Apparatus and accompanying methods for providing, through a centralized server site, a secure, cost-effective, web-enabled, integrated virtual office environment remotely accessible through a network-connected web browser

#1. Field of the Invention

#The invention relates to apparatus and accompanying methods for use therein for implementing a secure, cost-effective, web-enabled, integrated, virtual office user environment, through a centralized server(s), through which a remotely stationed user can access typical office network-based applications, including, e.g., e-mail, file sharing and hosted thin-client application programs, through a remotely located network, e.g., WAN, connected web browser. The present invention is particularly, though not exclusively, suited for use in small to medium size organizations which, for economic reasons, do not have adequate in-house computer support (technical and administrative) capabilities.

#2. Description of the Prior Art

#The teachings of the present invention can be readily understood by considering the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

#FIG. 1 depicts an overall high-level block diagram of a relatively simple and illustrative networked apparatus that embodies the teachings of our present invention and which would be typically used in conjunction with a relatively small office;

#FIG. 2 depicts a high-level block diagram of service enablement platform (SEP) 200, which is used to implement our present invention and as shown in FIG. 1;

#To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the figures.

#After considering the following description, those skilled in the art will clearly realize that the teachings of our present invention can be utilized in any of a wide number of different client-server networked processing architectures that support remote access from a client PC to an office server. In essence, our invention provides remote, secure, web-based user access to network-supported and hosted office processing functions, including client application programs, e-mail and file sharing, to a remotely located user with the same capabilities and essentially the same ease of use as if his(her) computer were directly connected to an office network rather than through a wide area network (WAN) or other remote connection; hence, providing that user with a so-called “virtual office”. Advantageously, our inventive apparatus effectively implements a front-end to the office server, regardless of whether that office server is implemented by a single machine (computer) or multiple machines, and regardless of whether those machines are co-located or not, as long as they are interconnected to the apparatus through an appropriate network. If the office server is implemented by multiple inter-networked machines—as is often the case in medium or large sized organizations, each of these machines can handle one or more specific office processing tasks, e.g., client application program hosting, e-mail serving and/or file serving. Alternatively, for small organizations with limited processing equipment, either our inventive apparatus itself, through its internal processing capability, can implement all these tasks or can serve as a front-end to a single separate machine (computer) which does so. For the sake of simplicity, we will describe our invention for use in an small office environment where either the apparatus serves as a front-end to a single machine situated at an office location that collectively implements all the necessary office processing tasks or additionally implements all those tasks itself. Furthermore, although our invention can readily support simultaneous access by multiple remotely located clients, again for simplicity, we will describe our invention in the context of use with only one such client at a time. Clearly, based on the ensuing description, those skilled in the art can readily appreciate how our inventive architecture can simultaneously accommodate multiple clients and can be scaled upward to simultaneously handle relatively large numbers of such clients.

#FIG. 1 depicts an overall high-level block diagram of illustrative networked environment 5 that embodies the teachings of our present invention and is particularly suited for use in conjunction with a small office.