Digital document change conflict resolution

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9779073-B2
Application number	US-201414445787-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 29, 2014
Priority date	Jul 29, 2014
Publication date	Oct 3, 2017
Grant date	Oct 3, 2017

Abstract

A first set of changes to a first version of a digital document, as compared to a baseline version of the document, can be detected. The first set of changes can include a first change to a page of the document in the first version of the document, as compared to the baseline version of the document. Also, a second set of changes to a second version of a document, as compared to the baseline version of the document, can be detected. The second set of changes can include a second change to the page of the document in the second version of the document, as compared to the baseline version of the document. A conflict between the first change and the second change can be detected, and the conflict can be resolved by receiving user input or applying conflict resolution rule(s) to choose between the first and second changes.

First claim

We claim:

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
detecting a conflict between a first change to a content portion of a digital document and a second change to the content portion of the digital document;
determining whether the conflict between the first change and the second change is to be resolved automatically or whether the conflict requires manual user input to be resolved based on an application of conflict resolution logic that comprises applying at least one conflict rule to evaluate how the content portion is affected based on the first change and the second change;
automatically resolving the conflict based on a determination, by the conflict resolution logic, that the conflict relates to a property affecting presentation of the content portion; and
providing a manual resolution prompt for a user to manually resolve the conflict based on a determination, by the conflict resolution logic, that the conflict results in an amount of data loss to the content portion.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the property of the content portion is one or more selected from a group consisting of: a position, an orientation, a formatting and a size.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the conflict resolution logic selects the at least one conflict rule based on a classification of the conflict as a page-level conflict.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein when data loss is detected as a result of the conflict, the conflict resolution logic executes a threshold analysis associated with the amount of data loss.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , wherein the conflict resolution logic automatically resolves the conflict when the amount of data loss is below a threshold value based on the threshold analysis.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , wherein the conflict resolution logic requires manual resolution to resolve the conflict when the amount of data loss exceeds a threshold value based on the threshold analysis.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising providing, within the digital document, a notification of an automatically resolved conflict.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein the notification comprises identification of an unselected change.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the manual resolution prompt comprises a side-by-side comparison of the first change and the second change for a user to make a selection to resolve the conflict.

10. A computer system comprising:
at least one processor; and
a memory, operatively connected with the at least one processor, that comprises instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to perform a method that comprises:
detecting a conflict between a first change to a content portion of a digital document and a second change to the content portion of the digital document,
determining whether the conflict between the first change and the second change is to be resolved automatically or whether the conflict requires manual user input to be resolved based on an application of conflict resolution logic that comprises applying at least one conflict rule to evaluate how the content portion is affected based on the first change and the second change,
automatically resolving the conflict based on a determination, by the conflict resolution logic, that the conflict relates to a property affecting presentation of the content portion; and

providing a manual resolution prompt for a user to manually resolve the conflict based on a determination, by the conflict resolution logic, that the conflict results in an amount of data loss to the content portion.

11. The computer system of claim 10 , wherein the property of the content portion is one or more selected from a group consisting of: a position, an orientation, a formatting and a size.

12. The computer system of claim 10 , wherein the conflict resolution logic selects the at least one conflict rule based on a classification of the conflict as a page-level conflict.

13. The computer system of claim 10 , wherein the method, executed by the at least one processor, further comprises providing, within the digital document, a notification of an automatically resolved conflict.

14. The computer system of claim 13 , wherein the notification comprises identification of an unselected change.

15. The computer system of claim 10 , wherein when data loss is detected as a result of the conflict, the conflict resolution logic executes a threshold analysis associated with the amount of data loss, and wherein the conflict resolution logic is configured to:
automatically resolve the conflict when the amount of data loss is less than or equal to a threshold value based on the threshold analysis, and
require manual resolution to resolve the conflict when the amount of data loss exceeds the threshold value based on the threshold analysis.

16. One or more non-transitory computer-readable memory having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed by at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to execute a method comprising:
detecting a conflict between a first change to a content portion of a digital document and a second change to the content portion of the digital document;
determining whether the conflict between the first change and the second change is to be resolved automatically or whether the conflict requires manual user input to be resolved based on an application of conflict resolution logic that comprises applying at least one conflict rule to evaluate how the content portion is affected based on the first change and the second change;
automatically resolving the conflict based on a determination, by the conflict resolution logic, that the conflict relates to a property affecting presentation of the content portion; and
providing a manual resolution prompt for a user to manually resolve the conflict based on a determination, by the conflict resolution logic, that the conflict results in an amount of data loss to the content portion.

17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim 16 , wherein the property of the content portion is one or more selected from a group consisting of: a position, an orientation, a formatting and a size.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim 16 , wherein the conflict resolution logic selects the at least one conflict rule based on a classification of the conflict as a page-level conflict.

19. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim 16 , wherein the method, executed by the at least one processor, further comprises providing, within the digital document, a notification of an automatically resolved conflict.

20. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim 16 , wherein when data loss is detected as a result of the conflict, the conflict resolution logic executes a threshold analysis associated with the amount of data loss, and wherein the conflict resolution logic is configured to:
automatically resolve the conflict when the amount of data loss is less than or equal to a threshold value based on the threshold analysis, and
require manual resolution to resolve the conflict when the amount of data loss exceeds the threshold value based on the threshold analysis.

Assignees

• Microsoft Corp
• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Yamat James
• Klingenberg Robert R
• Salazar Evelyn G
• Efimchik Andrey A
• Rutherfurd Jonathan
• Wang Yanling
• Villaron Shawn

Classifications

• G06F40/194 Primary

  Calculation of difference between files · CPC title

• G06F40/103

  Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents (automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191) · CPC title

• G06F3/04842

  Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements (G06F3/0482 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F40/197 Primary

  Version control (for software G06F8/71) · CPC title

• G06F17/211

  Physics · mapped topic