Inline document conversation system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11086824-B2
Application number	US-201916278563-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 18, 2019
Priority date	Feb 18, 2019
Publication date	Aug 10, 2021
Grant date	Aug 10, 2021

Abstract

Systems and methods for managing an inline conversation area within a document are provided. In example embodiments, a collaboration system causes presentation of a user interface displaying a document that is being collaboratively edited by a plurality of users. The collaboration system receives an indication to present an inline conversation area within the document. In response, the inline conversation area is displayed within the document on the user interface, whereby the inline conversation area is visually distinguished from content of the document. The collaboration system receives, via the inline conversation area, input from the plurality of users. The input comprises comments being exchanged between the plurality of users and draft content. The inputs are displayed in the inline conversation area within the document on the user interface.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
causing presentation of a user interface on a display device, the user interface displaying content of a document that is being collaboratively edited by a plurality of users;
receiving an indication to present an inline conversation area within the document;
in response to receiving the indication, causing presentation, by a hardware processor, of the inline conversation area within the document on the user interface, the inline conversation area comprising a separate area that is presented between the displayed content and visually distinguished from document content of the document, the inline conversation area comprising a comment section and a separate draft content section that are adjacent to each other;
receiving, via the inline conversation area, input from the plurality of users, the input comprising a plurality of comments being exchanged between the plurality of users and draft content, the draft content being proposed content for inclusion in the document content; and
causing presentation of the plurality of comments in the comment section and the draft content in the draft content section of the inline conversation area, the comment section being scrollable to hide one or more of the plurality of comments while the entire draft content in the draft content section remains visible.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a selection of at least a portion of the draft content, an indication to drag the selected portion of the draft content to a location in the document content of the document, and an indication to drop the selected draft content into the location in the document content of the document; and
in response to receiving the selection and the indications, converting the selected draft content into new document content and inserting the new document content into the location in the document content indicated by the drop selection.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving an insert selection associated with the draft content; and
in response to receiving the insert selection, converting the draft content into new document content and inserting the new document content into the document content of the document below the inline conversation area.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the draft content is originally provided by a first user of the plurality of users, the method further comprising:
receiving an edit to the draft content from a second user of the plurality of users; and
visually distinguishing the edit from the second user in the draft content.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving an indication to hide all inputs in the inline conversation area; and
in response to receiving the indication to hide all inputs, collapsing the inline conversation area.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving an indication to hide comments from a particular user of the plurality of users; and
in response to receiving the indication to hide comments, collapsing the comments for the particular user in the inline conversation area.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting comments in the inline conversation area relevant to a particular user; and
automatically collapsing comments in the inline conversation area that are not relevant to the particular user.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting comments in the inline conversation area relevant to a particular user; and
visually distinguishing the relevant comments in the inline conversation area.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that the input within the inline conversation area exceeds a predetermined threshold; and
in response to determining that the input within the inline conversation area exceeds the predetermined threshold, automatically collapsing one or more of the comments.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a scroll input applied to the comment section; and
in response to receiving the scroll input, scrolling the plurality of comments within the comment section to hide one or more of the plurality of comments while the entire draft content in the draft content section remains visible.

11. A system comprising:
one or more hardware processors; and
a storage device storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more hardware processors, cause the one or more hardware processors to perform operations comprising:
causing presentation of a user interface on a display device, the user interface displaying content of a document that is being collaboratively edited by a plurality of users;
receiving an indication to present an inline conversation area within the document;
in response to receiving the indication, causing presentation of the inline conversation area within the document on the user interface, the inline conversation area comprising a separate area that is presented between the displayed content and visually distinguished from document content of the document, the inline conversation area comprising a comment section and a separate draft content section that are adjacent to each other;
receiving, via the inline conversation area, input from the plurality of users, the input comprising a plurality of comments being exchanged between the plurality of users and draft content, the draft content being proposed content for inclusion in the document content; and
causing presentation of the plurality of comments in the comment section and the draft content in the draft content section of the inline conversation area, the comment section being scrollable to hide one or more of the plurality of comments while the entire draft content in the draft content section remains visible.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise:
receiving a selection of at least a portion of the draft content, an indication to drag the portion of the selected draft content to a location in the document content of the document, and an indication to drop the selected draft content into the location in the document content of the document; and
in response to receiving the selection and the indications, converting the selected draft content into new document content and inserting the new document content into the location in the document content indicated by the drop selection.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise:
receiving an insert selection associated with the draft content; and
in response to receiving the insert selection, converting the draft content into new document content and inserting the new document content into the document content of the document below the inline conversation area.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the draft content is originally provided by a first user of the plurality of users, wherein the operations further comprise:
receiving an edit to the draft content from a second user of the plurality of users; and
visually distinguishing the edit from the second user in the draft content.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise:
receiving an indication to hide all inputs in the inline conversation area; and
in response to receiving the indication to hide all inputs, collapsing the inline conversation area.

16. The system of claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise:
receiving an indication to hide comments from a particular user of the plurality of users; and
in response to receiving the indication to hide comments, collapsing the comments for the particular user in the inline

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Kikin Gil Erez
• Fox Seth
• Costenaro Daniel P

Classifications

• G06F40/103

  Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents (automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191) · CPC title

• G06F40/169

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

• G06Q10/101 Primary

  Collaborative creation, e.g. joint development of products or services · CPC title

• G06F16/176 Primary

  Support for shared access to files; File sharing support · CPC title

• G06F3/0486

  Drag-and-drop · CPC title