Transferring annotations between documents displayed side by side

• US 9,436,659 B2
• Filed: 06/19/2014
• Issued: 09/06/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/21/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: 3RB, LLC
• Original Assignee: 3RB, LLC
• Inventors: Duns, Brad, Sills, Laureen, Wright, Kristin
• Primary Examiner(s): Kells, Asher
• Application Number:
  US14/309,855
• Publication Number:
  US 20150370757A1
• Time in Patent Office: 810 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/106 Display of layout of documents; Previewing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/197 Version control for software G06F8/71

Abstract

A system and method to view, edit, share, and organize files using software in the form of a computing application for a computing device, allowing a user to keep annotations directly on a document that may be transferred between updates. This allows multiple users to work on one project and share edits no matter where they are or what device they are using.

Claims

1. A method for retaining a second layer of information of a document while replacing a first layer of information of the document, comprising:

at a computing device having a display;

a. displaying a first page of a first document and a second page of a second document side by side on the display of the computing device, wherein each page comprises a first layer and a second layer;

b. copying all data from the second layer of the first page to the second layer of the second page;

c. editing the second layer of the second page; and

d. replacing the first and second layers of the first page with the first and second layers of the second page.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first layer is a content layer, wherein the second layer is a note layer, and wherein the note layer holds annotations created by a user of the computing device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the second document is an updated version of the first document, wherein the content layer of the second document is different from the content layer of the first document.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the documents are stored on a server, wherein the method further comprises:

e. downloading the first document to the computing device from the server;

f. displaying the first document on the display of the computing device;

g. annotating the first document on the computing device;

h. detecting the second document on the server; and

i. downloading the second document to the computing device from the server.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising filtering out pages of the first document and second document that have identical content layers during the step of displaying a first page of a first document and a second page of a second document side by side.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising displaying a project containing documents to users having first level or second level access privileges to the project, and providing tools to edit the content layers of the documents of the project to users having first level access privileges to the project.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein each page further comprises at least one additional layer, wherein the at least one additional layer is a note layer, wherein the second layer is annotated by a first user on a first computing device, and wherein the at least one additional layer is annotated from a second user on a second computing device different from the first user of the first computing device.

8. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored therein instructions, which when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to:

a. display a first page of a first document and a second page of a second document side by side on a display of the computing device, wherein each page comprises a first layer and a second layer;

b. copy all data from the second layer of the first page to the second layer of the second page;

c. edit the second layer of the second page; and

d. replace the first and second layers of the first page with the first and second layers of the second page.

9. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the first layer is a content layer, wherein the second layer is a note layer, and wherein the note layer holds annotations created by a user of the computing device.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the second document is an updated version of the first document, wherein the content layer of the second document is different from the content layer of the first document.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the documents are stored on a server, wherein the storage medium further comprises instructions to:

e. download the first document to the computing device from the server;

f. display the first document on the display of the computing device;

g. annotate the first document on the computing device;

h. detect the second document on the server; and

i. download the second document to the computing device from the server.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, further comprising instructions to filter out pages of the first document and second document that have identical content layers while displaying the first page of the first document and the second page of the second document side by side.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12, further comprising instructions to display a project containing documents to users having first level or second level access privileges to the project, and providing tools to edit the content layer of a document of the project to users having first level access privileges to the project.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein each page further comprises at least one additional layer, wherein the at least one additional layer is a note layer, wherein the second layer is annotated by a first user on a first computing device, and wherein the at least one additional layer is annotated from a second user on a second computing device different from the first user of the first computing device.

15. A computing device, comprising:

one or more processors;

memory; and

one or more programs, wherein the one or more programs are stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including instructions to;

a. display a first page of a first document and a second page of a second document side by side on a display of the computing device, wherein each page comprises a first layer and a second layer;

b. copy all data from the second layer of the first page to the second layer of the second page;

c. edit the second layer of the second page; and

d. replace the first and second layers of the first page with the first and second layers of the second page.

16. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the first layer is a content layer, wherein the second layer is a note layer, and wherein the note layer holds annotations created by a user of the computing device.

17. The computing device of claim 16, wherein the second document is an updated version of the first document, wherein the content layer of the second document is different from the content layer of the first document.

18. The computing device of claim 17, wherein the documents are stored on a server, wherein the one or more programs further comprise instructions to:

e. download the first document to the computing device from the server;

f. display the first document on the display of the computing device;

g. annotate the first document on the computing device;

h. detect the second document on the server; and

i. download the second document to the computing device from the server.

19. The computing device of claim 18, wherein the one or more programs further comprise instructions to filter out pages of the first document and second document that have identical content layers, wherein the one or more programs further comprise instructions to filter out pages with no annotations in the note layer of the first document.

20. The computing device of claim 16, wherein each page further comprises at least one additional layer, wherein the at least one additional layer is a note layer, wherein the second layer is annotated by a first user on a first computing device, and wherein the at least one additional layer is annotated from a second user on a second computing device different from the first user of the first computing device.