Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Jonathan Bailor

Ethan Joseph Bernstein

Mark Rolland Knight

Christopher James Antos

Simon Clarke

Miko Arnab Sakhya Singha Bose

Edgar Mark Sunderland

David Benjamin Robins

Andrew Richard Simonds

Brian M Jones

Matthew James Wood

Robert Andrew Little

Christopher J Brown

Andrew Grey Carlson

Andrew Sean Watson

Simon Skaria

Naresh Kannan

Sugandha SudeshKumar Kapoor

Jonathan Ian Gordner

Mitesh Patel

Benjamin J Bunker

Nicholas Michael Simons

Kelly Michael Krout

Brian Robert Marshall

Matthew Eric Mizulo

Dong Ming

Don Adam Hedgpeth

Elena Petrova

Sarah Michelle Filman

Ambrose Thomas Treacy

Walter David Pullen

Maithili Dandige

Elizabeth Jeanne Sheldon

Stoyan Iordanov

Bikramjit S Kalra

A collaborative authoring application provides an authoring environment in which two or more users can edit a document concurrently. Each user edits a copy of the document, sends updates to a master copy of the document, and receives updates from the master copy of the document. The authoring environment generally inhibits the users from providing conflicting editing instructions to the master copy of the document. For example, each user can generate a content lock about one or more data units within the document. The authoring environment may synchronize content locks automatically and content only at the request of the user.

Collaborative authoring

Techniques to share media files are described. An apparatus may comprise a processor and a memory communicatively coupled to the processor. The memory may store an application having a media share component operative to share a media file among a defined set of users. The media share component may comprise multiple software modules, including a file manager module and a file reference module. The file manager module may be operative to determine a network storage location for the media file. The file reference module may be operative to automatically generate a valid link to the network storage location for the media file. The valid link may be specifically arranged to permit access to the network storage location for the media file by the defined set of users of the application. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Techniques to share media files

A document accessible on a network may be opened by multiple users. A user may use a thin client application to access the document, wherein an image of the document and XML data including comments and locations of the comments in the document. Hint icons are displayed in the document where comments are anchored. Upon selection of a hint, an HTML comments pane may be displayed to a side of the document, exposing comments and replies to comments currently stored in the document. The comments pane may be scrolled to the comment associated with the selected hint. Additionally, highlighting may be provided over elements in the document associated with a selected comment. Comments may be added via the comments pane and saved to the document on the network. Comments and comment location data may be communicated to other clients, allowing for collaborative communication via a thin client application.

Collaborative communication in a web application

A collaborative authoring application provides an authoring environment in which two or more users can edit a document concurrently. Each user edits a copy of the document, sends updates to a master copy of the document, and receives updates from the master copy of the document. The authoring environment may be configured into a public mode of operation, in which content and metadata are synchronized automatically, or into a private mode of operation, in which metadata is synchronized automatically and content is synchronized only at the request of the user. The authoring application may edit documents offline in public or private mode.

Collaborative authoring modes

Techniques to manage collaborative documents are described. An application program may comprise a document render component to render a first document instance of a collaborative document, a document share component to receive a document update list comprising a set of change records for a second document instance of the collaborative document, and modify properties of one or more constructs for the first document instance based on the change records to form a merged document instance of the collaborative document, and an undo manager component to manage a local undo stack for the first document instance, the local undo stack comprising a set of undo records, and determine whether to preserve one or more of the undo records of the local undo stack after formation of the merged document instance based on one or more of the change records. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Techniques to manage collaborative documents

Embodiments of a collaborative authoring environment enable a user to resolve editing conflicts arising when synchronizing a user copy of a data file with a master copy of the data file. Content updates may be synchronized separately from metadata updates. Metadata updates may be synchronized automatically, whereas content updates may be synchronized only when any identified editing conflicts are resolved. When an editing conflict is identified, the user interface of the authoring application may be configured to toggle between displaying and hiding the identified editing conflicts.

Conflict resolution

Techniques to determine network storage for sharing media files are described. An apparatus may comprise a processor and a memory communicatively coupled to the processor. The memory may store an application having a media share component operative to receive a request to associate a media file with a document having a document network storage location. The media share component may comprise multiple software modules, including a file manager module. The file manager module may be operative to determine a media file network storage location for the media file based on the document network storage location. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Techniques to determine network storage for sharing media files

Example systems and methods are directed at maintaining and retrieving presence metadata. One example method includes receiving a request from a first client to edit a document file, and sending short-term check out metadata to the first client to begin an editing session. The method also includes writing the transition ID to a transition table stored in a cache, wherein the presence of another transition ID in the cache indicates that a document has switched from a single-client mode to a multi-client mode. An example system includes a processing unit operative to receive a document, the document including short-term check out metadata indicating an editing session has begun, ping a cache to determine if another transition ID is stored in the cache, and send a transition ID to a transition table stored in a cache to switch from a single-client mode to a multi-client mode.

Caching infrastructure

Algorithms are provided to determine a final sequence of objects based on separating the objects from a base sequence and two derived sequences into common objects appearing in all three sequences and non-common objects missing from at least one of the sequences, then determining the final order of the common objects, and using the positioning of the non-common objects relative to the common objects in the original sequences. The final sequence represents changes made by the two derived sequences to the base sequence.

Preserving user intent in merging ordered objects

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Bellevue, WA, United States of America

Jonathan Bailor