Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Jeremy De Souza

Michael Brian Palmer

Joseph Patrick Masterson

Stephen Harry Wright

Kenneth Fern

Elena Catrinescu

Nathan Waddoups

Pravin Kumar Santiago

Jin Ma

David Paul Limont

Mayank Mehta

Jeffrey B Kay

Trevor William Freeman

Russell L Simpson, Jr

David Lloyd Meyers, Jr

Wilbert De Graaf

Charlie Ricafort Chung

Mohamed Sadek

Matthew B Karr

Mayerber Carvalho Neto

Shubhankar Sanyal

David Lloyd Meyers

Russell L Simpson

Inline document collaboration workflows are provided. When a user receives an electronic communication that includes an attached content item, the receiving user may select the attached content item and cause the attached content item to be displayed in an immersive view in proximity to an electronic communication pane in which an electronic communication may be conducted about any topic including the content item that is displayed in proximity to the electronic communication pane. During editing of a content item, an electronic communication may be generated from a user interface in which the content item is being generated, or alternatively a new content item may be generated out of an electronic communications user interface.

Generating content items out of an electronic communication workflow

Electronic communication-based storage of content items to support multiple workflows is provided. When an attached content item is received with an electronic communication, a receiving user may select the attached content item for review and editing in an immersive view pane that may be launched adjacent to or in proximity to an electronic mail viewing pane. When the received content item is edited, a copy of the edited content item is temporarily stored with the electronic communication with which the content item was received at an associated electronic communication server. When the receiving user then desires to dispose of the edited content item, for example, by replying back to the sending user with the edited content item as an attachment, the edited content item may be retrieved from the electronic communication server automatically for attachment to the responsive communication.

Electronic communication-based storage of documents to support multiple workflows

An adaptive layout and workflow engine. The adaptive layout and workflow engine allows various applications to dynamically render scaled views of content based on the characteristics of the display on the device being used to consume the content. The adaptive layout and workflow engine may select an appropriate view of the content to render based on the size, resolution, or aspect ratio of the display. The rendered size of the content and/or the user interface of the content application is evaluated relative to the characteristics of the display. Embodiments may provide different controls via the user interfaces based on the characteristics of the display and/or content. The adaptive layout and workflow engine may provide customized work flows via the user interface to improve the user experience depending on the display capabilities of the device used to consume the content.

Immersive document interaction with device-aware scaling

A method for confidential electronic communication between a sender workstation and a receiver workstation is provided, whereby privacy is guaranteed for the electronic communications transmitted over the public Internet. The method of confidential communication is equipped with message tracking and message receipt verification. The system for implementing the method includes a sender server that creates a session content encryption key along with a message envelope that includes a content encryption key encrypted message and a confidential mail token. The content encryption key is stored securely inside the sender organization's system which transmits the message envelope to an intended recipient. The intended recipient processes the message envelope in order to generate a message receipt verification, which is transmitted to the sender. The message receipt verification is processed by the sender server to verify that the message envelope reached the intended recipient. The message receipt verification, which is comprised of the confidential mail token and unique verification data generated by the intended recipient allows the sender server to verify that the message envelope reached the intended receiver and that the message envelope identified as received is authentic. Following verification that the message transmitted by the sender reached the intended receiver and is authorized, the sender transmits the content encryption key to the intended receiver.

Confidential mail with tracking and authentication

Architecture that enables data handling according to types of social relationships. A social graph is used to categorize the types of the social relationships of the tagged messaging users. The social graph can include social relationship categories for friends, family, coworkers, and blocked individuals of the recipient, for example. The social graph can also include metadata related to the tagged users. The metadata defines the social relationship of the tagged users to the recipient. Delivery of messages to the recipient from the tagged messaging users is managed based on the social graph. Delivery management can include blocking messages, allowing the messages through, or delivering the messages with high or low priority, for example. Email messages can be delivered to respective email locations based on the social graph. User information can be imported and/or mined from external sources to augment the social graph.

Social graphing for data handling and delivery

Multiple contacts are aggregated through contact linking into a unified profile view addressing conflicting data, duplicates, etc. By persisting contact information in a server-maintained mailbox that is used as a storage model and as the contact linking system, roaming solution across form factors (mobile, slate, PC, etc.) can be provided with higher accuracy and fewer false positives. By centralizing the solution in the mailbox, redundancy and manual work by the user is substantially reduced. Contact data, communication heuristics, corporate directory meta-data, instant messaging data, etc. can be leveraged in linking contacts.

Persisting contact information in mailbox

An application may be provided with an interface for hiding a cursor from or showing a cursor to a video driver and for causing cursor information to be saved in data storage and retrieved from data storage. The interface may include an application program interface (API), which may be callable from the application program. The interface may also include one or more bits included in a video driver, such that the modification of any of the one or more bits may change operation of the video driver. Modification of at least some of the bits may cause a cursor to be hidden from the video driver, may cause a previously hidden cursor to be shown to the video driver, may cause cursor information to be saved in a data storage, or may cause the cursor information to be retrieved from the data storage.

Selective display of cursor

Menus within an application may be virtually navigated. While a user is virtually navigating the menus and exploring the user interface (UI) elements using the virtual menus, the system's current focus is maintained. Virtual navigating menus assist a user in learning the commands that are associated with an application. Instead of having to physically navigate to the menus that change the system focus, a user may virtually navigate to a menu to learn what commands or features an application supports. The virtual menus behave just as the regular menu items behave within the application without the state of the application changing.

Virtual navigation of menus

Various technologies and techniques are disclosed that improve the operation of accessibility applications. A graphics pipe is provided that can be called in user mode from multiple accessibility programs. A request is received from an accessibility application to access the graphics pipe, and a connection is established. The accessibility application listens to the graphics pipe for particular content of interest and builds a model based on that content. The model is used to deliver content to an end user appropriately. Screen captures can be performed on at least part of the content and then rendered onto another surface.

Alternative graphics pipe

Described is the selective exclusion of content returned in a requested screen capture operation, wherein exclusion may be determined by a window category and the requesting application program. For example, a magnification program will not received content captured from its own layered window or from any other layered magnification windows. A registration mechanism obtains and maintains a window handle for any window registered for exclusion. A screen capture mechanism uses the information to determine whether to exclude the content of windows when returning the captured screen content. Exclusion may be accomplished by enumerating areas that are not covered by any layered window and copying those areas to a screen representation buffer or the like, and separately enumerating areas that are covered by at least one layered window. A covered area is only copied to the screen representation when it does not correspond to an excluded window.

Selective window exclusion for captured content

Described is a context map that assists users in determining a current location within a source region of a display monitor that is being magnified. The context map comprises a visible image representing a location of the unmagnified region that is being magnified. The visible image may be an indicator such as a pointer, or a reduced-size representation of the desktop with an indicator therein. The visible image may be made to selectively appear, such as by user command. The magnified content may be displayed on one monitor, and the context map on another. The context map alternatively may be on the same monitor, possibly superimposed over some part of the magnified content. The magnification window may move with a pointing device, and the context map may be docked, or displayed over at least part of the floating window such that the context map also moves with it.

Context map in computer display magnification

Described is a filtering mechanism/process that selectively controls whether graphics primitives are provided to a given driver. For example, graphics primitives of an accessibility (e.g., magnification) program may be excluded from being obtained by mirror drivers associated with the accessibility programs, so that the mirror drivers receive only the primitives of unmagnified windows. A registration mechanism allows a program to identify its window as being associated with a class of drivers for filtering, and the drivers may identify themselves as being of the class. By maintaining data that associates windows with a class of drivers, when graphics primitives associated with a registered window are received, a filtering operation be activated to determine which graphics primitives are provided to which driver or drivers. Filtering may be by exclusion to prevent certain primitives from being obtained by excluded drivers, or by inclusion whereby only included drivers receive certain primitives.

Selective rendering for driver classes

Described is a technology including a mechanism that when activated, detects a call to a device independent bitmap. An appropriate mirror driver, such as one or more registered as an accessibility driver, may then be notified of the call. The mechanism may be activated upon creation or selection of the device independent bitmap, and may comprise a wrapper/driver that, from the perspective of the mirror driver, simulates a call to a device dependent bitmap. The notification may be performed by having the driver communicate a function call that emulates a drawing primitive to the mirror driver.

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Redmond, WA, United States of America

Jeremy De Souza