Inline user addressing in chat and document editing sessions

• US 9,456,012 B2
• Filed: 01/16/2015
• Issued: 09/27/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Cohen, Gabriel
• Primary Examiner(s): BADERMAN, SCOTT T
• Assistant Examiner(s): Velez-Lopez, Mario M
• Application Number:
  US14/599,387
• Publication Number:
  US 20150127603A1
• Time in Patent Office: 620 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/101 Collaborative creation, e.g. joint development of products or services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/046 Interoperability with other network applications or services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/101 Access control lists [ACL]
• 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

A computer-implemented method is executed on a server having one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs to be executed by the one or more processors. The method includes receiving document editing commands, for editing a respective document, from one or more users in a document editing session, and editing the respective document in accordance with the commands received from the users. The received commands including document text for the document. The method further includes detecting, within the respective document text, an embedded request to invite a specified user to access the respective document, and responding by sending an invitation to the specified user, and, if needed, adding the specified user to an access control list of the respective document to enable the specified user to access the document in response to detecting the embedded request.

Claims

1. A method of managing a multi-user session, comprising:

at a server having one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs to be executed by the one or more processors so as to perform the method;

detecting, from a first user, an embedded request to have another user access the multi-user session, wherein the embedded request includes a first portion that identifies the request as an embedded request and a second portion; and

in response to detecting the embedded request;

querying an address book uniquely associated with the first user for a match to the second portion of the embedded request, wherein, when one or more contact suggestions are found in the address book that match the second portion of the embedded request, sending the one or more contact suggestions to a client associated with the first user for confirmation and upon confirmation;

(i) making the embedded request visible to all participants in the multi-user session,

(ii) sending a communication to the one or more contact suggestions regarding participating in the multi-user session, and

(iii) adding the one or more contact suggestions to an access control list for the multi-user session to enable the one or more contact suggestions to participate in the multi-user session.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein

the multi-user session is a document editing session in which a document is edited,

each user in the multi-user access control list has a privilege to edit the document, and

the document is selected from the group consisting of a word processing document, a spreadsheet document, a presentation document, a drawing, and a webpage.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein

the second portion follows the first portion,

the first portion includes a predefined symbol, and

the second portion comprises an identifier of the specified user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the embedded request is in a communication from the first user that includes a third portion, wherein the third portion is text to be included in the multi-user session.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication to the one or more contact suggestions includes a link to a document being edited in the multi-user session, the link including a command or position parameter specifying a portion of the document to be initially displayed or presented by the one or more contact suggestion'"'"'s client when the link is selected or activated by the one or more contact suggestions.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the communication to a contact suggestion in the one or more contact suggestions includes, when the contact suggestion is online, sending the communication to the contact suggestion through an online channel corresponding to one of:

an active window of an application corresponding to the multi-user session and an inactive window of the application corresponding to the multi-user session.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication to a contact suggestion in the one or more contact suggestions includes an invitation to join the multi-user session, and, in response to receiving from the contact suggestion acceptance of the invitation, sending at least a portion of the multi-user session to a client associated with the contact suggestion.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the multi-user session is a document editing session in which a document is edited, the method further including:

receiving chat content from one or more of the users authorized to access the document, for a chat conversation associated with the document;

adding the embedded request to the chat conversation; and

sending at least a portion of the chat conversation that includes the embedded request to one or more of the users authorized to access the document.

9. The method of claim 8, the method further including adding to the chat conversation a link to a portion of the document corresponding to the embedded request.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the multi-user session is a text chatting session.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the multi-user session is a document editing session.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the address book includes a plurality of fields for each contact, including at least a first name and a last name and wherein the querying matches the second portion of the embedded request against each of the plurality of fields of each contact in the address book to find the one or more contact suggestions.

13. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured for execution by one or more processors of a server system, the one or more programs comprising:

detecting, from a first user, an embedded request to have another user access a multi-user session, wherein the embedded request includes a first portion that identifies the request as an embedded request and a second portion; and

in response to detecting the embedded request;

querying an address book uniquely associated with the first user for a match to the second portion of the embedded request, wherein, when one or more contact suggestions are found in the address book that match the second portion of the embedded request, sending the one or more contact suggestions to a client associated with the first user for confirmation and upon confirmation;

(i) making the embedded request visible to all participants in the multi-user session,

(ii) sending a communication to the one or more contact suggestions regarding participating in the multi-user session, and

(iii) adding the one or more contact suggestions to an access control list for the multi-user session to enable the specified user to participate in the multi-user session.

14. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein

the multi-user session is a document editing session in which a document is edited,

each user in the multi-user access control list has a privilege to edit the document, and

the document is selected from the group consisting of a word processing document, a spreadsheet document, a presentation document, a drawing, and a webpage.

15. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein

the second portion follows the first portion, and

the first portion includes a predefined symbol, and the second portion comprises an identifier of the specified user.

16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the multi-user session is a text chatting session.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the multi-user session is a document editing session.

18. A server system, comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory storing one or more programs for execution by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including;

detecting, from a first user, an embedded request to have another user access a multi-user session, wherein the embedded request includes a first portion that identifies the request as an embedded request and a second portion; and

in response to detecting the embedded request;

querying an address book uniquely associated with the first user for a match to the second portion of the embedded request, wherein when one or more contact suggestions are found in the address book that match the second portion of the embedded request, sending the one or more contact suggestions to a client associated with the first user for confirmation and upon confirmation;

(i) making the embedded request visible to all participants in the multi-user session,

(ii) sending a communication to the one or more contact suggestions regarding participating in the multi-user session, and

(iii) adding the one or more contact suggestions to an access control list for the multi-user session to enable the specified user to participate in the multi-user session.

19. The server system of claim 18, wherein the multi-user session is a text chatting session or a document editing session.