Hierarchical display and navigation of document revision histories

• US 8,701,002 B2
• Filed: 04/19/2011
• Issued: 04/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Autodesk, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Autodesk, Inc.
• Inventors: Grossman, Tovi, Matejka, Justin Frank, Fitzmaurice, George
• Primary Examiner(s): Theriault, Steven B
• Application Number:
  US13/090,148
• Publication Number:
  US 20120272153A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,092 Days
• Field of Search: 715/255, 715/704, 715/723, 715/764
• US Class Current: 715/704
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/103 Workflow collaboration or project management

Abstract

A system and technique for displaying a document'"'"'s workflow history are disclosed. The system includes a graphical user interface for displaying one or more graphical representations of events generated by an application configured to edit a document. Each of the events generated by the application may be stored in a data structure that is associated with one or more portions of the document. The data structure may also be associated with a digital image that reflects the state of the document at the time the event was generated and one or more frames of digital video captured substantially simultaneously with the generation of the event. The system may display the stored events via graphical representations in the graphical user interface that represent a portion of the total document workflow history. A user may navigate through the graphical events based on a hierarchical algorithm for clustering events.

Claims

1. A method for generating and displaying video data representing a workflow history of an electronic document, the method comprising:

capturing a plurality of frames of video data, wherein each frame of the video data corresponds to a different screenshot of an application window associated with an application that is configured to modify the document;

accessing a plurality of data objects stored in a memory, wherein each data object stores information relating to a different event generated by the application;

associating each data object in the plurality of data objects with at least one frame of the video data, wherein, for each data object, the at least one frame of video data was captured at substantially the same time as when the event associated with the data object was generated by the application;

dividing the document into n×

m cells, wherein each cell represents two or more pixels of the document;

adding to a slot in an n×

m array a first pointer to a first data object included in the plurality of data objects, wherein the first pointer in the n×

m array associates the first data object with at least a first cell that was changed in the document as a result of a first event generated by the application; and

causing the plurality of frames to be displayed in a video playback window.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising playing back a first portion of the video data in response to receiving a selection of an event of a first event type, wherein at least one frame of the first portion of video data is associated with a first data object associated with the event.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

skipping a second portion of the video data that is subsequent to the first portion of video data; and

playing back a third portion of the video data that is subsequent to the second portion of the video data, wherein at least one frame of the third portion of video data is associated with a second data object associated with the event.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein skipping the second portion of the video data comprises playing back the second portion of video data at a faster frame rate than a frame rate associated with playing back the first portion and third portion of the video data.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

playing back a first portion of the video data in response to receiving a selection of a plurality of events of different event types, wherein at least one frame of the first portion of video data is associated with a first data object associated with a first event in the plurality of events;

skipping a second portion of the video data that is subsequent to the first portion of video data;

playing back a third portion of the video data that is subsequent to the second portion of the video data, wherein at least one frame of the third portion of video data is associated with a second data object associated with a second event in the plurality of events.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a search query that includes one or more search terms;

analyzing the one or more search terms to determine one or more events related to the one or more search terms;

playing back a first portion of the video data, wherein at least one frame of the first portion of video data is associated with a first event in the one or more events;

skipping a second portion of video data that is subsequent to the first portion of video data; and

playing back a third portion of video data that is subsequent to the second portion of video data, wherein at least one frame of the third portion of video data is associated with a second data object associated with a second event in the one or more events.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein causing the video data to be displayed comprises displaying a portion of each frame of the video data over a corresponding portion of the application window that is selected based on a location of a mouse device.

8. A computer-readable storage medium containing a program which, when executed, performs an operation for generating and displaying video data representing a workflow history of an electronic document, the operation comprising:

capturing a plurality of frames of video data, wherein each frame of the video data corresponds to a different screenshot of an application window associated with an application that is configured to modify the document;

accessing a plurality of data objects stored in a memory, wherein each data object stores information relating to a different event generated by the application;

associating each data object in the plurality of data objects with at least one frame of the video data, wherein, for each data object, the at least one frame of video data was captured at substantially the same time as when the event associated with the data object was generated by the application;

dividing the document into n×

m cells, wherein each cell represents two or more pixels of the document;

adding to a slot in an n×

m array a first pointer to a first data object included in the plurality of data objects, wherein the first pointer in the n×

m array associates the first data object with at least a first cell that was changed in the document as a result of a first event generated by the application; and

causing the plurality of frames to be displayed in a video playback window.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, the operation further comprising playing back a first portion of the video data in response to receiving a selection of an event of a first event type, wherein at least one frame of the first portion of video data is associated with a first data object associated with the event.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, the operation further comprising:

skipping a second portion of the video data that is subsequent to the first portion of video data; and

playing back a third portion of the video data that is subsequent to the second portion of the video data, wherein at least one frame of the third portion of video data is associated with a second data object associated with the event.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein skipping the second portion of the video data comprises playing back the second portion of video data at a faster frame rate than a frame rate associated with playing back the first portion and third portion of the video data.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, the operation further comprising:

playing back a first portion of the video data in response to receiving a selection of a plurality of events of different event types, wherein at least one frame of the first portion of video data is associated with a first data object associated with a first event in the plurality of events;

skipping a second portion of the video data that is subsequent to the first portion of video data;

playing back a third portion of the video data that is subsequent to the second portion of the video data, wherein at least one frame of the third portion of video data is associated with a second data object associated with a second event in the plurality of events.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, the operation further comprising:

receiving a search query that includes one or more search terms;

analyzing the one or more search terms to determine one or more events related to the one or more search terms;

playing back a first portion of the video data, wherein at least one frame of the first portion of video data is associated with a first event in the one or more events;

skipping a second portion of video data that is subsequent to the first portion of video data; and

playing back a third portion of video data that is subsequent to the second portion of video data, wherein at least one frame of the third portion of video data is associated with a second data object associated with a second event in the one or more events.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein causing the video data to be displayed comprises displaying a portion of each frame of the video data over a corresponding portion of the application window that is selected based on a location of a mouse device.

15. A system for generating and displaying video data representing a workflow history of an electronic document, the system comprising:

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory and configured to;

capture a plurality of frames of video data, wherein each frame of the video data corresponds to a different screenshot of an application window associated with an application that is configured to modify the document;

access a plurality of data objects stored in a memory, wherein each data object stores information relating to a different event generated by the application;

associate each data object in the plurality of data objects with at least one frame of the video data, wherein, for each data object, the at least one frame of video data was captured at substantially the same time as when the event associated with the data object was generated by the application;

divide the document into n×

m cells, wherein each cell represents two or more pixels of the document;

add to a slot in an n×

m array a first pointer to a first data object included in the plurality of data objects, wherein the first pointer in the n×

m array associates the first data object with at least a first cell that was changed in the document as a result of a first event generated by the application; and

cause the plurality of frames to be displayed in a video playback window.

16. The system of claim 15, the processor further configured to play back a first portion of the video data in response to receiving a selection of an event of a first event type, wherein at least one frame of the first portion of video data is associated with a first data object associated with the event.

17. The system of claim 15, the processor further configured to:

skip a second portion of the video data that is subsequent to the first portion of video data; and

play back a third portion of the video data that is subsequent to the second portion of the video data, wherein at least one frame of the third portion of video data is associated with a second data object associated with the event.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein skipping the second portion of the video data comprises playing back the second portion of video data at a faster frame rate than a frame rate associated with playing back the first portion and third portion of the video data.

19. The system of claim 15, the processor further configured to:

play back a first portion of the video data in response to receiving a selection of a plurality of events of different event types, wherein at least one frame of the first portion of video data is associated with a first data object associated with a first event in the plurality of events;

skip a second portion of the video data that is subsequent to the first portion of video data;

play back a third portion of the video data that is subsequent to the second portion of the video data, wherein at least one frame of the third portion of video data is associated with a second data object associated with a second event in the plurality of events.

20. The system of claim 15, the processor further configured to:

receive a search query that includes one or more search terms;

analyze the one or more search terms to determine one or more events related to the one or more search terms;

play back a first portion of the video data, wherein at least one frame of the first portion of video data is associated with a first event in the one or more events;

skip a second portion of video data that is subsequent to the first portion of video data; and

play back a third portion of video data that is subsequent to the second portion of video data, wherein at least one frame of the third portion of video data is associated with a second data object associated with a second event in the one or more events.