Time-based viewing of electronic documents

• US 8,453,048 B2
• Filed: 03/07/2011
• Issued: 05/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Holt, Robert Richard Kenneth, Haddan, Christopher N.
• Primary Examiner(s): RIES, LAURIE ANNE
• Application Number:
  US13/042,324
• Publication Number:
  US 20120233528A1
• Time in Patent Office: 813 Days
• Field of Search: 715/205, 715/229
• US Class Current: 715/229
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/134 Hyperlinking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/197 Version control for software G06F8/71

Abstract

Various embodiments provide techniques for time-based viewing of electronic documents. Examples of electronic documents include websites, webpages, text documents, web-based documents, and so on. In at least some embodiments, a time-based viewer is provided that enables a user to select a particular date and/or time for which to view an electronic document. The user can then navigate through the electronic document and view how the document will appear or did appear at the selected date and/or time. In at least some embodiments, a page container is provided that can include definitions for different versions of a page of an electronic document. According to some embodiments, the different versions of the page can correspond to different publication dates for the page. In some implementations, the time-based viewer can access a page container to retrieve a particular version of a page for display.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a request to view a page of an electronic document based on a future publication date;

causing a version of the page of the electronic document to be displayed based on the future publication date;

enabling navigation from the version of the page through other pages of the electronic document that correspond to the future publication date.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the electronic document comprises a website, and wherein the page of the electronic document comprises a webpage of the website.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the page of the electronic document has multiple versions and wherein each of the multiple versions has a different publication date.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein receiving the request further comprises receiving the request to view the page of the electronic document based on a workflow status of the page.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein enabling navigation further comprises enabling navigation through the other pages of the electronic document based on a workflow status of the other pages.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the version of the page includes a date-specific reference to one or more of the other pages of the electronic document, and wherein causing navigation comprises following the date-specific reference to the one or more of the other pages.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving input indicating a change to a workflow status of the version of the page; and

updating the workflow status of the page responsive to the input.

8. One or more computer readable storage media embodying computer readable instructions for implementing a graphical user interface, the graphical user interface comprising:

a parameters region for receiving a date parameter;

a content region for displaying a version of a page of a document that corresponds to the date parameter; and

navigation buttons for navigating from the page to other pages of the document that correspond to the date parameter.

9. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 8, wherein the date parameter comprises a publication date for the version of the page.

10. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 8, wherein the parameters region is further configured to receive a time parameter, and wherein the content region is further configured to display a version of the document that corresponds to both the date parameter and the time parameter.

11. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 8, wherein the graphical user interface further comprises selectable workflow statuses that can be used to filter one or more of multiple versions of the page or multiple versions of the other pages for display.

12. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 8, wherein the graphical user interface further comprises selectable functions that, if selected, enable the version of the page to be approved or rejected as part of a workflow associated with the document.

13. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 8, wherein the graphical user interface is configured to display a workflow status of the version of the page.

14. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 8, wherein the content region is further configured to enable searching for content items, adding content items, and editing content items.

15. One or more computer readable storage media embodying computer readable instructions, the instructions being configured to implement:

a page container that includes an address for a page of a document; and

page versions that each correspond to a different version of the page, each of the page versions including a respective collection of content for the page, being associated with a different publication date, and further including a reference to a different page of the document that enables navigation from the page to the different page.

16. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 15, wherein the page comprises a webpage, and wherein the page versions each correspond to different versions of the webpage.

17. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 15, wherein one or more of the page versions is associated with a future publication date.

18. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 15, wherein the reference is further configured to enable a navigation to a version of the different page that is associated with a publication date of the one or more page versions.

19. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 15, wherein one or more of the page versions are configured to track a workflow status of a respective version of the page.

20. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 15, wherein one or more of the page versions are configured to be retrieved responsive to a date-specific request for the one or more of the page versions.