Patent Application
20170068693
In an enterprise situation, for example, a company, school, social network, etc., a given user may encounter hundreds (or more) of documents or other information items, each with varying degrees of relevance, interest, or importance to the user, and that are oftentimes scattered across a variety of workloads and storage systems (e.g., email accounts, calendars, social feeds, intranet sites, network file systems, etc.). In addition to content available to users within enterprise workloads and storage systems, users frequently rely on information that does not reside within enterprise workloads, for example, external content located on the web and available via a network, such as the Internet. Not only may users be unaware of relevant or interesting information items that are available to them, it can be time consuming and inefficient for users to search for enterprise content or external content that is relevant to them.
This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description section. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. Aspects are directed to an automated system and method for sharing external content with one or more recipients in an enterprise.
An external content sharing system includes a graph server comprising an application programming interface (API) engine, a graph index, and an activity processing and analytics engine. When a user selects to share content that resides external to an enterprise's workloads and storage systems with one or more recipients in the enterprise, an API call including a uniform resource locator (URL) associated with the external content item is made to the API engine. When the API engine is called, it accesses the external content item, extracts various pieces of metadata from the external content item, and sends the extracted metadata to the graph index. The graph index stores the extracted metadata in the form of a node, determines a social distance between the user and other individuals in the enterprise, and creates edges connecting the external content item node to one or more individuals in the enterprise based on their social distance to the user. The API engine is further operable to receive a call to query the graph index for content relevant to a particular individual or specifically for content explicitly shared with the particular individual. Accordingly, the API engine queries the graph index and provides a result of the query including the metadata associated with the external content item to a requesting client application for generating and exposing to the particular individual a selectable visual information element representative of and providing access to the external content item.
Aspects include a method for receiving a URL associated with external content and an indication of a selection to share external content, accessing the external content, extracting metadata associated with the external content, storing the metadata in a graph index, determining one or more recipients of the external content according to social distance, and when a query of the graph index for relevant content for a specific recipient is received, providing the metadata associated with the external content for generation and exposure of a selectable visual information element representative of the external content and for providing access to the external content.
Enabling a user to share external content for propagation and presentation to individuals socially close to the user within an enterprise as information relevant to each individual fosters collaboration within an enterprise and increases individuals' efficiency. For example, providing content relevant to the individual including external content shared by a colleague for exposure to the individual in an intuitive interface helps to increase the individual's knowledge of information that has been determined to be interesting to or relevant to the individual. Accordingly, the individual is enabled to be more efficient and productive by spending less time searching for information.
Examples are implemented as a computer process, a computing system, or as an article of manufacture such as a computer program product or computer readable media. According to an aspect, the computer program product is a computer storage media readable by a computer system and encoding a computer program of instructions for executing a computer process.
The details of one or more aspects are set forth in the accompanying drawings and description below. Other features and advantages will be apparent from a reading of the following detailed description and a review of the associated drawings. It is to be understood that the following detailed description is explanatory only and is not restrictive of the claims.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrate various aspects. In the drawings:
The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the following description refers to the same or similar elements. While examples may be described, modifications, adaptations, and other implementations are possible. For example, substitutions, additions, or modifications may be made to the elements illustrated in the drawings, and the methods described herein may be modified by substituting, reordering, or adding stages to the disclosed methods. Accordingly, the following detailed description is not limiting, but instead, the proper scope is defined by the appended claims. Examples may take the form of a hardware implementation, or an entirely software implementation, or an implementation combining software and hardware aspects. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense.
Aspects of the present disclosure are directed to exposing content that resides outside of enterprise workloads and storage systems, herein referred to collectively as an enterprise system (e.g., email accounts, calendars, social feeds, intranet sites, network file systems, etc.) to one or more recipients. According to an aspect, metadata is extracted from a selected content item and is stored in a graph index as a node. According to one example aspect, the content item is web-based content. According to another aspect, the selected content item is propagated to one or more recipient users who are connected with a sharing user according to a corporate hierarchy or with whom the sharing user works or communicates on a regular basis. According to another aspect, the sharing user is enabled to explicitly specify one or more recipient users with whom the sharing user wants to share the selected content item.
In some examples, the user agent 106 is a browser application operable to access external content items 108 residing on an external server, for example, web-based content that resides outside of an enterprise system (e.g., email accounts, calendars, social feeds, intranet sites, network file systems, etc.). According to an example, an extension is installed on the computing device 104 as a plug-in or add-on to the browser application (i.e., user agent 106) or is embedded in the browser application. In some examples, the extension provides a selectable user interface (UI) component within a toolbar of the browser application or in a contextual UI menu. When a sharing user 102 selects the extension UI component, a message (i.e., API call) including the URL of the external content item 108 is sent to the API engine 112.
In some examples, selection of the extension UI component further provides a UI element (e.g., a pop up box or window) for receiving user input, such as entry of or a selection or deselection of one or more specific recipient users, groups of receiving users, or categories or types of receiving users of the external content item 108. For example, a sharing user 102 may enter a user name, alias, or email address associated with an individual or group of individuals with whom the sharing user 102 want to share the external content item 108. As another example, a list of colleagues or groups or categories of individuals may be displayed in a UI element. A sharing user 102 may select which specific individuals or groups of individuals with which to share the external content item 108.
As another example, when a sharing user 102 selects to share an external content item 108, by default, the external content item 108 may be shared with the sharing user's close colleagues as determined by social distance. The sharing user 102 may not want to share the external content item 108 with all of his/her close colleagues, and thus is enabled to deselect the specific individuals with whom the sharing user 102 does not want to share the external content item 108. As another example, the sharing user 102 may want to share the external content item 108 with additional individuals, and may enter or select a user name, alias, or email address associated with the additional individuals with whom the sharing user 102 wants to share the external content item 108. The selected recipients of the external content item 108 are communicated via the API message.
According to another example, a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) element, such as a button or link, is added to an external content item 108 (e.g., webpage) by the content item's publisher. When selected, a message (i.e., API call) including the URL of the external content item 108 is sent to the API engine 112. In some examples, selection of the HTML element further provides a UI element (e.g., a pop up box or window) for receiving user input, such as entry of or a selection or deselection of one or more recipient users of the external content item 108 as described above, which is appended to the message.
According to another example, a matrix barcode or other element encodes a URL of an external content item 108. A sharing user is enabled to capture an image of the matrix barcode via a camera associated with the user's computing device 104, and the user agent 106 is operable to read and interpret the encoded URL. The user agent 106 is further operable to send a message (i.e., API call) including the URL of the external content item 108 to the API engine 112. In some examples, scanning a matrix barcode associated with an external content item 108 further provides a UI element (e.g., a pop up box or window) for receiving user input, such as entry of or a selection or deselection of one or more recipient users of the external content item 108 as described above, which is appended to the message.
According to another example, the user agent 106 is a client application, such as a content discovery and surfacing application running on the computing device 104, operable to provide a UI element (e.g., a window, pane, etc.) for receiving user input including a URL of an external content item 108. In some examples, the content discovery and surfacing application is further operable to receive user input, such as entry of or a selection or deselection of one or more recipient users of the external content item 108 as described above. In some examples, the content discovery and surfacing application is further operable to receive user input including metadata associated with the external content item 108, such as a title, summary, keywords, image, tags, etc. Upon receiving an indication of a selection to share the external content item 108, the content discovery and surfacing application is further operable to send a message (i.e., API call) including the URL of the external content item 108 and user input, if any, to the API engine 112.
Referring now to
With reference now to
According to examples, the various activity signals that are stored in the graph index 110 enable individuals to be connected to various other individuals in an enterprise (via person-person activity signals) and to various information items 304 (via person-document activity signals). In the graph index 110, people and information items 304 are stored as nodes 210 and are connected to other nodes by edges 306 representative of the activities between people and activities on information items 304 by people in the organization. A user's relationship with another person or with an information item 304 is defined by the activity signals (i.e., edges 306) connecting the user to the person or to the information item 304.
According to aspects, edges 306 include edge properties such as an actor identifier, an object identifier, an action type, a timestamp of the activity, and a weight assigned by one or more ranking models 310. The one or more ranking models 310 are operable to calculate and assign weights to edges 306 based on various factors, such as the type of activity (e.g., sending/receiving an email to/from a person, sending/receiving an instant message to/from a person, attending a meeting with a person, producing an information item, viewing an information item, sharing an information item, liking an information item, commenting on an information item, modifying an information item, etc.), a frequency of activity, an age decay factor, a type of organizational relationship between people (e.g., colleague, peer, manages, directs, etc.), etc.
According to an aspect, when a sharing user 102 acts on an external content item 108 by selecting to share the external content item 108 via a user agent 106 as described above, an activity signal is generated, the external content item 108 is stored as a node 210 in the graph index 110, and the action of sharing the external content item 108 is stored as a “ShareExternalContent” edge 306 connecting the actor (i.e., sharing user 102) to the object (i.e., external content item 108). The URL 202 and the various pieces of metadata extracted by the metadata API 114 (e.g., title, summary, preview image, tags, keywords, etc.) are stored as properties associated with the external content item node 210.
In some examples, when a sharing user 102 selects to share an external content item 108 without entering, selecting, or deselecting a specific receiving user 314, group of receiving users 314, or category or type of receiving users 314, an edge 306 is generated between the shared external content item 108 and one or more colleagues who are determined to be close to the sharing user 102 according to social distance. For example, colleagues who are determined to have a close social distance to the sharing user 102 may include individuals whom the sharing user 102 regularly communicates with, attends meetings with, works together with, interacts with, or with whom the sharing user shares an organizational relationship (e.g., colleague, peer, manages, directs, etc.). According to an aspect, a measure of social distance is calculated by the one or more ranking models 310.
In some examples, when a sharing user 102 explicitly specifies a receiving user 314, for example, by entering or selecting a specific receiving user 314, group of receiving users 314, or category or type of receiving users 314, the activity processing and analytics engine 308 generates an edge 306 (e.g., ShareExternalContent edge) between the node 210 associated with the external content item 108 and the node 210 of the specified receiving user 314.
According to an aspect, the graph server 116 comprises a search API 318, which can be called by a client application 312 to query the graph index 110. For example, the client application 312 is operable to query the graph server 116 via a search API 318 call for external content items 108 associated with a recipient user 314. According to aspects, the client application 312 may include various types of applications operable to submit a query, and receive results from the graph server 116 including one or more external content items 108 shared with the recipient user 314. External content items 108 shared with the recipient user 314 are exposed to the recipient user 314 via the client application 312 executing on a computing device 104, such as a desktop computer, laptop computer, tablet computer, handheld computing device, mobile communication device, wearable device, gaming device, and the like. The computing device 104 is configured to surface the external content item 108 on a display surface 316 associated with the computing device 104.
In some examples and as illustrated in
Having described an operating environment and various aspects with respect to
The method 500 proceeds to OPERATION 515, where a sharing user 102 selects an external content item 108 to share with one or more individuals in the enterprise. The external content item 108 may include such content as a webpage, a blog article, a social information network message, a video sharing website video, an image, an online meeting, an organization-specific entity, or other type of content addressable by a URL 202. As described above, the sharing user 102 utilizes a user agent 106 running on a computing device 104 to enter or select the external content item 108. For example, the sharing user 102 may utilize a browser extension component to selectively share an external content item 108, may select a content sharing button embedded in the external content item 108, may scan a matrix barcode or other element with a camera on a computing device 104, or may enter or copy and paste the URL 202 of the external content item 108 in a specified UI element (e.g., a window, pane, etc.) of an application, such as a content discovery and surfacing application, running on the computing device 104. In some examples, the sharing user 102 is enabled to specify with who he/she wants to share the external content item 108.
The method 500 proceeds to OPERATION 520, where an API call is made to the API engine 112, wherein the call includes the URL 202 associated with the external content item 108 that points to the source of the external content item 108.
The method 500 continues to OPERATION 525, where the API engine 112 responds to the call, and the metadata API 114 uses the URL 202 to visit the external content item 108 and extract various pieces of metadata associated with the external content item 108. According to an example, the metadata API 114 extracts a title element and one or more meta tags, such as one or more of: a summary tag, description tag, keywords meta tag, image meta tag, and other tags.
At OPERATION 530, a package comprising the extracted metadata is created and sent to the graph index 110, and stored in the graph index 110 in the form of a node 210. Activity data associated with the external content item 108 is stored in the form of edges 306. For example, the action of sharing the external content item 108 is stored as an edge 306 connecting the sharing user 102 to the external content item 108. As another example, the action of having the external content item 108 shared with a specified individual is stored as an edge 306 connecting the external content item 108 to the specified individual (i.e., recipient user 314).
As described above, the sharing user 102 may be connected to other individuals in the graph index 110 according to a social distance determined according to who the sharing user 102 regularly communicates with, attends meetings with, works together with, interacts with, or with whom the sharing user shares an organizational relationship (e.g., colleague, peer, manages, directs, etc.). According to an aspect, a measure of social distance is calculated by the one or more ranking models 310. During OPERATION 530, one or more edges 306 are generated between the external content item 108 and one or more recipient users 314 based on social distance. For example, edges 306 are generated and connect the external content item 108 to one or more individuals determined to be the sharing user's 102 colleagues.
The method 500 continues to OPERATION 535, where a query is made for relevant content associated with a recipient user 314. According to an example, a query is made in response to receiving an indication of a selection by a recipient user 314 to view content relevant to the recipient user 314, such as when the recipient user 314 opens a client application 312 (e.g., a content discovery and surfacing application) operable to call the search API 318 to query the graph index 110 for content that is determined to be relevant to the recipient user 314 based on a relevance score calculated based on the edge weight calculated by the one or more ranking models 310.
According to another example, a query is made in response to receiving an indication of a selection by a recipient user 314 to view external content items 108 that have been shared with him/her. Below is an example query for external content items 108 shared with a particular recipient user 314:
According to another example, a query is made in response to receiving an indication of a selection by a recipient user 314 to view all items that have been shared with him/her by other individuals. According to an aspect, the query is made by a client application 312 running on a computing device 104, wherein the client application 312 makes a call to the search API 318 to query the graph index 110 for content that has been explicitly shared with the recipient user 314 (e.g., “Shared With” edges, “ShareExternalContent” edges, etc.).
The method 500 proceeds to OPERATION 540, where the query of the graph index 110 is made, one or more content items that match the query are fetched, and a response to the query including the one or more fetched items is sent to the client application 312.
At OPERATION 545, a visual information element (e.g., a content card 404) is generated for each content item in the query response. According to an example, for an external content item 108 shared with the recipient user 314, a visual representation of the external content item 108 is generated from the external content item metadata, and includes one or more of: a title 406, a summary, a preview image 408, and tags.
The method 500 proceeds to OPERATION 550, where the one or more visual information elements representative of one or more content items in the query response are exposed to the recipient user 314. According to an example, the one or more visual information elements are exposed to the recipient user 314 in a content feed 402 or a board displayed on a display 316 associated with the computing device 104 as illustrated in
According to an aspect, the visual information item may comprise one or more selectable features that enable the recipient user 314 to act on the content item represented by the visual information item (e.g., view, share, comment on, like, modify, follow, etc.). In some examples, upon receiving an indication of a selection of the visual information item or a selectable feature of the visual information item (e.g., preview image, title, etc.), the content item represented by the visual information item will be opened. For example, if the visual information item represents an external content item 108 and the recipient user 314 selects the visual information item, a browser application will open and navigate to the external content item 108 addressed by the URL 202 associated with the external content item 108. The method 500 ends at OPERATION 595.
While implementations have been described in the general context of program modules that execute in conjunction with an application program that runs on an operating system on a computer, those skilled in the art will recognize that aspects may also be implemented in combination with other program modules. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, components, data structures, and other types of structures that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types.
The aspects and functionalities described herein may operate via a multitude of computing systems including, without limitation, desktop computer systems, wired and wireless computing systems, mobile computing systems (e.g., mobile telephones, netbooks, tablet or slate type computers, notebook computers, and laptop computers), hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, minicomputers, and mainframe computers.
In addition, according to an aspect, the aspects and functionalities described herein operate over distributed systems (e.g., cloud-based computing systems), where application functionality, memory, data storage and retrieval and various processing functions are operated remotely from each other over a distributed computing network, such as the Internet or an intranet. According to an aspect, user interfaces and information of various types are displayed via on-board computing device displays or via remote display units associated with one or more computing devices. For example, user interfaces and information of various types are displayed and interacted with on a wall surface onto which user interfaces and information of various types are projected. Interaction with the multitude of computing systems with which implementations are practiced include, keystroke entry, touch screen entry, voice or other audio entry, gesture entry where an associated computing device is equipped with detection (e.g., camera) functionality for capturing and interpreting user gestures for controlling the functionality of the computing device, and the like.
As stated above, according to an aspect, a number of program modules and data files are stored in the system memory 604. While executing on the processing unit 602, the program modules 606 (e.g., API engine 112, the graph index 110, and the activity processing and analytics engine 308) perform processes including, but not limited to, one or more of the stages of the method 500 illustrated in
According to an aspect, aspects are practiced in an electrical circuit comprising discrete electronic elements, packaged or integrated electronic chips containing logic gates, a circuit utilizing a microprocessor, or on a single chip containing electronic elements or microprocessors. For example, aspects are practiced via a system-on-a-chip (SOC) where each or many of the components illustrated in
According to an aspect, the computing device 600 has one or more input device(s) 612 such as a keyboard, a mouse, a pen, a sound input device, a touch input device, etc. The output device(s) 614 such as a display, speakers, a printer, etc. are also included according to an aspect. The aforementioned devices are examples and others may be used. According to an aspect, the computing device 600 includes one or more communication connections 616 allowing communications with other computing devices 618. Examples of suitable communication connections 616 include, but are not limited to, radio frequency (RF) transmitter, receiver, and/or transceiver circuitry; universal serial bus (USB), parallel, and/or serial ports.
The term computer readable media as used herein include computer storage media. Computer storage media include volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information, such as computer readable instructions, data structures, or program modules. The system memory 604, the removable storage device 609, and the non-removable storage device 610 are all computer storage media examples (i.e., memory storage.) According to an aspect, computer storage media includes RAM, ROM, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other article of manufacture which can be used to store information and which can be accessed by the computing device 600. According to an aspect, any such computer storage media is part of the computing device 600. Computer storage media does not include a carrier wave or other propagated data signal.
According to an aspect, communication media is embodied by computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal, such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism, and includes any information delivery media. According to an aspect, the term “modulated data signal” describes a signal that has one or more characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media includes wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, radio frequency (RF), infrared, and other wireless media.
According to an aspect, one or more application programs 750 are loaded into the memory 762 and run on or in association with the operating system 764. Examples of the application programs include phone dialer programs, e-mail programs, personal information management (PIM) programs, word processing programs, spreadsheet programs, Internet browser programs, messaging programs, and so forth. According to an aspect, API engine 112 is loaded into memory 762. The system 702 also includes a non-volatile storage area 768 within the memory 762. The non-volatile storage area 768 is used to store persistent information that should not be lost if the system 702 is powered down. The application programs 750 may use and store information in the non-volatile storage area 768, such as e-mail or other messages used by an e-mail application, and the like. A synchronization application (not shown) also resides on the system 702 and is programmed to interact with a corresponding synchronization application resident on a host computer to keep the information stored in the non-volatile storage area 768 synchronized with corresponding information stored at the host computer. As should be appreciated, other applications may be loaded into the memory 762 and run on the mobile computing device 700.
According to an aspect, the system 702 has a power supply 770, which is implemented as one or more batteries. According to an aspect, the power supply 770 further includes an external power source, such as an AC adapter or a powered docking cradle that supplements or recharges the batteries.
According to an aspect, the system 702 includes a radio 772 that performs the function of transmitting and receiving radio frequency communications. The radio 772 facilitates wireless connectivity between the system 702 and the “outside world,” via a communications carrier or service provider. Transmissions to and from the radio 772 are conducted under control of the operating system 764. In other words, communications received by the radio 772 may be disseminated to the application programs 750 via the operating system 764, and vice versa.
According to an aspect, the visual indicator 720 is used to provide visual notifications and/or an audio interface 774 is used for producing audible notifications via the audio transducer 725. In the illustrated example, the visual indicator 720 is a light emitting diode (LED) and the audio transducer 725 is a speaker. These devices may be directly coupled to the power supply 770 so that when activated, they remain on for a duration dictated by the notification mechanism even though the processor 760 and other components might shut down for conserving battery power. The LED may be programmed to remain on indefinitely until the user takes action to indicate the powered-on status of the device. The audio interface 774 is used to provide audible signals to and receive audible signals from the user. For example, in addition to being coupled to the audio transducer 725, the audio interface 774 may also be coupled to a microphone to receive audible input, such as to facilitate a telephone conversation. According to an aspect, the system 702 further includes a video interface 776 that enables an operation of an on-board camera 730 to record still images, video stream, and the like.
According to an aspect, a mobile computing device 700 implementing the system 702 has additional features or functionality. For example, the mobile computing device 700 includes additional data storage devices (removable and/or non-removable) such as, magnetic disks, optical disks, or tape. Such additional storage is illustrated in
According to an aspect, data/information generated or captured by the mobile computing device 700 and stored via the system 702 is stored locally on the mobile computing device 700, as described above. According to another aspect, the data is stored on any number of storage media that is accessible by the device via the radio 772 or via a wired connection between the mobile computing device 700 and a separate computing device associated with the mobile computing device 700, for example, a server computer in a distributed computing network, such as the Internet. As should be appreciated such data/information is accessible via the mobile computing device 700 via the radio 772 or via a distributed computing network. Similarly, according to an aspect, such data/information is readily transferred between computing devices for storage and use according to well-known data/information transfer and storage means, including electronic mail and collaborative data/information sharing systems.
Implementations, for example, are described above with reference to block diagrams and/or operational illustrations of methods, systems, and computer program products according to aspects. The functions/acts noted in the blocks may occur out of the order as shown in any flowchart. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved.
The description and illustration of one or more examples provided in this application are not intended to limit or restrict the scope as claimed in any way. The aspects, examples, and details provided in this application are considered sufficient to convey possession and enable others to make and use the best mode. Implementations should not be construed as being limited to any aspect, example, or detail provided in this application. Regardless of whether shown and described in combination or separately, the various features (both structural and methodological) are intended to be selectively included or omitted to produce an example with a particular set of features. Having been provided with the description and illustration of the present application, one skilled in the art may envision variations, modifications, and alternate examples falling within the spirit of the broader aspects of the general inventive concept embodied in this application that do not depart from the broader scope.
