SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR THE COMPARISON OF CONTENT WITHIN TABLES SEPARATE FROM FORM AND STRUCTURE

• US 20100241943A1
• Filed: 03/17/2009
• Published: 09/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Litera Technology LLC
• Original Assignee: Litera Technology LLC
• Inventors: Massand, Deepak
• Granted Patent: US 8,136,031 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/227
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/194 Calculation of difference between files

Abstract

A system, method and computer program product for comparison of content within tables, separate from the form and structure of those tables; including identifying tables in a first and second document, creating respective text arrays of content of the tables from the first and second documents, comparing the content of the respective text arrays to determine differences between the content of the tables, and displaying the determined differences between the content of the tables, regardless of form or structure of the tables.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for the comparison of content within tables, separate from form and structure of the tables, the method comprising:

identifying tables in a first and a second document;

creating respective text arrays of content of the tables from the first and second documents;

comparing the content of the respective text arrays to determine differences between the content of the tables; and

displaying the determined differences between the content of the tables, regardless of form or structure of the tables.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of creating respective text arrays further comprises:

identifying cells of the tables as merged or split by determining when cells have been added or deleted before or after an existing cell;

applying a dynamic programming matrix that creates a new table in which matrix cells are filled with numbers delineating an amount of similar words in one set of merged or split cells from the table in one of the first document and the second document to words in the respective cell or cells from the table in the other of the first document and the second document; and

converting the cells from the tables in the first document and the second document to the respective text arrays.

3. A computer program product for the comparison of content within tables, separate from form and structure of the tables, and including one or more computer readable instructions embedded on a computer readable medium and configured to cause one or more computer processors to perform the steps of:

identifying tables in a first and a second document;

creating respective text arrays of content of the tables from the first and second documents;

comparing the content of the respective text arrays to determine differences between the content of the tables; and

displaying the determined differences between the content of the tables, regardless of form or structure of the tables.

4. The computer program product of claim 3, wherein the step of creating respective text arrays further comprises:

identifying cells of the tables as merged or split by determining when cells have been added or deleted before or after an existing cell;

applying a dynamic programming matrix that creates a new table in which matrix cells are filled with numbers delineating an amount of similar words in one set of merged or split cells from the table in one of the first document and the second document to words in the respective cell or cells from the table in the other of the first document and the second document; and

converting the cells from the tables in the first document and the second document to the respective text arrays.

5. A computer implemented system for the comparison of content within tables, separate from the form and structure of those tables, the system comprising:

means for identifying tables in a first and a second document;

means for creating respective text arrays of content of the tables from the first and second documents;

means for comparing the content of the respective text arrays to determine differences between the content of the tables; and

means for displaying the determined differences between the content of the tables, regardless of form or structure of the tables.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the step of creating respective text arrays further comprises:

means for identifying cells of the tables as merged or split by determining when cells have been added or deleted before or after an existing cell;

means for applying a dynamic programming matrix that creates a new table in which matrix cells are filled with numbers delineating an amount of similar words in one set of merged or split cells from the table in one of the first document and the second document to words in the respective cell or cells from the table in the other of the first document and the second document; and

means for converting the cells from the tables in the first document and the second document to the respective text arrays.