Application sharing single document sharing

• US 20030189601A1
• Filed: 04/03/2002
• Published: 10/09/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/03/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Leichtling, Ivan J., Schmieder, Robert W., Ben-Shachar, Ido M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,418,664 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/810
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

An improved application sharing system and method allow sharing of documents on a per document basis rather than on a per application basis, in order to simplify the user experience and to provide a more secure sharing environment. A window marking method is used to construct a window list describing the shared and unshared status of various windows. In an embodiment of the invention, a viewer machine displays only a most recently active shared document window even when other windows are also marked as shared. In this way, a viewer'"'"'s attention can be automatically focused on a current document of interest.

Claims

1. A method of sharing at least one document from a sharer computer to a viewer computer comprising:

displaying a list of sharable documents on a display device of the sharer computer to a user of the sharer computer, the list comprising a plurality of documents associated with a first executing process;

receiving a first selection from the user of a first one of the plurality of documents listed in the list of sharable documents; and

marking the first one of the plurality of documents listed in the list of sharable documents as shared, while leaving unmarked the remainder of documents of the plurality of documents listed in the list of sharable documents associated with the first executing process.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second selection from the user of a second one of the plurality of documents listed in the list of sharable documents; and

marking the second one of the plurality of documents listed in the list of sharable documents as shared, while not marking as shared any other documents of the plurality of documents listed in the list of sharable documents other than the first and second ones of the plurality of documents listed in the list of sharable documents.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of displaying a list of sharable documents on a display device of the sharer computer to a user of the sharer computer further comprises displaying a list of sharable documents, wherein each document in the list of sharable documents is associated with a selectable graphical object.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the list of sharable documents further comprises a plurality of documents associated with a second executing process, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a second selection from the user of a second one of the plurality of documents listed in the list of sharable documents, wherein the second one of the plurality of documents is associated with the second executing process; and

marking the second one of the plurality of documents listed in the list of sharable documents as shared, while leaving unmarked the remainder of the plurality of documents listed in the list of sharable documents associated with the second executing process

5. A computer-readable medium having thereon computer-readable instructions for performing the steps according to the method of claim 1.

6. A computer-readable medium having thereon computer-readable instructions for performing the steps according to the method of claim 2.

7. A computer-readable medium having thereon computer-readable instructions for performing the steps according to the method of claim 3.

8. A method of sharing documents from a sharer computer to a viewer computer comprising:

observing a list of sharable documents displayed on a display of the sharer computer, wherein the list comprises a plurality of documents associated with a first executing process; and

selecting at least a first one of the plurality of documents to be shared from the list of sharable documents while leaving unselected at least a second one of the plurality of documents to be shared from the list of sharable documents, whereby the at least first one of the of the plurality of documents is marked as shared while the at least second one of the plurality of documents is left unmarked.

9. A computer-readable medium having thereon computer-readable instructions for performing the steps according to the method of claim 8.

10. A method for use on a sharer computer for analyzing a first window associated with a user mode application running on the sharer computer comprising:

determining whether a class of a top level parent window of the first window is listed in a map of classes known to be associated with an application of a type selected from the group consisting of single document interface and multiple document interface;

marking the top level parent window to signify that its class is listed in the map of classes, if it is determined that the class of the top level parent is listed in the map of classes;

determining whether the first window has been marked as a window that is to be shared and if the first window has been marked as a window that is to be shared, determining whether the first window is a child of a parent window that is associated with a process using a multiple document interface; and

marking the first window with a single document mark to signify that it is a child of a parent window that is associated with a process using a multiple document interface, if it is determined that the first window is a child of a parent window that is associated with a process using a multiple document interface.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising the step of constructing a window list containing an indication of an identity of at least one window and an indication of whether the at least one window is to be shared with a viewer computer communicably connected to the sharer computer, the step of constructing the window list further comprising the steps of:

determining whether a first top level window is marked to be shared;

adding an identification of the first top level window to the window list and associating with the identification of the first top level window an indication that the first top level window should not be displayed on the viewer computer, if it is determined that the first top level window is not marked to be shared;

if it is determined that the first top level window is marked to be shared, determining whether the first top level window is marked as being associated with an application of a type selected from the group consisting of single document interface and multiple document interface; and

adding an identification of the first top level window to the window list and associating with the identification of the first top level window an indication that the first top level window should be displayed on the viewer computer if it is determined that the first top level window is not marked as being associated with an application of a type selected from the group consisting of single document interface and multiple document interface.

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

determining whether a root owner of the first top level window is the most recently active shared window, if it is determined that the first top level window is marked as being associated with an application of a type selected from the group consisting of single document interface and multiple document interface;

if it is determined that the root owner of the first top level window is not the most recently active shared window, adding an identification of the first top level window to the window list and associating with the identification of the first top level window an indication that the first top level window should not be displayed on the viewer computer, and otherwise determining whether a top level parent window associated with the first top level window is associated with an application supporting a multiple document interface;

if it is determined that a top level parent window associated with the first top level window is not associated with an application supporting a multiple document interface, adding an identification of the first top level window to the window list and associating with the identification of the first top level window an indication that the first top level window should be displayed on the viewer computer, and otherwise identifying a top child window of the top level parent window having a highest z-order value compared to all children of the top level parent window; and

determining whether the top child window is marked as being associated with an application of a type selected from the group consisting of single document interface and multiple document interface, and adding an identification of the first top level window to the window list and associating with the identification of the first top level window an indication that the first top level window should be displayed on the viewer computer if the top child window is marked as being associated with an application of a type selected from the group consisting of single document interface and multiple document interface, and otherwise adding an identification of the first top level window to the window list and associating with the identification of the first top level window an indication that the first top level window should not be displayed on the viewer computer.

13. A computer-readable medium having thereon computer-readable instructions for performing the steps according to the method of claim 10.

14. A computer-readable medium having thereon computer-readable instructions for performing the steps according to the method of claim 11.

15. A computer-readable medium having thereon computer-readable instructions for performing the steps according to the method of claim 12.

16. An application sharing program resident on a first computer, communicably linked to a user mode application and a network layer resident on the first computer, wherein the application sharing program is adapted to capture drawing commands issued from the user mode application to draw at least a portion of each of a plurality of shared windows, and to transmit the captured drawing commands to the second computer, wherein the transmitted drawing commands are associated with an order packet identifying at least one shared window of which no portion will be displayed at a display on the second computer.

17. A computer-readable medium having thereon computer-readable data comprising:

drawing instructions for drawing at least a visible portion of each of a plurality of shared windows; and

instructions for displaying on a screen an image corresponding to the drawing instructions accompanied by instructions for omitting from the image the visible portion of at least one of the plurality of shared windows.