Researchers Submit Patent Application, “Archive Center For Content Management”, for Approval (USPTO 20230144526): Patent Application

2023 MAY 26 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Washington, D.C., NewsRx journalists report that a patent application by the inventors Bruckner, Thomas (Bunzburg, DE); Carter, Nicholas (Luxembourg, LU); Specht, Matthias (Grobenzell, DE), filed on January 4, 2023, was made available online on May 11, 2023.

No assignee for this patent application has been made.

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Modern enterprises and companies alike utilize archive servers to electronically archive their content for various reasons, including meeting regulatory requirements. For example, in the United States, an employer is required to preserve for at least three years payroll records, collective bargaining agreements, sales and purchase records, etc.; the Internal Revenue Service requires all records of employment taxes be kept for at least four years; and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) requires a 6-year retention period for protected health information (PHI) such as patients’ medical records and other personal health information.

“To this end, some enterprise content management systems such as the Enterprise Content Management (ECM) suite available from Open Text S.A. include archive servers to facilitate automating the management of record archiving and retention policies. As an example, the ECM Archive Server can securely store valuable content in an unalterable and tamperproof form over a long period of time, while allowing for quick and easy retrieval, sharing, forwarding, and reuse of content. One reason for retrieving archived data is to meet audit requests or a legal discovery request in the event of pending litigation or the threat of litigation. The archiving solution provided by the ECM Archive Server can, through various services that it provides, secure the accessibility and readability of content during the entire lifecycle and, through replication and distribution, protects it from loss in the event of disaster. Examples of services provided by the ECM Archive Server may include those for taking in content, for integrating content into enterprise applications, and for securing and auditing content and its access. Examples of enterprise applications may include enterprise resource planning (ERP) software; groupware systems; e-commerce software such as back-office systems; or standalone applications.

“A typical ECM system comprises a stack or collection of software subsystems or components (referred to herein as an ECM software stack) that work together to produce a result or complete a particular task. Depending upon needs, components in an ECM software stack may vary from system to system. As an example, an ECM software stack may include document capture, records management, workflow, search, email, fax, social media, eDiscovery, archiving, etc. Data received from an enterprise application is usually pushed through a complete ECM software stack, leaving a footprint at every layer. At the end of this journey, a decision is then made as to where and what should be archived. While this approach works for many scenarios, further improvements may be desired.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent application, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent application: “Today, various computer technologies are used within enterprises and companies alike. These technologies produce massive amounts of content, including scanned documents, faxes, emails, search results, office documents, social media content, etc. As discussed above, an enterprise may employ an ECM system to manage and archive content. However, not all of the information communicated from enterprise applications to an ECM system may be relevant for enterprise operations. Indeed, in some cases, only about 10 percent of the information processed by an ECM system may be relevant for ECM purposes. Furthermore, not all of the information processed by an ECM system may need to be placed under records management (RM) control for regulatory and/or compliance purposes.

“While indiscriminately collecting all of the documents via an ECM system (and hence placing everything under control of the ECM system) may address the need to meet regulatory requirements, the ECM system is invariably burdened with a lot of information that may have minor or no relevance, severely affecting the usability and/or performance of the ECM system. For example, performing a search via the ECM system may return a tremendous amount of irrelevant hits (search results) which, in turn, can lead to frustrating user experience.

“An object of this disclosure is to provide a new archiving solution that can improve the usability and/or performance of an ECM system while meeting the regulatory and/or compliance requirements. This and other objects can be achieved in embodiments disclosed herein that implements a new approach to processing and archiving content. Specifically, embodiments provide systems, methods, and computer program products for efficiently and effectively archiving content and selectively exposing (“bubbling up”) only a portion thereof to other components of an ECM system such as content server(s).

“An exemplary embodiment can be summarized as follows. Content is captured and archived at an archive center (AC) and, depending upon records management (RM) policy, is managed by the AC or under RM control by a content server (CS). Both the AC and CS may be part of an enterprise content management system. The AC provides a user-friendly interface through which retention zones may be defined, and functionality for applying RM policy. The functionality can be triggered via a specific content property or through a retention zone under RM control. The RM control can be turned on or off from within the AC using the user-friendly interface. Archived content is not moved or duplicated. Rather, metadata and a link to the storage location are sent to the CS which, in turn, creates a content server document that is linked to the archived content. Only a portion of archived content is exposed to the CS through the AC.

“In some embodiments, a method for archiving content (e.g., enterprise content in an enterprise computer network environment) may be implemented by an archive center application embodied on one or more server machines (collectively referred to herein as an “archive center.” The archive center may be configured to receive content from an application (e.g., an enterprise application that runs on at least one server machine operating in the enterprise computer network environment). The archive center may examine the content and extract or otherwise obtain metadata associated with the content. The archive center may determine, based at least in part on the metadata, whether to retain or relinquish control of the content. In this context, retaining control of the content means that it is the archive application which is responsible for managing retention of the content. Moreover, relinquishing control over the content means that the archive application is not responsible for managing retention of the content and, instead, the manner in which the content is retained is managed by a contents server, possibly under records management control. In this case, the contents may still be stored at an archive center. Either way, the content can be archived at a secure storage location of a data store in an unalterable and tamperproof form. The data store is maintained by the archive center.

“The metadata, which may comprise a plurality of properties defined per document type, may include a special content property indicating an RM policy. This property can directly trigger the archive center to send the metadata and a link to the storage location of the archived content to a content server. This process is referred to herein as “bubbling up” or “exposing” the archived content outside of the archive center. The archive center effectively relinquishes control of retention of the content when a property associated with the content indicates that an RM policy is applicable to the content.

“Another way to “bubble up” or “expose” the archived content outside of the archive center is an indirect one. In some cases, a document (which is used herein as an example type of content) may be tagged to be placed in a retention zone. The archive center provides a user-friendly interface through which various retention zones may be defined, configured, and managed. In some embodiments, the user-friendly interface of the archive center enables an administrative user to turn on or off or otherwise configure RM control for a retention zone in the archive center. Thus, when a document is tagged for a retention zone and that retention zone is configured to be under the RM control, placing the document in the retention zone will indirectly trigger the archive center to send the metadata and a link to the storage location of the document to a content server.

“In this way, the archive center can expose only a portion of the content captured at the archive center that may be relevant for RM purposes and may only need to manage retention of the content if control of the content is retained by the archive center. This new approach can drastically reduce the load placed on the overall ECM system, increase usability and performance of the ECM system, while still meeting the regulatory/compliance requirements for records management.

“One embodiment comprises a system comprising a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores computer instructions translatable by the processor to perform a method substantially as described herein. Another embodiment comprises a computer program product having a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores computer instructions translatable by a processor to perform a method substantially as described herein. Numerous other embodiments are also possible.

“These, and other, aspects of the disclosure will be better appreciated and understood when considered in conjunction with the following description and the accompanying drawings. It should be understood, however, that the following description, while indicating various embodiments of the disclosure and numerous specific details thereof, is given by way of illustration and not of limitation. Many substitutions, modifications, additions and/or rearrangements may be made within the scope of the disclosure without departing from the spirit thereof, and the disclosure includes all such substitutions, modifications, additions and/or rearrangements.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A system for archiving content, the system comprising: an archive server having a processor and a memory, the archive server configured to: receive content from an application; obtain metadata of the content; archive the content in a data storage; determine whether a records management policy is applicable to the content; responsive to the records management policy being applicable to the content, sending to a content server the metadata of the content and a link to the content in the data storage to relinquish control of the content; and responsive to the records management policy not being applicable to the content, retaining control of the content.

“2. The system of claim 1, wherein determining whether a records management policy is applicable to the content comprises receiving, via a user interface, information indicative of whether the records management policy is applicable to the content.

“3. The system of claim 2, wherein the information received by the user interface comprises an instruction to turn a retention management zone on or off.

“4. The system of claim 2, wherein the information received by the user interface comprises user input which defines a property of a retention management zone.

“5. The system of claim 4, wherein the property comprises a retention period and wherein the archive center server is configured to maintain retention control of the content according to the retention period set by the information received by the user interface.

“6. The system of claim 4, wherein the property comprises a location of a content server which has retention control of the content.

“7. The system of claim 1, wherein archiving the content in the data storage comprises storing the content in an unalterable and tamperproof form at a secure location in the data storage.

“8. The system of claim 1, wherein the content in the data storage is linked to a content server document created by the content server based on the metadata, the content server controlling records management functionality of the content via the content server document.

“9. A method for archiving content, comprising: receiving content from an application; obtaining metadata of the content; archiving the content in a data storage; determining whether a records management policy is applicable to the content; responsive to the records management policy being applicable to the content, sending to a content server the metadata of the content and a link to the content in the data storage to relinquish control of the content; and responsive to the records management policy not being applicable to the content, retaining control of the content.

“10. The method of claim 9, wherein determining whether a records management policy is applicable to the content comprises receiving, via a user interface, information indicative of whether the records management policy is applicable to the content.

“11. The method of claim 10, wherein the information received by the user interface comprises an instruction to turn a retention management zone on or off.

“12. The method of claim 10, wherein the information received by the user interface comprises user input which defines a property of a retention management zone.

“13. The method of claim 12, wherein the property comprises a retention period and wherein the archive center server is configured to maintain retention control of the content according to the retention period set by the information received by the user interface.

“14. The method of claim 12, wherein the property comprises a location of a content server which has retention control of the content.

“15. The method of claim 9, wherein archiving the content in the data storage comprises storing the content in an unalterable and tamperproof form at a secure location in the data storage.

“16. The method of claim 9, wherein the content in the data storage is linked to a content server document created by the content server based on the metadata, the content server controlling records management functionality of the content via the content server document.

“17. A computer program product for archiving content, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions translatable by a processor of an archive center computer to perform: receiving content from an application; obtaining metadata of the content; archiving the content in a data storage; determining whether a records management policy is applicable to the content; responsive to the records management policy being applicable to the content, sending to a content server the metadata of the content and a link to the content in the data storage to relinquish control of the content; and responsive to the records management policy not being applicable to the content, retaining control of the content.

“18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein determining whether a records management policy is applicable to the content comprises receiving, via a user interface, information indicative of whether the records management policy is applicable to the content.

“19. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the information received by the user interface comprises user input which defines a property of a retention management zone, the property comprising a retention period, and wherein the archive center server is configured to maintain retention control of the content according to the retention period set by the information received by the user interface.

“20. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein archiving the content in the data storage comprises storing the content in an unalterable and tamperproof form at a secure location in the data storage.”

For additional information on this patent application, see: Bruckner, Thomas; Carter, Nicholas; Specht, Matthias. Archive Center For Content Management. U.S. Patent Application Number 20230144526, filed January 4, 2023 and posted May 11, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(20230144526)&db=US-PGPUB&type=ids

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