Patent Publication Number: US-2009241064-A1

Title: User interface for information publishing and user administration

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
     The present invention relates to a user interface for a system that allows information to be published to the users of the system and allows also administration of those users. 
     BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION  
     Many software systems are available to assist with publishing electronic information. Such systems also have means available to store information regarding the users of the system and to provide administration functions. The present invention relates to a system that allows publishing of information, control of access to the information and administration of the system users in a simple user interface. The user interface provides ease of use such that the system can be implemented across a large number of users without requiring significant training of the users. 
     References to prior art in this specification are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not to be taken as an admission that such prior art is part of the common general knowledge in Australia or elsewhere. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
     According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a user interface for an information publishing and user administration system comprising: 
     a first screen area including a first portion and a second portion, the first portion including means for a user to select either:
         a group of users from a data store, in which case the members of that group are displayed in the second portion; or   a type of data to be published, in which case data to be published of said type is displayed in the second portion;       

     such that selection of one of said members or data in the second portion causes display of information regarding said member or data to be displayed in the first screen area; 
     a second screen area including a first portion and a second portion wherein the first portion has means to select one or more groups of users whose members may either:
         have a relationship with the selected user from the second portion of the first screen area; or   be the recipient of the selected data from the second portion of the first screen area;       

     such that selection of one of said groups in the first portion of the second screen area causes display of the members of said selected group in the second portion of the second screen area; 
     a third screen portion wherein members displayed in the second portion of the second screen area can be selected or deselected such that selection causes the selected member to appear in the third screen area and de-selection causes the member to be removed from the third screen area; and 
     an activation means whereby selection of the activation means either:
         creates a relationship in the data store between the member selected in the second portion of the first screen area and the members in the third screen area; or   transmits the data selected in the second portion of the first screen area to the members in the third screen area.       

     Preferably, the means to select the group of users or type of data to be published in the first portion of the first screen area comprises a set of buttons, each button of the first set referencing a group or a data type. 
     The display of members of the group or data of the selected type preferably comprises a first list displayed in the second portion of the first screen area. The display of the members of the selected group in the second portion of the second screen area also preferably comprises a second list displayed in the second portion. Further, members selected from the second list in the second screen area are preferably displayed in a third list in the third screen area. 
     In a preferred embodiment, selection or de-selection of members displayed in the second portion of the second screen area is effected by selector buttons provided adjacent members in the second list in the second screen area and de-selection buttons provided adjacent the members in the third list in the third screen area. 
     In one embodiment, the activation means comprises a save button in the first screen area. Means are also provided to create new members or new data to be published in second portion of the first screen area. Preferably, the means to create new members or new data comprises a new button in the first screen area. 
     In a preferred embodiment the user interface is accessible via a browser interface and one or more of the users is provided with a website and operation of the activation means causes publication of the data on the websites of the users listed on the third screen area. 
     A link may be provided adjacent each of the users listed on the third screen area and selection of the link causes display of the website of the user. 
     The data to be published may also be transmitted to the users as email. 
     In a preferred embodiment the first screen area comprises a central screen area, the second screen area comprises a left screen area and the third screen area comprises a right screen area. Preferably the first portion of the first screen area is located adjacent the top of the first screen area and the second portion of the first screen area is located below the first portion of the first screen area. The first portion of the second screen area is also preferably located adjacent the top of the second screen area and the second portion of the second screen area is located below the first portion of the second screen area. 
     Throughout the specification, unless the context requires otherwise, the word “comprise” or variations such as “comprises” or “comprising”, will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated integer or group of integers but not the exclusion of any other integer or group of integers. Likewise the word “preferably” or variations such as “preferred”, will be understood to imply that a stated integer or group of integers is desirable but not essential to the working of the invention. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       The nature of the invention will be better understood from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the user interface for an information publishing and user administration system, given by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is view of a first screen area of the user interface of the present invention upon selection of a group from the first portion of the first screen area; 
         FIG. 2  is view of the first, second and third screen areas of the user interface of the present invention upon selection of a member from the second portion of the first screen area; 
         FIG. 3  is a view of the user interface after selection of members from the of the second screen area; 
         FIG. 4  is view of a first screen area of the user interface of the present invention upon selection of a type of data from the first portion of the first screen area; 
         FIG. 5  is view of the first, second and third screen areas of the user interface of the present invention upon selection of data to be published from the second portion of the first screen area; 
         FIG. 6  is a view of the user interface after expansion of a group of members in the third screen area; 
         FIG. 7  is an example of a webpage of a user on which information relevant to the user can be published; 
         FIG. 8  is a view of the user interface in which an data published, being an assigned activity is displayed in the first screen area; and 
         FIG. 9  is a view of the user interface in which data from a users website related to the assigned activity is displayed in the first screen area. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
     The user interface of the present invention is provided to allow functionality including publishing of information to one or more users of the system. Details of the users of the system and groups into which users are divided are stored in a data store. The user interface allows also control of the information contained in the data store including details of the users and groups and relationships between the users and groups. 
     A preferred embodiment of user interface  10  in accordance with the invention is illustrated in  FIGS. 1 to 9 . The user interface  10  is accessed via web browser software. The embodiment shown in the Figures uses the example of a school, wherein the users include students, teachers and parents. Students may be grouped into appropriate groups such as classes and years. Relationships are required to be stored in the database between users and groups (i.e. between users and other users, users and groups or groups and other groups). For example, student users are grouped into classes and years. Teachers are related to classes of students and parents are related to students. 
     The user interface  10  comprises a first screen area  12 , a second screen area  14  and a third screen area  16 . In the embodiment shown, the user interface  10  comprises an area displayed on a computer screen divided generally into three areas. The first screen area  12  comprises a central area  18  (referred to in the example as the ‘focus’ area), the second screen area comprises a left screen area  20  (referred to in the example as the ‘assembly’ area) and the third screen area  16  comprises a right screen area  22  (referred to in the example as the ‘audience’ area). 
     The central screen area  18  comprises a first portion  24  adjacent the top in which is provided means to select either a group of users or a type of data to be published. The means comprises a first set of buttons  26 . Some of the buttons  26  reference groups of users, such as teachers, class or year. Other buttons reference types of data that can be published to users such as notices or homework information to be published on webpages accessible by those users. 
     The central screen area  18  also includes a second portion  28  located below the first portion  24 . The second portion  28  displays information based on selections made by the operator in the first portion  24 . In the case of the operator selecting a button  26  referencing a group of users, the second portion  28  then displays a first list  30  of the users currently defined in that group.  FIG. 1  shows an example in which the student button is selected and the second portion  28  of the central screen area  18  displays a first list  30  of the students currently in the data store. Similarly, if the teacher button was selected, the first list  30  would display the teachers in the data store. The first list  30  of students is selectable by the operator such that selection of one of the entries in the first list  30  results in the details of that user being displayed in the second portion  28  of the central screen area  18 . The results of such a selection can be seen in the example in  FIG. 2 . The second portion  28  of the central screen area  18  shows details such as name, address, date of birth and other relevant details. Selection of a user from the first list  30  in the second portion  28  of the central screen area  18  also results in the display of means to select users or groups in a first portion  32  of the left screen area  20 . The first portion  32  of the left screen area  20  is located at the top of the left screen area  20  as can be seen in  FIG. 2 . The means to select users or groups comprises a second set of buttons  34  with references to users or groups that may be related to the selected user in the central screen area  18 . In the example shown in  FIG. 2 , the buttons  34  include class and parent. That is, the student selected in the central screen area  18  may belong to a class recorded in the data store and will have parents recorded in the data store with whom a relationship is to be recorded. 
     Selection of one of the buttons  34  results in a second list  38  being displayed in a second portion  36  of the second screen area  20  of the users belonging to the selected group, in this example being classes or parents.  FIG. 2  shows a second list  38  of classes displayed on selection of the class button. 
     The right screen area  22  is provided to show users selected from the second list  38 . Means are provided to allows users of the second list  38  to be either selected or de-selected. Selection results in the user being displayed in a third list  40  in the right screen area  22  and de-selection results in the user being removed from the third list  40 .  FIG. 3  shows an example of two classes being selected from the second list  38  and added to the third list  40 . The means to select or deselect in the embodiment shown comprises select buttons  42  alongside users on the second list  38  and de-select buttons  44  alongside users on the third list  40 . 
     The user interface  10  also includes an activation means to effect the changes set up in the central, left and right screen areas  18 ,  20  and  22 . The activation means comprises a save button  46  in the central screen area  18 . In the example shown in  FIG. 3 , selection of the save button  46  causes the relationships defined to be stored to the data store. That is, in this example, the selected student in the central screen area  18  is stored as being part of the selected classes in the left screen area  20 . Any subsequent viewing of that student&#39;s details by selecting the student from the first list  30  in the central screen area  18  and then selecting classes in the left screen area  20  will result in these associated classes appearing in the right screen area  22  as existing relationships. 
     As described previously, the user interface  10  also allows publishing of data to users of the system. Such data publishing is perform by actions in the same manner as described previously for setting up relationships between users and groups.  FIGS. 4 to 6  show such an operation. 
       FIG. 4  shows the display of notices that have been published or are to be published in the first list  30  in the central screen area  18  by selection of the notices button from the first portion  24  of the central screen area  18 . Selection of one of the notices from the first list  30  causes details of the notice to be displayed in the second portion  28  of the central screen area  18  as shown in  FIG. 5 . Users of the system can be provided with their own website and the notices generated for display are intended to be published on these websites. The second portion  28  of the central screen area  18  displays details of the selected notice, which can be edited prior to publishing. 
     As described previously, the first portion  32  of the left screen area  20  includes a second set of buttons  34  for selection users or groups, which in this case are the possible recipients of the data to be published. Selection of one of the second set of buttons  34  causes the display of the relevant users in the second list  38 , which can then be selected for display in the third list  40  of the right screen area  22 , or deselected as described previously.  FIG. 5  shows an example in which two students have been selected to be the recipients of the data to be published. On activation via the save button, the notice is published to the websites of those students. 
     The user interface  10  also includes means to expand groups listed in either the second or third lists  38  and  40 .  FIG. 6  shows an example in which a project is selected in the central screen area  18  and classes are selected for display in the second list  38  in the left screen area  20 . In the example shown, two classes have been selected for display in the third list  40  in the right screen area  22 . By selecting one of the groups from the third list  40  (i.e. a class name), the members of that group (i.e. the students) are displayed as a sub-list  41  as can be seen in  FIG. 6 . 
     The websites  50  of the users, in this case students, can also be viewed by links  48  provided adjacent each user in the third list  40 . These links  48  allow the person publishing the information to go direct to the website  50  and view the published data. An example of such a website  50  is shown in  FIG. 7 . The website may have different pages on which are displayed published data of different types. In the example shown, the website has pages for notices, homework and projects on which are published data of these types as selected in the central screen area  18  of the user interface  10 . 
     The websites  50  has one or more areas on which data published by other users is displayed and one or more further areas in which related data published by the user of the website can be displayed. That is, if a user such as a teacher publishes information such as a project for the student, this appears on a designated area of the student&#39;s website. A further area is available for the student to publish data related to the data published by the teacher. For example, a teacher may then published information regarding an assigned activity which appears on the student&#39;s website and the student publishes their related data, being their activity results, on their website. 
     The publication of related data by the user of the website can also be viewed via the central screen area  18  of the user interface. The user interface  10  is arranged such that when published data is displayed in the second portion  28  of the central screen area  18 , selecting a user from the third list  40  causes related data from the selected users website  50  to be displayed in the second portion of the central screen area  18 . 
       FIGS. 8 and 9  shows such an example. In  FIG. 8 , the central screen area  18  displays the details of an activity which has been published to websites of users displayed in the third list  40  on the right screen area  22 . By selecting users from the third list  40 , the related data from their websites (being their activity results) is displayed in the central screen area  18  (referred to in the Figure as the ‘portal’). In this way, users such as teachers can easily track the activities of students on the projects assigned to them. 
     While this example shows the data to be published as a notice published on a website  50 , the data may be in other forms. For example, the data may be published as an email wherein the email is transmitted to the selected recipients in the third list  40  in the right screen area  22 . 
     In each of the examples shown above of publishing data and setting up relationships between users and groups, the user interface  10  is also provided with means to create new users, groups or data to be published. A new button  52  is provided in the central screen area  18  to add new users, groups or data to be published into the first list  30  in the central screen area  18 . The newly added user, group or data can then be selected and details edited. A delete button  54  is also provided to delete users, groups or data from the data store. 
     The functionality provided by the user interface  10  as shown in the examples in  FIGS. 1 to 6  will be provided to only selected users. In the examples shown, it is expected that teachers will have access to the user interface  10  of  FIGS. 1 to 6  and students and parents will have access only to their websites  50 . Access is controlled based on a login and password provided to each user. 
     It will be readily apparent to persons skilled in the relevant arts that various modifications and improvements may be made to the foregoing embodiments, in addition to those already described, without departing from the basic inventive concepts of the present invention. Therefore, it will be appreciated that the scope of the invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described and is to be determined from the appended claims.