Showing presence of multiple authors in a spreadsheet
AssigneeMicrosoft Technology Licensing, LLC
InventorsChad Rothschiller, Tarek Hefny, Paul Louis Berruti, Jr., Micah Myerscough
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Dynamic collaborative presence information is provided. A plurality of users may access a document concurrently. Presence information associated with each of the users may be communicated to a server, collected, and communicated to a client application running on each user's client device. The client application may dynamically show where other users are editing a cell or a range of cells to help avoid collisions of edits in the document. Various interface elements may be provided for indicating presence and for indicating whether a single user or multiple users have selected or are editing the cell or range of cells.
Claims20
A computer-implemented method for providing dynamic collaborative presence information, the method comprising:
- displaying a document in a first application;
- detecting a selection or edit of a cell or a range of cells by a first user;
- sending information associated with the detected selection or edit;
- receiving collective presence information, the collective presence information comprising user presence of a second user in the document;
- displaying a first user's presence associated with a first range of cells, and the second user's presence associated with a second range of cells, wherein the first range of cells and the second range of cells have at least one overlapping cell and at least one non-overlapping cell;
- and
- displaying a selectable user interface (UI) element at an intersection of the at least one overlapping cell.
A computer-implemented method for providing dynamic collaborative presence information, the method comprising:
- receiving a request to provide a document to two or more applications;
- providing the document to the two or more applications;
- receiving presence information associated with a current selection of or editing of a cell or a range of cells in the document by a first user;
- receiving presence information associated with a current selection of or editing of a cell in the document by a second user;
- aggregating the received presence information into collective presence information for the document, wherein the collective presence information indicates which cell or range of cells that the first user is currently selecting or editing and which cell or range of cells that the second user is currently selecting or editing;
- sending the collective presence information to the two or more applications to cause display of a first user's presence associated with a first range of cells and a second user's presence associated with a second range of cells, wherein the first range of cells and the second range of cells have at least one overlapping cell and at least one non-overlapping cell;
- and
- causing display of a selectable user interface (UI) element at an intersection of the at least one overlapping cell.
A system for providing dynamic collaborative presence information, the system comprising:
- one or more processors;
- and
- a memory coupled to the one or more processors, the one or more processors operable to:
- open a document in a first application;
- detect a selection or edit of a cell by a first user;
- send information associated with the detected selection or edit to a server;
- receive collective presence information, the collective presence information comprising user presence of a second user in the document concurrently opened in an additional application;
- display a first user's presence associated with a first range of cells, and a second user's presence associated with a second range of cells, wherein the first range of cells and the second range of cells have at least one overlapping cell and at least one non-overlapping cell;
- and
- display a selectable user interface (UI) element at an intersection of the at least one overlapping cell.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.