The present invention relates to managing a display of a document, and more particularly to managing a display of references to document units to facilitate collaborative document review.
In a collaborative generation and editing of a large electronic document, such as a slide presentation or a word processing document, the contents are created in sections by multiple authors. The authors send in the sections they create and the sections are assembled into a master document. A group of people participate in a telephone conference to conduct a review and revision of the master document. The group includes an editor and one or more other participants who are remote from the editor. During the conference, the editor and the one or more other participants each review their own copy of the master document. At the start of the conference, the copies of the master document being reviewed by the editor and other participant(s) are the same, with each copy having the same set of original page numbers. During the conference, the editor inserts and/or deletes pages of the document on the fly, which creates an updated version of the document having a set of updated page numbers. After updating the pages, there is a lack of synchronization between the versions of the document page numbers viewed by the editor and the other participant(s) because the editor views the updated page numbers but not the original page numbers, while the other participant(s) view the original page numbers but not the updated page numbers. As an alternate to the telephone conference, the group may participate in a web conference in which all participants can see an updated page to which the editor refers, without reference to a page number. Some people in the group, however, may not be able to join in a web conference.
In a first embodiment, the present invention provides a method of managing a display of references to units of a document. The method includes a computer storing the units of an original version of the document and original references to the units of the original version of the document in respective nodes of a data structure. The method further includes the computer determining the document is updated at a location in the document by an insertion of a new unit or a deletion of a unit in the units of the document, resulting in unit(s) of the updated document, and (1) responsive to the insertion, the computer inserting a new node at a location in the data structure matching the location in the document, or (2) responsive to the deletion, the computer deleting a node at the location in the data structure matching the location in the document. The method further includes, subsequent to the step of inserting the new node or deleting the node, the computer associating the unit(s) of the updated document to respective original reference(s) included in the original references stored in the nodes of the data structure. The method further includes, during a conference between a human editor and one or more other participants, the computer generating and presenting to the editor a display including the unit(s) of the updated document, current reference(s) to the unit(s) of the updated document, and the original reference(s) associated with the unit(s) of the updated document.
In a second embodiment, the present invention provides a computer system including a central processing unit (CPU); a memory coupled to the CPU; and a computer-readable storage device coupled to the CPU. The storage device includes instructions that are executed by the CPU via the memory to implement a method of managing a display of references to units of a document. The method includes the computer system storing the units of an original version of the document and original references to the units of the original version of the document in respective nodes of a data structure. The method further includes the computer system determining the document is updated at a location in the document by an insertion of a new unit or a deletion of a unit in the units of the document, resulting in unit(s) of the updated document, and (1) responsive to the insertion, the computer system inserting a new node at a location in the data structure matching the location in the document, or (2) responsive to the deletion, the computer system deleting a node at the location in the data structure matching the location in the document. The method further includes, subsequent to the step of inserting the new node or deleting the node, the computer system associating the unit(s) of the updated document to respective original reference(s) included in the original references stored in the nodes of the data structure. The method further includes, during a conference between a human editor and one or more other participants, the computer system generating and presenting to the editor a display including the unit(s) of the updated document, current reference(s) to the unit(s) of the updated document, and the original reference(s) associated with the unit(s) of the updated document.
In a third embodiment, the present invention provides a computer program product including a computer-readable storage device and a computer-readable program code stored in the computer-readable storage device. The computer-readable program code includes instructions that are executed by a central processing unit (CPU) of a computer system to implement a method of managing a display of references to units of a document. The method includes the computer system storing the units of an original version of the document and original references to the units of the original version of the document in respective nodes of a data structure. The method further includes the computer system determining the document is updated at a location in the document by an insertion of a new unit or a deletion of a unit in the units of the document, resulting in unit(s) of the updated document, and (1) responsive to the insertion, the computer system inserting a new node at a location in the data structure matching the location in the document, or (2) responsive to the deletion, the computer system deleting a node at the location in the data structure matching the location in the document. The method further includes, subsequent to the step of inserting the new node or deleting the node, the computer system associating the unit(s) of the updated document to respective original reference(s) included in the original references stored in the nodes of the data structure. The method further includes, during a conference between a human editor and one or more other participants, the computer system generating and presenting to the editor a display including the unit(s) of the updated document, current reference(s) to the unit(s) of the updated document, and the original reference(s) associated with the unit(s) of the updated document.
Embodiments of the present invention facilitate collaborative review of a document in a telephone conference between an editor who views an updated version of a document having updated page numbers and remote participant(s) who view an original version of the document, but not the updated version. The editor views a display that associates pages of the updated document with original page numbers, thereby allowing the editor to refer to a page having an updated page number which is different from a corresponding original page number by communicating to the remote participant(s) the original page number that corresponds to the updated page number. By allowing the editor to communicate the original page number, the other participant(s) avoid the extra and error-prone manual work of tracking the types of updates done to the document by the editor and the locations in the document where the updates occurred in order to mentally convert each mention of an updated page number by the editor into its corresponding original page number.
Embodiments of the present invention stores original references (e.g., original page numbers) to corresponding units (e.g., pages) of a document in a data structure (e.g., linked list). During a conference in which an editor and one or more other participant(s) are collaboratively reviewing a document, embodiments of the present invention determine an update to the document has been made by the editor via a software application (e.g., word processing application) and updates the data structure so that original references stored in the data structure remain associated with their corresponding units in the updated document. For example, the updated data structure provides a one-to-one correspondence between current page numbers of pages in the updated document and original page numbers that correspond to the pages in the updated document. During the conference, the editor can view each unit in the updated document along with the unit's current reference and the unit's original reference. Because the other participant(s) in the conference do not view the current references, the editor refers to a unit in the updated document by communicating the original reference to the other participant(s) rather than the current reference.
As used herein, a document is defined as electronic media content, which may be a word processing document provided by word processing software, a slide presentation provided by presentation software, or a spreadsheet provided by spreadsheet software. As used herein, a unit of a document is defined as a section of a document that is identifiable by one of a sequence of indicators such as numbers or letters. A unit of a document is a page included in a word processing document, a slide included in a slide presentation, or a cell, row, or column included in a spreadsheet. As used herein, a reference is defined as an indicator in a sequence of indicators that identify units of a document based on the order in which the units are presented to a reader of the document. A reference allows a reader of the document to cite a particular unit of the document. In embodiments of the present invention, a reference is a number, a letter, a combination of numbers, a combination of letters, or a combination of number(s) and letter(s). In one embodiment, a reference is a page number of a page in a word processing document, a slide number of a slide in a presentation, or a row, a column, or a row and column in a spreadsheet.
Document unit reference management system 104 determines the document is updated by an insertion of a new unit or a deletion of one of the units at a location in the document. If the document was updated by an insertion of a new unit at the location, then document unit reference management system 104 inserts a node in a location in data structure 110 that matches the location of the update of the document, so that the updated nodes resulting from the insertion of the node remain associated with the units of the updated document in a one-to one correspondence. If the document was updated by a deletion of a unit at the location in the document, then document unit reference management system 104 deletes a node in a location in data structure 110 that matches the location in the document, so that the updated node(s) resulting from the deletion of the node remain associated with the unit(s) of the updated document in a one-to-one correspondence.
After the updates of the document and data structure 110, document processing system 106 generates a display 112, which includes unit(s) of the updated document, current reference(s) to the unit(s) of the updated document, and original reference(s) corresponding to the unit(s) of the updated document. Document processing system 106 initiates a presentation of display 112 on a display device of a computer being utilized by one participant (i.e., an editor) of multiple participants of a telephone conference or another conference in which the editor makes updates to the document which can be viewed by the editor during the conference, but the other participant(s) cannot view the current reference(s) during the conference. In one embodiment, the other participant(s) do not view display 112. By viewing display 112, the editor views a current reference and an original reference to a unit in the updated document, and subsequently cites the unit by communicating to the other participant(s) the original reference to the cited unit without communicating the current reference of the cited unit.
The functionality of the components of
In step 204, document unit reference management system 104 (see
In an alternate embodiment, step 204 includes document unit reference management system 104 (see
After step 204 and prior to step 206, computer 102 (see
In step 208, document unit reference management system 104 (see
If step 206 included a deletion of a unit at the update location in the document, then step 208 includes document unit reference management system 104 (see
In step 210, document unit reference management system 104 (see
In step 212, document unit reference management system 104 (see
In step 214, document unit reference management system 104 (see
In step 216, during a telephone conference or other conference in which the editor views display 112 (see
Following step 216, the process of
In step 206 (see
In step 208 (see
In step 210 (see
In step 212 (see
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In step 212 (see
Memory 604 includes a known computer readable storage medium, which is described below. In one embodiment, cache memory elements of memory 604 provide temporary storage of at least some program code (e.g., program code 614) in order to reduce the number of times code must be retrieved from bulk storage while instructions of the program code are carried out. Moreover, similar to CPU 602, memory 604 may reside at a single physical location, including one or more types of data storage, or be distributed across a plurality of physical systems in various forms. Further, memory 604 can include data distributed across, for example, a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN).
I/O interface 606 includes any system for exchanging information to or from an external source. I/O devices 610 include any known type of external device, including a display device, keyboard, etc. Bus 608 provides a communication link between each of the components in computer 102, and may include any type of transmission link, including electrical, optical, wireless, etc.
I/O interface 606 also allows computer 102 to store information (e.g., data or program instructions such as program code 614) on and retrieve the information from computer data storage unit 612 or another computer data storage unit (not shown). Computer data storage unit 612 includes a known computer-readable storage medium, which is described below. In one embodiment, computer data storage unit 612 is a non-volatile data storage device, such as a magnetic disk drive (i.e., hard disk drive) or an optical disc drive (e.g., a CD-ROM drive which receives a CD-ROM disk).
Memory 604 and/or storage unit 612 may store computer program code 614 that includes instructions that are carried out by CPU 602 via memory 604 to manage a display of references to units of a document. Although
Storage unit 612 and/or one or more other computer data storage units (not shown) that are coupled to computer 102 may include data store 108 (see
As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, in a first embodiment, the present invention may be a system; in a second embodiment, the present invention may be a method; and in a third embodiment, the present invention may be a computer program product.
Any of the components of an embodiment of the present invention can be deployed, managed, serviced, etc. by a service provider that offers to deploy or integrate computing infrastructure with respect to managing a display of references to units of a document. Thus, an embodiment of the present invention discloses a process for supporting computer infrastructure, where the process includes providing at least one support service for at least one of integrating, hosting, maintaining and deploying computer-readable code (e.g., program code 614) in a computer system (e.g., computer 102) including one or more processors (e.g., CPU 602), wherein the processor(s) carry out instructions contained in the code causing the computer system to manage a display of references to units of a document. Another embodiment discloses a process for supporting computer infrastructure, where the process includes integrating computer-readable program code into a computer system including a processor. The step of integrating includes storing the program code in a computer-readable storage device of the computer system through use of the processor. The program code, upon being executed by the processor, implements a method of managing a display of references to units of a document.
While it is understood that program code 614 for managing a display of references to units of a document may be deployed by manually loading directly in client, server and proxy computers (not shown) via loading a computer-readable storage medium (e.g., computer data storage unit 612), program code 614 may also be automatically or semi-automatically deployed into computer 102 by sending program code 614 to a central server or a group of central servers. Program code 614 is then downloaded into client computers (e.g., computer 102) that will execute program code 614. Alternatively, program code 614 is sent directly to the client computer via e-mail. Program code 614 is then either detached to a directory on the client computer or loaded into a directory on the client computer by a button on the e-mail that executes a program that detaches program code 614 into a directory. Another alternative is to send program code 614 directly to a directory on the client computer hard drive. In a case in which there are proxy servers, the process selects the proxy server code, determines on which computers to place the proxy servers' code, transmits the proxy server code, and then installs the proxy server code on the proxy computer. Program code 614 is transmitted to the proxy server and then it is stored on the proxy server.
Another embodiment of the invention provides a method that performs the process steps on a subscription, advertising and/or fee basis. That is, a service provider, such as a Solution Integrator, can offer to create, maintain, support, etc. a process of managing a display of references to units of a document. In this case, the service provider can create, maintain, support, etc. a computer infrastructure that performs the process steps for one or more customers. In return, the service provider can receive payment from the customer(s) under a subscription and/or fee agreement, and/or the service provider can receive payment from the sale of advertising content to one or more third parties.
The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computer program product. The computer program product may include a computer readable storage medium (or media) (memory 604 and computer data storage unit 612) having computer readable program instructions 614 thereon for causing a processor (e.g., CPU 602) to carry out aspects of the present invention.
The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that can retain and store instructions (e.g., program code 614) for use by an instruction execution device. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but is not limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device, an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, a semiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of the computer readable storage medium includes the following: a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD), a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such as punch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructions recorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. A computer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construed as being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freely propagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagating through a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulses passing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmitted through a wire.
Computer readable program instructions (e.g., program code 614) described herein can be downloaded to respective computing/processing devices (e.g., computer 102) from a computer readable storage medium or to an external computer or external storage device (e.g., computer data storage unit 612) via a network (not shown), for example, the Internet, a local area network, a wide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprise copper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wireless transmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/or edge servers. A network adapter card (not shown) or network interface (not shown) in each computing/processing device receives computer readable program instructions from the network and forwards the computer readable program instructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium within the respective computing/processing device.
Computer readable program instructions (e.g., program code 614) for carrying out operations of the present invention may be assembler instructions, instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions, machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions, state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programming languages. The computer readable program instructions may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider). In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example, programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), or programmable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readable program instructions by utilizing state information of the computer readable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry, in order to perform aspects of the present invention.
Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference to flowchart illustrations (e.g.,
These computer readable program instructions may be provided to a processor (e.g., CPU 602) of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus (e.g., computer 102) to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable storage medium (e.g., computer data storage unit 612) that can direct a computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that the computer readable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises an article of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects of the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
The computer readable program instructions (e.g., program code 614) may also be loaded onto a computer (e.g. computer 102), other programmable data processing apparatus, or other device to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computer implemented process, such that the instructions which execute on the computer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods, and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.
While embodiments of the present invention have been described herein for purposes of illustration, many modifications and changes will become apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to encompass all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit and scope of this invention.