FR2846173A1 - Communication terminal e.g. PDA control interface, is configured to display list of shared documents, previous search results, and user names, when shared files, search and communication areas are specified by user respectively - Google Patents

Abstract

The interface is configured to trigger a display of a shared documents list when shared files area (12) is designated by a user through a mouse. A list of previous search results is displayed when a search area (13) is specified by the user. A list of user names is displayed when a communication area (14) is specified by the user. All the lists are displayed on a window of a display screen (11a, 11b, 11c). The user displays a preview of a specified document to another list of the shared files area, moves the preview to different areas (13,14,15) or erase the corresponding document by moving towards a recycle bin (16). The list of shared documents is updated to consider the movement of the document and this displacement is notified to other users. An Independent claim is also included for a communication terminal connected to a peer to peer network.

Description

MULTI-TERMINAL CONTROL INTERFACE FOR MANAGING INFORMATION WITHIN

OF USER GROUPS

  POINT TO POINT INTERCONNECTIONS.

  The present invention relates to the networking of terminals on the basis of an architecture, called "point-to-point" (peer-to-peer), and more particularly a control interface making it possible to exploit the functionalities offered by

such architecture.

  Such a network architecture allows two terminals connected to a transmission network to communicate directly with each other, without going through a central server which redistributes the data. In this architecture, each terminal is configured to play the role of both server and client. In this way, each terminal can share its information with an unlimited number of terminals, without having to resort to a central server. This architecture therefore offers file exchange and telecommunications functions. Currently, there are several point-to-point networks which are implemented by installing specific software on each terminal, such as LIMEWIRE, KAZAA, BEARSHARE, AIM or even NAPIGATOR. However, this software presents a limited offer in terms of services, certain software being specifically designed for the exchange of audio files or files in general, others to offer an instant messaging service. In addition, these systems are incompatible with each other, so that they are unable to communicate with each other. As a result, each of these systems creates its own community of users, and users of a system wishing to participate in other communities or use other point-to-point services must install several software on their terminal. point-to-point communication and therefore know how to use each of these. In addition, a user with several terminals of different types, for example a personal computer and a mobile telephone, cannot access the same user communities using each of its terminals. 35 These systems are incompatible with each other, in particular because they are produced in the form of application programming interfaces (API: Application Programming Interface) specially designed for an operating system - 2 and a communication protocol, specific. Thus, for example, some systems offer sets of APIs written in C ++ language for the Windows operating system (Trademark) from Microsoft and the TCP / IP protocol. The APIs of other systems are written in C and Java languages for UNIX-like operating systems. To solve this problem, the company SUN Microsystems launched the JXTA project aiming to unify all existing point-to-point systems, to support all the communication protocols used in point-to-point communications, and to be able to be installed on any what type of terminal, whether a personal computer connected to the Internet or a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone or personal assistant connected to a mobile network by

  example of GSM type or broadband of UMTS type.

  However, this project makes no provision for the interface of

  control which must be adapted to the size of the display screen and to the control elements of each type of terminal. In fact, the terminals that can be used in point-to-point networks can have very diverse characteristics as regards the size and format of the display screen and the control members.

  The object of the present invention is to provide a control interface designed for access to the services offered by a point-to-point network, which is suitable for terminals having display and control capacities both reduced and extended. This objective is achieved by providing a terminal control interface for terminals interconnected in a point-to-point network, each terminal comprising both client and server functions for exchanging information with other terminals connected to the network. point to point, a display screen and control elements. According to the invention, the command interface is based on a delimitation of a workspace in at least one shared document zone, a search zone and a communication zone, giving access respectively to commands for sharing documents with other terminals of the point-to-point network, to commands for searching for items of information among pieces of information made available to the network by the terminals, and commands for communication with the other terminals of the point-to-point network, the terminal control members comprising a designation member designed to designate one of the zones, the control interface further comprising means for triggering the display of a list of shared documents when the area of shared documents is designated by the designation body, from a list of results of a previous search 5 when the search zone is designated by the designation body n, and a list of identifiers of people when the communication area is designated

by the appointing body.

  According to a feature of the invention, the command interface comprises means for triggering specific commands when an object appearing

  in one of the displayed lists is moved to one of the zones.

  According to another particular feature of the invention, the command interface further comprises means for delimiting in the workspace a fourth group management zone 15 giving access to commands for managing groups of users, and means for triggering the display of a list of groups to which the terminal user belongs when the management area of

  groups is appointed by the appointing body.

  According to a feature of the invention, the control interface further comprises means for selecting groups of users from the group list, the searches for documents being carried out only among the documents made available to the point-to-point network by the terminals of

  users of selected groups.

  Advantageously, the control interface comprises means for creating a new group of users when a document from a displayed list is moved using the designation body to the user group management area, the moved document being made available to users of the new group.

  Preferably, the documents in the list of shared documents are sorted by

  point-to-point network user groups with which they are shared.

  Also preferably, the identifiers of persons in the list of identifiers of persons are arranged by groups of users of the point-to-point network.

  to which people belong.

  According to another feature of the invention, the control interface further comprises means for triggering a search for similar groups when a group is moved using the designation member of the list of

  groups displayed on the terminal screen to the search area.

  According to yet another feature of the invention, the control interface further comprises means for triggering a search for similar documents when a document is moved using the designation member of a displayed list of documents. on the terminal screen to the

1 0 research.

  According to yet another feature of the invention, the control interface further comprises means for triggering the downloading of a document appearing in the list of search results when the document is moved using the member for designating the list of search results

to another area of the screen.

  According to yet another feature of the invention, the control interface comprises means for triggering the transmission of a document preview 20 to the terminal of a person from the list displayed when the communication area is designated, when a document listed is

  moved using the designation body to the person's identifier.

  A preferred embodiment of the invention will be described below, by way of nonlimiting example, with reference to the appended drawings in which: FIG. 1 schematically represents a set of terminals connected in point-to-point network to the assistance of several communication or data transmission networks; FIG. 2 represents an image displayed on the screen of the control interface according to the invention, for access to point-to-point services; FIG. 3 represents a control member of the control interface according to the invention, for access to point-to-point services; - 5 Figures 4 to 7 illustrate in the form of flowcharts different steps performed by the control interface according to

  the invention for accessing point-to-point services.

  FIG. 1 represents a point-to-point network connecting a set of terminals 5 7, 8, 9 of different types, physically connected to public networks 1, 2 of fixed or mobile telecommunications or of digital data transmission, such as the Internet network . Networks 1, 2 are interconnected by gateways 3 to allow a terminal connected to a network of

  communicate with another terminal connected to another network.

  The terminals can also be connected directly to each other by a

  wired or wireless connection such as "Bluetooth" or by a private local network.

  The terminals are for example of the personal computer 7, mobile telephone 9, or even personal assistant (PDA) 8 type. Servers 4 can also participate in the point-to-point network by putting documents at the

  available to network users.

  The control interface according to the invention is for example designed in the form of APIs (Application Programming Interface) calling primitives or lower level functions of a point-to-point network kernel, such as JXTA. Such a point-to-point network core notably includes functions for routing or routing information through the network, detecting the presence on the network of a user, defining user groups and managing access to these groups, information retrieval. FIG. 2 represents the welcome image of the control interface according to the invention which is displayed on the screen 11a, 1b, 1c of the terminals, respectively 7, 8, 9. This image includes boundaries delimiting four main command areas, namely: - a "shared documents" area 12 allowing access to documents shared with other users of the point-to-point network, - a "search" area 13 allowing access to the commands for search for documents, people or groups of people from the point-to-point network, and - a "contacts" area 14 allowing access to the communication commands with the people with whom the user is in contact, -6 - a 'groups' zone 15 allowing access to the commands relating to the

  point-to-point network user groups.

  The welcome image can also include an area 16 for example 5 represented in the form of an icon allowing access to the command for erasing information or files.

  To access the commands relating to zones 12 to 15, it suffices to designate these zones, either by placing a cursor thereon for example by means of a designation organ 10 such as a mouse 20 or a stylus, or using of a set of keys or of a control member making it possible to indicate a direction, as shown in FIG. 3. This control member 21 comprises four direction keys 22, 23, 24, 25 or else a control member direction can be switched in a direction, right, left, up, down, and a validation key 15 26, for example central. The control member 21 thus provides access to the

  commands from one of zones 12 to 15 depending on the activated direction.

  FIGS. 4 to 7 represent the processing operations which are carried out depending on whether one of the zones is designated, respectively 12 to 15. 20 When the user designates the "shared documents" zone 12, the terminal performs the procedure 30 illustrated on FIG. 4. This procedure comprises first of all a step 31 of displaying a list of all the documents shared with at least one user group of the point-to-point network, these documents 25 being stored in different directories comprising at least a document directory made available to all network users and a private document directory, not accessible to other network users

point to point.

  Then, if zone 12 is not designated with a document (for example by moving his preview to zone 12) (step 32), and if the user designates a document in the list (step 33), the terminal generates a preview of the document and displays it in a window of the display screen (step 34), a document preview being an extract of the document allowing the user to identify its content. In this state, the user can move the preview to another directory in zone 12 (step 35), move the preview to another zone 13, 14, 15 (step 36), or delete the corresponding document by moving it to bin 16 (step 37). These movement operations can be carried out in a conventional manner by means of the mouse 20 or the stylus, or by holding the button 26 depressed on the control member 21, while the button 24 or 25 is actuated to move in the list down or up. When the destination zone or directory is reached, simply

  release button 24 or 25 then button 26.

  Preferably, all movements of document previews carried out between the directories entail the deletion of the document from the original directory of the movement, unless the original directory is a private directory of the user. In addition, all movements of a document preview outside of zone 12 do not delete the document from the original directory.

  unless the document preview is moved to trash 16.

  Once the move has been made in step 35, the list of shared documents is updated in step 41 to take account of the movement of the document, and this move is notified in step 42 to the other users connected to the point-to-point network or part thereof. The execution of the procedure continues by returning to step 31 of displaying the list of

  shared documents to take into account the modification made.

  If the document preview is moved to another zone 13 to 15 (step 36), for example using a mouse or by pressing the buttons 23 to 25, the terminal performs respectively one of the procedures 50 , 70 or 100 (which will be described later) depending on the travel destination area. If the document overview is moved to the trash 16 (step 37), the document 25 is deleted from the directory where it is located in step 38, then the terminal continues

  execution of the procedure from step 42.

  Access to the shared document area 12 can also be done by dragging a document preview from another area 13, 14 on the screen (step 32), to a directory from the list displayed on the screen. step 31 (step 39).

  In this case, the document corresponding to the overview is transferred or downloaded (step 40) to the designated directory and a descriptive information file for the document is created if it does not exist. The terminal then continues to execute the procedure 30 in step 41 of updating the list of shared documents. 35 All the documents handled by the command interface according to the invention, like all the other objects handled by this interface, are associated with a set of descriptive information, for example stored in a file, - 8 comprising in particular the size of the object (space occupied in the terminal's memory by the object), the type of the object or in the case of a document the type of data it contains (text, word processing, table, image, sound sequence, video sequence, contact details of a person, definition of a group of 5 people on the network, etc.) or the name of the application allowing it to be viewed, etc. The preview of a document appearing in the list of shared documents can also be moved to the office (intermediate zone between zones 11 to 10 16) to launch an application associated with the type of document, allowing to consult or edit the document. The application associated with a document can also be launched, for example, by double clicking (using the mouse 20 or the button 26) on the document in the list where it is located.

displayed or on its preview.

  From the screen shown in FIG. 2, if the "up" button 24 is pressed (or if the zone 13 is designated), the terminal executes the procedure 50 illustrated in FIG. 5. At the first step 52 of this procedure, the terminal determines whether or not the "search" area 13 is designated with a document preview or more generally an object (object movement from another area of the screen). If the area 13 is designated with an object overview (step 52), a search is launched in the next step 54 among all the similar objects accessible by the point-to-point network. It can be expected that the search relates to objects having a similar name, the same type or a size of the same order of magnitude, or even objects associated with the same keywords or with similar keywords. Preferably, provision is made to display a window in which the user can choose on the basis of which information from the object overview, the search for similar objects should be carried out. The execution can be carried out by a search engine for example implemented on a server accessible by the

point-to-point network.

  In the next step 55, the overviews of the objects found are received and then classified, for example, in alphabetical order or else according to the search criteria,

  order of relevance. In the following step 56, the terminal displays the list of objects received and classified. If the user designates an object in the list (step 59), the terminal displays the preview of the designated object in another window (step 60).

  -9 In this state, the user can move the object out of the search area 13 (step 63), which triggers the procedure 30 or 100 corresponding to the designated area, delete it from the list of search results by moving it to the trash 16 (steps 61 and 62), or launching a new search 5 relating to objects similar to the new object thus designated, by moving its preview in the search zone 13 outside the window in which the list of search results is displayed. In the latter case, the terminal performs the

  procedure 50 from step 52 with the new object.

  We can also provide that if the user moves one or more documents

  generally an object, towards the list of search results (step 64), a new search is launched in step 54 among the objects appearing in the list to find objects similar to the one which has been moved. In this way, the user can refine a search, in particular when the list of results 15 obtained is too long to be usable.

  Of course, a search can be carried out from several documents, the user having the possibility of designating several documents in a displayed list and of moving the designated documents to the search area 13. If in step 52 the search area search is not designated with an object preview, the execution of the procedure 50 continues at the step 56 of display of the list

  obtained during the previous search.

  If the user designates the "contacts" zone 14, for example because the terminal has signaled the reception of a new message, the terminal performs the procedure

illustrated in figure 6.

  This procedure firstly comprises a step 71 of displaying the list of people with whom the user is in contact, these people being able to be classified by groups to which the user belongs.

  If the area is not designated with a document preview by moving this preview to this area (step 72), the user can either designate a person or a group of people in the contact list to consult the messages received of these person (s) (step 73), either press a command button associated with each person or group in the list to initiate a chat or instant messaging conversation with the person or

associated group (step 86).

- 10

  If the user designates a contact or a group of contacts (step 73), in the next step 74, the terminal displays the list of new messages received from the person or group so designated, or all the messages received from this person. or of this group with a particularization of the new messages. 5 In this list, each message is associated if necessary with a list of documents attached to the message.

  If the user wishes to consult these messages, it suffices to designate the list of messages received, displayed in the previous step (step 75), which triggers the display of previews of all the messages in the list (step 76 ). In this state, the user can reply to the message by designating a message preview (step 77), delete all the messages from the preview window of received messages by moving it to the trash can 16 (step 81), which triggers the deletion of all the messages thus selected (step 82), deletes a message or an attached document by moving its preview to the trash can (step 83), which triggers the deletion of the message or document thus selected (step 84), then display the new list in step 76, or move the preview of a message or document to another zone (step 85), which triggers the downloading of the message or document, creating an associated file containing the description of the message or document, and executing the procedure 30, 50 or 100 corresponding to the zone

  12, 13, 15 reached with the document overview.

  If the user wishes to reply to the message by designating the preview of a message, the terminal displays a message entry window (step 78).

  When the user has written his message, he validates it (step 79), which triggers the transmission in step 80 of the message on the point-to-point network to the sender of the message consulted or to the group if a group was appointed to

step 73.

  In step 73, the user can also search for a contact by moving a contact to the search area 13 (step 91) to search for similar people (same name, or other). In this case, the terminal executes the procedure 50. If the user wishes to initiate a discussion with a person or a group of people by pressing the corresponding button provided for this purpose (step 86), the terminal sends a commitment request to discussion with the person (s) - 11 persons concerned (step 87) and displays a dialog window (step 88) comprising an end of discussion command button. At the end of the discussion, the user actuates the end of discussion button (step 89), which triggers the closing of the chat window (step 90) At the end of steps 80, 82 and 90, the terminal continues execution of the procedure

in step 7 1.

  If the user has designated in step 72 the "contacts" zone 14 by moving a document preview coming from another zone 12, 13 or from the office (step 92), and if he designates a contact or a group (step 93), to send the document to the recipient (s) thus designated, the terminal triggers the display of a message entry window accompanying the sending of the document (step 94). When the user has finished writing his message (step 95), the terminal sends the message and the document to the designated recipient (s)

  (step 96), then continues the execution of the procedure in step 71.

  The user can also designate area 14 with a contact overview (step 97), that is, a document containing address information and a person's telephone numbers. In this case, the terminal adds the new contact to the contact list (step 98), then returns to step 71 to display

the new list.

  If the user designates the "groups" zone 15, the terminal performs the procedure 100 100 illustrated in FIG. 7. This procedure firstly comprises a step

  101 displaying a list of group names to which the user belongs.

  The user can thus belong to four categories of groups, according to whether they are static or dynamic, that is to say whether their existence depends or not on the presence of at least one user in the group, and according to whether '' they are open 30 or closed, i.e. if their access to other network users is

  totally free or limited to a set of people chosen by the user who created the closed group, to whom he provided them with an access password.

  The groups displayed in the list are advantageously sorted by group category. The group list displayed gives access to four commands or types of commands. Thus, the user can designate a group from the list (step 102) to display a group preview window containing information.

  describing the designated group (step 103), namely, the name of the group creator, and keywords describing the object of the group. The user can then trigger a group search (step 104) by moving the group overview thus displayed towards the search area 13. This search can be carried out at the user's choice, according to search criteria relating to the name of the group or its creator, or on the description of the group. The terminal then launches the group search among all the groups existing in the point-to-point network, whether static or dynamic and open or

  closed by performing the procedure 50 described above. 10

  From step 103, the user can also withdraw from the group by moving his overview to the trash can 16 (step 115). This action triggers the removal of the group thus moved from the list of groups (step 116) and the transmission over the network of a notification of removal of the group (step 117). The terminal 15 then continues to execute the procedure in step 101.

  From the list displayed in step 101, the user can also activate or deactivate groups so as to limit the scope of document searches. According to the invention, the search for documents is only carried out among the activated groups, which makes it possible to limit the scope of searches to the terminals of people who are interested in a given subject.

defined by the object of a group.

  To this end, in the list of groups displayed in step 101, each group is associated with a check box allowing the user to activate or deactivate the group. If the user activates a group check box (step 120) and if the group is already activated (step 121), the group is deactivated in the next step 122. Otherwise, the group is activated on step 123. One can also provide a check box associated with each type of group, static or dynamic and open or closed. If the user activates the check box of a group type, all the groups having this group type are activated or

  disabled according to their previous state.

  From the list displayed in step 101, the user can also choose to create a group by designating the “groups” zone 15 with one or more document previews 35 (step 110), or to enter a group existing by designating this area with a group overview obtained following a group search

  performed by procedure 50 (step 105).

  - 13 If the user wishes to enter an existing group designated by his overview (step 105), the terminal adds in step 106 the group in the list of groups displayed in step 101. If it is a 'A closed group, the terminal asks the user beforehand for a group access password, and executes step 5 106 only if the password entered by the user is correct. In the next step 107, the terminal notifies the network of the user's entry in the group, then it returns to step 101 of displaying the list of groups for

display the new list.

  If the user wishes to create a new group (step 110), the terminal displays

  a window for entering a description overview of the new group to be created (step 111). Following validation of the input by the user (step 112), the terminal determines from the information appearing in the overview whether the new group to be created is an open group or not (step 113). If it is a closed group, the terminal creates the new group by executing the procedure

  from step 106. Otherwise, the terminal launches a search for groups similar to that which the user wants to create in order to prevent the creation of several open groups having the same purpose, unless the user so wishes. For this purpose, the terminal executes the procedure 50 from the group overview introduced by the user.

  If the user still wishes to create the new group that he defined in step i1 1, he can do so by pressing a button provided for this purpose, following the execution of the search carried out by the execution of the search procedure 50.

  To find out which people are connected to the network and who are in each group, simply designate the "contacts" area 13 to obtain the list of groups of which the user is a member at the present time and in association with each group appearing. in the list, the identifiers of the people connected

belonging to the group.

  Furthermore, the documents displayed in the "shared documents" list, accessible by designating the area 12, are also arranged by group to which the user belongs. In this way, the user can view which documents he makes available to a group, and move a document from one

  group to another or from the private or public area.

  - 14 The creation of a new group and the entry or exit of the user from a group therefore has consequences for the list of documents displayed following the designation of the shared documents zone 12, as well as on the list of contacts displayed following the designation of the contact area 14. Thus, the list of shared documents displayed in step 31 is modified so as to take into account the entry or exit of the user of the group, and possibly the document or documents made available to other members of the

  group (following the creation of a group in steps 110 to 113).

  Likewise, the contact list is modified to take account of the new list of groups to which the user belongs.

  We can provide a simplified management of groups, in which the user belongs to a single group and therefore does not have access to the group area 15. In this case, the displayed lists of shared documents and contacts do not include 15 subdivisions corresponding to groups.

  It should be noted that if in the above description, only the previews of the documents are moved and downloaded when they are moved to a document storage area such as the area 12, it is also possible to envisage handling the complete documents, especially if the speeds offered by the

point-to-point network allows.

  In general, the command interface which has just been described is suitable for terminals of very diverse display and command configurations and allows the user to trigger complex functions related to

  a point-to-point network with a very small number of actions.

  By allowing the association of documents with groups of users, which can be thematic groups, the command interface according to the invention allows each user to participate in the structuring and classification of the information available on the point-to-point network, which allows searches by themes. In this way, a search on several groups makes it possible to reveal connections between the corresponding themes. Furthermore, when the group is dynamic, the classification of the 35 documents carried out by the members of the group is ephemeral because it

  disappears when the group disappears.

- 15

Claims (12)

  1. Terminal control interface for terminals (7, 8, 9) interconnected in point-to-point network, each terminal comprising 5 functions of both client and server for exchanging information with other terminals connected to the network point to point, a display screen (1 la, 1 lb, i 1c) and control elements, characterized in that it is based on a delimitation of a workspace in at least one zone (12) of shared documents, a search zone (13) and a communication zone (14), giving access respectively to commands for sharing documents with other terminals of the point-to-point network, to commands for searching for elements of information among elements of information made available to the network by the terminals, and commands for communication with the other terminals of the point-to-point network, the terminal control members comprising a designation member (20, 21 ) designed for sign one of the zones, the command interface further comprising means for triggering the display of a list of shared documents when the zone (12) of the shared documents is designated by the designation body, of a list of results of a previous search when the search area (13) is designated by the designation body, and of a list of identifiers of people when the search area (14)   communication is designated by the designation body.   2. Control interface according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises means for triggering specific commands when an object appearing in one of the displayed lists is moved towards one of the zones (12 to 15).   3. Control interface according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it further comprises means for delimiting in   the workspace, a fourth group management zone (15) giving access to commands for managing user groups, and means for triggering the display of a list of groups to which the terminal user belongs when the group management area is designated by the designation body (20, 21).   4. Control interface according to claim 3, characterized in that it further comprises means for selecting - 16 user groups from the group list, the searches for documents being carried out only among the documents made available to the point to network   point by the user terminals of the selected groups.   5. Control interface according to claim 3 or 4,   characterized in that it comprises means for creating a new group of users when a document from a displayed list is moved using the designation body (20, 21) to the area (15) of management of user groups, the moved document being made available to users of the new group.   6. Control interface according to one of claims 3 to 5,   characterized in that the documents in the list of shared documents are arranged by groups of point-to-point network users with whom they are 1 5 shared.   7. Control interface according to one of claims 3 to 6,   characterized in that the identifiers of persons in the list of identifiers of persons are arranged by groups of users of the point-to-point network 20 to which the persons belong.   8. Control interface according to one of claims 3 to 7,   characterized in that it further comprises means for triggering a search for similar groups when a group is moved using the designation member (20, 21) from the list of groups displayed on the screen of   terminal to the search area (13).   9. Control interface according to one of claims 1 to 8,   characterized in that it further comprises means for triggering a search for similar documents when a document is moved using the designation member (20, 21) of a list of documents displayed on the screen of   terminal to the search area (13).   10. Control interface according to one of claims 1 to 9,   characterized in that it further comprises means for triggering the downloading of a document appearing in the list of search results when the document is moved using the designation organ (20, 21) of   the list of search results to another area of the screen. - 17   11. Control interface according to one of claims 1 to 10,   characterized in that it comprises means for triggering the transmission of a document overview to the terminal of a person from the displayed list 5 when the communication zone (14) is designated, when a document appearing in a list is moved using the designation body (20, 21) to the identifier of the person.   12. Communication terminal designed to be connected to a point-to-point network, and comprising both client and server functions for exchanging information with other terminals of the point-to-point network, a display screen ( 1 la, 1 lb, 1 lc) and control members, characterized in that it comprises a control interface according to one of claims 1 to i1.