Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

International Business Machines Corporation

Adobe, Inc.

Other

Joseph Ternasky

Michael Dean Stokes

Oliver H Foehr

Vladimir Sadovsky

Joseph Spencer King

Adam Clyde Eversole

Robert L C Parker

Michael M Byrd

Hubert Van Hoof

David Ornstein

Kirt A Debique

Jerry Jay Dunietz

Geoffrey T Dunbar

Michael John Hillberg

Oren Rosenbloom

Matthew A Wormley

Vijay Sadanand Ghaskadvi

William Crow

John Lyn Farmer

Blake D Manders

James Morris Alkove

Robert Andrew Little

Greg D Schechter

Sriram Subramanian

Christopher L Anderson

Daniel Emerson

Charles P Jazdzewski

David C Brown

Wei Zhu

Mikhail V Leonov

Joe King

Rob Relyea

Steve Guttman

Steven Guttman

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products for handling a workflow within an electronic document. Participants are chosen for the workflow and the activities are assigned to the workflow participants. Workflow information is obtained from an electronic document, where the workflow information pertains to activities assigned to a user. The user can consult on or delegate the assigned activities, in which case the electronic document is sent to the consultant or delegate. Alternatively the user can reassign future activities. If it is detected that the workflow has been completed, the user can indicate the continuing of the workflow by identifying additional workflow participants, and the electronic document is sent to one of the additional workflow participants.

Just in time workflow construction

Modular content framework and document format methods and systems are described. The described framework and format define a set of building blocks for composing, packaging, distributing, and rendering document-centered content. These building blocks define a platform-independent framework for document formats that enable software and hardware systems to generate, exchange, and display documents reliably and consistently. The framework and format have been designed in a flexible and extensible fashion. In addition to this general framework and format, a particular format, known as the reach package format, is defined using the general framework. The reach package format is a format for storing paginated documents. The contents of a reach package can be displayed or printed with full fidelity among devices and applications in a wide range of environments and across a wide range of scenarios.

Method and apparatus for document processing

An image container file has at least first and second multimedia streams (MSs). The first MS includes first image data representing an image. The second MS includes arbitrary data, which can for example, correspond to: a different representation of the same image; annotations to the first image data; second image data that together with the first image data form a new image with greater dynamic range, resolution, field of view or other attributes that can be derived from processing two or more independent images; or an executable file related to the first MS. The image container file can also include an extensible metadata to hold information describing one or more multimedia streams of the image container file. Further, the image container file may include DRM information to provide information related to obtaining a license to access encrypted data or verifying the authenticity of encrypted or unencrypted data.

Image file container

In accordance with certain aspects of the removal of redundant information from electronic documents, a package for an electronic document includes a plurality of parts. The package is accessed, and redundant information in one or more of the plurality of parts is identified. The identified redundant information is removed from the package.

Removal of redundant information from electronic documents

Planar rendering is described. In an implementation, a method includes approximating a shape that corresponds to an overlapping portion of at least one graphical element that is translucent with another graphical element. A color is computed for the approximated shape from respective colors of each of the graphical elements and the translucence of the at least one graphical element. The approximated shape having the computed color is formed into a communication for output to a printer.

Planar mapping of graphical elements

A plurality of parts for an electronic document are generated. The plurality of parts include a root relationship part that identifies one or more of the plurality of parts, a payload part that stores data for the electronic document, and a tracking information part that stores tracking information for the electronic document. All of these parts are stored in a single package.

Maintaining tracking information for electronic documents

A system and related techniques generate a unified representation of graphical representations, such as documents, graphic images or others, for displaying on a display screen, printing on a printer, faxing via a facsimile machine or outputting in other ways. In embodiments a media integration layer, which may reside in the operating system level, may generate renderings from graphics primitives, and send that rendering via a mediation engine to a device driver, for instance a print engine located in a printer. The device engine may return a preview of the output representation to the media integration layer for adjustments or to accept and print the output, all without a necessity for or reliance upon a device-specific driver in the operating system. Since both the display screen and the output device operate off of the same base representation, neither the display nor output device needs to attempt to emulate the output characteristics of the other, and screen-to-print uniformity may be enhanced.

System and method for generating unified image output

A color characterization profile format and data structure are provided for allowing a color management solution to convert colors into or out of a color space. The color characterization profile format contains a color management measurement data portion and a container that is configured to provide digital rights management capabilities over the color characterization profile format. The container can include linked and embedded objects and extensible markup language. Further, the container can be an advanced systems format container. The container can be configured to perform different functions, including enabling private data extensions, operating interface description language, storing a rendering intent separate from the color management measurement data portion, the ability to be edited by a text editor application, operability across a plurality of operating platforms, and preventing a user from tampering with the color characterization profile format.

Device color characterization profile format

A document with one or more analog markups is obtained. An original electronic document corresponding to the document is also identified. The one or more analog markups are converted to one or more digital annotations, and the one or more digital annotations are stored in one or more parts of a package of the original electronic document.

Integrating analog markups with electronic documents

A system and related techniques generate printing and other output operations via a resolution-independent visual tree object. According to embodiments the operating system or other resource may receive the visual tree object and related data from applications or other sources, and perform logic to scale or process the visual output for resolution, effects or other purposes directly from that object. The operating system or other resource itself may be configured to receive the componentized visual tree object and condition or render that object for output to a printer, facsimile machine, copy machine or other output device. The operating system may serialize or spool that object from the source object in native form, relieving applications of the need to prepare documents or other output objects to generate specified resolutions, effects or to adapt the output to specific output drivers.

System and method for generating resolution-independent output via visual tree object

A method and system are provided for controlling multiple types of media devices. The method and system also facilitate communication between a computing device and one of a plurality of types of media devices. The system includes device retrieval modules controlled by the computing device for retrieving information from a group of device data sets controlled by the media device. The device data sets including a device information data set that includes a set of properties specific the type of media device. The computing device also includes object retrieval tools for retrieving object information from a group of object data sets stored on the media device and control command modules controlling objects on the media device.

System and method for facilitating communication between a computing device and multiple categories of media devices

A system and related techniques are provided in the present invention, which generate an interrogation request from an initiator device, to a mobile or other media player. The binary objects which encode the content may include or have associated with them a set of corresponding object properties which help to define each object. According to embodiments of the invention, the initiator may communicate with the responding device using a media-aware protocol such that the initiator may identify one or all of the set of properties paired with all of the objects to be returned. The initiator may then present the objects along with the corresponding properties to a user to manipulate. Because properties may be retrieved in conjunction with, at the same time and using a unified retrieval scheme, the need to query each object identifier one by one for associated properties is removed.

System and method for optimized property retrieval of stored objects

Document mark up methods and systems

Growing community of inventors

Mountain View, CA, United States of America

Joseph Ternasky