Distribution of Content Document to Varying Users with Security, Customization and Scalability

Abstract

A system and method for receiving a request for a container document, determining whether the request is for a container document associated with a user group, determining whether a requestor of the request is associated with a level of status within the user group among a plurality of levels of status within the user group, determining the level of status of the requestor based on a determination that the requestor is associated with a level of status within the user group, requesting configuration information based on a determination that the container document is associated with a user group and the level of status, receiving the configuration information, and serving the container document using the configuration information.

1 - 17 . (canceled) 
     
     
         18 . A method, comprising:
 authenticating, using at least one computer, a representative of a second-party user group based on the representative's association with the second-party user group, the second-party user group associated with a plurality of users and a user group container document, the user group container document including a plurality of selected modules that present content from a plurality of associated content provider servers, the user group container document defining an organization for presentation of the content by the selected modules in a user group container document display, wherein for each of the selected modules a portion of the user group container document display is allocated for the presentation of the content from the associated content provider server;   providing a user interface for managing the user group container document, the user interface viewable by the representative and including a plurality of synchronization components that enable the representative to configure the user group container document, wherein the plurality of synchronization components are registered with a centralized event registrar to be associated with a particular registered event and to synchronize with each other in response to an instance of the registered event while the user interface is viewable by the representative;   receiving input from the representative through at least one of the synchronization components of the user interface, the received input corresponding to the particular registered event and including a selection of a particular module for inclusion in the user group container document, wherein the selection allocates a portion of the user group container document display for presentation of content from a content provider server associated with the particular module, and wherein the centralized event registrar is notified of the particular registered event by the at least one synchronization component and the centralized event registrar notifies the remainder of the plurality of synchronization components of the particular registered event using an action registered with an action manager, wherein the registration of the action with the action manager includes an indication of logic and parameters required to execute the action, where the parameters are received from a query of the action manager and converted, following validation, into appropriate parameter types for use in executing the action;   updating each of the plurality of synchronization components of the user interface based on the received input while the user interface is viewable by the representative; and   providing an actual representation of the user group container document display to the representative based on the received input, the actual representation of the user group container document display including the content from the content provider server associated with the particular module.   
     
     
         19 . The method according to  claim 18 , wherein providing an actual representation comprises providing the actual representation without publishing the user group container document. 
     
     
         20 . The method according to  claim 18 , wherein the input further comprises information associated with selecting a layout for the user group container document. 
     
     
         21 . The method according to  claim 18 , wherein the input further comprises information associated with selecting colors of the user group container document. 
     
     
         22 . The method according to  claim 18 , wherein the input further comprises information associated with customizing a header for the user group container document. 
     
     
         23 . The method according to  claim 18 , wherein the input further comprises information associated with customizing a footer for the user group container document. 
     
     
         24 . The method according to  claim 20 , wherein selecting a layout for the user group container document comprises restricting modification of at least a portion of the user group container document. 
     
     
         25 . The method according to  claim 18 , wherein providing the user interface comprises providing an application that includes the user interface. 
     
     
         26 . The method according to  claim 25 , wherein the application comprises a web application. 
     
     
         27 . The method according to  claim 18 , further comprising:
 registering the plurality of synchronization components of the user interface.   
     
     
         28 . The method according to  claim 27 , further comprising:
 registering the registered event.   
     
     
         29 . The method according to  claim 28 , further comprising:
 associating the registered plurality of synchronization components with the registered event.   
     
     
         30 . The method according to  claim 18 , wherein updating each registered synchronization component of the registered plurality of synchronization components comprises:
 identifying that the registered event has occurred for one of the registered synchronization components; and   providing information associated with the registered event to all of the other registered synchronization components.   
     
     
         31 . The method according to  claim 18 , further comprising:
 modifying the user group container document based on the received input.   
     
     
         32 . The method according to  claim 31 , wherein modifying comprises:
 determining an action associated with the received input.   
     
     
         33 . The method according to  claim 32 , wherein modifying further comprises:
 determining parameters associated with the action.   
     
     
         34 . The method according to  claim 33 , wherein modifying further comprises:
 determining a validator based on the parameters.   
     
     
         35 . The method according to  claim 34 , wherein modifying further comprises:
 using the validator to validate the received input.   
     
     
         36 . The method according to  claim 18 , further comprising:
 publishing the user group container document.   
     
     
         37 . A system, comprising:
 an authentication unit configured to authenticate a representative of a user group based on the representative's association with the user group, the user group associated with a plurality of users and a user group container document, the user group container document including a plurality of selected modules that present content from a plurality of associated content provider servers, the user group container document defining an organization for presentation of the content by the selected modules in a user group container document display, wherein for each of the selected modules a portion of the user group container document display is allocated for the presentation of the content from the associated content provider server; and   a configuration unit configured to:
 provide a user interface for managing the user group container document, the user interface viewable by the representative and including a plurality of synchronization components that enable the representative to configure the user group container document, wherein the plurality of synchronization components are registered with a centralized event registrar to be associated with a particular registered event and to synchronize with each other in response to an instance of the registered event while the user interface is viewable by the representative; 
 receive input from the representative through at least one of the synchronization components of the user interface, the received input corresponding to the particular registered event and including a selection of a particular module for inclusion in the user group container document, wherein the selection allocates a portion of the user group container document display for presentation of content from a content provider server associated with the particular module, and wherein the centralized event registrar is notified of the particular registered event by the at least one synchronization component and the centralized event registrar notifies the remainder of the plurality of synchronization components of the particular registered event using an action registered with an action manager, wherein the registration of the action with the action manager includes an indication of logic and parameters required to execute the action, where the parameters are received from a query of the action manager and converted, following validation, into appropriate parameter types for use in executing the action; 
 update each of the plurality of synchronization components of the user interface based on the received input while the user interface is viewable by the representative; and 
   provide an actual representation of the user group container document display to the representative based on the received input, the actual representation of the user group container document display including the content from the content provider server associated with the particular module.   
     
     
         38 . The system of  claim 37 , the user interface including identifications of a plurality of selectable modules that are selectable for inclusion in the user group container document, the plurality of selectable modules including the particular module. 
     
     
         39 . The system of  claim 37 , further comprising a user system, wherein providing a user interface for managing the user group container document comprises providing the user interface to the user system over a network. 
     
     
         40 . The system of  claim 39 , further comprising a hosted server system configured to communicate with the authentication unit, the configuration unit, and the user system. 
     
     
         41 . A tangible, non-transitory computer-accessible medium encoded with computer program code effective to perform operations comprising:
 authenticating a representative of a user group based on the representative's association with the user group, the user group associated with a plurality of users and a user group container document, the user group container document including a plurality of selected modules that present content from a plurality of associated content provider servers, the user group container document defining an organization for presentation of the content by the selected modules in a user group container document display, wherein for each of the selected modules a portion of the user group container document display is allocated for the presentation of the content from the associated content provider server;   providing a user interface for managing the user group container document, the user interface viewable by the representative and including a plurality of synchronization components that enable the representative to configure the user group container document, wherein the plurality of synchronization components are registered with a centralized event registrar to be associated with a particular registered event and to synchronize with each other in response to an instance of the registered event while the user interface is viewable by the representative;   receiving input from the representative through at least one of the synchronization components of the user interface, the received input corresponding to the particular registered event and including a selection of a particular module for inclusion in the user group container document, wherein the selection allocates a portion of the user group container document display for presentation of content from a content provider server associated with the particular module, and wherein the centralized event registrar is notified of the particular registered event by the at least one synchronization component and the centralized event registrar notifies the remainder of the plurality of synchronization components of the particular registered event using an action registered with an action manager, wherein the registration of the action with the action manager includes an indication of logic and parameters required to execute the action, where the parameters are received from a query of the action manager and converted, following validation, into appropriate parameter types for use in executing the action;   updating each of the plurality of synchronization components of the user interface based on the received input while the user interface is viewable by the representative; and   providing an actual representation of the user group container document display to the representative based on the received input, the actual representation of the user group container document including the content from the content provider server associated with the particular module.   
     
     
         42 . The computer-accessible medium of  claim 41 , the operations further comprising:
 determining an action associated with the received input;
 determining parameters associated with the action; 
 determining a validator based on the parameters; and 
 using the validator to validate the received input. 
   
     
     
         43 . The computer-accessible medium of  claim 41 , the user interface including identifications of a plurality of selectable modules that are selectable for inclusion in the user group container document, the plurality of selectable modules including the particular module.