Patent Application Reveals Microsoft's Plans For Multi-User And Multi-Device Collaboration In The Future

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Microsoft Collabration

Recently, I came across as Microsoft patent application which was published to the public. In the patent, Microsoft described as system for multi-user and multi-device collaboration. With the advent of different types of devices, users uses various technologies for managing documents of various types, data of various types, calendar information, contacts information, and the like. Users are able to create and share useful presentations, charts, images, and the like. But, users are not able to collaborate with others on the data they created. For example, users gather in a conference room with printed paper documents, presentations, or other, followed by hand-writing collaborative information on a board, and followed by transcription of such information onto one or more notepads or into one or more computing devices. This is clearly not an efficient way to do it and this Microsoft patent is trying to solve this issue.

Abstract:

Multi-user, multi-computing device collaborative work experience is provided. One or more computing devices, including wired and wireless personal computers, laptop computers, servers, handheld mobile computing devices, for example, mobile telephones, tablet type computers, slate type computers and the like, may be linked together to allow users of such devices to engage in a collaborative work session. Information for each user engaged in the collaborative work session may be displayed on the one or more devices along with any content such as agenda items, documents, data, images, and the like. User participation may be tracked, and information on user participation, work session communications and content may be stored for subsequent use.

The proposed collaborative workspace application allows for the sharing of a multitude of application functionality and associated documents and/or data across multiple devices and/or multiple display surfaces. A multitude of computing devices, including wired and wireless personal computers, laptop computers, servers, handheld mobile computing devices, for example, mobile telephones, tablet type computers, slate type computers and the like, may be linked together to allow users of such devices to engage in a collaborative work session.

I guess Microsoft might be working on a product based on this patent in their Lync team which focused on Enterprise Collaboration.

Source: USPTO

More about the topics: Collabration, Devices, enterprise, lync, microsoft, Multi-user, patents

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