COLLABORATIVE HIERARCHICAL DOCUMENT DEVELOPMENT AND REVIEW SYSTEM
9 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A computer software product for allowing simultaneous multi-level collaboration, including in real time between an author and a group of reviewers invited by the author to comment on a document stored in a computer file. The computer software enables each reviewer to view the document and make changes thereto which are stored in a secondary data file without modifying the contents of the original document. The author receives and views the secondary data files from the reviewers and selectively incorporates the changes into the document. Each reviewer may invite an unlimited number of sub-reviewers to review the document, the comments of each sub-reviewer similarly being stored in a secondary data file wherein only the author may edit the document directly.
215 Citations
70 Claims
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1-19. -19. (canceled)
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20. A computer-implemented document collaboration system for managing the input of reviewers connected over a network of computers, the document collaboration system comprising:
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a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor, the memory including instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to; store a master data file including a document having content created by an owner; create a hierarchical distribution file for tracking access to the document, the hierarchical distribution file including; first data identifying the owner of the document, second data identifying a first level reviewer designated by the owner, and third data identifying a second level reviewer designated the first level reviewer; create a first data file associated with the first level reviewer comprising; first edit data reflecting a first edit made to the content of the document by the first level reviewer, and first index data reflecting a first index to a location of the first edit in the document; and create a second data file associated with the second level reviewer comprising; second edit data reflecting a second edit made to the content of the document by the second level reviewer, and second index data reflecting a second index to a location of the second edit in the document. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. A computer-implemented document collaboration method for managing the input of reviewers connected over a network of computers, the document collaboration method comprising:
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storing a master data file including a document having content created by an owner; creating, by a processor, a hierarchical distribution file for tracking access to the document, the hierarchical distribution file including; first data identifying the owner of the document, second data identifying a first level reviewer designated by the owner, and third data identifying a second level reviewer designated the first level reviewer; creating, by the processor, a first data file associated with the first level reviewer comprising; first edit data reflecting a first edit made to the content of the document by the first level reviewer, and first index data reflecting a first index to a location of the first edit in the document; creating, by the processor, a second data file associated with the second level reviewer comprising; second edit data reflecting a second edit made to the content of the document by the second level reviewer, and second index data reflecting a second index to a location of the second edit in the document; and generating, by the processor, information that is used to display the document adjacent to at least one of the first edit and the second edit. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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49. A computer-based document editing system comprising:
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a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor, the memory including instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to; receive a document having content, and store the document in a document file, receive first edits in a first data file, the first data file comprising the first edits reflecting a change to the content of the document indexed to a portion of the document associated with the change, generate display data that is used to simultaneously display; a first region reflecting portions of the document, and a second region reflecting the first edits in the first data file that are indexed to the portions of the document displayed in the first region, receive a second edit reflecting a change to the content of one of the portions of the document displayed in the first region, and store the second edit in the first data file, wherein the second edit does not modify the content of the document stored in the document file. - View Dependent Claims (50, 51, 52, 53)
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54. A computer-implemented document editing method comprising:
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receiving, by a processor, a document having content, and storing the document in an electronic document file; receiving, by the processor, first edits in a first data file, the first data file comprising the first edits reflecting a change to the content of the document indexed to a portion of the document associated with the change; generating, by the processor, display data that is used to simultaneously display; a first region reflecting portions of the document, and a second region reflecting the first edits in the first data file that are indexed to the portions of the document displayed in the first region; receiving, by the processor, a second edit reflecting a change to the content of one of the portions of the document displayed in the first region; and storing the second edit in the first data file, wherein the second edit does not modify the content of the document stored in the document file. - View Dependent Claims (55, 56, 57, 58)
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59. A document collaboration system, comprising:
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a storage device; and a computer system configured to; receive a document from an owner; store the document in a first file in the storage device; receive first edits for a first portion of the document from a first level reviewer, wherein the first level reviewer is designated by the owner, store the first edits for the first portion of the document in a second file in the storage device, provide, based on the first file and the second file, information that is used to display the document in a first region of a display and the first edits in a second region of the display. - View Dependent Claims (60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65)
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66. A computer-implemented method for collaborating edits to a document, comprising:
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receiving, by a processor, a first version of a document created by an owner; storing the first version of the document in a master data file; receiving, by the processor, a distribution list from the owner, the distribution list identifying at least a first level reviewer authorized to edit the document; providing to the designated first level reviewer access to the master data file; receiving, by the processor, a first secondary data file from the designated first level reviewer, the first secondary data file having contents comprising; first edit data reflecting edits by the designated first level reviewer to the first version of the document, and first index data reflecting the portion of the first version of the document modified by an edit; and providing, by the processor, data for displaying the first version of the document and the contents of the first secondary data file. - View Dependent Claims (67, 68, 69, 70)
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Specification