Document collaboration by transforming and reflecting a document object model

• US 8,843,816 B2
• Filed: 04/25/2008
• Issued: 09/23/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Stull, Benjamin Travis, Nedikov, Nikolai, Parker, Cameron John, Neufeld, Brian J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bashore, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): SHREWSBURY, NATHAN K
• Application Number:
  US12/109,342
• Publication Number:
  US 20090271713A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,342 Days
• Field of Search: 715/200, 715/202, 715/203, 715/205, 715/209, 715/210, 715/229, 715/234, 715/273
• US Class Current: 715/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1827 Network arrangements for conference optimisation or adaptation

Abstract

Technologies are described herein for document collaboration by transforming and reflecting a document object model. A DOM representation of a document to be shared is obtained at a host computer, transformed, and reflected to one or more participant computers. Each of the participant computers receives the DOM representation of the document and renders and displays the DOM representation locally. When the DOM representation is modified, changes to the DOM representation may also be transmitted to the participant computers, rendered, and displayed. Events occurring with respect to the DOM may also be synchronized between the host and participant computers.

Claims

1. A method for sharing a document, the method comprising:

obtaining, at a host computer, a document for sharing with a participant computer in communication with the host computer, wherein the participant computer does not have access rights to view the document;

generating, at the host computer, a document object model (DOM) representation of the document, the DOM representation comprising host-dependent content;

determining whether an event indicates that the DOM representation has been changed;

if the event indicates that the DOM representation has not been changed, reflecting the event to the participant computer to instantiate the event at the participant computer, wherein the event comprises at least one of a mouse movement event, a window size event, a scroll position event or a navigation event;

if the event indicates that the DOM representation has been changed, modifying the host-dependent content of the DOM representation of the document to obtain a transformed document object model (DOM) representation; and

allowing the participant computer to view the document by reflecting the transformed DOM representation to the participant computer for rendering of the document and the content external to the DOM representation at the participant computer.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein transforming the DOM representation of the document comprises removing the host-dependent content from the DOM.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the DOM representation of the document has a change made at the host computer after the transformed DOM was reflected to the participant computer; and

in response to determining that the DOM representation of the document has the change,

modifying the DOM to obtain a modified DOM, and

transmitting the modified DOM to the participant computer.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the DOM representation of the document has a change made at the host computer after the transformed DOM was reflected to the participant computer; and

in response to determining that the DOM representation of the document has the change,

identifying the change to the DOM representation of the document, and

transmitting information identifying the change to the participant computer without transmitting the DOM representation of the document.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the event has occurred at the host computer with respect to the DOM representation of the document after the transformed DOM was reflected to the participant computer; and

in response to determining that the event has occurred with respect to the DOM representation of the document,

modifying the DOM according to the event to obtain a modified DOM, and

transmitting the modified DOM to the participant computer to reflect the event for instantiation at the participant computer.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the event comprises an edit event.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the event comprises an object interaction event.

8. A computer comprising:

a processor; and

a computer storage medium having computer executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the processor, cause the computer to obtain, from a web server, a document for sharing with participant computers in communication with the computer during a collaboration session, the document comprising host-dependent content, wherein each of the participant computers does not have access rights to view the document;

generate a document object model (DOM) representation of the document at the computer, the DOM representation of the document comprising the host-dependent content;

obtain content external to the DOM representation;

determine whether an event indicates that the DOM representation has been changed;

if the event indicates that the DOM representation has not been changed, reflect the event to the participant computer to instantiate the event at the participant computer, wherein the event comprises at least one of a mouse movement event, a window size event, a scroll position event or a navigation event;

if the event indicates that the DOM representation has been changed, transform the DOM representation of the document to modify the host-dependent content to obtain a transformed document object model (DOM) representation;

allow each of the participant computers to view the document by reflecting the transformed DOM representation to the participant computers for rendering of the document at the participant computers; and

allow each of the participant computers to obtain and render the content external to the DOM representation, the participant computers configured to receive the content external to the DOM representation from the computer or from the web server.

9. The computer of claim 8, wherein the computer storage medium comprises further computer executable instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the computer to:

determine whether the DOM representation of the document has a change made at the computer after the transformed DOM was reflected to the participant computers; and

in response to determining that the DOM representation of the document has the change,

to identify the change to the DOM representation of the document, and to transmit the change to the participant computers without transmitting the DOM representation of the document.

10. The computer of claim 8, wherein the computer storage medium comprises further computer executable instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the computer to:

determine whether the event has occurred at the computer with respect to the DOM representation of the document after the transformed DOM was reflected to the participant computers; and

in response to determining that the event has occurred with respect to the DOM representation of the document,

to modify the DOM according to the event to obtain a modified DOM, and

to transmit the modified DOM to the participant computers to reflect the event for instantiation at the participant computers.

11. The computer of claim 10, wherein the document comprises a world wide Web (Web) page, and wherein the DOM representation of the document comprises a DOM representation of the Web page.

12. The computer of claim 11, wherein transforming the DOM representation of the document comprises transforming one or more relative uniform resource locators (URLs) in the DOM representation of the Web page into absolute URLs.

13. The computer of claim 8, wherein transforming the DOM representation of the document comprises removing the host-dependent content from the transformed DOM representation.

14. A method for sharing a document, the method comprising:

obtaining, at a host computer from a web server computer, a Web page for sharing with participant computers participating in a collaborative session hosted by the host computer, wherein the participant computers communicate with the host computer using a secure collaborative data channel established between the host computer and the participant computers, wherein the participant computers communicate with the web server computer using a network connection, and wherein the participant computers do not have access rights to view the Web page;

generating, at the host computer, a document object model (DOM) representation of the Web page, the DOM representation comprising a relative uniform resource locator (URL) included in the Web page;

obtaining, at the host computer from the web server computer, content external to the DOM representation;

transforming the DOM representation of the Web page to obtain a transformed document object model (DOM) representation, wherein transforming the DOM representation of the Web page comprises transforming the relative URL into an absolute URL;

allowing each of the participant computers to view the Web page by reflecting the transformed DOM representation to the participant computers for rendering the Web page at the participant computers;

allowing each of the participant computers to obtain and render the content external to the DOM representation, the participant computers configured to receive the content external to the DOM representation from the host computer using the secure collaborative data channel or from the web server computer using the network connection;

detecting an event occurring at the host computer with respect to the Web page displayed at the host computer;

determining whether the event indicates that the DOM representation has been changed;

if the event indicates that the DOM representation has not been changed, reflecting the event to the participant computer to instantiate the event at the participant computer, wherein the event comprises at least one of a mouse movement event, a window size event, a scroll position event or a navigation event;

if the event indicates that the DOM representation has been changed, generating a modified transformed DOM representation of the Web page in accordance with the event; and

reflecting the modified transformed DOM representation of the Web page to the participant computers for rendering at the participant computers.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the event further comprises at least one of

an edit event, or

an object interaction event.