Workflow-enabled provider

US8838760B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• RICOH COMPANY, LTD. · JP

Inventors

• Max McFarland · Sunnyvale, US
• Daja Phillips · Palo Alto, US
• Andrea Mariotti · Redwood City, US
• Haixia Yu · San Jose, US
• Michael Griffin · Redwood City, US
• Bradley Rhodes · Alameda, US
• Sergey Chemishkian · Cupertino, US
• Edward L. Schwartz · Sunnyvale, US
• Patty Case · Saratoga, US
• Stephen R. Savitzky · San Jose, US
• Gregory J. Wolff · Redwood City, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jun 9, 2008
• Grant date: Sep 16, 2014
• Expiry date: Jul 15, 2029

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06Q10/06
• WIPO field: IT methods for management
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

A workflow-enabled provider includes a service provider and a workflow manager interface unit. The workflow manager interface unit couples the service provider to a workflow manager to provide the automatic discovering, distributed processing and dynamic user interface generating functionality. An advertisement monitor listens for broadcasts from the workflow manager regarding new clients. A request module and a response module handle the transfer of data and control signals between the workflow manager and the service provider. A process control module performs a plurality of processing functions including aggregating requests from clients, selecting requests it can service, presenting user interfaces, processing input via the service provider and controlling the service provider. The user interface module is coupled to the process control module and dynamically generates user interfaces for display by the service provider.