In-place content substitution via code-invoking link

• US 7,822,992 B2
• Filed: 04/07/2004
• Issued: 10/26/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Chavda, Praful, Reddish, Andrew D., Dong, Wenlong, Rogerson, Dale E., Chandrashekar, Sridhar, McRoberts, J. Shane
• Primary Examiner(s): Moazzami; Nasser
• Assistant Examiner(s): Louie; Oscar A
• Application Number:
  US10/819,607
• Publication Number:
  US 20050229252A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,393 Days
• Field of Search: 713/187, 713/168, 713/176, 726/22, 726/26, 726/27, 726/30, 380/59
• US Class Current: 713/187
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/453 Help systems

Abstract

Content including links to behaviors (code which can be executed and return supplemental content for insertion, or can modify existing content) is stored, and at run-time, the links to behaviors are followed and the supplemental content or the modifications to existing comment are used to create a final version of content which will be presented to the user. Security enhancements including a security check ensure that only behaviors which are secure will be run. Default content may be provided, which may be inserted if the security check is not passed, or if the content returned from the behavior is unusable for some reason.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of providing in-place content substitution in a computer system, the method comprising:

parsing, via the computer system, a pre-transformed authored content that has been authored using a first coding format, the authored content containing an embedded behavior link tag linked to a behavior;

loading said behavior upon encountering said behavior link tag in the authored content;

performing, via the computer, a security check to determine if said behavior can be trusted to execute correctly;

if said behavior can be trusted, executing said behavior for querying a current state of the computer system on which the behavior is executed, wherein;

said querying comprises querying the current state of a desktop of the computer system;

executing said behavior results in providing a help operation that is specifically tailored to the current state of the desktop; and

the help operation comprises using the current state of the desktop to point to a portion of the desktop as a guide;

based on the current state of the computer system, transforming the pre-transformed authored content into a presentation content having a second coding format that is different than the first coding format; and

if said behavior cannot be trusted, inhibiting execution of said behavior, and transforming thereon, the pre-transformed authored content into a default content having the second coding format.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining if said behavior can be trusted to execute correctly, comprises determining if execution will result in bogus data being created.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if after transforming the pre-authored content into said presentation content, it is determined that said presentation content does not constitute a usable result, using the default content in place of said presentation content.

4. The method of claim 1, where said querying comprises consulting a state monitor.

5. The method of claim 1, where said current state comprises at least one of:

a current state of a peripheral device of the computer system, a current state of software present in the computer system, a current user preference, or current controls set in said computer system.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said second coding format is a rich text format (RTF).

7. The method of claim 1, wherein transforming the authored content into the presentation content comprises preventing at least a portion of the presentation content from being displayed to a user.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least a portion of the presentation content is permitted to be displayed upon request by the user.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the help operation comprises using the current state of the desktop to provide a graphical representation of the desktop as an aid.

10. A computer-implemented method of producing a runtime content, the method comprising:

embedding, via a computer, in a pre-transformed authored content, at least one of a link for fetching additional content data and a behavior link tag for executing a behavior;

loading said behavior upon encountering said behavior link tag in the pre-transformed authored content;

performing, via the computer, a security check to determine if said behavior can be trusted to execute correctly;

querying a current state of a computer system on which the behavior is executed, wherein;

said querying comprises querying the current state of a desktop of the computer system;

executing said behavior results in providing a help operation that is specifically tailored to the current state of the desktop; and

the help operation comprises using the current state of the desktop to provide a graphical representation of the desktop as an aid; and

generating the runtime content in the computer system by parsing the pre-transformed authored content based on the current state of the computer system, the parsing comprising at least one of using the link for adding additional content data to the authored content and using the behavior link tag for executing the behavior.

11. A user system incorporating a tangible computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a plurality of computer-executable instructions configured to provide in-place content substitution comprising:

parsing a pre-transformed authored content containing at least one of a) an embedded link for adding additional content data to the authored content and b) an embedded behavior link tag for executing a behavior for influencing said authored content;

loading said behavior upon encountering said behavior link tag in the pre-transformed authored content;

performing a security check to determine if said behavior can be trusted to execute correctly, the security check comprising a verification that said behavior will execute as expected and verifying that executing said behavior does not result in production of bogus data;

if said behavior can be trusted, querying a current state of the user system on which the behavior is executed, wherein;

said querying comprises querying the current state of a desktop of the user system;

executing said behavior results in providing a help operation that is specifically tailored to the current state of the desktop; and

the help operation comprises using the current state of the desktop to point to a portion of the desktop as a guide; and

generating a presentation content by parsing the authored content in accordance with the current state of the user system.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the authored content contains a link and does not contain a behavior link tag.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the authored content contains a behavior link tag and does not contain a link.

14. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

determining if the result of executing said behavior produces a usable result; and

if executing said behavior produces a usable result, including said usable result in said presentation content, and, if executing said behavior does not produce a usable result, including a default content in said presentation content.

15. The system of claim 11, where said current state comprises at least one of:

a) a current state of a peripheral device of the user system, b) a current state of software present in the user system, c) a current user preference, or d) current controls set in said user system.

16. The system of claim 11, where said production of presentation content based on the result of executing said behavior comprises removing at least a portion of said authored content.

17. The system of claim 11, where said production of presentation content based on the result of executing said behavior comprises setting at least a portion of said authored content to not be displayed.

18. The system of claim 17, where said setting some portion of said authored content to not be displayed comprises allowing the user to see said portion of said authored content only on request.

19. A computer configured to produce runtime content, the computer comprising:

a processor that executes computer executable instructions stored in a computer readable storage medium of the computer, the computer executable instructions comprising;

an authoring tool configured to generate a pre-transformed authored content;

a link adder configured to add to said authored content, at least one of a) an embedded link for adding additional content data to the authored content and b) an embedded behavior link tag for executing a behavior for influencing said authored content; and

a packager configured to transform said authored content to a presentational content for displaying on a display of the computer, the transforming comprising querying a current state of the computer, and performing a security check to determine if said behavior can be trusted to execute correctly, failing which, the presentational content is defaulted to a default content, wherein;

said querying comprises querying the current state of a desktop of the computer system;

executing said behavior results in providing a help operation that is specifically tailored to the current state of the desktop; and

the help operation comprises using the current state of the desktop to point to a portion of the desktop as a guide.