Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Mark Rolland Knight

Jonathan Bailor

Christopher James Antos

Ethan Joseph Bernstein

Simon Clarke

Miko Arnab Sakhya Singha Bose

Andrew Richard Simonds

Brian M Jones

Edgar Mark Sunderland

David Benjamin Robins

John S Campbell

Can Mehmet Comertoglu

Andrew Grey Carlson

Andrew Sean Watson

Simon Skaria

Naresh Kannan

Mitesh Patel

Don Adam Hedgpeth

Elena Petrova

Lynn Ayres

Tariq Sharif

Yamin Wang

Shobana Balakrishnan

Matteo Venanzi

Rachel Sirkin

Amy Huyen Phuoc Nguyen

Robin Thomas

Christophe Jacky Henri Van Gysel

Bhaskar Mitra

Manasi V Velhankar

Grzegorz Stanislaw Kukla

Nicola Cancedda

Roy Rosemarin

Sri Ramya Mallipudi

Brian Michael Jones

Jonathan B Bailor

Jonathan Beckett Bailor

Simon Peter Clarke

Systems and methods are provided that automatically process a message input, construct an intelligent query based on the processing of the message input, and provide at least one attachable entity according to the processing results and the intelligent query. In some example aspects, a message is received. A natural language processor to determine if the message is requesting content may then process the message. If the message is determined to be requesting content, then candidate sub-queries may be generated to serve as a training set for a query that will be sent to an external search engine to retrieve the attachable entity. The sub-queries may be ranked in order of relevance and performance score. The highest ranked sub-queries may then be used in the actual query that is fired against the external search engine. The external search engine may search local and remote repositories for the top K most relevant attachable entities and present them to a user for attachment in a reply message.

Intelligent query system for attachments

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

A spreadsheet includes a native spreadsheet object that represents a person. The person object may be used within a spreadsheet just as any other spreadsheet objects are utilized. For example, the person object may be integrated with spreadsheet formulas and other spreadsheet objects such as charts, tables, pivot tables, sheets, and the like. Spreadsheet formulas may perform operations specific to a person object (e.g. send message, get contact information, get status, get other person specific information, sort, and the like). Common actions may be associated with the person object, such as initiating communication with the person represented by the person object (e.g. phone call, email, text message, collaboration invite, and the like). Social networking information may also be associated with a person object. For example, social networking posts may be included within a spreadsheet, a user may post to a social network from the spreadsheet, and the like.

Representation of people in a spreadsheet

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

Client-server interaction frequency control may be provided. First, a collaborative electronic document may be loaded at a client device in a document collaboration session. The client device may then request a client-server interaction with a server hosting the collaboration session. Next, the client may receive input from the server indicating a state of the server. This input may then be used by the client device to adjust a rate at which the requested client-server interaction may occur.

Client-server interaction frequency control

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

Examples are related to systems and methods for controlling access to document files on a document server. One example system includes document files stored on a document server, at least one of the document files referencing a file lock, and a document access processing module. The example document access processing module includes a file sharing processing module that determines a coauthoring status of a software application of a client computer requesting access to the document file, and a file lock processing module that stores one or more file locks and that controls the setting and resetting of file locks. The example document access processing module uses the coauthoring status of the software application and the file lock status of a document file to determine whether a software application is permitted to have write access to the document file.

Controlling access to documents using file locks

A system is presented for structured coauthoring of a document, the system comprising a server. The server includes one or more documents organized into sections, a document permissions module that stores user access permissions for each section of a document, a document update processing module that processes requests from a user to share document updates with other users and that processes requests from a user to receive document updates from other users and a document rendering module that renders a document for display on a client so that sections of the document are updated with shared document updates made by users. The user access permissions determine the extent to which a user can modify each section of the document.

Structured coauthoring

Client side locking

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Bellevue, WA, United States of America

Mark Rolland Knight