Presentation of Information Describing User Activities with Regard to Resources

• US 20110276925A1
• Filed: 05/04/2010
• Published: 11/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/04/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Wana, John Surapunt, Perantatos, George, Meyers, Brian, Tumanov, Ilya
• Granted Patent: US 9,697,500 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/856
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting

Abstract

A resource reference is detected in a base resource, such as a web page or an email message. The resource reference refers to a target resource, such as another webpage or another email message. An appropriate activity-based resource type for the resource reference is then identified. The resource reference is then linked to an activity-based resource such that when the base resource is displayed and a user interacts with the resource reference, the activity-based resource is displayed to the user. The activity-based resource comprises a calculated field that has a value that indicates how one or more users have interacted with one or more resources. The value of the calculated field is calculated using activity data indicating how users interacted with the resources. The activity data is generated without receiving input of the activity data from the users.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

detecting, by a computing system, a resource reference in a base resource, the resource reference referring to a target resource;

after detecting the resource reference, identifying, by the computing system, an appropriate activity-based resource type for the resource reference; and

after identifying the appropriate activity-based resource type, linking, by the computing system, the resource reference to an activity-based resource such that when the base resource is displayed and a user interacts with the resource reference, the activity-based resource is displayed to the user, the activity-based resource belonging to the appropriate activity-based resource type, the activity-based resource displaying information about how one or more users interacted with one or more resources, the information about how the users interacted with the resources being generated using activity data that indicates how the users interacted with the resources, the activity data being generated without receiving input of the activity data from the users.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the resource reference in the base resource comprises:

detecting a hyperlink in the base resource.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the appropriate activity-based resource type comprises:

using a set of rules to identify the appropriate activity-based resource type from among a plurality of activity-based resource types, the rules mapping base resource-target resource combinations to activity-based resource types in the plurality of activity-based resource types.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

generating resource data representing the activity-based resource.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein generating the resource data representing the activity-based resource comprises:

retrieving relevant activity data from an activity database that stores the activity data;

using the relevant activity data to generate a value of a calculated field in the activity-based resource; and

adding data representing the value of the calculated field to the resource data representing the activity-based resource.

6. The method of claim 5,

wherein retrieving the relevant activity data comprises:

querying the activity database for the resource data that indicate how one or more of the users have interacted with the target resource; and

wherein adding data representing the value of the calculated field comprises inserting an XML element into the resource data representing the activity-based resource, the XML element specifying the value of the calculated field.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying the activity-based resource when the user positions a cursor over the resource reference.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

displaying the target resource when the user selects the resource reference; and

hiding the activity-based resource when the user moves the cursor off the resource reference.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing the following actions prior to detecting the resource reference;

sending, by the computing system, a resource request to a resource server via a network, the resource request requesting the base resource; and

receiving, by the computing system, resource data representing the base resource.

10. A computing system comprising:

a processing system comprising one or more processing units; and

a data storage system that stores computer-readable instructions that, when executed by one or more of the processing units, cause the computing system to;

detect a resource reference in a base resource, the resource reference referring to a target resource;

identify an appropriate activity-based resource type for the resource reference based at least in part on a type of the base resource and a type of the target resource; and

link the resource reference to an activity-based resource such that when the base resource is displayed and a user interacts with the resource reference, the activity-based resource is displayed to the user, the activity-based resource belonging to the appropriate activity-based resource type, the activity-based resource comprising a calculated field, a value of the calculated field indicates how one or more users interacted with one or more resources, the value of the calculated field being calculated using activity data that that indicates how users interacted with the resources, the activity data being generated without receiving input of the activity data from the users.

11. The computing system of claim 10, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by one or more of the processing units, cause the computing system to generate resource data representing the activity-based resource.

12. The computing system of claim 11, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by one or more of the processing units, cause the computing system to perform the following actions as part of an operation to generate the resource data representing the activity-based resource:

retrieve relevant activity data from an activity database that stores the activity data;

use the relevant activity data to generate the value of the value of the calculated field; and

add data representing the value of the calculated field to the resource data representing the activity-based resource.

13. The computing system of claim 11,

wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by one or more of the processing units, cause the computing system to provide a resource server that generates the resource data representing the activity-based resource in response to receiving a resource request from a client application, the resource request requesting the activity-based resource;

and

wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by one or more of the processing units, cause the computing system to link the resource reference to the activity-based resource such that when the user interacts with the resource reference, the client application sends the resource request to the resource server.

14. The computing system of claim 11,

wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by one or more of the processing units, cause the computing system to provide a resource server that performs the following actions in response to receiving from a client application a resource request requesting the base resource:

generate the resource data representing the activity-based resource; and

incorporate the resource data representing the activity-based resource into resource data representing the base resource the resource request; and

wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by one or more of the processing units, cause the computing system to link the resource reference to the activity-based resource such that when the user interacts with the resource reference, the client application uses the resource data representing the activity-based resource to display the activity-based resource.

15. The computing system of claim 10, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by one or more of the processing units, cause the computing system to perform one of the following actions:

display the activity-based resource on top of the base resource, and display the activity-based resource in a panel next to the base resource.

16. The computing system of claim 10, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by one or more of the processing units, cause the computing system to:

generate client activity data without receiving the client activity data from the user, the client activity data indicating how the user interacted with a given resource presented to the user; and

send the client activity data to a server activity system that adds the client activity data to the activity data, the client activity data remaining associated with the user.

17. The computing system of claim 10, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by one or more of the processing units, cause the computing system to:

generate server activity data that indicates how the users interacted with resources hosted by a resource server; and

add the server activity data to the activity data such that the server activity data remains associated with the users.

18. The computing system of claim 10, wherein the base resource comprises a search results interface and the target resource is a resource that satisfies a search query, wherein the value of the calculated field indicates how a peer of the user interacted with the target resource.

19. The computing system of claim 10,

wherein the base resource is a mailbox interface, the resource reference is an email descriptor, and the target resource is an email message;

and

wherein the calculated field indicates which recipients of the email message have read the email message.

20. A computer-readable data storage medium storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by one or more processing units of a computing system, cause the computing system to:

generate server activity data that indicates how users in a plurality of users interacted with resources in a plurality of resources, wherein the server activity data is generated without receiving input of the server activity data from the users; and

add the server activity data to activity data in an activity database such that the server activity data remains associated with the users;

receive client activity data from client device used by the users, the client activity data indicating how the users interacted with the resources, wherein the client activity data is generated without receiving input of the client activity data from the users;

add the client activity data to the activity data in the activity database such that the client activity data remains associated with the users;

detect a resource reference in a base resource, the resource reference referring to a target resource;

identify an appropriate activity-based resource type for the resource reference from among a plurality of activity-based resource types based at least in part on a type of the base resource and a type of the target resource;

generate resource data representing an activity-based resource belonging to the appropriate activity-based resource type, wherein generating the resource data representing the activity-based resource comprises;

retrieving relevant activity data from the activity database;

using the relevant activity data to generate a value of a calculated field of the activity-based resource, the value of the calculated field indicating how one or more of the users interacted with the target resource; and

adding data representing the value of the calculated field to the resource data representing the activity-based resource;

link the resource reference to the activity-based resource such that when the base resource is displayed and a user positions a cursor over the resource reference, the activity-based resource is displayed to the user;

receive, from a client application, a resource request requesting the base resource; and

send resource data representing the base resource to the client application.