Detecting relationships between edits and acting on a subset of edits

• US 9,529,785 B2
• Filed: 11/27/2012
• Issued: 12/27/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Vagell, Vance Julius, Gunn, Ian
• Primary Examiner(s): MCINTOSH, ANDREW T
• Application Number:
  US13/686,310
• Publication Number:
  US 20140149857A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,491 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed herein for detecting compounding and conflicting suggested edits in a collaborative document editing environment. A first edit and a second edit to an electronic document are received. A shared position of the first edit and the second edit in the electronic document is identified, and a compounding relationship or a conflicting relationship is determined based at least in part on the identification. The first edit, the second edit, and an indicator of the relationship are displayed to a user of the electronic document.

Claims

1. A method to identify compounding relationships between edits in an electronic document, comprising:

receiving, by a processor, a set of one or more first edits and a second edit to the electronic document;

receiving, by the processor, an acceptance of the second edit from an editor of the electronic document;

identifying, by the processor, a shared position of the set of one or more first edits and the second edit in the electronic document;

filtering the set of one or more first edits to remove deletions in the electronic document and include insertions and modifications in the electronic document, to obtain at least a subset of the one or more first edits;

determining, by the processor, that the subset of one or more first edits and the second edit have compounding relationships based at least in part on the identification, by determining that the subset of one or more first edits are required to be accepted in order for the second edit to be accepted; and

in response to the determining that the subset of one or more first edits and the second edit have the compounding relationships, automatically accepting, by the processor, the subset of one or more first edits in response to receiving the acceptance of the second edit.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second edit comprises a modification of an element in at least one of the subset of the one or more first edits.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying, by the processor, the subset of one or more first edits and the second edit and an indicator of the compound relationships to a user of the electronic document.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the indicator is dependent on a user type associated with the user, wherein:

a reviewer is a user type with a first authorization level that allows the reviewer to provide suggested edits and comments to the electronic document,

the editor is a user type with a second authorization level greater than the first authorization level,

the second authorization level allows the editor to accept or reject the suggested edits provided by the reviewer and make direct edits to the electronic document, wherein the direct edits do not require acceptance before being implemented in the electronic document,

a viewer is a user type with a third authorization level below the first authorization level, and

the third authorization level allows the viewer to view the suggested edits provided by the reviewer but prohibits the viewer from providing suggested edits to the electronic document.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, by the processor, whether to display the subset of one or more first edits based on user input.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the user input includes an indicator of a desired edit type or a desired user identifier.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the processor displays the subset of one or more first edits when the subset of one or more first edits is associated with the desired edit type or the desired user identifier.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the subset of one or more first edits and the second edit have compounding relationships when the second edit is dependent on the subset of one or more first edits, wherein the subset of one or more first edits comprises a first modification of an element to obtain a modified element, and the second edit comprises a second modification of the modified element.

9. A method to identify conflicting relationships between edits in an electronic document, comprising:

receiving, by a processor, a set of one or more first edits, a second edit, and a third edit to the electronic document;

receiving, by the processor, an acceptance of the third edit from an editor of the electronic document;

identifying, by the processor, a shared position of the set of one or more first edits, the second edit and the third edit in the electronic document;

filtering the set of one or more first edits to remove deletions in the electronic document and include insertions and modifications in the electronic document, to obtain at least a subset of the one or more first edits;

determining, by the processor, that the subset of one or more first edits and the second edit have conflicting relationships and that the subset of one or more first edits and the third edit have compounding relationships based at least in part on the identification, by determining that the subset of one or more first edits are required to be accepted in order for the third edit to be accepted;

displaying, by the processor, the subset of one or more first edits, the second edit, the third edit, an indicator of the conflicting relationships and an indicator of the compounding relationships to a user of the electronic document; and

in response to the determining that the subset of the one or more first edits and third edit have the compounding relationships, automatically accepting, by the processor, the subset of one or more first edits in response to receiving the acceptance of the third edit.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein each of the subset of one or more first edits and the second edit is one of a deletion, an insertion, a replacement, or a format change to the electronic document.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the subset of one or more first edits and the second edit are suggested edits and the user is the editor of the electronic document;

and further comprising rejecting the second edit in response to receiving an acceptance of the subset of one or more first edits from the editor.

12. A system to identify compounding relationships between suggested edits in an electronic document, comprising:

a processor;

a memory operatively connected to the processor, wherein the memory stores instructions that cause the processor to;

receive a set of one or more first edits and a second edit to the electronic document;

receive an acceptance of the second edit from an editor of the electronic document;

filter the set of one or more first edits to remove deletions in the electronic document and include insertions and modifications in the electronic document, to obtain at least a subset of the one or more first edits;

identify a shared position of the subset of one or more first edits and the second edit in the electronic document;

determine the subset of one or more first edits and second edit have compounding relationships based at least in part on the identification, by determining that the subset of one or more first edits are required to be accepted in order for the second edit to be accepted; and

in response to determining that the subset of one or more first edits and the second have compounding relationships, automatically accept the subset of one or more first edits in response to receiving the acceptance of the second edit.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the second edit comprises a modification of an element in at least one of the subset of the one or more first edits.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the subset of one or more first edits and the second edit have compounding relationships when the second edit is dependent on the subset of one or more first edits, wherein the subset of one or more first edits comprises a first modification of an element to obtain a modified element, and the second edit comprises a second modification of the modified element.

15. The system of claim 12, further comprising a user interface to display the subset of one or more first edits and second edit and an indicator of the compound relationships to a user of the electronic document.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the indicator is dependent on a user type associated with the user, wherein:

a reviewer is a user type with a first authorization level that allows the reviewer to provide suggested edits and comments to the electronic document,

the editor is a user type with a second authorization level greater than the first authorization level,

the second authorization level allows the editor to accept or reject the suggested edits provided by the reviewer and make direct edits to the electronic document, wherein the direct edits do not require acceptance before being implemented in the electronic document,

a viewer is a user type with a third authorization level below the first authorization level, and

the third authorization level allows the viewer to view the suggested edits provided by the reviewer but prohibits the viewer from providing suggested edits to the electronic document.

17. The system of claim 12, further comprising a user interface to determine whether to display the subset of one or more first edits based on user input.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the user input includes an indicator of a desired edit type or a desired user identifier.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the subset of one or more first edits is displayed when the subset of one or more first edits is associated with the desired edit type or the desired user identifier.

20. A system to identify conflicting relationships between suggested edits in an electronic document, comprising:

a processor;

a memory operatively connected to the processor, wherein the memory stores instructions that cause the processor to;

receive a set of one or more first edits, a second edit, and a third edit to the electronic document;

receive an acceptance of the third edit from an editor of the electronic document;

identify a shared position of the set of one or more first edits, the second edit, and the third edit in the electronic document;

filter the set of one or more first edits to remove deletions in the electronic document and include insertions and modifications in the electronic document, to obtain at least a subset of the one or more first edits;

determine the subset of one or more first edits and the second edit have conflicting relationships and the subset of one or more first edits and the third edit have compounding relationships based at least in part on the identification, by determining that the subset of one or more first edits are required to be accepted in order for the third edit to be accepted; and

a user interface to display the subset of one or more first edits, the second edit, and the third edit, an indicator of the conflicting relationships and an indicator of the compounding relationships to a user of the electronic document, wherein the subset of one or more first edits are automatically accepted in response to receiving an acceptance of the third edit.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein each of the subset of one or more first edits and second edit is one of a deletion, an insertion, a replacement, or a format change to the electronic document.

22. The system of claim 20, further comprising a decider to reject the second edit when an acceptance of the subset of one or more first edits is received from the editor of the electronic document.