Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Andrew K Bishop

Brian M Jones

Robert Andrew Little

Marcin Sawicki

Daniel Robert Snyder

Chad B Rothschiller

Tristan Davis

Shawn Alan Villaron

Anthony Douglas Krueger

Clifford Jeffrey Cruzan

Charles Scott Walker

Josh Pollock

Su-Piao Bill Wu

Sharad Kumar Garg

Tali Roth

Zeyad Rajabi

Matthew D Wood

Eoin James Burke

Oliver Zheng

Ashley L Morgan

Martin Sawicki

James Leung

Dan Jump

Charles S Walker

Techniques to automatically manage file descriptors are described. An apparatus may comprise a processor circuit and a file descriptor application operative on the processor circuit to manage file descriptors for content files, the file descriptor application arranged to receive a file descriptor request from a client application, generate a file descriptor or file descriptor construct information for a content file, and send a file descriptor response with the file descriptor or file descriptor construct information to the client application. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Techniques to automatically manage file descriptors

A service is used to process files. The processing of the files is performed by worker services that are assigned to process a portion of the files. Each worker service that is processing a portion of the files is assigned a unique identifier. Using the identifier information, the set of worker services currently active are monitored along with the work assigned to each process. When a worker server determines that a worker service has failed, the work assigned to the failed worker service can be automatically determined and a new worker service can be started to process that work. Any new worker service that is started is assigned a unique identifier, so the work assigned to it can be similarly tracked.

Detecting and recovering from process failures

Instead of sending each item separately to a service for processing, items are communicated to the service as one or more groups. Common portions of a file path for files within the group are transmitted once to the service. For example, a root portion of the file paths for the files within the group may be common to each of the files. The unique portions of the file path for each file are transmitted to the service without including the common portions. The size of the groups may be configured differently depending on needs of the specific instance of the protocol (i.e. smaller sized groups for more bandwidth-constrained situations). The size for the group may be determined in many different ways. For example, the size of the groups may be automatically determined based on a configuration and/or a user input.

Minimizing bandwidth in file path-centric protocol message

A word processor including a native XML file format is provided. The well formed XML file fully represents the word-processor document, and fully supports 100% of word-processor's rich formatting. There are no feature losses when saving the word-processor documents as XML. A published XSD file defines all the rules behind the word-processor's XML file format. Hints may be provided within the XML associated files providing applications that understand XML a shortcut to understanding some of the features provided by the word-processor. The word-processing document is stored in a single XML file. Additionally, manipulation of word-processing documents may be done on computing devices that do not include the word-processor itself.

Word-processing document stored in a single XML file that may be manipulated by applications that understand XML

A mechanism is provided for embedding an object in a receiving or client document such that a client application may operate on the embedded object to include interrogation and modification of data contained in the embedded object. When a given document object is embedded into a receiving document, data representing the embedded object is saved to a data stream storage for the receiving document. When the embedded object in the receiving document is subsequently requested in response to an operation executed on the embedded object, the receiving application obtains the data representation of the embedded object from the data stream storage. Once the receiving application obtains the data representation of the embedded object, the receiving application may perform operations on the embedded object by accessing the embedded object via its data representation.

Exposing embedded data in a computer-generated document

Methods and systems provide for breaking a computer-generated document into a number of components where the components have explicit relationships with each other. A relationship representation is generated for the components of the document. A user may then navigate the relationships between the components to quickly understand the nature of the document and its components and to locate particular portions of the document that are important to the user. In addition, the user may open, edit and reuse particular components of the document apart from the rest of the document and without having to open or edit the document.

Management and use of data in a computer-generated document

An open file format is used to structure the features and data within a document associated with a word processing application. The file format simplifies the way a word processing application organizes document features and data, and presents a logical model that is easily accessible. The file format is made up of a collection of modular parts that are stored within a container. The content included in the modular parts are XML that is based on ASCII. The XML schema provides a definitional framework for how the modular parts relate. This content allows tools to interrogate a word processing document to examine and utilize content and ensure that the file is written correctly. Each of the modular parts is capable of being interrogated separately regardless of whether the application that created the document is running. Information may also be changed, added, and deleted from each of the modular parts.

Structuring data for word processing documents

The present invention represents header and footer structures in a markup language (ML) document. The ML document may be parsed by applications that understand ML other than the application that generated the ML document. The ML document may be manipulated on a server or anywhere even when the application creating the ML document is not present. The header or footer originally used in the ML document may be manipulated when the ML document is parsed by other applications. Header and footer information (i.e., properties) are saved in a markup language (ML) document without data loss, while allowing the header and footer structures to be parsed by ML-aware applications and to be read by ML programmers.

Storing document header and footer information in a markup language document

The present invention represents non-structured features that are common with word-processors such that these elements can be recognized and parsed separately from other elements within an XML document. Empty tags are used to mark the start and end of a feature that may span other features.

Representing non-structured features in a well formed document

The present invention provides markers for spelling and grammar errors and the proofing state of a word-processing document stored as an XML file. The markers are used to show where a spelling or grammar error has occurred within the document. The proof state indicates whether the document been fully checked for spelling or grammatical errors.

Representing spelling and grammatical error state in an XML document

An application can use native field structures, which can store information such as 'Creation Date of the Document', 'Formula', a specially formatted number, a reference to text in another part of the document. Fields are commonly used for document automation, so that the application itself can include certain information among the contents of the document, with possibly no extra user intervention required. Thus a way can be provided to save this field definition information in a markup language (ML) document without data loss. When the format is stored in a markup language, other applications can validate the document stored in accordance with the native format. The other applications can represent the information in accordance to the degree to which they are aware of the unique properties of the application used to generate the document.

Representing fields in a markup language document

Self-describing portions of text or data are provided for associating with or inserting in a computer-generated document. Portions of a document, such as individual paragraphs or groups of paragraphs or fragments of text, are provided self-describing properties, such as file format type associated with the portion, style, font, list type, and the like. If such a portion of a document is subsequently linked to or copied or moved to a second document or to a different location in a first document, the self-describing properties provided for the portion travel with the portion to the second document or to the different location in the first document. An application receiving the content portion may consume and display the portion according to the properties provided for the portion.

Growing community of inventors

Redmond, WA, United States of America

Andrew K Bishop