Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Jitesh Sachdeva

Ali Taleghani

Michelle Elena Keslin

Daniel Robert Snyder

Nupur Agarwal

Victor E Kozyrev

Michal Krzysztof Piaseczny

Amelie Dagenais

Yessen Yessetovich Amirzhanov

Jordan Spencer Rudd

Brian Gaiennie Hyams

Systems and methods for enabling the real-time sharing of document edits are disclosed herein. Documents being edited may use backing stores that are not originally compatible to share edits in a coauthoring environment and thus require additional attention before coauthoring edits can be shared in real-time. The systems and methods described may provide for the analysis of high level functions within the document editor to determine the underlying activities. Both the high level functions and underlying activities may be analyzed to determine whether it is safe to implement the changes they represent in real-time on an endpoint. When it is determined that the changes are safe to implement, the changes will be implemented and further real-time edits will be shared. When it is determined that the edits are not safe to implement, real-time updates will be suspended until the next selected-time update, at which time real-time sharing will recommence.

System and method for implementing shared document edits in real-time

Transfer of content between documents of different storage types is provided. Different versions of an endpoint (e.g., a productivity application) such as a mobile version and a desktop version, for example, may be enabled to process the same document and synchronize changes to the document content, even though the different versions or endpoints may use distinct formats for the same document.

Transfer of content between documents of different storage types

Systems and methods for enabling the real-time sharing of document edits as rumored changes are disclosed herein. As an editor makes changes to a document being coauthored, those edits may be entered into the editor's copy as concrete changes that are incorporated into the copy's backing store, and may be shared as rumored changes to endpoints that are not incorporated into their backing stores. Rumored changes display the endpoint's real-time interpretation of an edit made by an editor, but are not incorporated as concrete changes until a save command occurs. By enabling the real-time display of edits as rumored changes, editing users can make edits naturally and endpoint users can see those edits being made with a reduced chance of corruption on the endpoint and lower network overhead and processing by the computing devices involved in the coauthoring environment.

Rumored changes for real-time coauthoring

Additional document information may be stored through change tracking. In some examples, an application, such as a document processing application, may allow collaborative creation and/or editing of a document. As individual collaborators enter new content or make changes to existing content, the new content and/or changes go through two phases. As an individual collaborator is editing, the change is temporary. The collaborator may decide not to integrate it to the document. The temporary content may become permanent or integrated through a save action (manual or automatic). In some examples, the temporary content may be shared with other collaborators through a scheme to indicate its status as temporary giving the collaborators a true collaboration experience.

Storing additional document information through change tracking

Systems and methods for improving real-time coauthoring in a distributed environment without a central document manager are disclosed herein. Due to communication being non-instantaneous, the state of a document on an endpoint may differ from the state of the document on an editor at the time that an edit is made. The different states, however, may be reconcilable via a vector clock translation. Each coauthor may maintain an array of vector clocks to track the state of the document for each coauthor. The vector clocks may be included when transmitting indications of edits so that an endpoint in a modified state can translate the edit to comply with the modified state of the document. Translating edits enables more edits to be implement in real-time than otherwise possible in a distributed environment without a central document manager.

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Bellevue, WA, United States of America

Jitesh Sachdeva