The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 07, 2006
Filed:
Oct. 27, 1998
Jeremy Chone, Mountain View, CA (US);
Edwin Khodabakchian, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Jeremy Chone, Mountain View, CA (US);
Edwin Khodabakchian, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Netscape Communications Corporation, Mountain View, CA (US);
Abstract
A lightweight directory access protocol workflow management system. The invention converts a logical process into a reusable Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) directory representation. The directory representation is a hierarchical tree structure where each process element in the process is represented as an LDAP directory entry and is assigned a unique distinguished name and is stored in a Directory Server database or filesystem. The tree structure of the LDAP representation allows the sharing of LDAP trees or subtrees among users. The LDAP trees and subtrees can be remotely located and distributed among different LDAP servers. Another preferred embodiment of the invention provides a graphical user interface for creating a Workflow process definition which is comprised of process elements: activities; actions; and entry/exit points. The user constructs a Workflow process using the process elements, logically interrelating each activity. Once the Workflow process is defined it is converted into an LDAP directory representation and stored in a Directory Server database or filesystem.