Integrated collaborative user interface for a document editor program

• US 8,943,417 B2
• Filed: 04/29/2011
• Issued: 01/27/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Parker, Jared R., Singh, Sangya, Prickril, Greg, Chan, Wai
• Primary Examiner(s): Theriault, Steven B
• Application Number:
  US13/098,156
• Publication Number:
  US 20110209052A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,369 Days
• Field of Search: 715/708, 715/751, 715/764, 715/765, 715/775, 715/779
• US Class Current: 715/751
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• 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

Abstract

An integrated collaborative user interface for a document editor is provided. The integrated collaborative user interface includes a document pane, document details pane and a section details pane. Document details and section details are obtained and provided to authors. A collaborative author views the document details, section details and provides updates to a document in the document editor. Changes are then refreshed to the authors to provide a consistent and up-to-date status of the document.

Claims

1. A method for providing notifications to collaborators of a document, comprising:

accessing a document editor program that includes collaborative authoring functionality for collaboration and communication on the document and an integrated collaborative user interface that is used to display information relating to the collaboration;

displaying collaborative user interface elements within the integrated collaborative user interface, wherein displaying the collaborative user interface comprises displaying a ribbon menu pane, a document editing pane and a document assembly pane, wherein displaying the ribbon menu pane comprises displaying a document elements ribbon including a publish element, a view details element and section elements including an insert element, a delete element, and a view details element while in collaborative mode and hiding the collaborative user interface elements when not in collaborative mode;

wherein displaying the document assembly pane further comprises displaying, within the document assembly pane, a document detail pane, a section detail pane, and an expanded section detail pane, wherein displaying the document detail pane comprises displaying document details metadata associated with collaboratively authoring the document, and wherein displaying the section details pane comprising displaying section details metadata associated with an author assigned to at least one section of the document;

using the integrated collaborative user interface to associate collaborators with one or more sections of the document for at least one of;

reviewing the one or more sections and updating the one or more sections, wherein more than one collaborator can be associated with a same section;

receiving an update to the document as a result of an input made by at least one of the collaborators;

sending a notification of the update to the document to at least one of;

a new collaborator and an existing collaborator of the document; and

refreshing the document to reflect the update.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a notification interface that displays information relating to sending the notification.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the notification of the update comprises sending the notification of the update in response to receiving an input from the collaborative user interface.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising refreshing a display of the collaborative user interface to display an updated status of the document based on updates made to the document by at least one of the collaborators of the document.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the notification is sent in response to an editing session being finished by at least one of the collaborators.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising hiding a display of the information relating to the collaboration from a display of the document.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the notification of the update to the document comprises sending a context-relevant notification.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein an update is made to the document from at least one of the collaborators that is offline.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising preventing a display of a portion of the collaborative information to at least one of the collaborators based on assigned permissions.

10. A computer storage device having computer executable instructions for providing notifications to collaborators of a document, the instructions comprising:

accessing a document editor program that includes collaborative authoring functionality for collaboration and communication on the document and an integrated collaborative user interface that is used to display information relating to the collaboration;

displaying collaborative user interface elements within the integrated collaborative user interface, wherein displaying the collaborative user interface comprises displaying a ribbon menu pane, a document editing pane and a document assembly pane, wherein displaying the ribbon menu pane comprises displaying a document elements ribbon including a publish element, a view details element and section elements including a view details element while in collaborative mode and hiding the collaborative user interface elements when not in collaborative mode;

wherein displaying the document assembly pane further comprises displaying, within the document assembly pane, a document detail pane, a section detail pane, and an expanded section detail pane, wherein displaying the document detail pane comprises displaying document details metadata associated with collaboratively authoring the document, and wherein displaying the section details pane comprising displaying section details metadata associated with an author assigned to at least one section of the document;

associating other collaborators to participate in reviewing the document, wherein at least a portion of the other collaborators are associated with a same section of the document;

receiving updates to the document as a result of input made by at least two of the collaborators;

updating the integrated collaborative user interface in response to the updates;

determining one or more collaborators to receive a notification of at least one of the updates;

sending a notification of at least one of the updates to the document to the determined collaborators; and

refreshing the document to reflect the updates.

11. The computer storage device of claim 10, further comprising automatically refreshing a display of the collaborative user interface to display an updated status of the document based on the updates made to the document.

12. The computer storage device of claim 10, further comprising hiding a portion of the display of the information relating to the collaboration from a display of the document.

13. The computer storage device of claim 12, further comprising receiving a selection from a user indicating the portion of the display of to hide.

14. The computer storage device of claim 10, wherein sending the notification of the update to the document comprises sending a context-relevant notification.

15. The computer storage device of claim 10, wherein each of the collaborators can update the document in parallel.

16. The computer storage device of claim 10, wherein determining the one or more collaborators to receive at least one of the notifications comprises determining when a section is updated that is assigned to the collaborator.

17. A system for providing notifications to collaborators of a document, the system comprising:

a processor;

a display;

a document editor program that includes collaborative authoring functionality for collaboration and communication on the document and an integrated collaborative user interface that is used to display information relating to the collaboration; and

a memory having computer-executable instructions stored thereon, the instructions being configured to;

displaying the integrated collaborative user interface to add collaborators to participate in collaboration and communication for the document;

displaying collaborative user interface elements within the integrated collaborative user interface, wherein displaying the collaborative user interface comprises displaying a ribbon menu pane, a document editing pane and a document assembly pane, wherein displaying the ribbon menu pane comprises displaying a document elements ribbon including a publish element, a view details element and section elements including a view details element while in collaborative mode and hiding the collaborative user interface elements when not in collaborative mode;

wherein displaying the document assembly pane further comprises displaying, within the document assembly pane, a document detail pane, a section detail pane, and an expanded section detail pane, wherein displaying the document detail pane comprises displaying document details metadata associated with collaboratively authoring the document, and wherein displaying the section details pane comprising displaying section details metadata associated with an author assigned to at least one section of the document;

receiving an update to the document as a result of an input made by at least one of the collaborators;

determining one or more collaborators to receive a notification of the update, wherein the one or more collaborators comprise at least one of;

a new collaborator and an existing collaborator of the document; and

sending a notification of the update to the document to the determined collaborators.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising automatically refreshing a display of the collaborative user interface to display an updated status of the document based on updates made in parallel to the document by collaborators of the document.

19. The system of claim 17, further comprising removing a display of the information relating to the collaboration in response to a selection to the integrated collaborative user interface.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein determining the one or more collaborators to receive the notification of the update comprises determining assigned permissions for each of the collaborators.