ADAPTIVE TOOL SELECTION FOR CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN A MULTI-SESSION COLLABORATION SETTING

• US 20170177610A1
• Filed: 12/17/2015
• Published: 06/22/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Box Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Box Incorporated
• Inventors: Knotts, Ryan, Gupta, Varun
• Granted Patent: US 10,740,297 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1767 Concurrency control, e.g. optimistic or pessimistic approaches
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15

Abstract

Systems for web-based collaboration systems. Two or more users can operate concurrently on objects stored in a cloud-based environment that hosts shared objects. Concurrent editing is facilitated by components in the cloud-based environment that serve to grant a first user, a first permission to modify a first instance of an object to be edited with a first editing tool, then grant to a second user, a second permission to modify a second instance of the same object to be edited with a second editing tool instance. The occurrence of a modification event that presents a conflict is detected, and steps are taken for determining a range of possible remediation tool options that can be used to address the modification conflict. Remediation tool options include remediation tool options that are natively supported within the editing tools. A set of applicable remediation tool options are presented in a user interface.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying an object stored on one or more storage devices in a cloud-based environment that hosts shared objects accessible by two or more users;

granting to a first agent, a first permission to modify a first instance of the object to be edited with a first editing tool;

granting to a second agent, a second permission to modify a second instance of the object to be edited with a second editing tool;

detecting an occurrence of a modification event pertaining to the first instance or the second instance that corresponds to one or more potential modification conflicts;

determining a set of remediation tool options to address the potential modification conflicts, wherein said remediation tool options comprise at least one remediation tool option natively-supported within the first editing tool or the second editing tool; and

presenting the set of remediation tool options.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising accepting a user selection of one of the set of remediation tool options.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the set of remediation tool options is based, at least in part on a preference setting.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the set of remediation tool options is based, at least in part on a history log.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the modification event is at least one of, a save operation event, or an auto-save operation event, or a scroll away event, or a navigating event, or an expiration of an editing or session timeout period, or any combination thereof.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first editing tool is at least one of, a document editor tool, a web page editing tool, an image processing tool, or a spreadsheet editing tool.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the set of remediation tool options uses a tool capability matrix.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the tool capability matrix comprises at least one of, a text redline markup capability, a formatting redline markup capability, or a list markup capability, or a table markup capability, or a vector graphic markup capability, or a form redline capability, or an HTML element redline capability, or a scripting language markup capability, or any combination thereof.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the second editing tool is a different instance of the first editing tool.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first editing tool is used to edit at least one of, a table, or a row, or a column, or a text item, or any combination thereof.

11. A computer program product, embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium, the non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a sequence of instructions which, when stored in memory and executed by a processor causes the processor to perform a set of acts, the acts comprising:

identifying an object stored on one or more storage devices in a cloud-based environment that hosts shared objects accessible by two or more users;

granting to a first agent, a first permission to modify a first instance of the object to be edited with a first editing tool;

granting to a second agent, a second permission to modify a second instance of the object to be edited with a second editing tool;

detecting an occurrence of a modification event pertaining to the first instance or the second instance that corresponds to one or more potential modification conflicts;

determining a set of remediation tool options to address the potential modification conflicts, wherein said remediation tool options comprise at least one remediation tool option natively-supported within the first editing tool or the second editing tool; and

presenting the set of remediation tool options.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising accepting a user selection of one of the set of remediation tool options.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein determining the set of remediation tool options is based, at least in part on a preference setting.

14. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein determining the set of remediation tool options is based, at least in part on a history log.

15. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the modification event is at least one of, a save operation event, or an auto-save operation event, or a scroll away event, or a navigating event, or an expiration of an editing or session timeout period, or any combination thereof.

16. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the first editing tool is at least one of, a document editor tool, a web page editing tool, an image processing tool, or a spreadsheet editing tool.

17. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein determining the set of remediation tool options uses a tool capability matrix.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the tool capability matrix comprises at least one of, a text redline markup capability, a formatting redline markup capability, or a list markup capability, or a table markup capability, or a vector graphic markup capability, or a form redline capability, or an HTML element redline capability, or a scripting language markup capability, or any combination thereof.

19. A system comprising:

a storage facility to store an object on one or more storage devices in a cloud-based environment that hosts shared objects accessible by two or more users; and

a server or servers that carry out acts of;

granting to a first agent, a first permission to modify a first instance of the object to be edited with a first editing tool;

granting to a second agent, a second permission to modify a second instance of the object to be edited with a second editing tool;

detecting an occurrence of a modification event pertaining to the first instance or the second instance that corresponds to one or more potential modification conflicts;

determining a set of remediation tool options to address the potential modification conflicts, wherein said remediation tool options comprise at least one remediation tool option natively-supported within the first editing tool or the second editing tool; and

presenting the set of remediation tool options.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein determining the set of remediation tool options uses a tool capability matrix.