Method and System for Document Retrieval with Selective Document Comparison

• US 20140279843A1
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Published: 09/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Workshare Technology Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Workshare Technology Incorporated
• Inventors: Von Weihe, Daniel
• Granted Patent: US 9,170,990 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/608
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2358 Change logging, detection, and notification replication G06F16/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/14 Tree-structured documents parsing G06F40/205; validation G06F40/226
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/197 Version control for software G06F8/71

Abstract

This invention discloses a novel system and method for displaying electronic documents on remote devices and enabling collaborative editing where the system upon a request by a user to access a document, automatically determines the latest version of a document that the person had accessed and also whether a newer version had been created. The invention also merges parallel changes that have not been viewed by the user into the comparison result. The invention also includes running a comparison on the two versions and presenting the result to the user.

Claims

1. A method for providing a user operating a remote computer access to a document embodied in at least two versions stored on a server comprising:

receiving from a user a request for access to the document;

by inspecting a data structure representing the access history of the document, making a first determination of a first version of the document that is the latest version viewed by the requesting user, a second determination whether the document is embodied in a second version saved by a user other than the requesting user that is associated with either a storage time or a version indicator that is later than the first version or both;

in dependence on the second determination,

transmitting a query to the requesting user;

receiving from the user a response to the query; and

in dependence on the response, generating a comparison between the first version and the second version of the document.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising generating a comparison report that highlights the changes between the first version and the second version.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

transmitting the comparison report to the requesting user; and

updating the document access history data structure to indicate that the requesting user has viewed the second version of the document.

4. The method of claim 1 where the making of the first determination is comprised of:

Selecting the second version of the document by selecting a leaf node in a tree-structured representation of a hierarchy of versions of the document.

5. The method of claim 1 where the transmitting step is comprised of transmitting data representing a diagram of the tree-structured representation of additional versions of the document in order to cause that representation to be displayed by a remote computer operated by the user;

and

receiving a command from the requesting user that embodies a selection of a version of the document.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising a determination whether the latest second version has at least one related versions in a tree structure relationship where such related version is not an ancestor document to the second version, and in dependence thereon, selecting at least one of the related versions, merging the changes in the at least one related versions into the second latest version in order to cause the comparison presented to the requesting user to contain a compilation of the merged changes.

7. A computer system for providing a user operating a remote computer access to a document embodied in at least two versions stored on a server comprising:

a component adapted for receiving from a user a request for access to the document;

a component adapted for inspecting a data structure representing the access history of the document,

a component adapted for making a first determination of a first version of the document that is the latest version viewed by the requesting user,

a component adapted for making a second determination whether the document is embodied in a second version saved by a user other than the requesting user that is associated with either a storage time or a version indicator that is later than the first version or both;

a component adapted for transmitting a query to the requesting user in dependence on the second determination,

a component adapted for receiving from the user a response to the query;

a component adapted for, in dependence on the response, generating a comparison between the first version and the second version of the document.

8. The computer system of claim 7 further comprising a component adapted for generating a comparison report that highlights the changes between the first version and the second version.

9. The computer system of claim 8 further comprising:

a component adapted for transmitting the comparison report to the requesting user; and

a component adapted for updating the document access history data structure to indicate that the requesting user has viewed the second version of the document.

10. The system of claim 7 further where the component adapted to make the first determination is further adapted to:

Select the second version of the document by selecting a leaf node in a tree-structured representation of a hierarchy of versions of the document.

11. The system of claim 7 where the transmitting component is further adapted to transmit data representing a diagram of the tree-structured representation of additional versions of the document in order to cause that representation to be displayed by a remote computer operated by the user;

and

receive a command from the requesting user that embodies a selection of a version of the document.

12. The system of claim 7 further comprising a component adapted to determine whether the latest second version has at least one related versions in a tree structure relationship where such related version is not an ancestor document to the second version, and in dependence thereon, select at least one of the related versions, and merge the changes in the at least one related versions into the second latest version in order to cause the comparison presented to the requesting user to contain a compilation of the merged changes.