RU2575684C2 - Partial loading and editing of documents from server - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: physics, computer engineering.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to a method of accessing a document on a client computer. At the client computer, a request is sent to a server computer to open a first portion of a document. The document is stored on the server computer. The first portion of the document is smaller than the entire document. The request includes information which is used by the server computer to determine the size of the first portion of the document. The first portion of the document is received from the server computer. The second portion of the document is rendered on the display screen of the client computer. The second portion of the document is a subset of the first portion of the document. When the client computer determines that the user has scrolled the third portion of the document and when the client computer determines that more of the document is available at the server computer, a second request is sent to the server computer to open an additional portion of the document.

EFFECT: providing real-time document processing.

10 cl, 9 dwg

Description

State of the art

Documents accessed by client computers are typically stored on server computers or in databases throughout the network. Typically, access to a document includes viewing a document stored on a server computer through a web browser on a client computer, and editing a document stored on a server computer through an application program on a client computer.

When accessing a document on a client computer over a network, time delays may occur due to transmission distances, document size, and other factors.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This summary of the invention is provided as a simplified introduction to a selection of concepts, which are further described below in the detailed description. This summary of the invention is not intended to establish key features or integral features of the invention, nor for use as a means in determining the scope of the claimed invention.

Embodiments of the invention are directed to a method for accessing a document on a client computer. On the client computer, the first request is sent to the server computer to open the first part of the document. The document is stored on the server computer. The first part of the document is the smallest document. The request includes information that is used by the server computer to determine the size of the first part of the document. On the client computer, the first part of the document is received from the server computer. After the first part of the document is received from the server computer, the second part of the document is visualized on the display screen of the client computer. The second part of the document is a subset of the first part of the document. On the client computer, it is determined that another part of the document is available on the server computer. On the client computer, it is determined that the user has scrolled the third part of the document on the display screen on the client computer. When the client computer determines that the user has scrolled the third part of the document, and when the client computer determines that another part of the document is available on the server computer, the second request is sent to the server computer to open an additional part of the document.

These and other features and advantages will become apparent from reading the following detailed description and viewing the related drawings. It should be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are explanatory and do not limit the aspects in accordance with what is stated.

List of drawings

Figure 1 shows a typical system used when accessing documents over a network.

Figure 2 shows a page of a representative document that is stored on the server computer of Figure 1.

Figure 3 shows the characteristic storage of documents in a characteristic area of memory on the client computer from Figure 1.

Figure 4 shows another characteristic storage of documents in a characteristic memory area on the client computer of Figure 1.

Figure 5 shows another other example of storing documents in a characteristic memory area on a client computer from Figure 1.

Figure 6 shows a typical way of opening part of a document on a client computer.

Figure 7 shows a typical way of opening part of a document on a server computer.

Figure 8 shows a typical way of determining the threshold value of objects for the open part of the document from Figure 7.

Figure 9 shows an example of components of client computers and a server computer from Figure 1.

Detailed description

This application is directed to systems and methods for partial download and editing of documents stored on a server computer.

In representative embodiments, when a document stored on a server computer is accessed on a client computer, the server computer opens only part of the document and sends the open part of the document to the client computer. The size of the open part of the document, as a rule, corresponds to the size of the document, which can fit on the display screen on the client computer, plus a small part of the document to provide scrolling. The part of the document that opens is loaded into memory on the client computer. By opening only a part of the document, instead of the entire document, and downloading this part of the document to the client computer, the document can be visualized on the client computer faster than if the entire document were opened.

In this disclosure, opening a portion of a document refers to receiving a handle to a document on a server computer and sending a portion of the document to a client computer.

Figure 1 shows a representative system 100 used in accessing documents over a network. The representative system 100 includes client computers 102, 104, a network 110, and a server computer 112. More or less client computers and server computers can be used.

Server computer 112 is accessible to client computers 102 and 104 via network 110. Examples of network 110 are the Internet and a corporate Intranet. Other examples of network 110 are possible.

The representative client computer 102 includes a web browser 106, and the representative client computer 104 includes a software client application 108. A typical software client application is the Microsoft Word® 2010 word processing program from Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Wash.

When a document stored on the server computer 112 is accessed via a web browser 106 on the client computer 102, the client computer 102 sends a request to open the document to the server computer 112. Typically, the request includes one or more parameters that relate to displaying information on the client computer 102. For example, one parameter may indicate the size of the display screen on the client computer 102 on which the document will be rendered. Another parameter may indicate the font size with which the document will be rendered. The third parameter may indicate the resolution of the display screen in pixels. Other characteristic parameters may be used.

When the representative server computer 112 receives the request to open the document, the server computer 112 determines that the document should be partially opened. In some examples, the server computer 112 determines that the document should be partially opened by detecting the presence of one or more parameters that relate to the display of information on the client computer 102. In other examples, the request to open the document may include a function code indicating that the document should be partially open. You can use other means in relation to the server computer 112, to determine that the document should be partially open.

The server computer 112 uses the information included in one or more parameters to determine which size part of the document should be sent to the client computer 102. The server computer 112 determines what size part of the document will fit in the size of the display screen on the client computer 102. When the server computer 112 determines what size part of the document fits in the size of the display screen on the client computer 102, then the server computer 112 opens the document in relation to the received ultate determining the size plus an additional resolution. The extra size is the part of the document that is downloaded to the client computer 102, but is not currently displayed. For example, when opening a document, the extra size may correspond to one display screen below the original part of the document, which fits on one display screen. When a user of the client computer 102 scrolls beyond the first displayed screen of the document, the second screen of the document is already loaded and ready for display.

When the server computer 112 determines which size part of the document to open, the server computer 112 sends the part of the document that the server computer opened to the client computer 102. When the client computer 102 receives a part of the document from the server computer 112, the client computer 102 loads the received part of the document into the memory of the client computer 102. Then, the client computer 102 renders the first page of the document on the display screen on the client computer 102.

Figure 2 shows a page of feature document 200, which is stored on server computer 112. The page of feature document 200 includes five objects of the highest level - four paragraphs and one table. Used in the present disclosure, the concept of an object is a specific component of the document. Representative objects include paragraphs, tables, images, sentences, words, table cells, and hyperlinks. Other examples of objects are possible. Objects such as paragraphs, tables, and images are objects of the highest level because they can include additional built-in objects. For example, a paragraph object may include one or more sentence objects. Other objects of the highest level are possible. Each object of the highest level has a unique identifier. Thus, each paragraph, sentence, word, image, table and table cell, etc., in a document are uniquely identifiable.

The first highest-level object in feature document 200 is paragraph 202. Characteristic paragraph 202 is identified by ID # 100. Other top-level objects in document 200 include paragraph 204 (ID # 200), paragraph 206 (ID # 300), table 208 (ID # 400) and paragraph 210 (ID # 500). In the examples, objects embedded in another object, such as sentences in paragraphs or words in sentences, may have an ID associated with a higher level object. For example, the first sentence in paragraph 202 may be identified by the number 110, and the first word in the first sentence may be identified by the number 101. In the examples, the ID numbers may be of a different format. Identification of each object in the document using a unique ID helps to edit the document, as will be discussed in more detail here.

Documents are typically stored on server computer 112 in a document-specific format. For example, a Microsoft Word® word processing application document is typically stored in a format compatible with a Word® word processing application document. For some versions of the Microsoft Word® word processing application, the format may be XML. For other versions of the Microsoft Word® word processing application, the format may be a proprietary format. However, when a Word® word processing application document is rendered in the web browser of the client computer 102, the Word® word processing application document is rendered in a format compatible with the web browser, for example, in HTML format. Server computer 112 sends the open portion of the document to client computer 102 in a format that client computer 102 can convert to HTML. In the examples, when the server computer 112 opens a portion of the document to be rendered on the client computer 102, the server computer 112 can convert the document from the format of the Word® word processing application to the XML format. Then, the server computer 112 sends the open part of the document to the client computer 102 in XML format.

When the server computer 112 determines the opening part of the document, the server computer 112 determines the threshold value with respect to the number of objects to be included in the open part of the document. Server computer 112 may determine a threshold value of objects by one of several methods. In one method, the server computer 112 receives information that relates to a display screen of the client computer 102 as represented in one or more parameters sent from the client computer 102 to the server 112 in a request to open a document.

Information about the display screen included in one or more parameters may include the size of the display screen, the font size used on the display screen, and the resolution of the display screen in pixels. Using the information on the display screen, the server computer 112 determines the number of objects that will fit on the display screen. In another method, the number of objects that will fit on the display screen is determined from the indication included in the request message from the client computer 102 to open part of the document.

Then, the server computer 112 determines an additional number of objects, typically corresponding to one or two additional sizes of the display screen. The threshold value of the objects corresponds to the sum of the number of objects that fit on the display screen, plus an additional number of objects. A portion of the document corresponding to one or more additional sizes of the display screen allows the user of the client computer 102 to scroll through the pages and provides the ability to visualize adjacent pages from memory on the client computer 102. Other methods are possible for calculating the threshold value of objects.

The server computer 112 opens the part of the document corresponding to the size of the threshold value of the objects, and starts sending objects from the document to the client computer 102. When the threshold value of the objects is reached, the server computer 112 continues sending objects to the client computer 102 until the end of the highest object is reached level. Sending until the end of the object of the highest level is reached, ensures that the open part of the document is divided into objects of the highest level, instead of being split in the middle of a paragraph or table, for example. Upon reaching the threshold value of the objects and upon reaching the end of the object of the highest level, the server computer 112 stops sending objects to the client computer 102.

Figure 3 shows an illustration of the use of the memory region 308 of the client computer 102 for loading and storing the open portion of a document transmitted from the server computer 112 to the client computer 102. The memory region 308 is variable in size to accommodate different sizes of objects of the highest level. The characteristic region 308 of the memory stores data of parts of three pages of the open part of the document. In other examples, a different memory size may be stored containing more or fewer pages or parts of pages.

In Figure 3, page 304, shown with a frame in a thick black line, corresponds to the document data page rendered on the client computer 102. Page 304 includes three characteristic objects of the highest level - objects 316, 318 and 320. Page 302 corresponds to the page of the document preceding page 304, and page 306 corresponds to the document page following page 304. In Figure 3, only a portion of pages 302 and 306 are actually loaded into the memory area 308 on client computer 102. For example, page objects 312 and 314 302 are loaded into memory area 308, while object 310 is not loaded. Similarly, objects 320, 322, 324 are loaded into the memory area 308, while as object 326 is not loaded.

As previously discussed, server computer 112 typically sends open document data to client computer 102 corresponding to one page of rendered data plus an additional section of the document. In Figure 3, page 304 corresponds to the rendered page. Objects 312 and 314 of page 302 and objects 320, 322 and 324 of page 306 correspond to an additional section of the document. The reason for loading and storing an additional section of the document is that it is necessary to ensure smooth scrolling of the document by the user.

For example, if the user scrolls below the lower border of page 304, then the object 320, already stored in memory on the client computer 102, is available for viewing without any additional download. Similarly, if the user scrolls up above the top of the page 304, then the object 314 is already loaded into memory on the client computer 102 and is also available for viewing without any additional loading.

As shown in Figure 3, the first object loaded and stored in the memory area 308 is an object 312, and the last object loaded and stored in the memory area 308 is an object 324. The memory area 308 stores complete objects of the highest level. The upper part of the memory area 308, indicated by element 328, corresponds to the first line of the highest-level object 312. Similarly, the lower part of the memory area 308, indicated by element 330, corresponds to the last line of the highest level object 324. When the user scrolls toward the bottom of the page 304 so that part of the page 306 is rendered on the display screen of the client computer 102, then the object 312 can move from the memory area 308, and the object 326 can move to the memory area 308.

Thus, the memory region 308 is sized to include new objects of the highest level and delete old objects of the highest level. In addition, as discussed below, the highest level objects that are deleted from the memory area 308 can be unloaded from the client computer 102, and additional objects can be received from the server computer 112 and stored in the memory area 308.

Figure 4 shows an example of a memory region 402 on a client computer 102, corresponding to the moment when a portion of the document from Figure 2 is initially opened on a client computer 102 and received from the server computer 112. A representative part of the document downloaded and stored in the memory region 402 includes the first document page 200 and part of the second page 404 of the document. In the examples, the entire second page 404 of the document may be loaded and stored in the memory area 402.

The first page of the document 200 is rendered on the display screen of the client computer 102. Typically, the page or part of the document page preceding the rendered page is also loaded and stored in the memory area 402. However, in relation to this example, since the page to be rendered is the first page of the document, there is no download content that precedes the first page. In this example, this is indicated by a blank page 401 that precedes the first page of document 200. In this example, the portion of the memory area 402 above the one loaded in page 200 is not used to provide memory space for saving page 200 when the user executes scrolling to the bottom of page 200 and to page 402. Here, the implementation of scrolling in the memory area 402 will be described in more detail.

As shown in Figure 4, the first page 200 of the document includes objects 202, 204, 206 and 208 and part of the object 210. The second page 404 of the document includes the remaining part of the object 210, and also includes objects 408, 410 and 412. However, in this example, since only part of the second page 404 is loaded, the object 412 falls out of the memory area 402 and is not actually loaded or stored on the client computer 102 at the moment. Object 412 is shown in Figure 4 to illustrate that object 412 is part of page 404.

All objects 202, 204, 206, 208, 408, 410 and 412 are objects of the highest level, which means, in this example, that they are paragraphs, tables, lists or images. When the server computer 112 determines the size of the open part of the document based on the threshold value of the objects calculated by the server computer 112, the server computer continues to go to the object corresponding to the threshold value of the objects until it reaches the end of the highest level object, which includes an object corresponding to the threshold value of the objects. As shown in FIG. 4, the last loaded and stored in the memory region 402 of the highest level object is the object 410. The last line 406 of the object 410 corresponds to the end of the memory region 402.

When the server computer 112 sends part of the document to the client computer 102, the server computer 112 also provides an indication that another part of the document is available on the server computer 112. Server computer 112 may provide an indication that another part of the document is available by setting a flag in the message used to send part of the document to client computer 102. The flag is usually set when another part of the document is available. Instead of using a flag, server computer 112 may include in the message the ID of the last object in the sent part of the document and the ID of the last object in the document. By evaluating the ID, the client computer 102 can determine if another part of the document is available on the server computer 112. Messages sent between the client computer 102 and the server computer 112 are standard web-based messages using the HTTP communication protocol.

When the user starts scrolling through the rendered document and the entire document is not loaded on the client computer 102, then the client computer 102 determines that it is necessary to open and download another part of the document to the client computer 102. The client computer 102 determines that it is necessary to obtain another part of the document based on the scroll . In the examples, the client calculates the number of objects of the highest level that have been scrolled, and when the number of scrolled objects of the highest level is greater than a threshold value, for example, a threshold value corresponding to half a page of rendered data, then the client computer 102 requests an additional part of the document from the server computer 112. B In the examples, the threshold value may be greater than or less than half the page. For example, the threshold value may be one page or three quarters of a page.

5 shows an example of a memory area 402 when a user scrolls down one page in a document. As shown in Figure 5, the page 404 containing the objects 408, 410 and 412 and the part of the object 210 is the part of the document that is visualized to the user. The upper part of the memory area 402 is aligned with the top line 504 of the object 206. The objects 202 and 204 are now outside the area 402 memory. In the examples, when objects are moved outside the memory region 402 as a result of scrolling, objects can be unloaded from the client computer 102 in order to save memory resources on the client computer 102. For example, memory objects 202 and 204 can be unloaded by the client computer 102. When the objects 202 and 204 of the memory are unloaded by the client computer 102, it is required that these memory objects be retrieved from the server computer 112 when the user scrolls to the beginning of the document.

Figure 5 also shows that as a result of scrolling one page down in the document, server computer 112 loads the next page in the document, represented by page 502, into the memory area 402. In this example, the next page in the document is the image corresponding to the object 510. Since the server computer 112 sends the highest level objects to the client computer 102, the lower part of the memory area 402 is adjusted in accordance with the last line 506 of the object 510.

In the examples, the server computer 112 sends the next page of the document (corresponding to object 506) as a result of the request message from the client computer 102. The client computer sends a request message to the server computer 102 when the client computer 102 detects that the user has scrolled down one page. The request message instructs the server computer 112 to open an additional part of the document, in this case, corresponding to one page, and send an additional part of the document to the client computer 102. In the examples, the client computer 102 may issue a request to the server computer 112 as a result of the user scrolling more or less than one page.

In addition to scrolling through and viewing parts of a document on a client computer 102, a user can edit one or more parts of a document or add content to a document. As discussed, each object in the document is identified by a unique ID number. When the user edits part of the document, the edited objects are identified and updated in relation to the open part of the document on the server computer 112. If a new object is added, for example, a new word, sentence or paragraph, the ID number is generated for the word, sentence or paragraph. In the examples, the ID numbers of existing objects can be adjusted to reflect the position of the added word, sentence or paragraph. In addition, since only a part of the document is open and the IDs of the edited objects are known, the document can be edited, and the changes are saved on the server computer 112, without requiring the entire document to be opened.

Figure 6 shows a typical flowchart of a method 600 for opening portions of a document on a client computer. For example, part of a document can be opened in a web browser 106 on a client computer 102. Alternatively, part of a document can be opened in a client application, for example, Microsoft Word® word processing application 108 on a client computer 104. The document, which should be open, stored on a server computer, for example, server computer 112.

At operation 602, a request message is sent from the client computer 102 to the server computer 112 to open a portion of the document. The request message includes information indicating the size of the opened part of the document. For example, a request message may include an indication showing the number of objects to be included in a part of the document. Alternatively, the request message may include one or more parameters providing information that relates to the display of information on the client computer 102. The information may include elements such as display screen size, font size, and display resolution in pixels.

At operation 604, the first part of the document is received from the server computer 112. The first part of the document typically includes the first page of the document, plus the additional volume of the document, typically a page or part of the page. In the examples, the size of the first part of a document may include a size larger or smaller than a given size. The reason for including more than one page of a document is to enable the user of the client computer 102 to scroll after the first page and so that the second page, or part of the second page, is quickly displayed from memory on the client computer 102.

In addition to sending the first part of the document, server computer 112 also indicates to the client computer whether another part of the document is available. Server computer 112 may indicate that another part of the document is available by setting a flag in the message sent by server computer 112 to client computer 102. Other methods are possible to indicate that another part of the document is available. For example, server computer 112 may include the ID of the last object in the document and the ID of the last object in the sent part. Client computer 102 can then compare the IDs to determine if another part of the document is available.

In operation 606, the first part of the document received from the server computer 112 is loaded into the first memory area on the client computer 102. The first memory area is the memory area on the client computer 102 for storing part of the document. Typically, a memory area is large enough to hold two or three pages of a document, although in the examples, a memory area can store more or less than two or three pages of a document. A memory area large enough to hold two pages of a document allows you to save the current page plus half the previous page and half the next page. A memory area large enough to hold three pages allows you to save the current page plus the entire previous page and the entire subsequent page. In the examples, the memory area is known as the viewport, as part of the document is rendered from the memory area.

A portion of the document received from the server computer 112 and stored in the memory area consists of one or more objects. Each object represents a specific part of a document, such as a word, sentence, paragraph, table, table cell, etc. Each object has a unique ID. In addition, one or more of the objects are designated as objects of the highest level. Top-level objects are objects in a document that contain one or more other objects. For example, a paragraph is an object of the highest level, which includes one or more sentence objects and word objects.

The objects in the part of the document stored in the memory area are organized within the objects of the highest level. Thus, the memory area begins with the first line of the highest level object and the memory area ends with the last line of the highest level object. Highest-level objects typically contain one or more lines of XML code. The memory area is adjustable in size to adjust in size to the last highest level object in the memory area.

At operation 608, the second part of the document is visualized on the display screen of the client computer 102. Typically, the second part contains a page of document data. The second part of the document is visualized from the memory area on the client computer 102 and contains a part of the first part of the document. The page 200 of Figure 4 and the page 404 of Figure 5 are examples of document pages rendered from the memory area of the client computer 102.

At operation 610, the user scrolls through the document. At step 612, a determination is made as to whether another portion of the document is available on the server computer 112. In the examples, the definition involves checking the status of the flag in the message sent by the server computer 112 to the client computer 102 with the first part of the document in operation 604. In other examples, the client computer 102 can compare the last ID in the part of the document sent by the server computer 112 with the last ID in document.

In operation 614, when it is determined that another part of the document is available on the server computer 112, the client computer 102 determines when to receive another part of the document from the server computer 112. In the examples, the client computer determines that it is necessary to obtain another part of the document from the server computer 112 after the document page has been scrolled by the user. In other examples, the client computer determines that it is necessary to receive another part of the document from the server computer 112 whenever the user scrolls any part of the document on the client computer 102. Other examples are possible.

At operation 616, when it is determined on the client computer 102 that it is necessary to obtain another part of the document from the server computer 112, the client computer 102 sends a request message to the server computer 112 regarding the third part of the document. The request message includes information about the size of the third part of the document. In the examples, information that relates to the size of the document may include an indication of the number of objects to be included in the third part of the document. In the examples, information that relates to the size of the document may include one or more parameters indicating the amount by which the document rendered on the client computer 102 has been scrolled. Server computer 112 uses information that relates to the size of the document to determine the size of the third part of the document.

At step 618, the third part of the document is received from the server computer 112. At step 620, the third part of the document is loaded into the first memory area. When the third part of the document is loaded into the first memory area, due to the user scrolling down the document, the third part of the document is added to the end of the first memory area. The first memory area is increased in size to cover the size of the third part of the document. The end of the third part of the document is the object of the highest level, and the end of this object of the highest level corresponds to the end of the first memory area.

In the examples, when the third part of the document is added to the first memory area, the part of the document, similar in size to the third part of the document, is usually unloaded from the first memory area. Unloading a portion of the document from the first memory area reduces memory consumption on the client computer 102.

At operation 622, a fourth part of the document is unloaded from the first memory area. The fourth part of the document is a subset of the first part of the document. As described above, the fourth part of the document is usually similar in size to the third part of the document. The fourth part of the document is usually similar in size to the third part of the document, but not identical to the third part of the document, since the first memory area ends at the highest level object, and the size of the highest level objects in the first and third parts of the document may differ. Unloading the fourth part of the document from the first memory area, when the third part of the document is added to the first memory area, adjusts the memory consumption on the client computer 102.

At step 624, the user edits a portion of the document rendered on the client computer 102. In the examples, the document can be edited at any time when the document is displayed on the client computer 102. This includes the point in time when the document is initially displayed or after the document is scrolled . Although Figure 6 shows the editing of a document when another part of the document is no longer available on the server computer 112, this is just one example of the moment when the document can be edited.

At step 626, the user saves the edited part of the document on the client computer 102. Typically, the user saves the edited part of the document by clicking or clicking on the save button on the client computer 102. At step 628, the client computer 102 sends a request message to the server computer 112 to request saving the edited part of the document by the server computer 112. The server computer 112 saves the edited part of the document without requiring opening or saving the document entirely. Only the open part of the document is saved.

Figure 7 shows an example flowchart of a method 700 for opening part of a document on a server computer, for example, server computer 112. At step 702, server computer 112 receives a request message from client computer 102 to open a part of the document that is stored on server computer 112. Message The request includes information that relates to the size of the open part of the document. In the examples, the information may include an indication of the number of openable objects in the document. In other examples, the information may include one or more parameters indicating information, such as the size of the display screen on the client computer 102, the font size used on the client computer 102, the resolution of the display screen, etc.

At operation 704, the server computer 112 determines a threshold value of the objects as applied to the open part of the document. The threshold value of objects indicates the number of objects that should be included in the open part of the document. When an indication of the threshold value of the objects is not provided by the client computer 102, then, as a rule, the threshold value of the objects is calculated by determining the number of objects in the document that fit in the size of one display screen on the client computer 102 plus an additional number of objects. An additional number of objects, as a rule, is a multiple of the number of objects that fits in the size of one display screen.

At step 706, the server computer 112 opens the requested document and sends one or more objects in the document to the client computer 102 until a threshold value of the objects is reached. Each object is converted to the format that is required on the client computer 102 before the object is sent to the client computer 102. For example, each object in Word® format can be converted to XML format.

Upon reaching the threshold value of the objects, at operation 708, the server computer 112 determines the object of the highest level, which corresponds to the object, which in turn corresponds to the threshold value of the objects. When objects are still present in the object corresponding to the threshold value of the objects, then at step 710, the server computer 112 continues sending objects to the client computer 102 until the last object in the object of the highest level is reached.

At operation 712, a determination is made whether the end of the document has been reached. At operation 712, when it is determined that the end of the document has been reached, then at operation 714, the server computer 112 expects further action from the client computer 102. The next step may be to save the edited part of the document, close the document, etc.

In operation 712, when it is determined that the end of the document has not been reached, in operation 716, the server computer 112 notifies the client computer 102 that there is additional content in the document. Typically, the server computer 112 sends a notification via a message to the client computer 102. In the examples, instead of sending a notification in a new message, the notification may be included in a message that includes document content, for example, a message in operations 706 or 710. In other examples the client computer may send a message to the server computer 112 requesting whether additional content in the document is available; In response to the request message, server 112 may send a notification to client computer 102.

At operation 718, the server computer 112 receives a request message from the client computer 102 regarding an additional part of the document. Typically, a request message includes information regarding the size of an additional part of the document. In the examples, the information may be an indication of the number of objects that should be included in an additional part of the document. In other examples, the information may include an opening number of pages or parts of a page. Other examples are possible.

At operation 720, the server computer 112 determines the size of the additional part of the document. Server computer 112 typically uses the information included in the request message to determine the size of an additional portion of the document. In the examples, the size of the additional part of the document may be configured or hard-coded on the server computer 112.

At operation 722, a threshold value of the objects for the additional part of the document is determined. The threshold value of objects corresponds to the number of objects that should be included in an additional part of the document. When the number of objects is reached, which should be included in the additional part, then at operation 724, the server computer 112 determines the object of the highest level that contains the object at the threshold value of the objects. In operation 726, the server computer 112 sends one or more objects from an additional part of the document to the client computer 102. The server computer 112 sends one or more objects to the client computer 102 until a threshold value of the objects is reached. When the threshold value of the objects is reached, the server computer 112 continues to send objects to the client computer 102 until the last object in the highest level object, which corresponds to the object at the threshold value of the objects, is reached.

At operation 728, the server computer 112 receives the edited part of the document from the client computer 102. The edited part of the document may include one or more edited objects or one or more new added or deleted objects. Since each object has a unique object ID, when new or added one or more objects are deleted, the object IDs in the document are adjusted depending on the position of the added new or deleted objects.

At operation 730, the edited part of the document is stored on the server computer 112. The edited part of the document is saved without opening the entire document.

Figure 8 shows an example flowchart of a method 704 for determining a threshold value of objects for a document to be opened. At operation 802, information is identified in the request message sent from the client computer 102 to the server computer 112, which refers to the size of the open part of the document. The size of the opening part of the document may be included in one or more parameters included in the request message.

At operation 804, a determination is made whether an indication of the size of the threshold value of the objects is included in the request message. The indication may be included in one or more parameters, or the indication may be included anywhere in the request message. The indication, if included in the request message, provides the number of objects corresponding to the threshold value of the objects for the document to be opened by the server computer 112 and sent to the client computer 102.

When it is determined that the indication is included in the request message, then at operation 806, the number of objects identified in the indication is retrieved from the request message. When it is determined that the indication is not included in the request message, then at operation 808, other information that relates to the threshold value of the objects is extracted from the request message. Other information, typically included in one or more parameters in the request message, may include elements such as the size of the display screen of the client computer 102, the size of the font used, and the screen resolution in pixels for the display screen. Other types of information are also possible.

At operation 810, the information obtained at operation 808 is used to determine the number of objects that fits in the size of the display screen. For example, if the size of the display screen is known and the size of the font used on the display screen is known, and the average size of the object is known, then an estimate of the number of objects that can fit in the size within the size of the display screen can be obtained.

In operation 812, the number of objects obtained by calculating in operation 810, or the number of objects obtained in operation 806, as a result of the indication included in the request message, is multiplied by the multiplication factor. The multiplication factor is used to determine the threshold value of objects. The multiplication factor is usually a multiple of the page size. For example, a multiplication factor of 2 indicates a size corresponding to two pages, and a multiplication factor of 1.5 indicates a size corresponding to one and a half pages. In the examples, other multiplication factors may be used.

At operation 814, the result of the multiplication step 812 is assigned as the threshold value of the objects. For example, if the multiplication factor is 1.5, then the number of objects in the threshold value of the objects corresponds to the number of objects that fits in the size of the display screen plus the number of objects that fits in the size of half the display screen.

With reference to Figure 9, representative components of client computers 102, 104 and server computer 112 are shown. In representative embodiments, client computers 102, 104 and server computer 112 are computing devices. Client computers 102, 104 and server computer 112 may include input / output devices, a central processing unit (“CPU”), a storage device, and a network device.

In a basic configuration, client computers 102, 104 and server computer 112 typically include at least one processing unit 902 and system memory 904. Depending on the particular configuration and type of computing device, system memory 904 may be volatile (such as RAM), non-volatile (such as ROM, flash memory, etc.) or some combination of the two. Typically, system memory 904 includes an operating system 906 suitable for controlling the operation of a networked personal computer, such as Windows® operating systems from Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Washington, or a server such as Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, also from Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Washington. System memory 904 may also include one or more software applications 908 and may include program data.

Client computers 102, 104 and server computer 112 may have the same features or functionality. For example, client computers 102, 104 and server computer 112 may also include computer-readable media. Computer-readable storage media may include both computer-readable storage media and communication media.

Computer-readable storage media are physical storage media, such as storage devices (removable and / or non-removable), including magnetic disks, optical disks, or tape. Such additional storage is illustrated in Figure 9 by removable storage 910 and non-removable storage 912. Machine-readable storage media may include volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable storage media implemented in any way or by any storage technology, such as machine-readable instructions, data structures , software modules and other data. Computer-readable storage media may include, but are not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory and other memory technologies, CD-ROMs, digital versatile disks (DVDs) or other optical storage devices, magnetic tapes, magnetic tape, and storage media magnetic disks or other magnetic storage devices, or any other storage medium that can be used to store the required information, and which can be accessed by client computers 102, 104. Any such computer-readable storage media can They can be part of client computers 102, 104. Client computers 102, 104 can also have an input device (s) 914, such as a keyboard, mouse, pen, voice input device, touch input device, etc. An output device (s) 916, such as a display, speakers, printer, etc., may also be included.

Client computers 102, 104 and server computer 112 may also contain communication connections 918 that allow the device to communicate with other computing devices 920, such as over a network in a distributed computing environment, such as an intranet or the Internet. Communication connection 918 is one example of communication media. Communication media can typically embody 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 include any information delivery media. The term "modulated data signal" means a signal in which one or more of its characteristics are set or changed in such a way that information is encoded in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media include wired media such as a wired network or a direct wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, radio frequency, infrared, and other wireless media.

The various embodiments described above are provided by way of illustration only and should not be construed as limiting. Various modifications and changes may be made in relation to the above-described embodiments without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims (10)

1. A method of accessing a document on a client computer, comprising the steps of:
on the client computer, the first request is sent to the server computer to open the first part of the document, the document being stored on the server computer, the first part of the document the smallest document, this request includes information that the server computer uses to determine the size of the first part of the document;
on the client computer, receive the first part of the document from the server computer;
on the client computer, after the first part of the document is received from the server computer, the second part of the document is visualized on the display screen of the client computer, while the second part of the document is a subset of the first part of the document;
on the client computer, determine that another part of the document is available on the server computer;
on the client computer, it is determined that the user has scrolled the third part of the document on the display screen on the client computer;
when it is determined by the client computer that the user has scrolled the third part of the document, and when it is determined by the client computer that another part of the document is available on the server computer, a second request is sent to the server computer to open an additional part of the document. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of determining on the client computer that at least one additional portion of the document is available on the server computer further comprises the step of receiving a message from the server computer indicating that part of the document is still available. 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining that the user has scrolled the third part of the document on the display screen further comprises the step of determining that the user has scrolled the predetermined number of objects on the display screen. 4. The method according to claim 3, in which each object in a predetermined number of objects is an object of the highest level, and each of the objects of the highest level is one of a paragraph, table, list or image. 5. The method according to claim 1, in which, when the client computer requests an additional part of the document from the server computer, the client computer unloads a similar size part of the document from the client computer. 6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of: receiving an additional part of the document from the server computer, and when the additional part of the document is received from the server computer, unloading part of the document from the client computer. 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the information included in the first request includes one or more of a display screen size on a client computer, a font size used on a display screen, and a resolution in pixels of the display screen. 8. The method according to claim 1, in which the information included in the first request includes an indication of the number of objects that should be included in the first part of the document. 9. The method implemented on the server computer and designed to partially open a document stored on the server computer, the method comprises the steps of:
on the server computer, the first message is received from the client computer, the first message being a request to open the first part of the document, the first part of the document containing one or more objects, and this request includes information to determine the size of the first part of the document;
on the server computer, determine the size of the first part of the document, and when determining the size of the first part of the document determine the threshold value of the objects for the first part of the document, while the threshold value of the objects corresponds to the minimum number of objects that must be included in the first part of the document; and
on the server computer, send one or more objects from the document to the client computer, and these one or more objects contain objects from the beginning of the document until the number of objects sent to the client computer is equal to the threshold value of the objects. 10. A computer-readable storage medium containing instructions that, when executed by a computing device, instruct the computing device:
send to the server computer the first request to open the first part of the document, while the document is stored on the server computer, the first part of the document is the smallest document, this request includes information that the server computer uses to determine the size of the first part of the document;
receive the first part of the document from the server computer;
after the first part of the document is received from the server computer, visualize the second part of the document on the display screen of the client computer, while the second part of the document is a subset of the first part of the document;
determine that another part of the document is available on the server computer;
determine that the user has scrolled the third part of the document on the display screen on the client computer, while the third part of the document contains a predetermined number of objects, each of which is one of a paragraph, table, list or image; and
when it is determined that the user has scrolled the third part of the document, and when it is determined that another part of the document is available on the server computer, then send the second request to the server computer to open the additional part of the document, while the additional part of the document is similar in size to the scrolled third part of the document.

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