Patent ID: 11941352
Assignee: GOOGLE LLC
Field: Computer technology (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G  H | IPC G  H

Claim 6:
7. A method for providing concurrent multiuser collaborative access to a spreadsheet, the method comprising:
transmitting, by a server associated with a spreadsheet server system, the spreadsheet to a first device associated with a first user of a plurality of users of the spreadsheet server system, the spreadsheet comprising a plurality of parts, each part including a set of spreadsheet cells of a plurality of spreadsheet cells of the spreadsheet, and wherein the first user is logged into the spreadsheet server system in view of a user account of the first user with the spreadsheet server system, and has a first set of privileges for a first part of the plurality of parts, the first part including a first set of spreadsheet cells of the plurality of spreadsheet cells of the spreadsheet;
transmitting, by the server, the spreadsheet to a second device associated with a second user of the plurality of users of the spreadsheet server system, wherein the second user is logged into the spreadsheet server system in view of a user account of the second user with the spreadsheet server system, and has a second set of privileges for a second part of the plurality of parts, the second part including a second set of spreadsheet cells of the plurality of spreadsheet cells of the spreadsheet;
receiving, at the server from the first device, a first edit of the first user for a first spreadsheet cell of the first set of spreadsheet cells, wherein the first device and the second device are concurrently accessing the spreadsheet;
accepting, by the server, the first edit of the first spreadsheet cell;
forwarding, by the server to the second device, a message that includes the first edit of the first spreadsheet cell;
providing, by the server to the second device, a real-time visual indication identifying the first edit of the first spreadsheet cell by the first user that last edited the first spreadsheet cell of the first part, wherein the real-time visual indication causes the edited first spreadsheet cell of the first spreadsheet cell to be displayed on the second device in a first color associated with the first user while the spreadsheet is displayed on the second device; and
causing, by the server, additional edits of the second user and one or more other users who are logged into the spreadsheet server system in view of respective user accounts with the spreadsheet server system and are concurrently editing the spreadsheet to be added to corresponding cells of the spreadsheet displayed on the second device,
wherein the edited first spreadsheet cell is displayed in the first color and the edited corresponding cells are displayed in the spreadsheet in a plurality of second colors that are each associated with one of the second user and the one or more other users and are different for different users, and
wherein a selection of the first color in the edited first spreadsheet cell causes display of an identifier of the first user in the spreadsheet.