Method for associating a discussion with a document

• US 6,438,564 B1
• Filed: 06/17/1998
• Issued: 08/20/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Morton, Michael Joseph, Sengupta, Samudra, Ebbo, David Serge
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong, Stephen S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bashore, William L.
• Application Number:
  US09/098,978
• Time in Patent Office: 1,525 Days
• Field of Search: 707/6, 707/526, 707/500, 707/4, 707/512, 709/204, 709/218, 709/228, 709/206, 709/217, 713/200
• US Class Current: 715/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes

Abstract

Associating a discussion with a document by associating the discussion with an identifier for the document, such as the document address. A discussion is associated with the document without modifying the document. A reply can be associated with a general discussion, an in-line discussion or another reply. General and/or in-line discussions can be associated with the document. An in-line discussion is associated with a particular portion of the document through a signature. The signature is determined by analyzing the contents of the document near the in-line discussion location.

Claims

1. A method for displaying a general discussion and an in-line discussion that have an association with a document, the in-line discussion including an identifier for an in-line discussion location in the document, comprising the steps of:

detecting a request to access the document, wherein the request to access the document operates as a request to obtain any discussions associated with the document;

in response to the request, obtaining the document, the general discussion and the in-line discussion;

displaying the document;

displaying the general discussion;

determining a possible location in the document for the in-line discussion;

calculating a signature for the possible location;

determining whether the signature matches the identifier;

and if the signature matches the identifier, then displaying the in-line discussion at the possible location.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the association is through a document address for the document, and wherein the step of obtaining the general discussion and the in-line discussion comprises requesting the general discussion and the in-line discussion associated with the document address.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the document is stored on a document server, and wherein the step of obtaining the general discussion and the in-line discussion comprises receiving the general discussion and the in-line discussion from a discussion server that is distinct from the document server.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of displaying the general discussion comprises displaying the general discussion with the document.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of calculating a signature for the possible location comprises calculating a value based upon the documents content near the possible location.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of displaying the in-line discussion comprises:

determining all possible locations in the document for the in-line discussion;

calculating a signature for each of the possible locations;

determining whether any of the signatures match the identifier; and

if none of the signatures match the identifier, then displaying the in-line discussion at a default location.

7. A method for identifying a plurality of locations in a document for an in-line discussion associated with the document, comprising the steps of:

identifying the locations based upon locations of elements in the document;

for each of the identified locations;

calculating a signature for the location based upon document contents proximate to the location, and

displaying a discussion icon at the location to indicate that an in-line discussion can be inserted at the location;

detecting a selection of the discussion icon;

receiving in-line discussion text for the in-line discussion;

displaying the in-line discussion at the location; and

associating the in-line discussion with the document through a document address.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of associating the in-line discussion with the document comprises creating a database entry based upon the in-line discussion text, the signature, and the document address.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the document comprises a paragraph, and wherein the step of determining the location comprises determining where the paragraph ends by detecting a tag that defines the end of the paragraph.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of calculating the signature comprises calculating the Cyclic Redundancy Check of a predetermined number of characters that precede the tag.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the document comprises a plurality of possible locations for the in-line discussion, and wherein the identifying, calculating, and displaying steps are repeated for each of the possible locations.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of creating the in-line discussion comprises the steps of:

displaying the in-line discussion text; and

displaying an action icon following the in-line discussion text.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the in-line discussion has an in-line discussion identifier, further comprising the steps of:

detecting a selection of the action icon;

receiving reply text;

creating a reply following the in-line discussion; and

associating the reply with the in-line discussion through the in-line discussion identifier.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of associating the reply with the in-line discussion comprises creating a database entry based upon the reply text and the in-line discussion identifier.

15. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for displaying an in-line discussion associated with a document, the in-line discussion having an in-line discussion signature, comprising the steps of:

detecting a request to access the document, wherein the request to access the document operates as a request to obtain any discussions associated with the document;

in response to the request, obtaining the document and the in-line discussion;

determining possible in-line discussion locations in the document;

calculating a signature for each of the possible in-line discussion locations;

comparing the signatures to the in-line discussion signature for a match; and

if one of the signatures is the match to the in-line discussion identifier, then displaying the in-line discussion text at the possible in-line discussion location identified by the match.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the document comprises tags, each tag defining a location of an element in the document, and wherein the step of determining the possible in-line discussion locations comprises determining the locations of the elements of the document by detecting the tags.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the step of calculating a signature for each of the possible in-line discussion locations comprises:

for each of the tags, using a predetermined number of characters that precede the tag to calculate the signature.

18. A method for associating a document and an in-line discussion, comprising the steps of:

(a) displaying the document;

(b) receiving the discussion, the discussion including an in-line discussion and an in-line discussion signature identifying an in-line discussion location;

(c) associating the discussion with a document identifier for the document;

(d) detecting a request to access the document, wherein the request to access the document operates as a request to obtain any discussions associated with the document;

(e) in response to the request, obtaining the document and the discussion;

(f) displaying the document;

(g) determining a possible discussion location in the document;

(h) calculating a signature for the possible discussion location;

(i) determining whether the signature matches the in-line signature; and

(j) if the signature matches the in-line signature, then displaying the in-line discussion text at the possible discussion location.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the discussion is a general discussion, and wherein the step of receiving the discussion comprises receiving general discussion text from a user.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the discussion is a general discussion, and wherein the step of displaying the discussion comprises displaying the general discussion text with the document.

21. The method of claim 18, comprising the step of repeating steps (g)-(j) for another possible discussion location.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein the document comprises a paragraph tag that defines a paragraph in the document, and wherein the step of determining the possible discussion location comprises determining the location of the paragraph in the document by detecting the paragraph tag.

23. The method of claim 18, wherein the step of associating the discussion with the document comprises creating a database entry based upon the discussion and the document identifier.

24. The method of claim 18, wherein the step of associating the discussion with the document comprises sending a notice to a notification address indicating that the discussion has been associated with the document.

25. A method for associating a reply with an in-line discussion that includes an identifier for an in-line discussion location, comprising the steps of:

(a) detecting a request to access a document;

(b) in response to the request, obtaining the in-line discussion;

(c) displaying the in-line discussion at the in-line discussion location by;

determining a possible location in the document for the in-line discussion;

calculating a signature for the possible location;

determining whether the signature matches the identifier; and

if the signature matches the identifier, then displaying the in-line discussion at the possible location;

(d) receiving reply text for the reply;

(e) displaying the reply following the in-line discussion; and

(f) associating the reply with the parent discussion through an identifier for the parent discussion.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the parent discussion is a first reply.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein step (f) comprises creating a database entry in a discussion database using the reply text and the identifier for the parent discussion.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein the parent discussion is stored in a discussion database and the identifier for the parent discussion is a function of the discussion database.