Online content management system with undo and redo operations

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10366152-B2
Application number	US-201615090938-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 5, 2016
Priority date	Feb 22, 2013
Publication date	Jul 30, 2019
Grant date	Jul 30, 2019

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed for facilitating the process of undoing and redoing modifications that are made to content using an online content management system (CMS). As a user makes changes to content, such as by editing a webpage using a web-based CMS, a history of the user's modifications is generated and stored locally on the client. When the user invokes an undo command, the modification history can be used to determine a previous state of the content and restore the content to that previous state. Similarly, when the user invokes a redo command, the modification history can be used to return to a state that had previously been undone. In some embodiments, the process of undoing or redoing the user's modifications is selectively performed on either a client side or a server side of the online system, depending on the type of content that is being manipulated.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A content modification tracking method comprising:
detecting a plurality of modifications to an electronic document, wherein the modifications are received via a document editing user interface provided at a client computer;
in response to detecting a modification of binary data in the electronic document, generating a first snapshot representing an original state of the binary data and sending the first snapshot to a server computer; and
generating, at the client computer, a modification history comprising (a) a first update action that indexes the modification of the binary data and that includes an address indicating a location where the first snapshot is stored, and (b) a second update action that indexes a modification of non-binary data in the electronic document and that includes a representation of an original state of the non-binary data in the electronic document.

2. The content modification tracking method of claim 1 , further comprising making a determination with respect to whether a particular modification affects the binary data in the electronic document.

3. The content modification tracking method of claim 1 , wherein the representation of the original state of the non-binary data is saved as a name-value pair.

4. The content modification tracking method of claim 1 , wherein the address refers to a storage resource administered by the server computer.

5. The content modification tracking method of claim 1 , wherein:
the electronic document is maintained at the server computer; and
the document editing user interface enables the electronic document to be modified in a web browser executing at the client computer.

6. The content modification tracking method of claim 1 , further comprising, in response to receiving an undo command, replacing a modified state of the binary data with the first snapshot representing the original state of the binary data.

7. The content modification tracking method of claim 1 , further comprising, in response to receiving an undo command, retrieving the first snapshot representing the original state of the binary data from the server computer.

8. The content modification tracking method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating a second snapshot representing a modified state of the binary data;
sending the second snapshot to the server computer;
in response to receiving an undo command, retrieving the first snapshot from the server computer; and
in response to receiving a redo command after receiving the undo command, retrieving the second snapshot from the server computer.

9. A content modification tracking system comprising:
a memory device;
a processor that is operatively coupled to the memory device;
a content editor configured to detect a plurality of modifications to content stored in an electronic document, wherein the content modifications are received via a document editing user interface provided at a client computer;
a modification history module configured to generate a modification history containing a plurality of update actions, each of which corresponds to one of the content modifications, wherein the modification history is stored at the client computer; and
a binary data handler configured to (a) detect binary data in a particular one of the content modifications, and (b) cause a snapshot of an original state of the detected binary data to be saved on a server that is in communication with the client computer, wherein an update action corresponding the particular content modification includes an address of the saved snapshot.

10. The content tracking system of claim 9 , wherein the binary data handler is further configured to cause a snapshot of a modified state of the determined binary data to be saved on the server, wherein the corresponding update action includes an address of the saved snapshot of the modified state of the binary data.

11. The content tracking system of claim 9 , wherein the modifications are detected by receiving a content selection and using an HTTP GET request to retrieve the selected content from the server.

12. The content tracking system of claim 9 , wherein the binary data handler is further configured to (a) determine whether the original state of the detected binary data has been modified due to user input, and (b) send, to the server, a second snapshot of a modified state of the detected binary data, wherein the second snapshot is sent in response to determining that the original state of the detected binary data has been modified due to the user input.

13. The content tracking system of claim 9 , wherein the binary data handler is further configured to (a) determine whether the original state of the detected binary data has been modified due to user input, and (b) send, to the server, a command to delete the snapshot, wherein the command is sent in response to determining that the original state of the detected binary data has not been modified due to the user input.

14. The content tracking system of claim 9 , wherein the binary data handler is further configured to determine whether the original state of the detected binary data has been modified as a result of user input.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions encoded thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, cause a content modification tracking process to be carried out, the process comprising:
detecting a modification to an electronic document, wherein the modification is received via a document editing user interface provided at a client computer, and wherein the modification causes binary data in the electronic document to be transformed from an original state to a modified state;
generating a snapshot representing the original state of the binary data;
causing the snapshot to be stored at a server computer;
generating, at the client computer, a modification history that includes an update action that represents the modification, wherein the update action includes a reference to the snapshot stored at the server computer; and
in response to receiving an undo command via the document editing user interface, (a) retrieving the snapshot from the server computer, and (b) replacing, in the document editing user interface, the modified state of the binary data with the snapshot representing the original state of the binary data.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the process further comprises detecting a second modification to the electronic document, wherein the second modification causes non-binary data in the electronic document to be transformed from an original state of the non-binary data to a modified state of the non-binary data.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the snapshot is generated before the modified state of the binary data is established.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the process further comprises:
detecting a second modification to the electronic document, wherein the second modification causes non-binary data in the electronic document to be transformed from an original state of the non-binary data to a modified state of the non-binary data; and
generating a second update action that represents the second modification, wherein the second update action includes a representation of the original state of the non-binary data.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein detecting the modification further comprises receiving a content selection and using an HTTP

Assignees

• Adobe Inc

Inventors

• Grimm Stefan Andreas
• Nuescheler David Benjamin

Classifications

• G06F16/1873

  Versioning file systems, temporal file systems, e.g. file system supporting different historic versions of files · CPC title

• G06F16/196

  Specific adaptations of the file system to access devices and non-file objects via standard file system access operations, e.g. pseudo file systems (dedicated interfaces to storage systems G06F3/0601) · CPC title

• G06F16/20

  of structured data, e.g. relational data · CPC title

• G06F11/1448

  Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore · CPC title

• G06F11/1471

  involving logging of persistent data for recovery · CPC title