Storage-and transport-independent collaborative document-management system
First Claim
1. A system for managing documents, comprising:
- a client service that executes on a user'"'"'s computer, which assigns a unique version identifier to a version of a document; and
a ratification server which executes a global service that communicates with the client service to receive the version identifier and the document, and if the version of the document is a linear descendant of a latest ratified version of the document, ratifies the version of the document identified by its associated unique version identifier as a new authoritative version of the document, and if the version of the document is not a linear descendant of the latest ratified version of the document, saves the version of the document identified by its associated unique version identifier as a version of a new document that is related to the document;
wherein each of the unique version identifiers is globally unique in the system;
wherein the global service determines whether the author of a version has a right to control the document, and does not ratify a version as a new authoritative version of the document if the author of the version lacks control of the document; and
wherein the global service determines whether the author of a version has a right to control the document by detecting whether the author of a version is named on a list of authors who have control of the document.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A document management system enables multiple users to collaboratively contribute to the contents of a document via any suitable medium for transporting and storing documents, including email, shared drives, replicated work spaces and centralized storage systems. A tracking strategy is employed, in lieu of a central repository, that is based upon medium-independent versioning. Each version of a document that is created and saved by a user is given a unique identifier. The versions are submitted to a global service for ratification as the next authoritative version of a document. A submitted version that forms the next step in a linear sequence is ratified as the authoritative version of the document, whereas the version which does not meet this criterion becomes identified as a new document. Support is provided for users who create versions off-line, as well as users who are not subscribers to the system.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. A system for managing documents, comprising:
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a client service that executes on a user'"'"'s computer, which assigns a unique version identifier to a version of a document; and a ratification server which executes a global service that communicates with the client service to receive the version identifier and the document, and if the version of the document is a linear descendant of a latest ratified version of the document, ratifies the version of the document identified by its associated unique version identifier as a new authoritative version of the document, and if the version of the document is not a linear descendant of the latest ratified version of the document, saves the version of the document identified by its associated unique version identifier as a version of a new document that is related to the document; wherein each of the unique version identifiers is globally unique in the system; wherein the global service determines whether the author of a version has a right to control the document, and does not ratify a version as a new authoritative version of the document if the author of the version lacks control of the document; and wherein the global service determines whether the author of a version has a right to control the document by detecting whether the author of a version is named on a list of authors who have control of the document. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A system for managing documents, comprising:
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a user'"'"'s computer which executes a client service that assigns respective unique version identifiers to a plurality of versions of a document, and maintains a local history of the plurality of versions of the document; and a ratification server which executes a global service that communicates with the client service to receive the version identifiers, the plurality of versions of the document and the local history, and maintains a history of ratified versions of the document; wherein each of the unique version identifiers is globally unique in the system; wherein the ratification server selectively ratifies the received versions identified by their respective unique version identifiers based on the local history and the history of ratified versions of the document; wherein the global service determines whether an author of a version has a right to control the document, and does not ratify a version as a new authoritative version of the document if the author of the version lacks control of the document; and wherein the global service determines whether the author of a version has a right to control the document by detecting whether the author of a version is named on a list of authors who have control of the document. - View Dependent Claims (17)
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Specification