Methods and systems for comparing presentation slide decks

• US 8,473,847 B2
• Filed: 07/27/2010
• Issued: 06/25/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Freedom Solutions Group, LLC
• Original Assignee: Workshare Technology Incorporated
• Inventors: Glover, Robin Wallace
• Primary Examiner(s): TRAN, TUYETLIEN T
• Application Number:
  US12/844,818
• Publication Number:
  US 20110022960A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,064 Days
• Field of Search: 715730-732
• US Class Current: 715/730
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Disclosed herein are methods and systems for comparing two slide decks using a compare service. The compare service generates a comparison analysis for the two slide decks based on a comparison theme selected by the user. The result of the analysis is displayed in a comparison display that includes a slide selector section, a slide pair viewer section, and a navigable change summary section. In one embodiment, the compare service allows the user to select preferred slides from the two slide decks displayed in the comparison display, and subsequently generates a new slide deck that contains only the preferred slides selected by the user.

Claims

1. A method for comparing a plurality of slide decks, the method comprising:

receiving a first slide deck to be compared, the first slide deck comprised of a first plurality of presentation slides, and

receiving a second slide deck to be compared, the second slide deck comprised of a second plurality of presentation slides;

receiving a selection of a comparison theme to be applied for comparing the first slide deck and the second slide deck;

identifying, based on one or more parameters indicated in the comparison theme, a difference between each presentation slide of the first plurality of presentation slides and a corresponding presentation slide of the second plurality of presentation slides; and

transmitting a comparison display of the first slide deck and the second slide deck to a remote computer in order to cause the remote computer to display the comparison as a concurrent single view comprised of;

a slide selector to present a plurality of thumbnail pairs, each of the plurality of thumbnail pairs including a first thumbnail view of a presentation slide from the first plurality of presentation slides and a thumbnail view of a corresponding presentation slide from the second plurality of presentation slides;

a slide pair viewer to present an expanded view of a first presentation slide and a second presentation slide included in a selected one of the plurality of thumbnail pairs, wherein the expanded view provides a visual markup of the difference between the first presentation slide and the second presentation slide; and

a slide change summary to present a navigable comparison report wherein the navigable comparison report includes one or more difference values wherein each of the one or more difference values corresponds to a particular difference between the first presentation slide and the second presentation slide displayed in the slide pair viewer, and wherein, upon a user selecting a particular difference value of the one or more difference values a first visual indicator corresponding to the particular difference value being highlighted in at least one of the first presentation slide and the second presentation slide displayed in the slide pair viewer.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a search functionality to enable a user to search for a specific text within the navigable version of the comparison report.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the comparison theme includes the one or more parameters that form a basis for the comparison of the first slide deck and the second slide deck, wherein the one or more parameters for the comparison between two given presentation slides is comprised of at least one of:

detecting a change to a speaker note;

detecting a change to an image;

detecting a change to an embedded object;

detecting a change to a location of an item;

detecting a change to a formatting of a first text;

detecting a change to a formatting of a textbox;

detecting a change to a slide background;

detecting a change to a slide master;

detecting a change to a hyperlink target;

detecting a change to an autoshape;

detecting a movement of a second text;

or

detecting a change in an animation sequence for a first object.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

enabling a user to customize the comparison theme by providing an interface to allow the user to select the one or more parameters to be included in the comparison theme.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a plurality of preset comparison themes, the preset comparison themes including one or more of;

a first preset comparison theme that causes only textual differences to be identified between the first slide deck and the second slide deck;

a second preset comparison theme that causes only formatting differences to be identified between the first slide deck and the second slide deck;

or

a third preset comparison theme that causes both textual and formatting differences to be identified between the first slide deck and the second slide deck.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request from a user to change the comparison theme for the comparison display of the first slide deck and the second slide deck;

receiving a second selection of a comparison theme from the user;

identifying differences between the first slide deck and the second slide deck based on the second comparison theme; and

refreshing the comparison display of the first slide deck and the second slide deck to account for any change in differences resulting from use of the second selected comparison theme.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of thumbnail pairs includes an indicator-graphic, the indicator-graphic visually indicating whether a constituent pair of presentation slides is identical or non-identical.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

enabling a user to customize the indicator graphic based on a type of difference between a given pair of presentation slides.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the slide pair viewer provides a plurality of options for displaying the first presentation slide and the second presentation slide, the plurality of options including one of:

displaying the first presentation slide horizontally adjacent to the second presentation slide within a single display monitor;

displaying the first presentation slide vertically adjacent to the second presentation slide within a single display monitor;

displaying the first presentation slide and the second presentational slide as tabbed views within a single display monitor;

or

displaying the first presentation slide in a first display monitor and displaying the second presentation slide in a second display monitor when the first display monitor and the second display monitor are arranged in an extended-view mode configuration.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

for each pair of presentation slides associated with the plurality of thumbnail pairs, enabling a user to identify a preferred presentation slide from the pair of presentation slides; and

subsequent to the user identifying a preferred presentation slide from each pair of presentation slides, saving in memory each of the preferred presentation slides to create a third slide deck.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

for each pair of presentation slides associated with the plurality of thumbnail pairs, enabling a user to identify a preferred presentation slide, wherein the preferred presentation slide is either one of the pair of presentation slides or an edited slide newly created by the user; and

subsequent to the user identifying a preferred presentation slide from each pair of presentation slides, saving in memory each of the preferred presentation slides to create a third slide deck.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein, to enable a user to create a first edited slide for a given pair of presentation slides:

the user is provided an option to select one presentation slide from the pair of presentation slides;

the selected presentation slide is opened in a slide-deck editing application;

edits made by the user to the selected presentation slide are stored in memory as a new presentation slide using the slide-deck editing application; and

the new presentation slide is incorporated into the comparison display as the first edited slide.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein a thumbnail view of the first edited slide is displayed in conjunction with thumbnail views of the given pair of presentation slides in the slide selector of the comparison display.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the first slide deck and the second slide deck from a remote computer via a network.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the network is an internet network.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the first slide deck and the second slide deck are Microsoft Powerpoint®

files.

17. A method for creating a new slide deck based on a comparison of an original slide deck and a modified slide deck, the method comprising:

receiving the original slide deck, the original slide deck comprised of a first plurality of presentation slides,

receiving the modified slide deck comprised of a second plurality of presentation slides;

comparing each presentation slide of the first plurality of presentation slides against a corresponding presentation slide of the second plurality of presentation slides;

transmitting a comparison display of the original slide deck and the modified slide deck to a remote computer in order to cause the remote computer to display the comparison as a concurrent single view comprised of;

at least one slide pairs, each of the at least one slide pairs including a first presentation slide from the original slide deck and a corresponding second presentation slide from the modified slide deck and

a slide change summary to present a navigable comparison report wherein the navigable comparison report includes one or more difference values wherein each of the one or more difference values corresponds to a particular difference between the first presentation slide and the second presentation slide displayed in the slide pair viewer and wherein upon a user selecting a particular difference value of the one or more difference values a first visual indicator corresponding to the particular difference value is highlighted in at least one of the first presentation slide and the second presentation slide displayed in the comparison display;

receiving a selection of a preferred slide corresponding to the at least one slide pairs, the preferred slide of a given slide pair being one of the following;

either the first presentation slide or the second presentation slide of the given slide pair;

or

an edited presentation slide that is created by editing either the first presentation slide or the second presentation slide of the given slide pair; and

saving in memory each of the selected preferred slides pertaining to the at least one slide pairs to create the new slide deck.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the user selects as an editable slide either the first presentation slide or the second presentation slide for opening in a slide editing application.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein subsequent to completion of edits to the editable slide, the editable slide is saved in memory as the edited presentation slide.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the edited presentation slide is incorporated into the comparison display for presentation in conjunction with the first presentation slide and the second presentation slide of the given slide pair.

21. The method of claim 17 wherein if a first order of presentation slides corresponding to the original slide deck is different from a second order of presentation slides corresponding to the modified slide deck, the method further comprises:

evaluating similarities of particular presentation slides in the original slide deck to corresponding presentation slides in the modified slide deck; and

establishing a new set of slide pairs based on the evaluated similarities.

22. A system for comparing a plurality of slide decks, the system comprising:

a processor;

a memory including a set of instructions executed by the processor,

wherein the processor includes;

a receiving module configured to receive a first slide deck and a second slide deck to be compared, the first slide deck comprised of a first plurality of presentation slides, and the second slide deck comprised of a second plurality of presentation slides;

a comparison module configured to receive a selection of a comparison theme to be applied for comparing the first slide deck and the second slide deck and

to identify, based on one or more parameters indicated in the selected comparison theme, a difference between each presentation slide of the first plurality of presentation slides and a corresponding presentation slide of the second plurality of presentation slides; and

a comparison display module configured to transmit to a remote computer a comparison display of the first slide deck and the second slide deck, in order to cause the remote computer to display the comparison as a concurrent single view comprised of;

a slide selector to present a plurality of thumbnail pairs, each of the plurality of thumbnail pairs including a first thumbnail view of a presentation slide from the first plurality of presentation slides and a thumbnail view of a corresponding presentation slide from the second plurality of presentation slides;

a slide pair viewer to present an expanded view of a first presentation slide and a second presentation slide included in a selected one of the plurality of thumbnail pairs, wherein the expanded view provides a visual markup of the difference between the first presentation slide and the second presentation slide; and

a slide change summary to present a navigable comparison report, wherein the navigable comparison report includes one or more difference values, wherein each of the one or more difference values corresponds to a particular difference between the first presentation slide and the second presentation slide displayed in the slide pair viewer and wherein, upon a user selecting a particular difference value of the one or more difference values a first visual indicator corresponding to the particular difference value is highlighted in at least one of the first presentation slide and the second presentation slide displayed in the slide pair viewer.

23. The system of claim 22, further comprising:

a search module configured to enable a user to search for a specific text within the navigable comparison report.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the comparison module provides the user an option to select the one or more parameters that form a basis for the comparison of the first slide deck and the second slide deck, wherein the one or more parameters for the comparison between two given presentation slides comprised of at least one of:

detecting a change to a speaker note;

detecting a change to an image;

detecting a change to an embedded object;

detecting a change to a location of an item;

detecting a change to a formatting of a first text;

detecting a change to a formatting of a textbox;

detecting a change to a slide background;

detecting a change to a slide master;

detecting a change to a hyperlink target;

detecting a change to an autoshape;

detecting a movement of a second text;

or

detecting a change in an animation sequence for a first object.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein the comparison module is configured to enable a user to create a customized comparison theme by providing a user interface to allow the user to select the one or more parameters to be included in the customized comparison theme.

26. The system of claim 24, wherein the comparison module is configured to provide a plurality of preset comparison themes, the preset comparison themes including one or more of:

a first preset comparison theme that causes only textual differences to be identified between the first slide deck and the second slide deck;

a second preset comparison theme that causes only formatting differences to be identified between the first slide deck and the second slide deck;

or

a third preset comparison theme that causes both textual and formatting differences to be identified between the first slide deck and the second slide deck.

27. The system of claim 22 wherein the comparison display module is configured so that each of the plurality of thumbnail pairs includes an indicator-graphic, the indicator-graphic visually indicating whether a constituent pair of presentation slides is identical or non-identical.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the comparison display module is configured to enable a user to customize the indicator graphic based on a type of difference between a given pair of presentation slides.

29. The system of claim 22, further comprising a change application module configured to enable a user to create a new slide deck, the creation of the new slide deck comprised of:

for each pair of a plurality of presentation slides associated with the plurality of thumbnail pairs, enabling a user to identify a preferred presentation slide from its corresponding pair of presentation slides; and

subsequent to the user identifying a preferred presentation slide from each of the plurality of pairs of presentation slides, saving in memory the preferred presentation slides in order to create the new slide deck.

30. The system of claim 22, further comprising a change application module configured to enable a user to create a new slide deck, the creation of the new slide deck comprising:

for each of a plurality of pairs of presentation slides associated with the plurality of thumbnail pairs, enabling a user to identify a preferred presentation slide, wherein the preferred presentation slide is either one of the pair of presentation slides the plurality of pairs or an edited slide newly created by the user; and

subsequent to the user identifying a preferred presentation slide from each of the plurality of pairs of presentation slides, saving in memory each of the preferred presentation slides to create the new slide deck.

31. A system for comparing a plurality of slide decks, the system comprising:

a processor;

a memory configured to store a set of instructions which when executed by the processor cause the system to perform a method the method comprising;

receiving a first slide deck and a second slide deck to be compared, the first slide deck including a first plurality of presentation slides, and the second slide deck including a second plurality of presentation slides;

receiving a selection of a preset comparison theme to identify, based on one or more parameters indicated in the selected comparison theme, a difference between each presentation slide of the first plurality of presentation slides and a corresponding presentation slide of the second plurality of presentation slides; and

presenting, within a single view, a comparison display of the first slide deck and the second slide deck, the comparison display comprised of;

a slide selector to present a plurality of thumbnail pairs, each of the plurality of thumbnail pairs including a first thumbnail view of a presentation slide from the first plurality of presentation slides and a thumbnail view of a corresponding presentation slide from the second plurality of presentation slides;

a slide pair viewer to present an expanded view of a first presentation slide and a second presentation slide included in a selected one of the plurality of thumbnail pairs, wherein the expanded view provides a visual markup of the difference between the first presentation slide and the second presentation slide; and

a slide change summary to present a navigable comparison report, wherein the navigable comparison report includes one or more difference values, wherein each of the one or more difference values corresponds to a particular difference between the first presentation slide and the second presentation slide displayed in the slide pair viewer, and wherein, upon a user selecting a particular difference value of the one or more difference values a first visual indicator corresponding to the particular difference value is highlighted in at least one of the first presentation slide and the second presentation slide displayed in the slide pair viewer.