Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Ravi Soin

Leroy B Keely

Adrian James Garside

Marieke Watson Iwema

Jeffrey West Pettiross

Donald D Karlov

Erik Michael Geidl

Shiraz M Somji

Tobiasz Alexander Zielinski

Joshua Clow

Bob Dain

Grady Leno

Sandy Wong

Yinghua Yao

Derrick Leslie Connell

Jun Yin

Andrew Shuman

Kim Vlcek

Marek Latuskiewicz

Alexander Gournares

Alexander G Gounares

Computer-storage media, methods, and systems for improving the ability of a user to accomplish a task that is pending during a search session are provided. When a user invokes the pending task, a collection of elements that are associated with the pending task are dynamically organized into a sharable content page that may be shared with a user's contacts via a social network. The user's contacts may comment on or provide feedback related to the pending task. The feedback may be published to the sharable content page and presented to the user on a user interface.

Organizing search history into collections

Computer-storage media, methods, and systems for improving the ability of a user to accomplish a task that is pending during a search session are provided. This pending task can be distilled by identifying a current searching intent associated with a recently submitted query and by determining which candidate tasks are most comparable to the current searching intent of a user. The candidate tasks are mined from a search history of the user by categorizing those navigation events that appear to share a semantically common concept. Upon performing a comparison, the candidate task that captures the user's true current searching intent is designated as the pending task. When a user invokes the pending task, a collection of elements that are associated with the pending task are dynamically organized into a sharable content page, thereby providing a collaborative experience that involves exposing the collection to contacts and accepting feedback therefrom.

An improved system for managing user inputs and z-order in a graphic user interface (GUI) environment is disclosed. A GUI element may include a plurality of keys corresponding to keys on a typical keyboard, and may serve as a replacement for the keyboard. The system permits an application having an input focus to retain the input focus while inputs are received in the GUI element, and even transient user interface elements (e.g., menus) will remain displayed in those applications after the user inputs are entered. Input pen and mouse events may first be forwarded to the input area application, which may remove the events from the normal circulation, preventing other applications from learning of the events, and then post those events to the input panel application separately.

Method and apparatus for managing input focus and Z-order

Method and apparatus for managing input focus and z-order

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Bellevue, WA, United States of America

Ravi Soin