Data processing: database and file management or data structures – Database design – Data structure types
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-21
2004-01-20
Voeltz, Emanuel Todd (Department: 2121)
Data processing: database and file management or data structures
Database design
Data structure types
C707S793000, C709S232000, C713S171000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06681233
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to systems for performing routine business operations, and particularly relates to a method of controlling data circulation between servers and clients in a system equipped with a data storage function, a data circulation function, and a security management function for achieving computerized work flow.
2. Description of the Related Art
A work-flow system defines a flow of business operations so that the business operations involving a number of people are carried out according to the defined flow. In a system for circulating electronic documents in a network, for example, an order of circulation is registered in a work-flow server in advance, and the documents are circulated or processed in the defined order. In such a system, it is necessary to control data storage, data circulation, and data security.
In a work-flow system, data is stored in a registration-source server, and a client accesses the registration-source server to download necessary data. The client may modify the data, and uploads the data to a circulation-destination server (which may or may not be different from the registration-source server). This is the way business operations are typically performed in a work-flow system.
FIGS. 9A through 9C
are illustrative drawings for explaining a related-art work-flow system.
In
FIGS. 9A through 9C
, a registration-source server
80
stores registered files. The registered files include issues that need to be solved, and are registered by other clients. A user uses a client
81
to download a file from the registration-source server
80
, and modifies the downloaded file. A circulation-destination server
82
receives a file uploaded from the client
81
after the file is modified in the client
81
. The modified file may include answers to the issues to be solved.
In the following, a description will be given with regard to a related-art method of controlling data circulation between servers and clients in a work-flow system.
In
FIG. 9A
, a user download a file from the registration-source server
80
to the client
81
. After modifying the file in the client
81
, the user uploads the file to the circulation-destination server
82
. At the time of uploading, no check is made as to whether the file is modified according to a correct procedure by a legitimate user.
In the system of
FIG. 9A
, the client
81
can illegally download a file from a server different from the registration-source server
80
. In such a case, the circulation-destination server
82
simply accepts the file when the file after modification is submitted from the client
81
.
In
FIG. 9B
, the client
81
downloads a file from the registration-source server
80
. If the registration-source server
80
does not retain the downloaded file, and if the client
81
loses data of the file, the data cannot be recovered.
If the registration-source server
80
retains the file without deleting it, there will be no opportune occasion on which the circulated data is removed.
In
FIG. 9C
, a server/client system based on a centralized server is structured by combining the registration-source server and the circulation-destination server. In this configuration, the load on the server is undesirably heavy. Further, a chance of losing data is high when the server suffers malfunction to stop providing services.
A technology relating to a work-flow data management, by which programs and files are downloaded from a server to a client and are returned to a server after modification thereof, is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Applications No. 9-91402, No. 9-138824, and No. 9-198326. No. 9-91402 teaches retaining data when a system malfunction or a system down occurs. No. 9-138824 teaches checking and correcting circulated documents in a work-flow system, and discloses controlling date-and-time indications of circulars. No. 9-198326 teaches identifying a user who has handled a document upon finding of a problem in the document in response to a user request.
The method of controlling data circulation between servers and clients in the related-art work-flow system as described above has the following problems.
There is no check function to check the contents of a file when the file is downloaded from a server to a client and is uploaded to a circulation-destination server after modification of the file. Because of lack of such a check function, an illegal file can be uploaded to the circulation-destination server. Also, there is no way of detecting a tampering when a user or an administrator tampers with registered data stored in the registration-source server.
Further, there is no check function to verify legality of a user and a file between the registration-source server and the circulation-destination server. For example, any user can upload a file to the circulation-destination server without properly downloading the file from the registration-source server. This poses a security problem.
Moreover, when a file is downloaded from a registration-source server to a client, loss of data of the file on the client side results in no possibility of recovering data since the server does not retain the downloaded data. As previously mentioned, if the server retains the data, there will be no seasonal timing to delete the data after the circulation thereof.
In a system in which a single server functions as the registration-source server and the circulation-destination server, the load on the server is excessively heavy. Also, there is a risk of mistakenly rewriting data of the registration-source server.
Accordingly, there is a need for such a method of controlling data circulation between servers and clients in a work-flow system that an illegal user is prevented from downloading or uploading a file from or to a server.
There is another need for such a method of controlling data circulation between servers and clients in a work-flow system that a check can be made as to illegality of files between servers.
There is still another need for such a method of controlling data circulation between servers and clients in a work-flow system that a file can be recovered when a user mistakenly deletes the file.
There is yet another need for such a method of controlling data circulation between servers and clients in a work-flow system that erroneous erasure of files is prevented in the registration-source server.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide a method of controlling data circulation between servers and clients in a work-flow system such that the method can satisfy the needs described above.
It is another and more specific object of the present invention to provide such a method of controlling data circulation between servers and clients in a work-flow system that an illegal user is prevented from downloading or uploading a file from or to a server.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a method of controlling data circulation between servers and clients in a work-flow system that a check can be made as to illegality of files between servers.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide such a method of controlling data circulation between servers and clients in a work-flow system that a file can be recovered when a user mistakenly deletes the file.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide such a method of controlling data circulation between servers and clients in a work-flow system that erroneous erasure of files is prevented in the registration-source server.
In order to achieve the above objects according to the present invention, a method of circulating data between servers while updating the data between the servers includes the steps of downloading registered data having a first access key attached thereto from a source server to a client, the first access key including a server identifier of the source server and a first user identifier of a user who registered the registered data, uploading a f
Hayashi Kiyoshi
Ichikawa Hiroshi
Katten Muchin Zavis & Rosenman
Todd Voeltz Emanuel
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