SMART NOTEBOOK

• US 20100325559A1
• Filed: 06/18/2009
• Published: 12/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Dougherty, Michael Alan, Allard, J. Edward, Estrada, Julio, Westerinen, William J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,135,599 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/753
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04815 Interaction with a metaphor-based environment or interaction object displayed as three-dimensional, e.g. changing the user viewpoint with respect to the environment or object
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed herein for allowing sharing of notes and ideas between electronic devices. The presence of a number of electronic devices is determined. A determination is made that the electronic devices are to be part of a shared workspace. A shared workspace is generated for the electronic devices. The shared workspace is displayed on a display screen of at least one of the electronic devices. The shared workspace that is displayed may be based on the capabilities of the electronic device. The shared workspace that is displayed may reflect the location of the electronic devices.

Claims

1. A machine implemented method comprising:

determining the presence of a plurality of electronic devices;

determining that the plurality of electronic devices are to be part of a shared workspace; and

configuring a shared workspace for the plurality of electronic devices.

2. The machine implemented method of claim 1, wherein the determining the presence of a plurality of electronic devices is performed using short range wireless communication.

3. The machine implemented method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a representation of the shared workspace on a display screen of at least a first electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices, the representation of the shared workspace includes an indicator for each of the plurality of electronic devices.

4. The machine implemented method of claim 3, wherein the displaying a representation of the shared workspace includes generating a representation of the shared workspace that indicates the location of each of the plurality of electronic devices from the perspective of the first electronic device.

5. The machine implemented method of claim 4, further comprising:

generating a representation of the shared workspace that indicates the location of each of the electronic devices that are part of the shared workspace from the perspective of a second electronic device of the electronic devices; and

presenting the representation of the shared workspace that indicates the location of each of the electronic devices that are part of the shared workspace from the perspective of the second electronic device on a display screen of the second electronic device.

6. The machine implemented method of claim 3, further comprising:

reconfiguring the shared workspace in response to a determination that an electronic device is to be added or removed from the shared workspace; and

generating a new representation of the reconfigured shared workspace that includes an indicator for each of the plurality of electronic devices currently in the shared workspace.

7. The machine implemented method of claim 1, wherein the configuring a shared workspace includes:

receiving a request at a first electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices to share an object in the shared workspace; and

adding the object to the shared workspace.

8. The machine implemented method of claim 7, further comprising:

determining whether to provide access to the object to a second electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices based on capabilities of the second electronic device; and

providing access to the object at the second electronic device if the second electronic device has sufficient capabilities.

9. A machine implemented method of claim 8, further comprising:

providing an image that represents the object if the second electronic device does not have sufficient capabilities.

10. A machine implemented method of claim 9, wherein the object is an application file and the capabilities of the second device include whether the second device is capable of working with the application file.

11. The machine implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting a smart whiteboard; and

re-configuring the shared workspace to include the smart whiteboard.

12. The machine implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting a version of state of the shared workspace to save based on capabilities of a first electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices; and

saving the version of the state to the first electronic device.

13. A computer readable storage media having computer readable instructions stored thereon, the instructions which when executed on a processor cause the processor to perform a method comprising the steps of:

determining that a plurality of electronic devices are to be part of a shared workspace;

accessing a location of each of the plurality of electronic devices;

generating a representation of the shared workspace that indicates the location of each of the electronic devices from the perspective of a first electronic device of the electronic devices; and

presenting the representation of the shared workspace on a display screen of the first electronic device.

14. The computer readable storage media of claim 13, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions which when executed on the processor cause the processor to perform the step of altering the representation of the shared workspace as electronic devices are added to or removed from the shared workspace.

15. The computer readable storage media of claim 14, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions which when executed on the processor cause the processor to perform the steps of:

generating a representation of the shared workspace that indicates the location of each of the electronic devices that are part of the shared workspace from the perspective of a second electronic device of the electronic devices; and

presenting the representation of the shared workspace on a display screen of the second electronic device.

16. The computer readable storage media of claim 13, wherein the determining that a plurality of electronic devices are to be part of a shared workspace includes determining that the plurality of electronic devices are able to communicate using short range wireless communication.

17. An apparatus comprising:

a display

a processor coupled to the display; and

a computer readable storage media coupled to the processor, the computer readable storage media having computer readable instructions stored thereon, the instructions which when executed on the processor cause the processor to perform a method comprising;

determining that a plurality of electronic devices that include the apparatus are to be part of a shared workspace;

generating a representation of the shared workspace based on capabilities of the apparatus; and

presenting the representation of the shared workspace on the display.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the generating a representation of the shared workspace includes:

determining to include less than all of the plurality of electronic devices in the representation based on the capabilities of the apparatus, the included electronic devices are a first set of electronic devices.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the generating a representation of the shared workspace is further based on the location of each of the electronic devices.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions which when executed on the processor cause the processor to perform:

receiving a request to pan the representation of the shared workspace to a different location;

determining a new representation of the shared workspace based on the locations the plurality of electronic devices, a second set of the plurality of electronic devices that is different from the first set is included in the new representation; and

presenting the new representation of the shared workspace on the display screen.