Method and apparatus for minimizing an amount of data communicated between devices and necessary to modify stored electronic documents

• US 6,356,961 B1
• Filed: 06/03/1994
• Issued: 03/12/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Oprescu-Surcobe, Valentin
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cao, Chun
• Application Number:
  US08/253,998
• Time in Patent Office: 2,839 Days
• Field of Search: 382/56, 395/700, 395/200, 341/600, 341/87, 364/221-222, 385/114
• US Class Current: 710/20
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/658 Incremental updates; Differential updates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

In a wireless and/or wireline communications system (100), a method (400-536) and apparatus (200) for minimizing an amount of data (300) communicated between a source device (107, 108, 112 or 114) and a destination device (107, 108, 112 or 114) in order to modify an electronic document stored at said destination device. Said method and/or apparatus employs method steps and apparatus structure for editing a version of the electronic document stored at the source device via a set of input commands to create an edited version of the document. Thereafter, the set of input commands are transmitted to the destination device in order to modify the version of the electronic document stored at the destination device when the set of input commands are smaller in size than edited version of the document.

Claims

1. A method for minimizing an amount of data communicated between a source device and a destination device in order to modify a version of an electronic document stored at said destination device, said method comprising the steps at the source device of:

starting a recorder at the source device;

editing a version of the electronic document stored at the source device via a plurality of user input commands to create an edited version of the document while simultaneously capturing the plurality of user input commands with the recorder to provide a captured set of user input commands;

storing the captured set of user input commands as an input command file;

storing the edited version of the document in a file;

comparing an input command file size to a file size for the edited version of the document;

transmitting the edited version of the document to the destination device when the file size for the edited version of the document is smaller than the input command file size; and

transmitting the captured set of user input commands to the destination device when the input command file size is smaller than the file size for the edited version of the document.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the input command file and the file storing the edited version of the document are compressed prior to the step of comparing.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the set of user input commands are selected from the group consisting of:

key stroke signals;

joy stick signals;

mouse signals;

audio signals; and

video signals.

3. A method for minimizing an amount of data communicated between a source device and a destination device in order to modify a version of an electronic document stored at said destination device, said method comprising the steps at the source device of:

starting a recorder

editing first a version of the electronic document stored at the source device via a set of user input commands to create an edited version of the document while simultaneously capturing the user input commands with the recorder to provide a captured set of user input commands;

storing the captured set of user input commands as an input command file;

storing the edited version of the document in a further file;

comparing the input command file size to a file size for the further file; and

selecting the smaller of the input command file and the further file for transmission to the destination device.

4. A method for minimizing an amount of data communicated between a source device and a destination device in order to modify a version of an electronic document stored at said destination device, said method comprising the steps at the source device of:

starting a recorder

editing a first version of the electronic document stored at the source device via a set of user input commands to create an edited version of the document while simultaneously capturing the user input commands with the recorder to provide a captured set of user input commands;

calculating a difference between the electronic document as stored at the source device and the edited version of the document;

storing the captured set of user input commands in a as an input command file;

storing the edited version of the document in an edited document file;

storing the difference in a difference calculation file;

comparing an input command file size to a file size for the edited document file;

selecting the smaller of the input command file and the edited document file;

comparing the size of the selected said smaller of the input command file and the edited document file to a file size for the difference calculation file;

selecting the file having a smallest size; and

transmitting the file having the smallest size to the destination device in order to modify the version of the electronic document stored at the destination device.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising the steps of compressing the input command file, the edited document file and the difference calculation file prior to the step of comparing.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the step of transmitting further comprises the step of:

setting a status in a control field, said status identifying to the destination device the type of file being communicated.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein the step of calculating a difference is based upon a binary difference between the electronic document and the edited version.

8. The method of claim 4 wherein the step of calculating a difference is based upon format specific similarities between the electronic document and the edited version.

9. The method of claim 4 further comprising the steps of:

receiving at the destination device the file having the smallest size; and

merging the file having the smallest size with the electronic document stored at the destination device in order to generate destination device modified version.

10. The method of claim 4 further comprising the steps of:

receiving at the destination device the file having the smallest size;

when the file having the smallest size is the captured set of user input commands, starting a recorder in a play mode of operation at the destination device; and

applying the captured set of user input commands to the electronic document stored at the destination device in order to generate a modified version thereof.

11. An apparatus for minimizing an amount of data communicated between a source device and a destination device in order to modify a version of an electronic document stored at said destination device, said apparatus comprising:

a user input device for generating a set of user input signals;

a processor, coupled to the input device and memory, for editing a version of the electronic document stored in memory in accordance with the set of input signals to create an edited version of the document;

said processor further comprising;

recorder means for storing the set of input signals in a file;

storage means for storing the edited version of the document in a file;

means for comparing the input signal file size to a file size for the edited version of the document and means for selecting the smaller of the compared files; and

a transmitter, coupled to the processor, for transmitting the smaller of the compared files to the destination device.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the first version stored at the source device is identical to the version of the electronic document stored at the destination device.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the input device is selected from the group consisting of:

alphanumeric keyboards;

keypads;

joy sticks;

mouses;

electronic pens or wands;

microphones; and

touch screens.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the processor further operates to compress the input file and the edited document file prior to their comparison.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein said processor is further for calculating a difference between the first version of the electronic document and the edited version of the document, storing the difference in a difference calculation file, comparing a file size for the difference calculation file to a smaller of the first version and the edited document file, selecting the file having the smallest size and communicating the file having the smallest size to the transmitter for transmission to the destination device.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein said difference calculation is based upon a binary difference between the electronic document and the edited version thereof.

17. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein said difference calculation is based upon format specific similarities between the electronic document and the edited version thereof.

19. A method for minimizing an amount of data communicated between a source device and a destination device in order to modify a version of an electronic document stored at said destination device, said method comprising the steps at the source device of:

editing a version of the electronic document stored via a set of user input hardware interrupts to create an edited version of the document;

storing the set of user input hardware interrupts as an input command file;

storing the edited version of the document in a file;

comparing an input command file size to a file size for the edited version of the document;

transmitting the edited version of the document to the destination device when the file size for the edited version of the document is smaller than the input command file size; and

transmitting the input command file to the destination device when the input command file size is smaller than the file size for the edited version of the document.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the set of user input hardware interrupts are selected from the group consisting of:

key stroke signals;

joy stick signals;

mouse signals;

audio signals; and

video signals.

21. A method for minimizing an amount of data communicated between a source device and a destination device in order to modify a version of an electronic document stored at said destination device, said method comprising the steps at the source device of:

editing a first version of the electronic document stored at the source device via a set of user input hardware interrupts to create an edited version of the document;

storing the set of user input hardware interrupts as an input command file;

calculating a difference between the electronic document as stored at the source device and the edited version of the document;

storing the difference in a difference calculation file;

comparing the size of the input command file to a file size for the difference calculation file;

selecting the file having a smaller size; and

transmitting the file having the smaller size to the destination device in order to modify the version of the electronic document stored at the destination device.