Proactive Staged Distribution Of Document Activity Indicators

Abstract

To enable prompt presentation of a user interface that displays documents that other users have accessed or edited, distribution of document activity indicators is performed in a proactive manner such that the document activity indicators are already available at a time when such a user interface is to be presented. Document activity triggers the creation of corresponding document activity identifiers, which are distributed to the workspaces of one or more users in accordance with document activity itself, the type of activity, the user performing the activity, a user who initially created the document, or combinations thereof. When another user utilizes a content creation computer application program, the activity by other users is selectively reflected within the user interface presented by such a content creation computer application program.

1 . A set of one or more computing devices, in aggregate comprising:
 one or more processing units; and   one or more computer-readable storage media comprising computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processing units, cause the set of computing devices to:
 detect a first activity on a document; 
 generate a first activity indicator corresponding to the first activity; 
 distribute the first activity indicator to a first plurality of user workspaces; 
 receive, subsequent to the distributing the first activity indicator to the first plurality of user workspaces, a request for activity indicators that are in a first user workspace; and 
 provide the activity indicators from the first user workspace in response to the request, the provided activity indicators including the first activity indicator. 
   
     
     
         2 . The set of computing devices of  claim 1 , wherein the computer-readable storage media comprise further computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by the one or more processing units, cause the set of computing devices to select the first plurality of user workspaces based on the detected first activity, wherein, if the first activity is an open of the document by a first user, then the first plurality of user workspaces comprises a user workspace corresponding to the first user and a user workspace corresponding to a user who created the document. 
     
     
         3 . The set of computing devices of  claim 1 , wherein the computer-readable storage media comprise further computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by the one or more processing units, cause the set of computing devices to select the first plurality of user workspaces based on the detected first activity, wherein, if the first activity is an edit of the document by a first user, then the first plurality of user workspaces comprises a user workspace corresponding to the first user, a user workspace corresponding to a user who created the document, and one or more user workspaces corresponding to one or more users who have previously opened the document. 
     
     
         4 . The set of computing devices of  claim 3 , wherein the users who have previously opened the document are only those that have previously opened the document within a predetermined past amount of time. 
     
     
         5 . The set of computing devices of  claim 3 , wherein the users who have previously opened the document are only those that have previously edited the document as well. 
     
     
         6 . The set of computing devices of  claim 1 , wherein the computer-readable storage media comprise further computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by the one or more processing units, cause the set of computing devices to select the first plurality of user workspaces based on the detected first activity, wherein, if the first activity is a comment on content of the document by a first user, then the first plurality of user workspaces comprises a user workspace corresponding to the first user, a user workspace corresponding to a user who created the document, and one or more user workspaces corresponding to one or more users who have previously opened the document. 
     
     
         7 . The set of computing devices of  claim 6 , wherein the one or more computer-readable storage media comprise further computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by the one or more processing units, cause the set of computing devices to:
 generate a second activity indicator corresponding to the first activity if the first activity is a comment reply to a second user; and   distribute the second activity indicator to a user workspace corresponding to the second user; the user workspace corresponding to the second user also having had the first activity indicator distributed to it.   
     
     
         8 . The set of computing devices of  claim 1 , wherein the computer-readable storage media comprise further computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by the one or more processing units, cause the set of computing devices to select the first plurality of user workspaces based on the detected first activity, wherein, if the first activity is a directed mention directed to a second user by a first user, then the first plurality of user workspaces comprises a user workspace corresponding to the first user, a user workspace corresponding to the second user, a user workspace corresponding to a user who created the document, and one or more user workspaces corresponding to one or more users who have previously opened the document. 
     
     
         9 . The set of computing devices of  claim 8 , wherein the one or more computer-readable media comprise further computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by the one or more processing units, cause the set of computing devices to:
 generate a second activity indicator corresponding to the first activity if the first activity is the directed mention; and   distribute the second activity indicator to a user workspace corresponding to the second user; the user workspace corresponding to the second user also having the first activity indicator distributed to it.   
     
     
         10 . The set of computing devices of  claim 1 , wherein the computer-readable storage media comprise further computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by the one or more processing units, cause the set of computing devices to select the first plurality of user workspaces based on the detected first activity, wherein, if the first activity is a sharing of the document with a second user, then the first plurality of user workspaces comprises a user workspace corresponding to the second user and a user workspace corresponding to a user who created the document. 
     
     
         11 . The set of computing devices of  claim 1 , wherein the computer-readable storage media comprise further computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by the one or more processing units, cause the set of computing devices to select the first plurality of user workspaces based on the detected first activity, wherein, if the first activity is a revoking of a second user's permission to access the document, then the first plurality of user workspaces comprises a user workspace corresponding to the second user and a user workspace corresponding to a user who created the document. 
     
     
         12 . The set of computing devices of  claim 1 , wherein the computer-readable storage media comprise further computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by the one or more processing units, cause the set of computing devices to select the first plurality of user workspaces based on a pre-generated social graph. 
     
     
         13 . The set of computing devices of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more computer-readable media comprise further computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by the one or more processing units, cause the set of computing devices to:
 separately detect a receipt of the first activity indicator at a second user workspace that is part of the first plurality of user workspaces to which the first activity indicator was distributed; and   re-distribute the first activity indicator to a second plurality of user workspaces differing from the first plurality of user workspaces, the re-distributing being triggered by the separately detecting the receipt of the first activity indicator at the second user workspace.   
     
     
         14 . A method of proactively distributing document activity indicators, the method comprising:
 detecting a first activity on a document;   generating a first activity indicator corresponding to the first activity;   distributing the first activity indicator to a first plurality of user workspaces;   receiving, subsequent to the distributing the first activity indicator to the first plurality of user workspaces, a request for activity indicators that are in a first user workspace; and   providing the activity indicators from the first user workspace in response to the request, the provided activity indicators including the first activity indicator.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising selecting the first plurality of user workspaces based on the detected first activity, wherein, if the first activity is either an edit of the document by a first user or a comment on content of the document by the first user, then the first plurality of user workspaces comprises a user workspace corresponding to the first user, a user workspace corresponding to a user who created the document, and one or more user workspaces corresponding to one or more users who have previously opened the document. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 generating a second activity indicator corresponding to the first activity if the first activity is a comment reply to a second user; and   distributing the second activity indicator to a user workspace corresponding to the second user; the user workspace corresponding to the second user also having had the first activity indicator distributed to it.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising selecting the first plurality of user workspaces based on a pre-generated social graph. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising:
 separately detecting a receipt of the first activity indicator at a second user workspace that is part of the first plurality of user workspaces to which the first activity indicator was distributed; and   re-distributing the first activity indicator to a second plurality of user workspaces differing from the first plurality of user workspaces, the re-distributing being triggered by the separately detecting the receipt of the first activity indicator at the second user workspace.   
     
     
         19 . A system comprising:
 a first server computing device comprising:
 one or more first server processing units; and 
 one or more first server computer-readable storage media comprising computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the one or more first server processing units, cause the first server computing device to:
 detect a first activity on a document; 
 generate a first activity indicator corresponding to the first activity; and 
 distribute the first activity indicator to a first plurality of user workspaces; and 
 
   a client computing device comprising:
 a display device; 
 one or more client processing units; and 
 one or more client computer-readable storage media comprising computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the one or more client processing units, cause the client computing device to:
 obtain the first activity indicator from a first user workspace that is one of the first plurality of user workspaces; and 
 generate, on the display device, a user interface visually presenting recent document activity based at least in part on activity indicators obtained from the first user workspace, the recent document activity comprising the first activity. 
 
   
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19 , further comprising a second server computing device comprising:
 one or more second server processing units; and   one or more second server computer-readable storage media comprising computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the one or more second server processing units, cause the second server computing device to:
 detect a receipt of the first activity indicator at a second user workspace; and 
 re-distribute the first activity indicator to a second plurality of user workspaces differing from the first plurality of user workspaces, the re-distributing being triggered by the detecting the receipt of the first activity indicator at the second user workspace.