Inventors:
Douglas R. Foster - Parker CO, US
Kurt A. Heddleston - Littleton CO, US
Jeffrey K. Moore - Aurora CO, US
Richard Pedersen - Littleton CO, US
Michael I. Schwartz - Denver CO, US
Assignee:
Lockheed Martin Corporation - Bethesda MD
International Classification:
G06F 17/30
US Classification:
707 2, 707 10, 7071021, 7071041
Abstract:
The present invention provides a computer implemented collaboration system and method for accessing multiple domain data sources and allowing data from those sources to be analyzed and manipulated within a multi-user distributed environment where all visualization, processing, and agent applications work collaboratively. In one embodiment, the collaboration system () is organized into an N-tier infrastructure including a data management tier (), an information access tier (), a services tier (), and a user interface tier (). The infrastructure of the collaboration system () rides upon a CORBA communications framework. The data management tier () includes data sources () and provides data management capabilities normally supplied by database management systems. The repository tier () is comprised of repository servers () and provides adaptive services to make the data maintained within the data sources () available to services in the services tier () and the client tools in the user interface tier (). The services tier () is comprised of data channel servers (), a library server (), a participant server (), a context server (), and a document server ().