Abstract:
An intermediate program which is provided at the PIM database server so that file system requests are treated as requests to provide responses for the contact and calendar information as interchange format files, without the need for a front end program or other specialized program on the user computer. The user opens the file manager program and requests a file listing for the server containing the PIM item database. The intermediate program receives the query from the file manager program and queries the PIM item database to determine the contact and calendar items accessible by the user. These items are then provided to the file manager program as standard interchange format files. The user then only need copy the file, at which time are intermediate program converts the proprietary database format information into the interchange file format, and attach it or paste it as desired.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The Invention relates to computer file systems and personal information management items.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0004]     Personal Information Managers (PIMs) have become very useful programs. They allow an individual to maintain their contacts and calendars in very simple, yet sophisticated manners. The programs can be simple desktop programs, such as Microsoft Outlook, or large server-based programs, such as Microsoft Exchange. One commonality is that the programs treat the contract and calendar information as data stored in proprietary database formats. Because of this database nature, a front end program of some type is needed to convert between the database entries and the graphical displays preferred by users. While various standards, such as MAPI, have been developed to allow various front end programs to operate with various server-based programs, the same requirement of a specialized front end program still exists.  
         [0005]     In parallel, file formats have been developed to allow simplified contact and calendar event sharing. The vCard format (.vcf files) is used for contacts, while iCalendar (.ics files) and vCalendar (.vcs files) are used with calendar events. When one of the files is received, conventionally opening it or double clicking it allows it to be saved with the user&#39;s other PIM items. Additionally, dragging and dropping the file into the proper portion of the front end program display also generally allows the item to be saved. However, to create one of these files for interchange, the item must be opened in a front end program and saved in the defined format. In some cases the item can be dragged and dropped, but access to the item using the front end program is still required.  
         [0006]     Because of the complicated database formats and need to use front end programs, transfer of contact and calendar items requires several programs and various steps in each case. It would be desirable to simplify the process.  
       SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION  
       [0007]     In systems according to the present invention, access to contact and calendar interchange files is simplified. An intermediate program is provided at the database server so that file system requests are treated as requests to provide responses for the contact and calendar information as interchange format files, without the need for a front end program or other specialized program on the user computer. The user opens the file manager program, such as Windows Explorer, and requests a file listing for the server containing the PIM item database. The intermediate program receives the query from the file manager program and queries the PIM item database to determine the contact and calendar items accessible by the user. These items are then provided to the file manager program as standard interchange format files, such as .vcf or .ics files. The user then only need copy the file, at which time are intermediate program converts the proprietary database format information into the interchange file format, and attach it or paste it as desired, such as in an email or into another folder displayed by the file manager program. There is no need to open up a front end program and then open the item and then save the item to obtain an interchange format file. The interchange format file is directly made available to the user through the use of the intermediate program. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0008]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a user computer connected to a PIM database according to the present invention.  
         [0009]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of various software programs used in the system of  FIG. 1 .  
         [0010]      FIG. 3  is a diagram of the various entries in the PIM database of  FIGS. 1 and 2 .  
         [0011]      FIG. 4  is an exemplary screen display illustrating the presentation of contact interchange format files according to the present invention.  
         [0012]      FIG. 5  is an exemplary screen display similar to  FIG. 4  but showing calendar interchange format files.  
         [0013]      FIG. 6  is a flowchart of exemplary operations according to the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0014]     Referring now to  FIG. 1 , a user computer  100  is connected through a network such as the Internet  102  to a server  104 . The server  104  is used to contain data files and PIM (personal information management) files or items for the user. By having the server  104  accessible to the user computer  100  through the Internet  102 , the user computer  100  can be located in many different positions and still have access to the server  104 . An I/O handler  106  in the server  104  maintains security between the user computer  100  and the server  104  and handles all incoming requests from the user computer  100 . The I/O handler  106  is effectively also a front-end program to pass requests from the user computer  100  to a database  108  in the server  104 . An exemplary prior art system is the SimDesk system developed by SimDesk.  
         [0015]      FIG. 2  illustrates various portions of the system of  FIG. 1  in more detail. The user computer  100  contains a user operating system  200  such as Windows or Linux. This user operating system connects to the server  104  through the Internet  102  using one of two modules. A first module is a conventional remote interface module, such as a SimDesk remote interface module  202  as well known in the prior art. A second module is a SIOS or SimDesk input/output system module  204 , which effectively has the server  104  appear as a series of folders mounted on a network drive for the user operating system  200 . In this preferred embodiment the interface is preferred to be the SIOS module  204 . The SIOS module  204  provides a request through the Internet  102  to the I/O handler  106 . In this case in the preferred embodiment the I/O handler  106  separates the requests into metadata requests and actual file data requests. The metadata requests are provided to an SRH module  206 , while the file data requests are provided to an SFTP module  208 . The SFTP module  208  is connected to a binary file database  210 , such that the SFTP module  208  provides binary transfers of actual full file data between a file data database  210  and the SIOS module  204 . The SRH module  206  is connected to a file metadata database  210 . The SRH module  206  thus provides metadata about the particular files as well as keeping track of the user rights to a particular file based on data contained in the file metadata database  212 . Thus if the SIOS module  204  provides a file folder or file system query, this is processed by the SRH module  206 , which then retrieves all of the folder, file and PIM item information accessible for the particular user from the database  212  and provides this to the SIOS module  204 , which in turn provides this information to the user operating system  200 .  
         [0016]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram of various files or entries contained in each of the databases  210  and  212 . As shown there are a series of PIM entries  300  and  302 , for example one being a contact entry and one being a calendar entry, a doc file as used in word processor and an email file as used in an email system  306 .  
         [0017]      FIG. 4  provides a screen shot  400  of the results of the file system query, such as by Windows Explorer, to the SIOS module  204  which provides file folder structure from the file metadata database  212  through the SRH module  206 . As can be seen this is a typical Windows Explorer format with the entries under My Computer  402  expanded. For example, the local C: drive is element  404  and referred to as such. In the illustrated embodiment the server  104  is presented as the F: drive for juser@SimDesk.com element  406 . Under this are various folders used in the preferred embodiment, such as Folder Shared To Me  408  and Folders Shared To Others  410 . One of the advantages of the SimDesk system is that because files for all of the users are contained in a centralized server, sharing of folders provides a simple interchange between individual users. In the illustrated embodiment, the Folders Shared To Me  408  includes a folder juser@SimDesk.com  412 , which is the folder of the actual user which is, of course, shared to herself. In the illustrated embodiment no other folders are shared by individuals to juser, so that the only folder shown under Folder Shared to Me  408  is the individual user folder  412 . Various other folders are shown under Folders Shared To Others  410 , such as Meeting Minutes  414 , Special Projects  416 , and Steering Committee  418 . Normal SimDesk operating procedures would define which other individuals have access to those particular folders. After the Folder Shared To Others  410  are individual private folders belonging to juser. The first of these folders is a Proposal folder  420 . Following that are individual files which are private to juser, such as Project Estimates  422  and Overall Volume TOC  424 . Of most interest to the present invention are the entries after the private files. In this case a calendar entry folder  428  is shown in the file system, as is a contact folder  428  with various contact sub-folders: Business  430 , Firm  432 , Personal  434 , Quicklist  436  and Secondary  438 . As can be seen, these are calendar and contact or PIM items and they are shown in a conventional file manager display window. As described above, these are developed by having the SIOS module  204  query the SRH module  206  for the available file and folder items from the metadata database  212 . These particular items are contained in the particular user&#39;s PIM items and are returned as individual format files in response to the query. Shown in the right hand pane  440  of the screen shot  400  are four individual contact items. In this case they are: Albert Einstein  442 , Thomas Edison  444 , Thomas Jefferson  446  and George Washington Carver  448 . As can be seen, these are in .vcf or contact file interchange format. Thus to access the particular contact interchange format file a user uses Windows Explorer or similar file manager program, or a file manager associated with the operating system and used when opening files from inside another program, to display the desired folder in the left hand pane  450 , with the individual items shown in the right hand pane  440 . The user then selects the desired contact item, either by dragging and dropping or copying to a clipboard, for insertion in emails, documents or other items.  
         [0018]     Proceeding then to  FIG. 5 , in this case calendar entries in the PIM database are shown. In  FIG. 4  the business contact folder  430  was highlighted and had individual entries in the right pane  440 , whereas in the example of the screen shot of  500  the calendar folder  426  is highlighted in the left pane  450  and in the right pane  440  are two calendar items: Christmas Day  502  and Halloween  504 . Notice in this case, the Christmas Day file is an .ics format file while the Halloween file is a .vcs format file. The choice can be user defined or can be done by a particular setting communicated to the SRH module  206  or by system defaults. As in the operations according to  FIG. 4 , in operations of  FIG. 5 a  user need only copy or drag and drop a particular item  502  or  504  as desired into the particular email or file as desired.  
         [0019]     In the cases above,  FIGS. 4 and 5 , when the user does select a particular file to be copied or dragged and drop, the request for the full file data is transmitted from the SIOS module  204  to the I/O handler module  106 . The I/O handler module  106  then transfers the request to the SFTP module  208  which retrieves the entire file data  210  from the file data database  210 . The full process flow is described in more detail in  FIG. 6 .  
         [0020]      FIG. 6  is a flowchart of an exemplary operation to determine a contact item and paste it. In step  600  the user requests the server folder structure. In step  602  the user operating system file manager program queries the SIOS module  204  with a file system query. In step  604  the SIOS module  204  forwards the folder structure query. In step  606  the I/O handler  106  receives the query and forwards it to the SRH module  206 . In step  608  the SRH module  206  requests the folders, files and PIM items for the particular user. In step  610  the database  212  retrieves the various items requested by the SRH module  206  and provides them to the SRH module  206 . In step  612  the SRH module  206  converts the retrieved PIM items into interchange format file values and forwards the retrieved folder and file items and converted PIM item interchange format file values to the I/O handler  106 . In step  614  the I/O handler  106  forwards the retrieved items to the SIOS module  204 . In step  616  the SIOS module  204  forwards the retrieved items to the user operating system  200 . In step  618  the user operating system  200  displays the results for the user to review. In the indicated example, in step  620  the user then selects a particular contact item to copy. In step  622  the user operating system  200  provides the copy request to the SIOS module  204 . In step  624  the SIOS module  204  forwards the file copy request. In step  626  the I/O handler  106  receives the file copy request and forwards it to the SFTP module  208 . In step  628  the SFTP module  208  requests the entire file from the database  210 , the PIM item being stored as a file in the file database  210 . In step  630  the database  210  retrieves the file and provides it to the SFTP module  208 . In step  632  the SFTP module  208  converts the PIM item into the desired interchange file format and forwards the file to the I/O handler  106 . In step  634  the I/O handler  106  forwards the file to the SIOS module  204 . In step  636  the SIOS module  204  forwards the file to the user operating system  200 . In step  638  the retrieved file is then pasted as desired by the user. As can be seen, this is a very efficient and simple way to paste a contact item or calendar item if desired, as compared to the prior art techniques.  
         [0021]     Thus the operations to allow cutting, pasting, insertion and otherwise transfer of PIM items in interchange file formats are simplified in operations according to the present invention.  
         [0022]     While the above described preferred embodiment utilizes a server system with separated metadata and file data as used in the SimDesk system, other PIM databases, such as Microsoft Exchange or other MAPI server, could be utilized in conjunction with an intermediate program having the functions of the SRH and SFTP modules. Further, while the described preferred embodiment utilizes a server system, single computer arrangements, such as Microsoft Outlook, can also utilize the invention by providing an intermediate program or module between the file manager program, such as Windows Explorer, and the Outlook .pst files which contain the user data.  
         [0023]     While the above described embodiment utilizes separate I/O handler, SRH and SFTP modules, it is understood that the functions of these modules can be merged or further segregated as desired. For example, in certain embodiments the SRH and SFTP modules can be merged into a single module. Likewise, the metadata database and data file database can be merged or further segregated if desired. In one example a merged SRH and SFTP module can interact with a merged metadata and data file database. Such an example would be useful in the case of a single computer where the relevant database is an Outlook .pst file.  
         [0024]     It will be understood from the foregoing description that modifications and changes may be made in various embodiments of the present invention without departing from its true spirit. The descriptions in this specification are for purposes of illustration only and are not to be construed in a limiting sense. The scope of the present invention is limited only by the language of the following claims.