Visualizing changes based on document scope

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020356623-A1
Application number	US-201916406854-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 8, 2019
Priority date	May 8, 2019
Publication date	Nov 12, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

Technology is disclosed herein for visualizing changes in documents. In an implementation, one or more computers, employing a change visualization process, maintain a record of changes made to a document over a period of time. The one or more computers identify a document scope within which to focus a visualization of one or more changes made to the document, wherein the document scope comprises a timeframe of interest. The one or more computers also identify, from the record of the changes, one or more changes made to the document within the document scope and surface a visualization of the one or more changes.

First claim

1 . A computing apparatus comprising:
one or more computer readable storage media; a processing system operatively coupled to the one or more computer readable storage media; and program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable storage media that, when executed by the processing system, direct the computing apparatus to at least:
maintain a record of changes made to a document over a period of time;
identify a document scope within which to focus a visualization of one or more changes made to the document, wherein the document scope comprises a timeframe of interest;
dentify, from the record of the changes, a state of the document at a beginning of the timeframe of interest and a state of the document at an end of the timeframe of interest;
generate a visualization of a change from the state of the document at the beginning of the timeframe of interest to the state of the document at the end of the timeframe of interest; and
surface the visualization in a user interface.

2 . The computing apparatus of claim 1 wherein:
the document scope further comprises a section of the document; and
to identify the state of the document at the beginning of the timeframe of interest and the state of the document at the end of the timeframe of interest, the program instructions further direct the computing apparatus to identify those of the changes that occurred within the timeframe of interest and with respect to the section of the document.

3 . The computing apparatus of claim 2 wherein the beginning of the timeframe of interest comprises a time after a beginning of the period of time and the end of the timeframe of interest comprises a time prior to an end of the period of time.

4 . The computing apparatus of claim 3 wherein the document scope comprises a starting point and an end point and wherein the starting point comprises a point after a beginning of the document and the end point comprises a point prior to an end of the document.

5 . The computing apparatus of claim 4 wherein to identify the document scope, the program instructions direct the computing apparatus to receive an input indicative of the document scope.

6 . The computing apparatus of claim 5 wherein the input comprises a selection of the section of the document and a selection of the timeframe of interest.

7 . The computing apparatus of claim 4 wherein the visualization comprises:
a visualization of a state of the section of the document at the beginning of the timeframe of interest;
a visualization of a state of the section of the document at the end of the timeframe of interest; and
a visualization of a progression of those of the changes that occurred within the timeframe of interest and with respect to the section of the document.

8 . A method for visualizing changes made to documents, the method comprising:
maintaining a record of changes made to a document over a period of time; identifying a document scope within which to focus a visualization of one or more changes made to the document, wherein the document scope comprises a timeframe of interest; identifying, from the record of the changes, a state of the document at a beginning of the timeframe of interest and a state of the document at an end of the timeframe of interest; generating a visualization of a change from the state of the document at the beginning of the timeframe of interest to the state of the document at the end of the timeframe of interest; and enabling display, in a user interface, of the visualization.

9 . The method of claim 8 wherein:
the document scope further comprises a section of the document; and
identifying the state of the document at the beginning of the timeframe of interest and the state of the document at the end of the timeframe of interest comprises identifying those of the changes that occurred within the timeframe of interest and with respect to the section of the document.

10 . The method of claim 9 wherein:
the beginning of the timeframe of interest comprises
a time after a beginning of the period of time and the end of the timeframe of interest comprises a time prior to an end of the period of time.

11 . The method of claim 10 wherein:
the document scope comprises a starting point and an end point; and
the starting point comprises a point after a beginning of the document and the end point comprises a point prior to an end of the document.

12 . The method of claim 11 wherein identifying the document scope comprises receiving an input indicative of the document scope.

13 . The method of claim 12 wherein the input comprises a selection of the section of the document and a selection of the timeframe of interest.

14 . The method of claim 11 wherein the visualization comprises:
a visualization of a state of the section of the document at the beginning of the timeframe of interest;
a visualization of a state of the section of the document at the end of the timeframe of interest; and
a visualization of a progression of those of the changes that occurred within the timeframe of interest and with respect to the section of the document.

15 . A method of operating a collaboration service comprising:
receiving, from a plurality of devices, a plurality of changes made to a document over a period of time; receiving a request for a visualization of one or more changes made to the document, wherein the request identifies a document scope within which to focus the visualization and wherein the document scope comprises a timeframe of interest and a section of the document; identifying a state of the document at a beginning of the timeframe of interest and a state of the document at an end of the timeframe of interest; generating, based at least on a change from the state of the document at the beginning of the timeframe of interest to the state of the document at the end of the timeframe of interest, the visualization; and replying to the request with the visualization.

16 . The method of claim 15 wherein identifying the state of the document at the beginning of the timeframe of interest and the state of the document at the end of the timeframe of interest comprises identifying those of the plurality of changes that occurred within the timeframe of interest and with respect to the section of the document.

17 . The method of claim 16 wherein:
the beginning of the timeframe of interest comprises
a time after a beginning of the period of time and the end of the timeframe of interest comprises a time prior to an end of the period of time.

18 . The method of claim 17 wherein:
the document scope comprises a starting point and an end point; and
the starting point comprises a point after a beginning of the document and the end point comprises a point prior to an end of the document.

19 . The method of claim 18 wherein the visualization comprises:
a visualization of a state of the section of the document at the beginning of the timeframe of interest;
a visualization of a state of the section of the document at the end of the timeframe of interest; and
a visualization of a progression of those of the changes that occurred within the timeframe of interest and with respect to the section of the document.

20 . The method of claim 19 wherein the document comprises one of a word processing document, a spreadsheet workbook, and a slide presentation.

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Milvaney Douglas Lane
• Wilde Benjamin Gustav
• Berman Arthur David
• Botaish Christopher Ryan
• Weaver Joan Catharine
• Stopa Lyndsy Marie

Classifications

• H04L12/1831

  Tracking arrangements for later retrieval, e.g. recording contents, participants activities or behavior, network status · CPC title

• G06Q10/101

  Collaborative creation, e.g. joint development of products or services · CPC title

• G06F16/168

  Details of user interfaces specifically adapted to file systems, e.g. browsing and visualisation, 2d or 3d GUIs (query results presentation G06F16/156) · CPC title

• G06F16/14

  Details of searching files based on file metadata · CPC title

• G06F40/166

  Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting · CPC title