Patent ID: 8131690
Filing Date: 2012-03-06
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A computer for use in managing a group of interest in a communications network of interconnected similar computers, the computer comprising: storage locations for storing user data in the form of data items of a plurality of categories, each such stored data item having a network address by which it can be accessed; a storage configured to store a plurality of search templates, each of the plurality of search templates being in the form of a respective pattern defining a respective set of strings; a scanner arranged to automatically perform pattern matching through each such stored data item in accordance with each said search template to detect strings therein which are members of the defined set of strings of the particular search template; a hierarchical tree of data records having a root node, at a lower level a plurality of internal nodes corresponding to said plurality of categories, and leaf nodes; a data record processor which in response to the detection of a said string by the scanner creates in said hierarchical tree a leaf node descendent from the internal node corresponding to the category of that data item, the newly created leaf node having a first part formed by that detected string and a second part formed by the network address of the data item in which that string was detected, at least the root node of the tree being associated with a respective rule-set comprising action-specific rules, and a requested action in respect of a leaf node being governed by the corresponding action-specific rule associated with that leaf node, and in the event that there is no such corresponding rule associated with that leaf node, the lowest level corresponding action- specific rule associated with an ancestral node of that leaf node, and ignored if no such associated corresponding action-specific rule exists, and each leaf node for which publication is permitted constituting a respective virtual node resident on said computer, the first and second parts of such a leaf node respectively constituting an identifier for that respective virtual node and a network address by which that respective virtual node may be addressed and actions requested in respect of its corresponding data item; a searcher configured to search the communications network, in use, in respect of a newly created virtual node, to find an existing said virtual node having an identifier matching the identifier of the newly created virtual node, existing virtual nodes that have the same common identifier constituting a group of common interest wherein each member of that group knows the group membership; and an adder which in response to a successful search adds the newly created virtual node as a new member of that group.