Property based mechanism for flexibility supporting front-end and back-end components having different communication protocols

Abstract

In a computer system having a number of applications and storage repositories using protocols which are different from each other, a document management system is interposed into a content and/or property read/write path of the computer system. The document management system provides for attachment of properties to documents, which allow for separating the content of the document from the properties which describe the document. This separation of the document content from its properties allows for a user level access and control of documents providing for flexibility in organizing, storing and retrieving documents. Further, interface mechanisms are provided which allow the different applications and storage repositories to interact with the document management system. The interface mechanisms include translators and bit providers. The bit providers are configured with the translators and mechanisms to retrieve document content from the different storage repositories and to deliver the document content to a requesting document. The foregoing configuration allows a user to arrange collections of documents irrespective of where the document content is stored. The properties are user and document specific in the sense that they are associated with the user which attached the properties and are directed to control of specific documents.