Method and apparatus for iterative merging of documents
First Claim
1. A method for the merging of documents, comprising:
- obtaining a first document;
obtaining a second document;
compiling a list of modifications, comprising, comparing said first and second documents at a first level of analysis; and
comparing said first and second documents at a second level of analysis, if a difference exists at said first level of analysis;
updating a list of modifications; and
applying said list of modifications to said first document.
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Abstract
The present invention is a technique to iteratively merge two or more documents. The documents represent different versions of an original document. After obtaining the documents, the differences between the versions are determined. In one embodiment, the present invention uses a Longest Common Subsequence algorithm to determine modifications necessary to merge the changes made to one document into the other document. The documents are analyzed at various levels of analysis. Thus, segments of a word processing document are analyzed for differences in paragraphs while other segments are analyzed for differences in words. In one embodiment of the present invention, a conflict resolution block resolves conflicts arising from a merge process involving three or more documents. The modifications are merged back into a single document.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. A method for the merging of documents, comprising:
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obtaining a first document;
obtaining a second document;
compiling a list of modifications, comprising, comparing said first and second documents at a first level of analysis; and
comparing said first and second documents at a second level of analysis, if a difference exists at said first level of analysis;
updating a list of modifications; and
applying said list of modifications to said first document. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A computer program product comprising:
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a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein configured to merge documents, said computer program product comprising;
computer readable code configured to cause a computer to obtain a first document;
computer readable code configured to cause a computer to obtain a second document;
computer readable code configured to cause a computer to compile a list of modifications, comprising, comparing said first and second documents at a first level of analysis; and
comparing the said first and second documents at a second level of analysis, if a difference exists at said first level of analysis;
computer readable code configured to cause a computer to update a list of modifications; and
computer readable code configured to cause a computer to apply said list to said first document. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A system for merging of documents, comprising:
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a first document;
a second document;
a list of modifications means for comparing said first and second documents at a first level of analysis;
means for comparing said first and second documents at a second level of analysis, if a difference exists at said first level of analysis; and
means for updating and applying said list of modifications to said first document. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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Specification