Enabling electronic documents for limited-capability computing devices

• US 20070130500A1
• Filed: 12/05/2005
• Published: 06/07/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Singh, Balbir, Moldovanu, Petru, Rivers-Moore, Jonathan
• Granted Patent: US 8,001,459 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/205
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/2895 Intermediate processing functionally located close to the data provider application, e.g. reverse proxies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561

Abstract

System(s), method(s), and/or techniques (“tools”) are described that enable electronic document functionality for a limited-capability computing device. The tools may enable a computing device with limited display capabilities to present and enable navigation through nested items or hierarchical view levels of an electronic document. The tools may also build renderable view information by which a device may enable electronic document functionality based on the capabilities of that device.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

building first renderable view information usable by a limited-capability computing device to present an item in an electronic form and indicia associated with a nested item for that item and enabling selection of the indicia; and

responsive to receiving an indication of a selection of one of the indicia, building a second renderable view information usable by the limited-capability computing device to present the nested item associated with the indicia effective to permit a user to navigate to the nested item.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second renderable view information comprises a second indicia and further comprising, responsive to receiving an indication of a selection of the second indicia, building a third renderable view information usable by the limited-capability computing device to present an item subordinate to the nested item or an item superior to the nested item effective to permit the user to navigate to the subordinate or superior item.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving hierarchical view information associated with the electronic form and having the item and the nested item and wherein the act of building builds the first renderable view information based on the hierarchical view information and renderable pieces of view information.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the hierarchical view information further comprises an item subordinate to the nested item, and wherein the method is further effective to enable a user to navigate through the hierarchical view information to navigate to the item, the nested item, and the subordinate item.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the indicia comprises text from a textual nested item related to said nested item or from said nested item.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of building the first renderable view information is performed without user interaction.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving an edit to the nested item, altering a data instance for the electronic form responsive to the edit, and enabling a higher-capability computing device to view and interact with the data instance.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the limited-capability of the limited-capability device is a display incapable of presenting at once the nested item, its sibling nested items, and superior or subordinate items of the nested item and the superior or subordinate item'"'"'s sibling nested items.

9. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving viewing capabilities of a computing device or a request to treat the computing device as not permitting two or more hierarchical viewing levels to be presented at once; and

if the viewing capabilities permit two or more of the hierarchical viewing levels to be presented at once, building, from hierarchical view information associated with an electronic document and having hierarchical viewing levels, renderable view information by which the computing device is enabled to present the two or more of the hierarchical viewing levels, or

if the viewing capabilities do not permit two or more of the hierarchical viewing levels to be presented at once or the request is received, building, from hierarchical view information associated with an electronic document and having hierarchical viewing levels, renderable view information by which the computing device is enabled to present one of the hierarchical viewing levels.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising building the renderable view information with indicia selection of which enables a user to select to view another hierarchical level.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising building second renderable view information responsive to a selection to view another hierarchical level and by which the computing device is enabled to present said another hierarchical level.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the request is not received and the act of building is performed without user interaction.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the electronic document is an editable electronic form, and further comprising:

enabling an edit to the editable electronic form through the hierarchical view information; and

editing a data instance responsive to an edit to the editable electronic form to provide an edited data instance.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising, if the viewing capabilities permit two or more of the hierarchical viewing levels to be presented at once, building second renderable view information by which a second computing device with second viewing capabilities that do not permit two or more of the hierarchical viewing levels to be presented at once is enabled to continue editing the edited data instance.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising, if the viewing capabilities do not permit two or more of the hierarchical viewing levels to be presented at once or the request is received, building second renderable view information by which a second computing device with second viewing capabilities that permit two or more of the hierarchical viewing levels to be presented at once is enabled to continue editing the edited data instance.

16. One or more computer-readable media having computer-readable instructions therein that, when executed by a computer, are capable of acting as an intermediary between a limited-capability computing device and a network computing architecture that is capable of enabling electronic document functionality on a high-capability computing device but not on the limited-capability computing device, the media effective, in conjunction with the network computing architecture, to enable the limited-capability computing device to perform the electronic document functionality.

17. The media of claim 16, wherein the electronic document functionality comprises interacting with nested items of an electronic document.

18. The media of claim 16, wherein the electronic document functionality is enabled by business logic associated with an electronic document, and wherein the media is capable, in conjunction with the network computing architecture, of enabling the business logic on both the limited-capability computing device and the high-capability computing device without altering the business logic.

19. The media of claim 16, wherein the media is further capable of enabling the network computing architecture to enable use of a single data instance of an electronic form on both the limited-capability computing device and the high-capability computing device.

20. The media of claim 16, wherein the network computing architecture enables the electronic document functionality on the high-capability computing device using script and eXtensible Markup Language HyperText Transfer Protocol (XMLHTTP) and wherein the media is capable of switching between the script and XMLHTTP to a HyperText Markup Language (HTML) or Wireless Markup Language (WML) based renderable view information, the HTML or WML-based renderable view information enabling the limited-capability computing device to perform the electronic document functionality using full-page postback with the media.