Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Pritesh Patwa

Wook Jin Chung

Mark Eugene Russinovich

Yunus Mohammed

Ravikiran Janardhan Reddy

Sean David Zimmerman

Xiaoxiong Tian

Phani Soma Shekar Burela

Gregory Marvin Door

Arun Upadhyaya Kishan

Marcus Felipe Fontoura

Avnish Kumar Chhabra

Murali Mohan Chintalapati

Govind Ramaswamy

Yingnong Dang

Ziv Rafalovich

Martin Miroslavov Markov

Daniele Maso

Najam Shahid

Martin M Markov

The present disclosure relates to systems, methods, and computer-readable media for determining optimal index configurations for intelligently managing updates of virtual machines in an offline manner in a cloud computing system. For instance, a virtual machine (VM) update system can efficiently determine when to apply updates to virtual machines in an intelligent manner that prevents the updates from interfering with the deallocation of virtual machines. In addition, the VM update system can utilize the operating system (OS) disk image snapshots to automatically provide safeguards and ensure that updates do not degrade the performance of the virtual machines, or in the case of an update failure, that the virtual machines are restored to their previous state without the data loss.

Managing updates on virtual machine systems

Various methods and systems for autonomously upgrading deployed resources in a distributed computing environment are provided. An autonomous upgrade system identifies updates such as operating system image updates and virtual machine extension updates for deployment in the distributed computing environment. The autonomous upgrade system identifies eligible tenants, identifies deployed resources that may be impacted by the identified update, batches the resources and upgrades the batched resources. The autonomous upgrade system performs a diagnostic test on upgraded resources to determine whether an upgrade was successful. In some embodiments, the diagnostic test is performed by executing a diagnostic script that can be provided by a tenant. The autonomous upgrade system can stop or pause the upgrade if various success metrics are not satisfied. In some embodiments, the autonomous upgrade system tests and certifies newly published updates for deployment to the distributed computing environment.

Autonomous upgrade of deployed resources in a distributed computing environment

Software updates within one or more regions of a multi-tenant cloud are coordinated. Tenant vs. tenant conflicts, tenant vs. infrastructure provider conflicts, and conflicts between security and another priority are identified and resolved using a shared update coordinator, update priority specifications, and availability specifications. An infrastructure update request may be presented to tenants for approval. Postponed infrastructure updates may be prioritized higher. Preventing exploits of zero-day vulnerabilities may be prioritized over meeting availability targets. Updates may be merged to reduce downtime, even when the updates originate from independently controlled entities. Maximum downtime, minimum fault domains, minimum virtual machines, permitted update start times, and other availability criteria may be specified. Updates may be preempted, or allowed to complete, based on their relative priorities. Tenants and infrastructure providers may still use their own deployment engines after updates are coordinated. Rogue behaviors involving adverse update approvals or disapprovals may be detected.

Update coordination in a multi-tenant cloud computing environment

Methods and systems for synchronizing communication of different versions of an advertisement to multiple, disparate devices associated with a user are provided. The advertisement is received on a first device associated with the user. Incident to receiving the advertisement, the first device establishes a communication path with a second device associated with the user. Utilizing the communication path, capabilities of the second device are determined. A version of the advertisement is rendered for the second device, where the version rendered is dependent upon the determined capabilities of the second device. And, utilizing the communication path, the rendered version of the advertisement is communicated to the second device.

Advertisement rendering for multiple synced devices

Advertising targeting metrics for individuals can be derived from images associated with those individuals. Such advertising targeting metrics can include physical attributes, as well as preferences based on prior activity, or history. Public images associated with specific user identities can be processed and advertising targeting metrics can be derived therefrom to more accurately tailor the advertisements displayed to the individuals associated with those user identities. Additionally, non-public images can be likewise processed, either remotely or, for greater privacy, locally if so allowed by the user. Advertisers can then utilize the greater breath of advertising targeting metrics that can be derived from images to more accurately target advertisements to specific groups. In doing so, advertisers can submit their own images of exemplary targeted users, and the targeting metrics for those advertisers' advertisements can be automatically derived from the submitted images utilizing equivalent algorithms.

Advertising targeting based on image-derived metrics

One or more techniques and/or systems are disclosed for providing a rich email experience for an email with an attachment. Intention metadata that is associated with an attachment to an email is identified, where the intention metadata indicates a sender intention for the attachment. The intention metadata may be identified prior to sending the email and included with the email, or identified after receipt of the email. Further, the intention metadata is applied to the attachment so that the attachment is presented in a rich format to the recipient that reflects the sender intention for the attachment, such as highlighting portions, and/or presenting images, for example, in a desired sequence.

Rich email attachment presentation

Embodiments discussed herein relate to creating and managing competitive campaigns for advertisement spaces on a web page. Competitive campaigns may take several forms, including boosting bids for advertisements to try an match the competitor's advertisement bids in an online auction, dynamically replacing the entity's advertisement being shown, or out-and-out refusing to show an advertisement whenever the competitor's advertisement is also shown.

Online platform for web advertisement competition

Systems and methods for providing contextual advertisements to present to a user in association with electronic books are provided. Advertising entities may submit information to include in the contextual e-book advertisement. An advertisement manager identifies the e-book and content associated with each page therein. A target page to receive the advertisement is identified. The contextual e-book advertisement is generated using content associated with the target page as well as content associated with each page preceding the target page. Content associated with pages subsequent to the target page is analyzed to determine if the advertisement is appropriate for the target page. Additional sequential information and user profile information may be used to generate the contextual e-book advertisement. Based on the content of the e-book and the parameters of the information submitted by the advertising entity, a contextual e-book advertisement is generated for the target page and presented to a user.

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Redmond, WA, United States of America

Pritesh Patwa