Situation Sharing and Viewing

• US 20080313536A1
• Filed: 06/14/2007
• Published: 12/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Larsen, Peter S.
• Application Number:
  US11/762,946
• Publication Number:
  US 20080313536A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/273
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

A system for sharing and displaying information may have a definition tool that allows a user to select a group of information sources and publish the sources as a situation for the user. A display mechanism may be able to collect several situations from various sources and display the situations using various formats to view situations and links between situations. A server system may facilitate communication and sharing data between clients.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a plurality of sets of sharable information comprising a situation, each of said situations comprising;

at least a portion of a timeline;

a reference to at least one person having a first relationship to said timeline; and

a reference to at least one document having a second relationship to said goal; and

displaying said plurality of sets of sharable information with respect to said timeline in a graphical format.

2. The method of claim 1, said timeline being a nonlinear timeline.

3. The method of claim 1, said graphical format comprising a bulls eye format.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

defining a link between a first goal with a second goal; and

displaying said link within said viewable format.

5. The method of claim 1, said reference to a person comprising at least one of a group composed of:

an email address;

an instant messaging address;

an instant messaging presence; and

a reference to a group of persons.

6. The method of claim 1, said graphical format comprising at least one interactive link adapted to display at least a portion of said document.

7. A computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions adapted to perform the method of claim 1.

8. A method comprising:

selecting a set of sharable information comprising a situation, said situation comprising;

a goal being related to a timeline, said timeline being defined in a first application;

a first reference to at least one person having a first relationship to said goal, said first reference being defined in a second application; and

a second reference to at least one document having a second relationship to said goal, said second reference being defined in a third application;

labeling said set of sharable information; and

making said set of sharable information available over a network for display and updating.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

transmitting said set of sharable information to a server.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

updating a portion of said sharable information using at least one of a group composed of said first application, second application, and third application;

receiving a request for said a portion of said sharable information; and

transmitting said portion of said sharable information.

11. The method of claim 10, said request coming from a server.

12. The method of claim 10, said request coming from a client device adapted to display at least a portion of said set of sharable information.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

updating a portion of said sharable information using at least one of a group composed of said first application, second application, and third application;

determining that said portion of said sharable information has been updated; and

transmitting said portion of said sharable information over said network.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

transmitting a notification based on said determining; and

receiving a request for said portion of said sharable information.

15. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

receiving a request for update from a remote device; and

transmitting said portion of said sharable information to said remote device over said network.

16. A computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions adapted to perform the method of claim 8.

17. A system comprising:

a first client having a first application, a second application, a third application, and a fourth application, said fourth application adapted to;

select a set of sharable information comprising a situation, said situation comprising;

a timeline, said timeline being defined in said first application;

a first reference to at least one person having a first relationship to said goal, said first reference being defined in said second application; and

a second reference to at least one document having a second relationship to said goal, said second reference being defined in said third application;

label said set of sharable information; and

make said set of sharable information available over a network for display and updating;

a second client adapted to;

receive a plurality of said sets of information; and

display said plurality of said sets of information with respect to said timeline.

18. The system of claim 17 further comprising:

a server adapted to;

receive said set of sharable information from said first client; and

transmit said set of sharable information to said second client.

19. The system of claim 17 further comprising:

a server adapted to;

receive a notification from said first client, said notification being created as a result of at least one update from at least one portion of said set of sharable information; and

transmit at least a portion of said notification to said second client.

20. The system of claim 17 said second client being further adapted to:

download said set of sharable information from said first client.