Managing comments for collaborative editing of electronic documents

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10019427-B2
Application number	US-201615061905-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 4, 2016
Priority date	Mar 4, 2016
Publication date	Jul 10, 2018
Grant date	Jul 10, 2018

Abstract

An end user application running on a local client computer stores activity data and comment data for an electronic document. Activity data includes data indicative of actions taken by users and associated with the electronic document, such as actions with respect to the electronic document itself, and actions with respect to comments, such as adding a comment and marking a comment as resolved. A displayed comment or comment thread can be marked as resolved in response to a user action. A corresponding action is stored in the activity data. Activity data can be displayed while the electronic document is open in the end user application. An action of resolving a comment can be accessed in the displayed activity data. In response to receiving an input associated with a displayed action of resolving a comment, the comment can be marked as unresolved.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer, comprising:
a network interface configured to connect the computer to a computer network, the computer network being connected to a shared storage system, the shared storage system comprising a file system configured to store a plurality of electronic documents and to make the plurality of electronic documents available to a plurality of users; and
a processing system comprising one or more processing units and storage, the storage comprising computer program code that, when executed by the processing system, configures the processing system to comprise:
an application configured to process user input to modify an electronic document, wherein the electronic document has associated comment data and activity data,
wherein the comment data defines a collection of comments and comprises, for each comment, a reference to a location within the electronic document, data indicating a user that added the comment, and content of the comment, and
wherein the activity data defines a collection of actions and comprises, for each action, data indicating a type of action, and data indicating a user associated with the action, the application comprising a graphical user interface including:
a document pane configured to display a graphical representation of the electronic document,
a graphical representation of comments, displayed in association with the document pane, from the comment data associated with the electronic document, and
a graphical representation of actions, displayed in association with the document pane, from the activity data associated with the electronic document;

the application being further configured to, in response to an input associated with a displayed comment, mark the comment as resolved by setting the value associated with the comment to indicate the comment is resolved and by adding an action to the activity data associated with the electronic document to indicate the comment is resolved; and
the application being further configured to, in response to an input associated with a displayed action related to a resolved comment, mark the comment as unresolved by setting the value associated with the resolved comment to indicate the comment is unresolved.

2. The computer of claim 1 wherein the application is configured to display a graphical representation of only unresolved comments.

3. The computer of claim 2 wherein the application is configured to, in response to marking a comment as resolved, redisplay the graphical representation of only the unresolved comments.

4. The computer of claim 1 wherein the action in the activity data includes an indication of an end user that marked the comment as resolved.

5. The computer of claim 1 wherein the application is configured to provide a plurality of controls associated with displayed actions to allow filtering and sorting of actions.

6. The computer of claim 5 , wherein the application is configured to filter actions by action type.

7. The computer of claim 5 , wherein the application is configured to filter actions by user associated with the action.

8. An article of manufacture comprising:
at least one computer storage medium,
computer program instructions stored on the at least one computer storage medium which, when processed by a processing system of a computer, the processing system comprising one or more processing units and storage, configures the computer to comprise:
a network interface configured to connect the computer to a
computer network, the computer network being connected to a shared storage system, the shared storage system comprising a file system configured to store a plurality of electronic documents and to make the plurality of electronic documents available to a plurality of users; and
a processing system comprising one or more processing units and storage, the storage comprising computer program code that, when executed by the processing system, configures the processing system to comprise:
an application configured to process user input to modify an electronic document, wherein the electronic document has associated comment data and activity data,
wherein the comment data defines a collection of comments and comprises, for each comment, a reference to a location within the electronic document, data indicating a user that added the comment, and content of the comment, and
wherein the activity data defines a collection of actions and comprises, for each action, data indicating a type of action, and data indicating a user associated with the action, the application comprising a user interface including:
a first output configured to present a representation of the electronic document,
a second output configured to present a representation of comments in association with the presentation of the electronic document, based on the comment data associated with the electronic document, and
a third output configured to present a representation of actions in association with the presentation of the electronic document, based on the activity data associated with the electronic document;

the application being further configured to, in response to an input associated with a presented comment, mark the comment as resolved by setting the value associated with the comment to indicate the comment is resolved and by adding an action to the activity data associated with the electronic document to indicate the comment is resolved; and
the application being further configured to, in response to an input associated with a presented action related to a resolved comment, mark the comment as unresolved by setting the value associated with the resolved comment to indicate the comment is unresolved.

9. The article of manufacture of claim 8 , wherein the application is configured to present a representation of only unresolved comments.

10. The article of manufacture of claim 9 , wherein the application is configured to, in response to marking a comment as resolved, present an updated representation of only the unresolved comments.

11. The article of manufacture of claim 8 , wherein the action in the activity data includes an indication of an end user that marked the comment as resolved.

12. The article of manufacture of claim 8 , wherein the application is configured to provide a plurality of controls associated with the presented actions to allow filtering and sorting of actions.

13. The article of manufacture of claim 12 , wherein the application is configured to filter actions by action type.

14. The article of manufacture of claim 12 , wherein the application is configured to filter actions by user associated with the action.

15. A computer-implemented process comprising:
processing user input to modify an electronic document, wherein the electronic document has associated comment data and activity data, wherein the comment data defines a collection of comments and comprises, for each comment, a reference to a location within the electronic document, data indicating a user that added the comment, and content of the comment, and wherein the activity data defines a collection of actions and comprises, for each action, data indicating a type of action, and data indicating a user associated with the action,
presenting a graphical user interface including:
a document pane configured to display a graphical representation of the electronic document,
a graphical representation of comments, displayed in association with the document pane, based on the comment data associated with the electronic document, and
a graphical representation of actions, displayed in associated with the document pane, based on th

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Wilde Benjamin
• O'Connell Erin
• Gan Patrick
• Milvaney Douglas
• Weaver Joan

Classifications

• G06F3/0481

  based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance · CPC title

• G06F40/169 Primary

  Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes · CPC title

• G06F3/0484

  for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range · CPC title

• H04L67/1097

  for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS] · CPC title

• G06Q10/103

  Workflow collaboration or project management · CPC title