Structured coauthoring

• US 8,417,666 B2
• Filed: 06/25/2008
• Issued: 04/09/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Bailor, Jonathan B., Knight, Mark R., Simonds, Andrew R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Richardson, James E
• Application Number:
  US12/145,536
• Publication Number:
  US 20090327294A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,749 Days
• Field of Search: 707/608, 707/785, 707/786, 707/695, 707/702, 715/741
• US Class Current: 707/608
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/176 Support for shared access to files; File sharing support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6227 where protection concerns the structure of data, e.g. records, types, queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2141 Access rights, e.g. capability lists, access control lists, access tables, access matrices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2147 Locking files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting

Abstract

A system is presented for structured coauthoring of a document, the system comprising a server. The server includes one or more documents organized into sections, a document permissions module that stores user access permissions for each section of a document, a document update processing module that processes requests from a user to share document updates with other users and that processes requests from a user to receive document updates from other users and a document rendering module that renders a document for display on a client so that sections of the document are updated with shared document updates made by users. The user access permissions determine the extent to which a user can modify each section of the document.

Claims

1. A method executable on a computer system for co-authoring a document by a plurality of users, the computer system having at least one data storage device communicatively coupled to at least one processing unit, the method comprising:

accessing the document, wherein the document is organized into a plurality of sections;

receiving first user access permissions associated with a first section of the plurality of sections of the document, wherein the first user access permissions define an extent to which a first user of the plurality of users can access a first section of the plurality of sections of the document;

receiving second user access permissions associated with the first section of the document, wherein the second user access permissions define an extent to which a second user of the plurality of users can access the first section of the document;

displaying a dynamic control adjacent to each section of the document, wherein the dynamic control for a given section is selectable for setting one or more customized rules for dynamically changing one or more user access permissions associated with the given section of the document;

in response to a selection of the dynamic control adjacent to the first section, setting customized rules for dynamically changing the second user access permissions for the first section upon satisfaction of a condition;

receiving first updates to the first section of the document, wherein the first updates are made to the first section according to the first user access permissions;

receiving a request from the first user to share the first updates with the second user, wherein the second user is specifically selected from the plurality of users;

receiving second updates to the first section of the document, wherein the second updates are made to the first section according to the second user access permissions;

receiving a request from the second user to share the second updates with a third user, wherein the third user is specifically selected from the plurality of users;

displaying a first user control indicating that the first user is accessing the first section of the document;

displaying a second user control indicating that the second user is accessing the first section of the document;

determining that the condition has been satisfied; and

in response to the determination, dynamically changing the second user access permissions for the first section in accordance with the one or more customized rules.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first user access permissions and the second user access permissions include a level of access selected from the group consisting of:

full control, read/write, review only, comment only, read only, and no access.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request from the first user to receive the second updates; and

only displaying the second updates when a request to share the second updates with the first user was received.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving changes to the first user access permissions associated with the first section of the document, wherein the changed first user access permissions define a different extent to which the first user can access the first section of the document.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein after the first updates are received to the first section of the document, the first updates are not available to the second user until the first user sends a request to share the first updates with the second user.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request from the second user to receive the first updates;

determining that the request to share the first updates with the second user was received; and

displaying the first updates.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first user access control dynamically changes from an access level of “

no access”

to an access level of “

review only”

after the second user performs an action that satisfies a second condition, wherein the action comprises marking a section of the document as complete.

8. A computer system for co-authoring a document by a plurality of users comprising:

at least one processing unit; and

at least one data storage device, communicatively coupled to the at least one processing unit and containing computer-readable instructions that are executed by the at least one processing unit to perform the following steps;

displaying the document, wherein the document is organized into a plurality of sections;

receiving first user access permissions, wherein the first user access permissions define an extent to which a first user of the plurality of users can access a first section of the plurality of sections of the document;

displaying a first access control adjacent to a first user control, wherein the first access control identifies the first user access permissions;

receiving second user access permissions, wherein the second user access permissions define an extent to which a second user of the plurality of users can access a first section of the plurality of sections of the document;

displaying a second access control adjacent to a second user control, wherein the second access control identifies the second user access permissions, wherein the first user access permissions and the first access control are different from the second user access permissions and the second access control;

displaying a dynamic control adjacent to each section of the document, wherein the dynamic control for a given section is selectable for setting one or more customized rules for dynamically changing one or more user access permissions associated with the given section of the document;

in response to a selection of the dynamic control adjacent to the first section, setting customized rules for dynamically changing the second user access permissions for the first section upon satisfaction of a condition;

receiving first updates to the first section of the document, wherein the first updates are made to the first section according to the first user access permissions;

receiving a request from the first user to share the first updates with the second user, wherein the second user is specifically selected from the plurality of users;

receiving second updates to the first section of the document, wherein the second updates are made to the first section according to the second user access permissions;

receiving a request from the second user to share the second updates with a third user, wherein the third user is specifically selected from the plurality of users;

displaying the first user control indicating that the first user is accessing the first section of the document;

displaying the second user control indicating that the second user is accessing the first section of the document;

determining that the condition has been satisfied; and

in response to the determination, dynamically changing the second user access permissions for the first section in accordance with the one or more customized rules.

9. The computer system according to claim 8, wherein the first user access permissions and the second user access permissions include a level of access selected from the group consisting of:

full control, read/write, review only, comment only, read only, and no access.

10. The computer system according to claim 8, wherein the first user access permissions include a level of access that dynamically changes to another level of access when a condition is satisfied.

11. The computer system according to claim 10, wherein the condition is completion of a task.

12. The computer system according to claim 8, wherein the first user control is the name of the first user and the second user control is the name of the second user.

13. The computer system according to claim 8, wherein the first access control and the second access control are represented as icons, and wherein different access permissions are represented by one of:

different colored icons, different shaded icons, and different shaped icons.

14. The computer system according to claim 8, further comprising:

receiving a request from the second user to receive the first updates;

determining that the request to share the first updates with the second user was received; and

displaying the first updates.

15. A computer storage medium, not consisting of a modulated data signal, and encoding computer executable instructions that when executed by a processing unit perform a method for co-authoring a document by a plurality of users, the method comprising:

accessing the document, wherein the document is organized into a plurality of sections;

receiving first user access permissions associated with a first section of the plurality of sections of the document, wherein the first user access permissions define an extent to which a first user of the plurality of users can access the first section of the document;

receiving second user access permissions associated with the first section of the document, wherein the second user access permissions define an extent to which a second user of the plurality of users can access the first section of the document, and wherein the second user access permissions are different from the first user access permissions;

displaying a dynamic control adjacent to each section of the document, wherein the dynamic control for a given section is selectable for setting one or more customized rules for dynamically changing one or more user access permissions associated with the given section of the document;

in response to a selection of the dynamic control adjacent to the first section, setting customized rules for dynamically changing the second user access permissions for the first section upon satisfaction of a condition;

receiving first updates to the first section of the document, wherein the first updates are made to the first section according to the first user access permissions;

receiving a request from the first user to share the first updates with the second user, wherein the second user is specifically selected from the plurality of users;

receiving second updates to the first section of the document, wherein the second updates are made to the first section according to the second user access permissions;

receiving a request from the second user to share the second updates with the third user, wherein the third user is specifically selected from the plurality of users;

displaying a first user control indicating that the first user is accessing the first section of the document;

displaying a first user access control indicating the first user access permissions adjacent to the first user control;

displaying a second user control indicating that the second user is accessing the first section of the document;

displaying a second user access control indicating the second user access permissions adjacent to the second user control;

determining that the condition is satisfied; and

in response to the determination, dynamically changing the second user access permissions for the first section in accordance with the one or more customized rules.

16. The computer storage medium according to claim 15, wherein the first user access permissions and the second user access permissions include a level of access selected from the group consisting of:

full control, read/write, review only, comment only, read only, and no access.

17. The computer storage medium according to claim 15, further comprising:

storing fourth user access permissions associated with the first section of the document, wherein the fourth user access permissions define an extent to which a fourth user can access the first section of the document, and wherein the fourth user access permissions include a level of no access; and

redacting the first section of the document from viewing by the fourth user.

18. The computer storage medium according to claim 15, further comprising:

receiving a request to change the first user access permissions associated with the first section of the document, wherein the changed first user access permissions define a different extent to which the first user can access the first section of the document.

19. The computer storage medium according to claim 15, wherein after the first updates are received to the first section of the document, the first updates are not available to the second user until the first user sends a request to share the first updates with the second user.

20. The computer storage medium according to claim 15, further comprising:

receiving a request from the second user to receive the first updates;

determining that the request to share the first updates with the second user was received; and

displaying the first updates adjacent to the first section of the document.