Document processing apparatus and method therefor

• US 5,819,300 A
• Filed: 11/04/1997
• Issued: 10/06/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Kohno, Akihiro, Yamakawa, Tadashi
• Primary Examiner(s): Feild, Joseph H.
• Application Number:
  US08/963,907
• Time in Patent Office: 336 Days
• Field of Search: 707/511, 707/513, 707/530, 707/500, 707/501, 707/515, 707/531, 345/329-332
• US Class Current: 715/246
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/12 Use of codes for handling textual entities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/126 Character encoding
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/194 Calculation of difference between files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/197 Version control for software G06F8/71

Abstract

A document processing apparatus capable of clearly indicating, to each user, the information changed since the last reference by the user, by storing the last referred document information for each user.

At the end of each system function, the referred structured document is registered as past document information for each user in an auxiliary memory device, and, when the user refers again to this document information, the document information at the last reference is compared with the current document information in order to clarify the changes.

Claims

1. A document processing apparatus provided with document information utilizable by plural operators, comprising:

editing means for editing the document information;

first memory means for storing the document information edited by said editing means and change time information as to a time when the document information is changed;

second memory means for storing, for each operator, access time information as to a time when the document information is last referred to or edited by the operator;

detection means for comparing the change time information stored in said first memory means with the access time information stored in said second memory means and detecting a portion of the document information changed after the access time in response to a comparison result; and

display control means for controlling a display device to display the portion of the document information detected by said detection means distinguishably from other portions.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising increment means for incrementing the change time information stored in the first memory means, at each editing of the document information.

3. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the document information comprises a structured document.

4. An apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said detection means compares the document information in structural units.

5. An apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the structured document is divided into segments and the change time information is associated with the document segment by segment and wherein said first memory means stores the change time information for one or more of segments edited by said editing means in correspondence to the one or more segments and said detection means performs the comparison and the detection segment by segment.

6. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the change time information and the access time information are generated using a time stamp.

7. An apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising renewal means for renewing the change time information stored in said first memory means, at each editing of the document information.

8. An apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the document information comprises a structured document.

9. An apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said detection means compares the document information in structural units.

10. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the change time information and the access time information are generated using a change command identifier.

11. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the change time information and the access time information are generated using a counter value.

12. A document processing method, comprising:

an editing step for editing document information;

a first memory step for storing the edited document information and change time information as to a time when the document information is changed;

a second memory step for storing, for each operator, access time information as to a time when said document information is last referred to or edited by the operator;

a detection step for comparing the change time information stored in said first memory step with the access time information stored in said second memory step and detecting a portion of the document information changed after the access time in response to a comparison result; and

a display control step for controlling a display device to display the portion of the document information detected by said detection step distinguishably from other portions.

13. A method according to claim 12, further comprising an incrementing step of incrementing the change time information stored in the first memory step, at each editing of the document information.

14. A method according to claim 13, wherein the document information comprises a structure document.

15. A method according to claim 14, wherein said detection step compares the document information in structural units.

16. A method according to claim 12, further comprising a renewal step of renewing the change time information stored in said first memory step, at each editing of the document information.

17. A method according to claim 16, wherein the document information comprises a structured document.

18. A method according to claim 17, wherein said detection step compares the document information in structural units.

19. A method according to claim 17, wherein the structured document is divided into segments and the change time information is associated with the document segment by segment and wherein said first memory step stores the change time information for one or more of segments edited by said editing step in correspondence to the one or more segments and said detection step performs the comparison and the detection segment by segment.

20. A method according to claim 12, wherein the change time information and the access time information are generated using a time stamp.

21. A method according to claim 12, wherein the change time information and the access time information are generated using a change command identifier.

22. A method according to claim 12, wherein the change time information and the access time information are generated using a counter value.

23. A computer usable medium having computer readable program code means for causing a computer to process a document, the medium comprising:

an editing means for editing document information;

a first memory means for storing the edited document information and change time information as to a time when the document information is changed;

a second memory means for storing, for each operator, access time information as to a time when said document information is last referred to or edited by the operator;

a detection step for comparing the change time information stored in said first memory means with the access time information stored in said second memory means and detecting a portion of the document information changed after the access time in response to a comparison result; and

a display control means for controlling a display device to display the portion of the document information detected by said detection means distinguishably from other portions.

24. A memory medium according to claim 23, further comprising increment means for incrementing the change time information stored in the first memory means, at each editing of the document information.

25. A memory medium according to claim 24, wherein the document information comprises a structured document.

26. A memory medium according to claim 25, wherein said detection means compares the document information in structural units.

27. A memory medium according to claim 23, further comprising renewal means for renewing the change time information stored in said first memory means, at each editing of the document information.

28. A memory medium according to claim 27, wherein the document information comprises a structured document.

29. A memory medium according to claim 28, wherein said detection means compares the document information in structural units.

30. A memory medium according to claim 28, wherein the structured document is divided into segments and the change time information is associated with the document segment by segment and wherein said first memory means stores the change time information for one or more of segments edited by said editing means in correspondence to the one or more segments and said detection means performs the comparison and the detection segment by segment.

31. A memory medium according to claim 23, wherein the change time information and the access time information are generated using a time stamp.

32. A memory medium according to claim 23, wherein the change time information and the access time information are generated using a change command identifier.

33. A memory medium according to claim 23, wherein the change time information and the access time information are generated using a counter value.