Managing messages between users for collaborative editing of electronic documents

US10721279B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC · US

Inventors

• Benjamin Wilde · Quincy, US
• Patrick Gan · Salem, US
• Samantha N. Powers · Cambridge, US
• Aleksandr Polyakov · Somerville, US
• Sudarshan Sundar · Cambridge, US
• Graham Baker · Issaquah, US
• Douglas Lane Milvaney · Somerville, US
• Joan Weaver · Somerville, US
• Nikhil Nathwani · Cambridge, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jan 29, 2019
• Grant date: Jul 21, 2020
• Expiry date: Jan 29, 2039

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H04L67/06
• WIPO field: Digital communication
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

To manage complexity related to messages and comments about collaboratively edited electronic documents, an electronic document has associated activity data and comment data, where a type of activity data includes messages among users. Message data is stored in a stream of activity data in a format that is accessible both to communication applications outside of the electronic document, and to end user applications for editing the electronic document. The message data can include a document identifier, a user identifier for a sender and/or a receiver, and content of the message. A communication application, given a user identifier, can access document messages for that user, from a single electronic document or over multiple electronic documents. Further, the communication application can be notified when new document messages related to a user identifier are added to one or more electronic documents. Additionally, the end user application, given a document identifier, can access document messages associated with that document identifier for inclusion in the activity data for the document.