Collaborative workspace context information filtering

• US 7,822,738 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2006
• Issued: 10/26/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Nichols, David, Meek, Brian, Andersen, Hans
• Primary Examiner(s): Ali; Mohammad
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ruiz; Angelica
• Application Number:
  US11/606,799
• Publication Number:
  US 20080133501A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,426 Days
• Field of Search: 707 1-206
• US Class Current: 707/713
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2425 Iterative querying; Query formulation based on the results of a preceding query
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

Architecture that provides real-time opportunistic access to data that is relevant and/or related user activities. Ways are disclosed to use information of a single workspace to structure automatic searches into a number of data stores in order to opportunistically extract relevant information therefrom. An email client can use workspace content to train a filter for identifying new messages deemed relevant or related to the content and topics of the workspace, a system can be provided to use the content of a single web site as contextual data for providing auto-generated links to other sites within the corporate enterprise, a collaborative application can natively understand the content being shared and then look for specific terms in the content which can be employed for generating a search query and returning relevant and/or related data, and combinations thereof are provided for automatically generating and searching data stores for relevant and related information.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented system that facilitates data management, the system including a processing unit executing computer-executable program components stored in memory comprising:

a data component that monitors workspace activity of a shared workspace presented on display devices of participants during a collaborative workspace session and accumulates workspace information related to monitored workspace activity of the participants of the collaborative workspace session;

a search component that links to stored previous workspace information, automatically formulates a search query during the collaborative workspace session based on the workspace information accumulated by the data component and the stored previous workspace information, searches one or more data stores during the collaborative workspace session based on the search query, and obtains data relevant to the participants of the collaborative workspace session;

a presentation component for selectively presenting the data relevant to the participants during the collaborative workspace session based on the monitored workspace activity of the participants; and

an inference component that, once the collaborative workspace session is completed;

uses the workspace information accumulated by the data component during the collaborative workspace session and the data relevant to the participants obtained by the search component to automatically update which participant activities are to be monitored by the data component and which data stores are to be searched by the search component,

stores the accumulated workspace information of the completed collaborative workspace session with a link for use during future collaborative workspaces sessions,

collects context information related to content and topics of the completed collaborative workspace session, and

passes the context information to an email client of each participant of the completed workspace session to train an email message filter of each email client to automatically tag email messages relevant to the content and topics of the completed collaborative workspace session.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein data relevant to a particular session participant is obtained from a data store as a preparatory action for the collaborative workspace session.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein each email message filter is trained to tag relevant email messages as related to the completed collaborative workspace session.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the inference component performs one or more of probabilistic-based analysis and statistical-based analysis to infer an action that a particular session participant desires to be automatically performed.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein each email message filter is trained to tag relevant email messages as requiring follow-up with a particular session participant of the completed collaborative workspace session.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the search component automatically searches for a web site that serves web site data related to the workspace activity of the participants of the collaborative workspace session.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the web site is an intranet web site that serves enterprise content related to collaborative workspace sessions.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the workspace information accumulated by the data component includes session data which is employed by the search component to search for relevant data from remote data sources.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the data component monitors data presented to a particular session participant and the search component obtains data relevant to the particular session participant based on the presented data.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the data component monitors scheduling information for a particular session participant and the search component obtains data relevant to the particular session participant based on the scheduling information.

11. A computer-implemented method of managing data, comprising:

monitoring workspace activity of a shared workspace presented on display devices of participants during a collaborative workspace session;

accumulating workspace information related to the monitored workspace activity of the participants of the collaborative workspace session;

linking to stored previous workspace information;

automatically formulating a search query based on the workspace information accumulated during the collaborative workspace session and the stored previous workspace information;

searching one or more data sources during the collaborative workspace session based on the search query;

retrieving data relevant to the participants of the collaborative workspace session;

selectively presenting the data relevant to the participants during the collaborative workspace session based on the monitored workspace activity of the participants; and

once the collaborative workspace session is completed;

automatically updating which participant activities are to be monitored and which data sources are to be searched using the workspace information accumulated during the collaborative workspace session and the data relevant to the participants,

storing the accumulated workspace information of the completed collaborative workspace session with a link for use during future collaborative workspaces sessions,

collecting context information related to content and topics of the completed collaborative workspace session, and

passing the context information to an email client of each participant of the completed collaborative workspace session to train an email filter of each email client to automatically tag email messages relevant to the content and topics of the completed collaborative workspace session.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein each email message filter is trained to tag relevant email messages as related to the completed workspace session.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising searching and retrieving data relevant to a particular session participant as a preparatory action for the collaborative workspace session.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising linking to the stored accumulated workspace information of the completed collaborative workspace session from a new collaborative workspace session.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

linking to stored previous workspace information for a plurality of previous collaborative workspace sessions based on the monitored workspace activity; and

combining the workspace information accumulated during the collaborative workspace session with the stored previous workspace information for the plurality of previous collaborative workspace sessions.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising redirecting relevant email messages received by an email client of a particular session participant of the completed collaborative workspace session to a collection of topics associated with the completed collaborative workspace session.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the search query based on the workspace information accumulated during the collaborative workspace session and the stored previous workspace information is executed against an internal collaboration site.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising dynamically generating a new search query based on new workspace information detected during the collaborative workspace session and searching the one or more data sources based on the new search query to return new data relevant to the participants of the collaborative workspace session.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein each email message filter is trained to tag relevant email messages as requiring follow-up with a particular session participant of the completed collaborative workspace session.

20. A computing device including a processing unit and memory, the computing device comprising:

computer-implemented means for monitoring workspace activity of a shared workspace presented on display devices of participants during a collaborative workspace session;

computer-implemented means for accumulating workspace information related to the monitored workspace activity of the participants of the collaborative workspace session;

computer-implemented means for linking to stored previous workspace information and for formulating a search query based on the workspace information accumulated during the collaborative workspace session and the stored previous workspace information;

computer-implemented means for searching one or more data sources during the collaborative workspace session based on the search query and for obtaining data relevant to the participants of the collaborative workspace session;

computer-implemented means for selectively presenting the data relevant to the participants during the collaborative workspace session based on the monitored workspace activity of the participants; and

computer-implemented means for;

using the workspace information accumulated during the collaborative workspace session and the data relevant to the participants to automatically update which participant activities are to be monitored and which data stores are to be searched once the collaborative workspace session is completed,

storing the accumulated workspace information of the completed collaborative workspace session with a link for use during future collaborative workspaces sessions,

collecting context information related to content and topics of the completed collaborative workspace session, and

passing the context information to an email client of each participant of the completed workspace session to train an email message filter of each email client to automatically tag email messages relevant to the contents and topics of the completed collaborative workspace session.