Offline sharing capability for client application

• US 20080114720A1
• Filed: 11/14/2006
• Published: 05/15/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Smith, Eric, Stillion, Cameron, Ash, Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 7,966,426 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/273 Asynchronous replication or reconciliation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and UI modifications for existing applications are used to implement efficient methods for taking content offline with full synchronization, incremental synchronization, in the case of document libraries per-folder synchronization, and the like. The APIs provide support for synchronizing changes to attachments, the ability to download a document library'"'"'s complete contents or only a list of the available documents, and read-only folder hierarchy replication in the case of document libraries. These abilities coupled with corresponding user interface features enable easier browsing and searching of large document library structures, making edits to those documents offline, being able to see an up-to-date version of those documents in a preview mode, and receiving reminders when offline edits remain on the local computer and need to be updated to a server.

Claims

1. A method to be executed at least in part in a computing device for sharing data with offline editing capability, the method comprising:

receiving data from a share server;

translating the received data;

storing the translated data at a data store associated with a client application; and

making the stored data available to the client application such that offline edits to the data are synchronized with the share server.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to a change on the data by the client application uploading the changed data to the share server by one of;

full synchronization, incremental synchronization, and per-folder synchronization.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to a change on an attached document uploading the attached document to the share server for synchronization.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

downloading from the share server one of;

contents of a document library associated with the share server, a read-only folder hierarchy replication, and a list of available documents from the share server.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing an up-to-date version of the data to a user in a preview mode.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a reminder to a user to initiate synchronization until the offline edits are uploaded to the share server.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

synchronizing the offline edits by initiating a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) call using a change log and a change token.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the client application reflects a document'"'"'s state instead of checking out the document from the share server and provides a cache for a user to open and preview the document.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to a change on the data by the client application synchronizing one of;

a complete hierarchy and a selected portion of the hierarchy of a document library at folder level.

10. A system for sharing data with offline editing capability, comprising:

a data store for storing received data from a share server;

a client application for consuming the stored data;

a sharing Application Programming Interface (API) configured to;

receive the data from the share server;

translate the data;

make the stored data available to the client application; and

if any changes are made to the stored data, uploading the changes for synchronization with the data at the share server.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the sharing API is further configured to exchange the data with a plurality of share servers using alternative Uniform Resource Locators (URLs).

12. The system of claim 10, wherein client application is an electronic mail application.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the sharing API is further configured to synchronize at least one from a set of:

a calendar, a contact list, a task list, a discussion thread, and a document library with corresponding data at the share server.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the sharing API is further configured to synchronize off-line edits to recurring appointments with exceptions.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the sharing API is further configured to provide an attachment for consumption by a desktop application associated with the electronic mail application.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the electronic mail application is further configured to provide a sharing attribute associated with a shared document through a user interface.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the sharing API is further configured to provide multi-master version control for shared data to a user.

18. A computer-readable medium having computer executable instructions for sharing data with offline editing capability, the instructions comprising:

receiving data from a share server;

translating the received data;

storing the translated data at a data store associated with a client application;

making the stored data available to the client application such that offline edits to the data are synchronized with the share server; and

in response to a change on one of the data and an attached document by the client application uploading the changed data to the share server for synchronization, wherein the client application reflects a document'"'"'s state instead of checking out the document from the share server.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions further comprise:

synchronizing the data with a plurality of alternative share servers.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein at least one of the alternative share servers is associated with an extranet.