UNIFIED MESSAGING PLATFORM FOR DISPLAYING ATTACHED CONTENT IN-LINE WITH E-MAIL MESSAGES

• US 20160344667A1
• Filed: 07/15/2015
• Published: 11/24/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Brasket, Michael, Kannuthottiyil, Ewin Davis, Lane, Mira, Waldman, Larry, Voss, Chad
• Granted Patent: US 10,063,501 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/117 Tagging; Marking up details of markup languages G06F40/143; Designating a block; Setting of attributes style sheets, e.g. eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation [XSLT], G06F40/154
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/101 Collaborative creation, e.g. joint development of products or services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/103 Workflow collaboration or project management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/08 Annexed information, e.g. attachments
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/10 Multimedia information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/18 Commands or executable codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/56 Unified messaging, e.g. interactions between e-mail, instant messaging or converged IP messaging [CPM]

Abstract

A unified messaging platform is described which provides a comprehensive environment for collaboration, file sharing, and project management. In aspects, the unified messaging platform is organized based on one or more teams or projects, where each team or project is further organized by customizable categories. A user interface is provided for ready access to information related to each category (e.g., communications, files, tasks, work product, etc.), which information is automatically and seamlessly synchronized across the platform such that each team member remains abreast of the current progress and status of a project. Collaboration regarding an attached file is facilitated by extracting and providing at least a portion of the attached file within a message body. Moreover, revisions made to extracted content within the message body may be automatically synchronized and reflected in the attached file, as well as in a files tab storing files associated with a team.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

at least one processing unit; and

at least one memory storing computer executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processing unit, cause the system to perform a method, the method comprising;

receiving a message with an attached file;

identifying a structure of the attached file;

identifying at least one annotation in the attached file;

determining a location of the at least one annotation in the structure of the attached file;

extracting the at least one annotation; and

displaying the at least one annotation in the message.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

anchoring the at least one annotation to the structure of the attached file.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein anchoring the at least one annotation to the structure of the attached file further comprises:

creating a link to the attached file.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

extracting a portion of the attached file, wherein the portion of the attached file comprises the at least one annotation.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

embedding the at least one annotation in a body of the message.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a selection of the extracted annotation; and

opening the attached file.

7. The system of claim 6, further comprising:

opening the attached file at the location of the at least one annotation.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

transforming the message for transmission to at least one of;

an enterprise messaging application and a third party email messaging application.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a context of the at least one annotation; and

displaying the context with the extracted annotation.

10. A system comprising:

at least one processing unit; and

at least one memory storing computer executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processing unit, cause the system to perform a method, the method comprising;

receiving a content embedded message, wherein the content embedded message includes extracted content from an associated file;

identifying a structure of the extracted content, wherein the structure is associated with a file structure of the associated file;

receiving an annotation to the extracted content;

identifying a location of the annotation within the structure of the extracted content; and

synchronizing the annotation with the associated file.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

generating computer-readable instructions for synchronizing the annotation with the associated file.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the content embedded message was received from an application.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

determining whether the application is a unified messaging application; and

in response to determining that the application is not the unified messaging application, transforming the computer-readable instructions to be readable by the unified messaging application.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the associated file corresponds to a file attached to the content embedded message and a file stored on a unified messaging platform.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising:

synchronizing the annotation with the attached file and the stored file.

16. A method of extracting a portion of an attached file and embedding the extracted portion in a message, the method comprising:

receiving a message with an attached file;

scanning the attached file;

extracting a portion of the attached file; and

displaying the extracted portion in the message.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

determining a location of the extracted portion in a structure of the attached file; and

anchoring the extracted portion to the structure of the attached file.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein anchoring the extracted portion to the structure of the attached file further comprises:

creating a link to the attached file.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the extracted portion includes at least one annotation to the attached file.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

embedding the extracted portion in a body of the message.