand held computers, personal digital assistants, set-top boxes, workstations, computer-servers, main frame computers, mini- computers, PC servers, pervasive computers, network sets of computers, personal computers, such as IPADS®, IMACS®, and MACBOOKS®, kiosks, terminals, point of sale (POS) devices and/or terminals, televisions, or any other device capable of receiving data over a network. A web-client may run MICROSOFT® INTERNET EXPLORER®, MOZILLA® FIREFOX®, GOOGLE® CHROME®, APPLE® Safari, or any other of the myriad software packages available for browsing the internet.

Practitioners will appreciate that a web client may or may not be in direct contact with an application server. For example, a web client may access the services of an application server through another server and/or hardware component, which may have a direct or indirect connection to an Internet server. For example, a web client may communicate with an application server via a load balancer. In an exemplary embodiment, access is through a network or the Internet through a commercially-available web-browser software package.

As those skilled in the art will appreciate, a web client includes an operating system (e.g., WINDOWS® OS, OS2, UNIX® OS, LINUX® OS, SOLARIS®, MacOS, and/or the like) as well as various conventional support software and drivers typically associated with computers. A web client may include any suitable personal computer, network computer, workstation, personal digital assistant, cellular phone, smart phone, minicomputer, mainframe or the like. A web client can be in a home or business environment with access to a network. In various embodiments, access is through a network or the Internet through a commercially available web-browser software package. A web client may implement security protocols such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS). A web client may implement several application layer protocols including http, https, ftp, and sftp.

In various embodiments, components, modules, and/or engines of system 100 may be implemented as micro-applications or micro-apps. Micro-apps are typically deployed in the context of a mobile operating system, including for example, a WINDOWS® mobile operating system, an ANDROID® Operating System, APPLE® IOS®, a BLACKBERRY® operating system and the like. The micro-app may be configured to leverage the resources of the larger operating system and associated hardware via a set of predetermined rules which govern the operations of various operating systems and hardware resources. For example, where a micro-app desires to communicate with a device or network other than the mobile device or mobile operating system, the micro-app may leverage the communication protocol of the operating system and associated device hardware under the predetermined rules of the mobile operating system. Moreover, where the micro-app desires an input from a user, the micro-app may be configured to request a response from the operating system which monitors various hardware components and communicates a detected input from the hardware to the micro-app.

As used herein, the term "network" includes any cloud, cloud computing system or electronic communications system or method which incorporates hardware and/or software components. Communication among the parties may be accomplished through any suitable communication channels, such as, for example, a telephone network, an extranet, an intranet, Internet, point of interaction device (point of sale device, personal digital assistant (e.g., IPHONE®, BLACKBERRY®), cellular phone, kiosk, etc.), online communications, satellite communications, off-line communications, wireless communications, transponder communications, local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), virtual private network (VPN), networked or linked devices, keyboard, mouse and/or any suitable communication or data input modality. Moreover, although the system is frequently described herein as being implemented with TCP/IP communications protocols, the system may also be implemented using IPX, APPLE®talk, IP-6, NetBIOS®, OSI, any tunneling protocol (e.g. IPsec, SSH), or any number of existing or future protocols. If the network is in the nature of a public network, such as the Internet, it may be advantageous to presume the network to be insecure and open to eavesdroppers. Specific information related to the protocols, standards, and application software utilized in connection with the Internet is generally known to those skilled in the art and, as such, need not be detailed herein.

The various system components may be independently, separately or collectively suitably coupled to the network via data links which includes, for example, a connection to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) over the local loop as is typically used in connection with standard modem communication, cable modem, Dish Networks®, ISDN, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), or various wireless communication methods. It is noted that the network may be implemented as other types of networks, such as an interactive television (ITV) network. Moreover, the system contemplates the use, sale or distribution of any goods, services or information over any network having similar functionality described herein.

"Cloud" or "Cloud computing" includes a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. Cloud computing may include location- independent computing, whereby shared servers provide resources, software, and data to computers and other devices on demand. For more information regarding cloud computing, see the NIST's (National Institute of Standards and Technology) definition of cloud computing.

As used herein, "transmit" may include sending electronic data from one system component to another over a network connection. Additionally, as used herein, "data" may include encompassing information such as commands, queries, files, data for storage, and the like in digital or any other form.

The system contemplates uses in association with web services, utility computing, pervasive and individualized computing, security and identity solutions, autonomic computing, cloud computing, commodity computing, mobility and wireless solutions, open source, biometrics, grid computing and/or mesh computing.

As used herein, big data may refer to partially or fully structured, semi-structured, or unstructured data sets including millions of rows and hundreds of thousands of columns. A big data set may be compiled, for example, from a history of purchase transactions over time, from web registrations, from social media, from records of charge ("ROC"), from summaries of charges ("SOC"), from internal data, or from other suitable sources. Big data sets may be compiled without descriptive metadata such as column types, counts, percentiles, or other interpretive-aid data points.

A ROC may comprise any transaction or transaction data. The ROC may be a unique identifier associated with a transaction. A transaction may, in various embodiments, be performed by a one or more members using a transaction account, such as a transaction account associated with a gift card, a debit card, a credit card, and the like. A ROC may, in addition, contain details such as location, merchant name or identifier, transaction amount, transaction date, account number, account security pin or code, account expiry date, and the like for the transaction.

Distributed computing cluster may be, for example, a Hadoop® cluster configured to process and store big data sets with some of nodes comprising a distributed storage system and some of nodes comprising a distributed processing system. In that regard, distributed computing cluster may be configured to support a Hadoop® distributed file system (HDFS) as specified by the Apache Software Foundation at http://hadoop.apache.org/docs/.

Any databases discussed herein may include relational, hierarchical, graphical, blockchain, object-oriented structure and/or any other database configurations. Common database products that may be used to implement the databases include DB2 by IBM® (Armonk, NY), various database products available from ORACLE® Corporation (Redwood Shores, CA), MICROSOFT® Access® or MICROSOFT® SQL Server® by MICROSOFT® Corporation (Redmond, Washington), MySQL by MySQL AB (Uppsala, Sweden), or any other suitable database product. Moreover, the databases may be organized in any suitable manner, for example, as data tables or lookup tables. Each record may be a single file, a series of files, a linked series of data fields or any other data structure.

The blockchain structure may include a distributed database that maintains a growing list of data records. The blockchain may provide enhanced security because each block may hold individual transactions and the results of any blockchain executables. Each block may contain a timestamp and a link to a previous block. Blocks may be linked because each block may include the hash of the prior block in the blockchain. The linked blocks form a chain, with only one successor block allowed to link to one other predecessor block.

Moreover, the databases may be organized in any suitable manner, for example, as data tables or lookup tables. Each record may be a single file, a series of files, a linked series of data fields or any other data structure. Association of certain data may be accomplished through any desired data association technique such as those known or practiced in the art. For example, the association may be accomplished either manually or automatically. Automatic association techniques may include, for example, a database search, a database merge, GREP, AGREP, SQL, using a key field in the tables to speed searches, sequential searches through all the tables and files, sorting records in the file according to a known order to simplify lookup, and/or the like. The association step may be accomplished by a database merge function, for example, using a "key field" in pre-selected databases or data sectors. Various database tuning steps are contemplated to optimize database performance. For example, frequently used files such as indexes may be placed on separate file systems to reduce In/Out ("I/O") bottlenecks.

More particularly, a "key field" partitions the database according to the high-level class of objects defined by the key field. For example, certain types of data may be designated as a key field in a plurality of related data tables and the data tables may be linked on the basis of the type of data in the key field. The data corresponding to the key field in each of the linked data tables is preferably the same or of the same type. However, data tables having similar, though not identical, data in the key fields may also be linked by using AGREP, for example. In accordance with one embodiment, any suitable data storage technique may be utilized to store data without a standard format. Data sets may be stored using any suitable technique, including, for example, storing individual files using an ISO/IEC 7816-4 file structure; implementing a domain whereby a dedicated file is selected that exposes one or more elementary files containing one or more data sets; using data sets stored in individual files using a hierarchical filing system; data sets stored as records in a single file (including compression, SQL accessible, hashed via one or more keys, numeric, alphabetical by first tuple, etc.); Binary Large Object (BLOB); stored as ungrouped data elements encoded using ISO/IEC 7816-6 data elements; stored as ungrouped data elements encoded using ISO/IEC Abstract Syntax Notation (ASN. l) as in ISO/IEC 8824 and 8825; and/or other proprietary techniques that may include fractal compression methods, image compression methods, etc.

In various embodiments, the ability to store a wide variety of information in different formats is facilitated by storing the information as a BLOB. Thus, any binary information can be stored in a storage space associated with a data set. As discussed above, the binary information may be stored on the financial transaction instrument or external to but affiliated with the financial transaction instrument. The BLOB method may store data sets as ungrouped data elements formatted as a block of binary via a fixed memory offset using fixed storage allocation, circular queue techniques, or best practices with respect to memory management (e.g., paged memory, least recently used, etc.). By using BLOB methods, the ability to store various data sets that have different formats facilitates the storage of data associated with the financial transaction instrument by multiple and unrelated owners of the data sets. For example, a first data set which may be stored may be provided by a first party, a second data set which may be stored may be provided by an unrelated second party, and yet a third data set which may be stored, may be provided by an third party unrelated to the first and second party. Each of these three exemplary data sets may contain different information that is stored using different data storage formats and/or techniques. Further, each data set may contain subsets of data that also may be distinct from other subsets.

As stated above, in various embodiments, the data can be stored without regard to a common format. However, the data set (e.g., BLOB) may be annotated in a standard manner when provided for manipulating the data onto the financial transaction instrument. The annotation may comprise a short header, trailer, or other appropriate indicator related to each data set that is configured to convey information useful in managing the various data sets. For example, the annotation may be called a "condition header", "header", "trailer", or "status", herein, and may comprise an indication of the status of the data set or may include an identifier correlated to a specific issuer or owner of the data. In one example, the first three bytes of each data set BLOB may be configured or configurable to indicate the status of that particular data set; e.g., LOADED, INITIALIZED, READY, BLOCKED, REMOVABLE, or DELETED. Subsequent bytes of data may be used to indicate for example, the identity of the issuer, user, transaction/membership account identifier or the like. Each of these condition annotations are further discussed herein.

The data set annotation may also be used for other types of status information as well as various other purposes. For example, the data set annotation may include security information establishing access levels. The access levels may, for example, be configured to permit only certain individuals, levels of employees, companies, or other entities to access data sets, or to permit access to specific data sets based on the transaction, merchant, issuer, user or the like. Furthermore, the security information may restrict/permit only certain actions such as accessing, modifying, and/or deleting data sets. In one example, the data set annotation indicates that only the data set owner or the user are permitted to delete a data set, various identified users may be permitted to access the data set for reading, and others are altogether excluded from accessing the data set. However, other access restriction parameters may also be used allowing various entities to access a data set with various permission levels as appropriate.

The data, including the header or trailer may be received by a stand-alone interaction device configured to add, delete, modify, or augment the data in accordance with the header or trailer. As such, in one embodiment, the header or trailer is not stored on the transaction device along with the associated issuer-owned data but instead the appropriate action may be taken by providing to the transaction instrument user at the stand alone device, the appropriate option for the action to be taken. The system may contemplate a data storage arrangement wherein the header or trailer, or header or trailer history, of the data is stored on the transaction instrument in relation to the appropriate data.

One skilled in the art will also appreciate that, for security reasons, any databases, systems, devices, servers or other components of the system may consist of any combination thereof at a single location or at multiple locations, wherein each database or system includes any of various suitable security features, such as firewalls, access codes, encryption, decryption, compression, decompression, and/or the like.

Encryption may be performed by way of any of the techniques now available in the art or which may become available— e.g., Twofish, RSA, El Gamal, Schorr signature, DSA, PGP, PKI, GPG (GnuPG), and symmetric and asymmetric cryptosystems.

In various embodiments, the system may also include isolating and removing malicious code from electronic messages (e.g., email) to prevent a computer from being compromised, for example by being infected with a computer virus. The system may scan electronic communications for malicious computer code and clean the electronic communication before it may initiate malicious acts. The system operates by physically isolating a received electronic communication in a "quarantine" sector of the computer memory. A quarantine sector is a memory sector created by the computer's operating system such that files stored in that sector are not permitted to act on files outside that sector. When a communication containing malicious code is stored in the quarantine sector, the data contained within the communication is compared to malicious code-indicative patterns stored within a signature database. The presence of a particular malicious code-indicative pattern indicates the nature of the malicious code. The signature database further includes code markers that represent the beginning and end points of the malicious code. The malicious code is then extracted from malicious code-containing communication. An extraction routine is run by a file parsing component of the processing unit. The file parsing routine performs the following operations: scan the communication for the identified beginning malicious code marker; flag each scanned byte between the beginning marker and the successive end malicious code marker; continue scanning until no further beginning malicious code marker is found; and create a new data file by sequentially copying all non-flagged data bytes into the new file, which thus forms a sanitized communication file. The new, sanitized communication is transferred to a non-quarantine sector of the computer memory. Subsequently, all data on the quarantine sector is erased. More particularly, the system includes a method for protecting a computer from an electronic communication containing malicious code by receiving an electronic communication containing malicious code in a computer with a memory having a boot sector, a quarantine sector and a non-quarantine sector; storing the communication in the quarantine sector of the memory of the computer, wherein the quarantine sector is isolated from the boot and the non-quarantine sector in the computer memory, where code in the quarantine sector is prevented from performing write actions on other memory sectors; extracting, via file parsing, the malicious code from the electronic communication to create a sanitized electronic communication, wherein the extracting comprises scanning the communication for an identified beginning malicious code marker, flagging each scanned byte between the beginning marker and a successive end malicious code marker, continuing scanning until no further beginning malicious code marker is found, and creating a new data file by sequentially copying all non-flagged data bytes into a new file that forms a sanitized communication file; transferring the sanitized electronic communication to the non-quarantine sector of the memory; and deleting all data remaining in the quarantine sector.

The computing unit of the web client may be further equipped with an Internet browser connected to the Internet or an intranet using standard dial-up, cable, DSL or any other Internet protocol known in the art. Transactions originating at a web client may pass through a firewall in order to prevent unauthorized access from users of other networks. Further, additional firewalls may be deployed between the varying components of CMS to further enhance security.

Firewall may include any hardware and/or software suitably configured to protect CMS components and/or enterprise computing resources from users of other networks. Further, a firewall may be configured to limit or restrict access to various systems and components behind the firewall for web clients connecting through a web server. Firewall may reside in varying configurations including Stateful Inspection, Proxy based, access control lists, and Packet Filtering among others. Firewall may be integrated within a web server or any other CMS components or may further reside as a separate entity. A firewall may implement network address translation ("NAT") and/or network address port translation ("NAPT"). A firewall may accommodate various tunneling protocols to facilitate secure communications, such as those used in virtual private networking. A firewall may implement a demilitarized zone ("DMZ") to facilitate communications with a public network such as the Internet. A firewall may be integrated as software within an Internet server, any other application server components or may reside within another computing device or may take the form of a standalone hardware component.

The computers discussed herein may provide a suitable website or other Internet- based graphical user interface which is accessible by users. In one embodiment, the MICROSOFT® INTERNET INFORMATION SERVICES® (IIS), MICROSOFT® Transaction Server (MTS), and MICROSOFT® SQL Server, are used in conjunction with the MICROSOFT® operating system, MICROSOFT® web server software, a MICROSOFT® SQL Server database system, and a MICROSOFT® Commerce Server. Additionally, components such as Access or MICROSOFT® SQL Server, ORACLE®, Sybase, Informix MySQL, Interbase, etc., may be used to provide an Active Data Object (ADO) compliant database management system. In one embodiment, the Apache web server is used in conjunction with a Linux operating system, a MySQL database, and the Perl, PUP, and/or Python programming languages.

Any of the communications, inputs, storage, databases or displays discussed herein may be facilitated through a website having web pages. The term "web page" as it is used herein is not meant to limit the type of documents and applications that might be used to interact with the user. For example, a typical website might include, in addition to standard HTML documents, various forms, Java applets, JavaScript, active server pages (ASP), common gateway interface scripts (CGI), extensible markup language (XML), dynamic HTML, cascading style sheets (CSS), AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript And XML), helper applications, plug-ins, and the like. A server may include a web service that receives a request from a web server, the request including a URL (http://yahoo.com/stockquotes/ge) and an IP address (123.56.789.234). The web server retrieves the appropriate web pages and sends the data or applications for the web pages to the IP address. Web services are applications that are capable of interacting with other applications over a communications means, such as the internet. Web services are typically based on standards or protocols such as XML, SOAP, AJAX, WSDL and UDDI. Web services methods are well known in the art, and are covered in many standard texts.

Middleware may include any hardware and/or software suitably configured to facilitate communications and/or process transactions between disparate computing systems. Middleware components are commercially available and known in the art. Middleware may be implemented through commercially available hardware and/or software, through custom hardware and/or software components, or through a combination thereof. Middleware may reside in a variety of configurations and may exist as a standalone system or may be a software component residing on the Internet server. Middleware may be configured to process transactions between the various components of an application server and any number of internal or external systems for any of the purposes disclosed herein. WebSphere MQTM (formerly MQ Series) by IBM, Inc. (Armonk, NY) is an example of a commercially available middleware product. An Enterprise Service Bus ("ESB") application is another example of middleware.

Practitioners will also appreciate that there are a number of methods for displaying data within a browser-based document. Data may be represented as standard text or within a fixed list, scrollable list, drop-down list, editable text field, fixed text field, pop-up window, and the like. Likewise, there are a number of methods available for modifying data in a web page such as, for example, free text entry using a keyboard, selection of menu items, check boxes, option boxes, and the like.

In various embodiments, the system and method may include a graphical user interface for dynamically relocating/rescaling obscured textual information of an underlying window to become automatically viewable to the user (e.g., remote user 170-1, 170-2, and/or 170-3). By permitting textual information to be dynamically relocated based on an overlap condition, the computer's ability to display information is improved. More particularly, the method for dynamically relocating textual information within an underlying window displayed in a graphical user interface may comprise displaying a first window containing textual information in a first format within a graphical user interface on a computer screen; displaying a second window within the graphical user interface; constantly monitoring the boundaries of the first window and the second window to detect an overlap condition where the second window overlaps the first window such that the textual information in the first window is obscured from a user's view; determining the textual information would not be completely viewable if relocated to an unobstructed portion of the first window; calculating a first measure of the area of the first window and a second measure of the area of the unobstructed portion of the first window; calculating a scaling factor which is proportional to the difference between the first measure and the second measure; scaling the textual information based upon the scaling factor; automatically relocating the scaled textual information, by a processor, to the unobscured portion of the first window in a second format during an overlap condition so that the entire scaled textual information is viewable on the computer screen by the user; and automatically returning the relocated scaled textual information, by the processor, to the first format within the first window when the overlap conditi on no 1 onger exi sts .

The system and method may be described herein in terms of functional block components, screen shots, optional selections and various processing steps. It should be appreciated that such functional blocks may be realized by any number of hardware and/or software components configured to perform the specified functions. For example, the system may employ various integrated circuit components, e.g., memory elements, processing elements, logic elements, look-up tables, and the like, which may carry out a variety of functions under the control of one or more microprocessors or other control devices. Similarly, the software elements of the system may be implemented with any programming or scripting language such as C, C++, C#, JAVA®, JAVASCRIPT, VBScript, Macromedia Cold Fusion, COBOL, MICROSOFT® Active Server Pages, assembly, PERL, PHP, awk, Python, Visual Basic, SQL Stored Procedures, PL/SQL, any UNIX shell script, and extensible markup language (XML) with the various algorithms being implemented with any combination of data structures, objects, processes, routines or other programming elements. Further, it should be noted that the system may employ any number of conventional techniques for data transmission, signaling, data processing, network control, and the like. Still further, the system could be used to detect or prevent security issues with a client-side scripting language, such as JAVASCRIPT, VBScript or the like. Cryptography and network security methods are well known in the art, and are covered in many standard texts.

As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, the system may be embodied as a customization of an existing system, an add-on product, a processing apparatus executing upgraded software, a standalone system, a distributed system, a method, a data processing system, a device for data processing, and/or a computer program product. Accordingly, any portion of the system or a module may take the form of a processing apparatus executing code, an internet based embodiment, an entirely hardware embodiment, or an embodiment combining aspects of the internet, software and hardware. Furthermore, the system may take the form of a computer program product on a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code means embodied in the storage medium. Any suitable computer-readable storage medium may be utilized, including hard disks, CD-ROM, optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices, and/or the like.

The system and method is described herein with reference to screen shots, block diagrams and flowchart illustrations of methods, apparatus (e.g., systems), and computer program products according to various embodiments. It will be understood that each functional block of the block diagrams and the flowchart illustrations, and combinations of functional blocks in the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, respectively, can be implemented by computer program instructions.

These computer program instructions may be loaded onto a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions that execute on the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks. These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowchart block or blocks. The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks.

Accordingly, functional blocks of the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations support combinations of means for performing the specified functions, combinations of steps for performing the specified functions, and program instruction means for performing the specified functions. It will also be understood that each functional block of the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, and combinations of functional blocks in the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, can be implemented by either special purpose hardware- based computer systems which perform the specified functions or steps, or suitable combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions. Further, illustrations of the process flows and the descriptions thereof may make reference to user windows, webpages, websites, web forms, prompts, etc. Practitioners will appreciate that the illustrated steps described herein may comprise in any number of configurations including the use of windows, webpages, web forms, popup windows, prompts and the like. It should be further appreciated that the multiple steps as illustrated and described may be combined into single webpages and/or windows but have been expanded for the sake of simplicity. In other cases, steps illustrated and described as single process steps may be separated into multiple webpages and/or windows but have been combined for simplicity.

The term "non-transitory" is to be understood to remove only propagating transitory signals per se from the claim scope and does not relinquish rights to all standard computer- readable media that are not only propagating transitory signals per se. Stated another way, the meaning of the term "non-transitory computer-readable medium" and "non-transitory computer-readable storage medium" should be construed to exclude only those types of transitory computer-readable media which were found in In re Nuijten to fall outside the scope of patentable subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101. Systems, methods and computer program products are provided. In the detailed description herein, references to "various embodiments", "one embodiment", "an embodiment", "an example embodiment", etc., indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described. After reading the description, it will be apparent to one skilled in the relevant art(s) how to implement the disclosure in alternative embodiments.

Benefits, other advantages, and solutions to problems have been described herein with regard to specific embodiments. However, the benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any elements that may cause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become more pronounced are not to be construed as critical, required, or essential features or elements of the disclosure. The scope of the disclosure is accordingly to be limited by nothing other than the appended claims, in which reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean "one and only one" unless explicitly so stated, but rather "one or more." Moreover, where a phrase similar to 'at least one of A, B, and C or 'at least one of A, B, or C is used in the claims or specification, it is intended that the phrase be interpreted to mean that A alone may be present in an embodiment, B alone may be present in an embodiment, C alone may be present in an embodiment, or that any combination of the elements A, B and C may be present in a single embodiment; for example, A and B, A and C, B and C, or A and B and C. Although the disclosure includes a method, it is contemplated that it may be embodied as computer program instructions on a tangible computer-readable carrier, such as a magnetic or optical memory or a magnetic or optical disk. All structural, chemical, and functional equivalents to the elements of the above-described exemplary embodiments that are known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the present claims. Moreover, it is not necessary for a device or method to address each and every problem sought to be solved by the present disclosure, for it to be encompassed by the present claims.

Furthermore, no element, component, or method step in the present disclosure is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether the element, component, or method step is explicitly recited in the claims. No claim element herein is to be construed under the provisions of 35 U.S.C. 112 (f) unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase "means for." As used herein, the terms "comprises", "comprising", or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

Claims

1. A document management system comprising:

a file repository in logical communication with a controller, wherein the file repository is configured to store a file; and

a link table in logical communication with the controller, wherein the controller is configured to store a record in the link table, and wherein the link table comprises an association of the file with a plurality of folders.

2. The document management system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of folders comprises a first folder and a second folder,

wherein a first remote user device is authorized to access the first folder,

wherein a second remote user device is authorized to access the second folder, and wherein a change to the file by the first remote user device is propagated to the file in the file repository, and

wherein the change to the file in the file repository is propagated to the second remote user device.

3. The document management system of claim 1, wherein the controller comprises: a process supervisor;

a file repository I/O module configured to communicate with the file repository;

a user I/O module configured to communicate with a remote user device;

a link table I/O module configured to communicate with the link table; and an access control module configured to instruct the process supervisor regarding access permissions for the remote user device.

4. The document management system of claim 3, wherein the user I/O module is configured to retrieve a file repository record from the file repository indicating all files associated with each of the plurality of folders in response to the remote user device having a proper permission.

5. The document management system of claim 4, wherein the user I/O module is configured to populate a screen display of the remote user device with the file repository record indicating all files associated with each of the plurality of folders.

6. The document management system of claim 1, wherein a file name of the file comprises a file symbol, wherein the file symbol comprises at least one of a "=" symbol, a "@" symbol, or a "#" symbol.

7. The document management system of claim 1, wherein a folder name of each of the plurality of folders comprises a folder symbol, wherein the folder symbol comprises at least one of a "=" symbol, a "@" symbol, or a "#" symbol.

8. A method of creating a file comprising:

receiving, by a user I/O module of a controller, an instruction to create the file from a first remote user device, wherein the instruction comprises a folder to associate the file with; directing, by a process supervisor of the controller, a link table I/O module to evaluate whether the folder pre-exists in a link table;

directing, by the process supervisor of the controller, the link table I/O module to create the folder, in response to the folder not pre-existing in the link table;

indicating, by the process supervisor of the controller, an association between the file and the folder in a record of the link table, in response to the folder not pre-existing in the link table; and

evaluating, by the process supervisor of the controller, whether an additional instruction to designate an additional associated folder is received by the user I/O module from the first remote user device.

9. The method of creating the file according to claim 8, further comprising directing, by the process supervisor, a file repository I/O module to save the file into a file repository in response to the evaluating indicating that no additional instruction is received.

10. The method of creating the file according to claim 9, further comprising:

receiving, by the user I/O module of the controller, a second instruction to open the folder from the first remote user device;

directing, by the process supervisor of the controller, an access control module to confirm whether the first remote user device has a proper permission to access the folder; and directing, by the process supervisor of the controller, the link table I/O module to retrieve a file repository record from the file repository indicating all files associated with the folder in response to the first remote user device having the proper permission.

11. The method of creating the file according to claim 10, further comprising populating, by the user I/O module of the controller, a screen display of the first remote user device with the file repository record indicating all files associated with the folder.

12. The method of creating the file according to claim 11, further comprising:

receiving, by the user I/O module of the controller, a selection of the file by the first remote user device;

instructing, by the process supervisor of the controller, the file repository I/O module of the controller to retrieve the file from the file repository; and

displaying, by the user I/O module of the controller, a content of the file at the screen display of the first remote user device.

13. The method of creating the file according to claim 8, further comprising assigning, by the first remote user device, a file symbol to a file name of the file, wherein the file symbol comprises at least one of a "=" symbol, a "@" symbol, or a "#" symbol.

14. The method of creating the file according to claim 8, further comprising assigning, by the first remote user device, a folder symbol to a folder name of the folder, wherein the folder symbol comprises at least one of a "=" symbol, a "@" symbol, or a "#" symbol.

15. An article of manufacture including a non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a computer based system, cause the computer based system to perform operations comprising: receiving, by the computer based system, an instruction to create a file from a first remote user device, wherein the instruction comprises a folder to associate the file with;

evaluating, by the computer based system, whether the folder pre-exists in a link table;

creating, by the computer based system, the folder in response to the folder not pre- existing in the like table;

indicating, by the computer based system, an association between the file and the folder in a record of the link table, in response to the folder not pre-existing in the link table; and

evaluating, by the computer based system, whether an additional instruction to designate an additional associated folder is received from the first remote user device.

16. The article of manufacture according to claim 15, further comprising saving, by the computer based system, the file into a file repository in response to the evaluating indicating that no additional instruction is received.

17. The article of manufacture according to claim 16, further comprising:

receiving, by the computer based system, a second instruction to open the folder from the first remote user device;

determining, by the computer based system, whether the first remote user device has a proper permission to access the folder; and

retrieving, by the computer based system a file repository record from the file repository indicating all files associated with the folder in response to the first remote user device having the proper permission.

18. The article of manufacture according to claim 17, further comprising populating, by the computer based system, a screen display of the first remote user device with the file repository record indicating all files associated with the folder.

19. The article of manufacture according to claim 18, further comprising:

receiving, by the computer based system, a selection of the file by the first remote user device;

retrieving, by the computer based system, the file from the file repository; and displaying, by the computer based system, a content of the file at the screen display of the first remote user device.

20. The article of manufacture according to claim 15, further comprising assigning, by the computer based system, a file symbol to a file name of the file, wherein the file symbol comprises at least one of a "=" symbol, a "@" symbol, or a "#" symbol.