Recognizing Cloud Content

• US 20130191339A1
• Filed: 01/19/2012
• Published: 07/25/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Haden, Kyle M. von, Hwang, Jennifer H.
• Granted Patent: US 9,164,997 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/638
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/11 File system administration, e.g. details of archiving or snapshots file system backup G06F11/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/176 Support for shared access to files; File sharing support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/178 Techniques for file synchronisation in file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/901 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures for retrieval from the web G06F16/951
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/123 Storage facilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

Recognizing cloud content techniques are described herein. A designated storage location for cloud content corresponding to a service is registered locally at a device. Files stored in association with the registered storage location may be recognized as cloud content of the corresponding service. The recognized cloud content may be handled in various ways to customize the user experience and tailor interaction with cloud content. For example, icons or other visual identifiers may be used within device, operating system and/or application user interfaces to represent an association of files with a particular service based on recognition of the files as cloud content. Additionally, a registered storage location for a device may be employed to obtain relative paths to files that may be used to roam file activity lists between different devices.

Claims

1. A method implemented by a computing device comprising:

registering a local storage location on the computing device for files associated with a collaboration service;

detecting files corresponding to the registered location;

recognizing the detected files as cloud content associated with the collaboration service; and

outputting indications for display via one or more applications of the computing device to reflect association of the recognized files with the collaboration service.

2. A method as described in claim 1, wherein registering the local storage location comprises storing the local storage location via a data object designated for registration of locations for files corresponding to collaboration services.

3. A method as described in claim 2, wherein the data object comprises a file system configuration and settings entry.

4. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the files comprise synchronized offline files with versions stored locally on multiple devices to which the files are synchronized.

5. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the indications comprise icons representing the collaboration service for display with corresponding items presented in an activities list.

6. A method as described in claim 1, wherein detecting files corresponding to the registered location comprises parsing references to the files to detect references that contain the registered location.

7. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the one or more applications comprise a productivity suite that integrates multiple office productivity modules.

8. A method as described in claim 1, further comprising:

detecting a processing action performed by an application upon a particular file of the recognized files;

constructing a relative path to the particular file by removing a path for the registered local storage location from a full path to the particular file; and

using the relative path to add an item that described the processing action for the particular file in an activities list.

9. One or more computer-readable storage media comprising instructions that, when executed by a client device, implement a recognition module configured to perform operations comprising:

ascertaining activities associated with relative paths for files synchronized across multiple devices via a collaboration service;

constructing paths to local versions of the files in local storage of the client device by combining the relative paths with a registered location for files associated with the collaboration service registered on the client device; and

rendering a list of activities that uses the constructed paths for list items corresponding to the files associated with the collaboration service.

10. One or more computer-readable storage media of claim 9, wherein the recognition module is further configured to perform operations comprising:

recognizing files stored in local storage of the client device under the registered location as cloud content associated with the collaboration service;

tracking activities of one or more applications with the files recognized as cloud content using relative paths formed by removing the registered location from paths to the files in the local storage; and

roaming, via the collaboration service, a list of the activities for the files recognized as cloud content using the relative paths to enable other devices to match the activities to corresponding versions of the files in local storage of the other devices.

11. One or more computer-readable storage media of claim 9, wherein the recognition module is further configured to perform operations comprising:

registering the registered location for files associated with the collaboration service via a designated data object when the collaboration service is activated on the client device.

12. One or more computer-readable storage media of claim 9, wherein:

the relative paths include a service identifier corresponding to the collaboration service; and

constructing the paths to local versions of the files further comprises;

looking-up the registered location based on the service identifier; and

replacing the service identifier in the relative paths with the registered location.

13. One or more computer-readable storage media of claim 9, wherein the activities include indications of recently used documents across the multiple devices for inclusion in a recently used documents list output at the client device.

14. One or more computer-readable storage media of claim 9, wherein the activities include indications of files that have been pinned to user interfaces of an application across the multiple devices to enable pinning of corresponding files within a user interface for the application output at the client device.

15. One or more computer readable storage media of claim 9, wherein rendering the list of activities comprises presenting a visual indication representing the collaboration service with the list items corresponding to the files associated with the collaboration service.

16. One or more computer readable storage media of claim 9, wherein the recognition module is further configured to perform operations comprising:

recognizing that an activity list synched between the multiple devices contains at least one item associated with a particular collaboration service that is unavailable on the client device by determining that a path for the particular collaboration service is not registered at the client device; and

outputting a notification to install the particular collaboration service at the client device to access the at least one item.

17. A computing device comprising:

a processing system; and

one or more modules configured to perform operations to handle recognized cloud content of the computing device including;

registering via a designated data object a location in local storage of the computing device for files associated with a collaboration service;

recognizing files stored in the local storage under the registered location as cloud content associated with the collaboration service;

outputting indications for display via one or more applications of the computing device to reflect association of the recognized files with the collaboration service; and

roaming activities performed by one or more applications of the computing device with the recognized files for use by multiple devices to which the recognized files are synchronized using relative paths to reference the activities.

18. The computing device of claim 17, wherein roaming the activities comprises:

detecting the activities performed by the one or more applications with the recognized files;

constructing relative paths for the detected activities by removing the registered location from paths to the recognized files in the local storage;

forming a list of the activities that includes the constructed relative paths; and

uploading the list of the activities via the collaboration service for access by the multiple devices.

19. The computing device of claim 17, wherein the activities that are roamed include a list of recently used documents corresponding to the one or more applications.

20. The computing device of claim 17, the operations to handle recognized cloud content of the computing device further include:

discovering one or more registered collaboration services for the computing device by referencing registered locations for the registered collaboration services from designated data objects by which the registered locations are stored; and

customizing a user interface for at least one application of the computing device to include custom features corresponding to the registered collaboration services that are discovered.