US 2014/0373108 A1Published application

Collaborative authoring modes

AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation

InventorsJonathan Beckett Bailor, Ethan Joseph Bernstein, Mark Rolland Knight, Christopher James Antos

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Abstract

A collaborative authoring application provides an authoring environment in which two or more users can edit a document concurrently. Each user edits a copy of the document, sends updates to a master copy of the document, and receives updates from the master copy of the document. The authoring environment may be configured into a public mode of operation, in which content and metadata are synchronized automatically, or into a private mode of operation, in which metadata is synchronized automatically and content is synchronized only at the request of the user. The authoring application may edit documents offline in public or private mode.

Claims20

Dependent claims

An authoring system for editing a user copy of a document on a user device, the user copy being generated based on a master copy of the document, the authoring system comprising:

a local cache stored on the user device, the local cache including a store cache and an upload cache;
an authoring application configured to execute on the user device, the authoring application being configured to edit the user copy of a document, the authoring application being adapted to be selectively configured into an operating mode selected from the group consisting of a public operating mode and a private operating mode, the authoring application being configured to generate metadata updates based on edits made to the user copy of the document and to generate content updates based on edits made to the user copy of the document;
a metadata sync module configured to synchronize the metadata updates between the user copy of the document and the master copy of the document regardless of the mode of operation into which the authoring application is configured;
a protect module configured to store the generated content updates into the store content cache of the local cache when the protect module receives instructions to store the document, the protect module also being further configured to store the generated content updates into the upload cache when the generated content updates are stored into the store cache if the authoring application is configured into the public operating mode;
and
a publish module configured to share the content updates stored in the upload cache with the master copy of the document, wherein sharing the content updates with the master copy of the document integrates the content updates into the master copy.

3 more elements

A computer-implemented method of synchronizing a user copy of a document with a master copy of the document, the user copy of the document being stored on a user device and the master copy of the document being stored on a storage device that is configured to be communicatively coupled to the user device, the method comprising:

connecting the user device to the storage device;
selecting a private mode of operation for an authoring application;
editing at the user device the user copy of the document with the authoring application to generate at least a first content update;
transmitting periodically from the user device to the storage device any metadata updates generated by editing the user copy of the document, wherein the metadata updates are instantiated into the master copy stored on the storage device;
storing at the user device the content update generated by editing the user copy of the document;
receiving periodically at the user device external metadata updates from the master copy of the document when the master copy has been updated to include the external metadata updates;
instantiating the external metadata updates received from the master copy of the document into the user copy of the document;
receiving periodically at the user device external content updates from the master copy of the document when the master copy has been updated to include the external content updates.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 14/474,481Filed 2 Sep 2014
Priority: 14 Dec 2007
Published: 18 Dec 2014
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification6 codes

H04L 63/08
Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security: for authentication of entities
G06F 16/1767
Support for shared access to files; File sharing support: concurrency control, e.g. optimistic or pessimistic approaches
G06F 21/31
Authentication, i.e. establishing the identity or authorisation of security principals: user authentication
G06F 40/166
Text processing: editing, e.g. inserting or deleting

Family

Application11/957,010Continuation · filed 14 Dec 2007
Application14/474,481Continuation
US 10,057,226 B2Related patent
US 2009/0157811 A1Published application
US 8,825,758 B2Related patent
US 9,900,298 B2Related patent
US 2014/0373108 A1This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

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