Patent Publication Number: US-2005138540-A1

Title: Systems and methods for user-specific document change highlighting

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of Invention  
      The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for alerting a reader of document changes.  
      2. Description of Related Art  
      Many business or organizational processes involve dissemination of document content on-demand, so that users consistently have access to the latest version of the document. When users are already familiar with a document, they may not read it as carefully as they did the first time they accessed it, and so may miss key changes that occurred since they last saw it. Ensuring that users have the most current information is critical in, for example, situations in which regulations change and accessing out of date material can cause failure to comply with regulations.  
      There are many businesses and organizations in which it is critical that users access and comprehend the latest version of a document. Examples include aircraft maintenance manuals and health care procedures. In some cases, users are instructed not to save or even memorize instructions. Nevertheless, any technician who accesses content regularly will tend to memorize some parts of it, even inadvertently. The result is that, over time, users will tend to read familiar documents less carefully, especially when time pressures are applied.  
      Microsoft Word has a feature that finds documents and synchronizes earlier versions of the same document. Document synchronization is the comparison of two or more versions of the same document and determining the differences between the two or more versions. U.S. Pat. No. 6,505,214 to Sherman et al., discloses this feature.  
      Microsoft Word also has a “track changes” feature that highlights information that has changed in a document. This feature highlights changes according to the person who made the change, not according to who is reading the document.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      A drawback of the Microsoft patent is that it synchronizes documents automatically without user intervention and it does not keep track of the information the user has accessed. The Microsoft patent finds the documents that needs synchronization, but does not know which version is the version most recently accesses by the specific user.  
      A person re-reading a document for new information will not care who made the changes, only that changes were made. In addition, the person reading the document will not care to be notified about changes that were made before the last time he or she accessed the document, only changes that were made since the last time that he or she accessed the document.  
      Therefore, there is a need for a method and apparatus which delivers information objects annotated to highlight changes since the most recent user access. An information object is any identifiable, renderable electronic information that can be managed so as to trace changes and user access over time. Hereinafter, the description will refer to “document” for convenience.  
      In embodiments, the present invention keeps track of which version of an information object, such as a document, was last viewed by or downloaded to the user. When a user reads, downloads or otherwise accesses a new version of the document, possibly without even at first knowing that it is a new version, the present invention uses for example color or font or some other way to highlight the changes that have been made to the document since the last time it was accessed by that particular user. The highlighting enables the user to focus his or her attention on those parts of the document that have changed since the last time he or she accessed the document and provides the user with hints as to which parts of the document should be read most carefully. In fact, in some embodiments, only the changes are displayed, and unchanged portions are not displayed. In some embodiments, the present invention renders the document with highlights showing the part of the content that changed since the last time the user accessed the document. The present invention can be implemented through, for example, add-ins to office applications such as a document renderer. Document renderers include, but are not limited to, word processing applications such as MS Word®, Internet Explorer®, Acrobat Reader®, or a printer driver. The document renderer can display the highlighted changes, while a database keeps a record of user access to documents.  
      The present invention differs from the “synchronizing” prior art systems discussed above in that users specify explicitly which documents they wish to synchronize and the system tracks the versions that the users have seen. The present invention does not need to know which document versions need to be synchronized because this will be determined automatically. For example, those documents that are updated by a regulatory agency may require this type of synchronization.  
      In a preferred embodiment, the present invention contains a document rendering feature that highlights those parts of the document that have changed since the user last accessed the document, making it easy for the user to focus on those changes. This feature requires that the system be aware of user identity at some level.  
      For each document accessed by the users of the present invention, a record is made of which user accessed which version of the document. Whenever a user accesses a document, the records are consulted. If the user is accessing a different version from that most recently accessed, a delta, i.e., the difference between the two versions, is determined. The delta can be constructed dynamically on-demand or statically whenever document versions are updated. This delta is used to construct a display that highlights all changes. Outdated content or content that was deleted need not be displayed, although it may be helpful to display an indicator of where content has been removed.  
      These and other objects, advantages and/or salient features of the invention are described in or apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      Exemplary embodiments of the invention will be described based on the accompanying drawings, wherein like numerals represent like parts, and wherein:  
       FIG. 1  illustrates an exemplary system according to the invention;  
       FIG. 2  is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method of displaying an information object according to the present invention; and  
       FIG. 3  illustrates an exemplary data flow according to the present invention.  
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
      To provide an overall understanding of the invention, certain illustrative embodiments will now be described, including a method and apparatus that synchronizes two versions of a document, and determines the differences between the two versions and renders the documents with the differences highlighted.  
       FIG. 1  depicts one exemplary embodiment of a document output system  100  with which the invention may, in one aspect thereof, be implemented. The document output system  100  may be a portion of a cluster within an enterprise or organizational computer network, but the invention is not so limited. The document output system  100  need not be part of a cluster or even a part of an enterprise computer network in some embodiments.  
      The document output system  100  includes a client device  115  communicating with a system server  130  over communications link or links  120  that in turn, communicates with a storage unit  150  over one or more communication links  140 . The communication, for example, could be a document request for a document  180 . The client device  115  is a client of the server  130  in a client/server architecture. In this embodiment, the client device  115 , requests documents over communications link  140  and receives documents  180  from the server  130  such that material the user  101  has not yet seen is highlighted.  
      The client device  115  illustrated is a desktop personal computer, including a display monitor, with which a user  101  may interact through one or more input devices such as a keyboard and/or a mouse  102 . However, the invention is not so limited, and the client device may literally be any type of device capable of receiving and outputting information. The client device  115  might be some other type of computer, for instance, a work station, a laptop computer, or a handheld computer. The client device&#39;s critical aspects are that it lets the user identify him or herself to the server, requests document, and displays the documents returned. Some embodiments might also employ multiple client devices  115  and then mix and match device types, such as by including a computer and a server. Some embodiments of the client device  115  may be or include a printer, Braille writer or the like that output a hard copy with document changes shown in special notes, different colors, underlining, or the like. Some embodiments may be or include an audio output device, which outputs an audio version of the document in a manner that highlights the changes. Some embodiments may include a scanner or digital camera as the input device.  
      The storage unit  150  may be any type of storage unit, and may even be embedded in the server  130  in some embodiments. The document output system  100  may also include several software or hardware elements. In the illustrated embodiment, these software or hardware elements include: A processor  111  and keyboard  102 , a monitor  191  and a printer  192 . In this embodiment, the user  101  uses the keyboard  102  to identify himself or herself to the system  100  and to request a particular document. Other embodiments may be a hallway printer with a touch pad or a touch sensitive screen. Those skilled in the art will understand what minimum components are required to implement the methods of the invention discussed below.  
      The server  130  consists of a processor  131  and storage  132 . The storage contains a user database that indicates which version of a requested document the user has viewed most recently in the past. The processor  131 , runs a Document Combiner  130  that is capable of calculating the differences, or deltas, between the version of the requested document most recently viewed by the reader and the version actually requested by the reader. Features such a Microsoft Word&#39;s synchronization feature or Unix “diff” can be used as an implementation of the document combiner. The document combiner requests these documents from the Content Server  150  over the data link  140 . It receives documents back based on these requests  170 .  
      The Content Server  150  receives requests from the server  130  over communications link  140  and returns the documents requested  170 . The Content Server  150  runs content management system (i.e. a piece of software that manages documents) to manage that content in storage  151 .  
      The particular hardware in the various embodiments of the present invention will be specific to a particular implementation. The document output system  100  may be as simple as a single computing device communicating with a server or as distributed as hundreds of computing devices. In fact, a server may not even be necessary to implement the current invention. In alternate embodiments, the document changes may be made directly at the client device  115  itself by one user  101 , and then the document may be later viewed at the client device  115  by another user.  
      An exemplary method of the present invention is described below and in reference to  FIG. 2 . The figure depicts three layers, Client, Server, and Data, which correspond to the components  115 ,  130 , and  150  in  FIG. 1 , and are provided for continuity. First, in step S 200 , the user provides identifying information. In a preferred embodiment, this is accomplished through the well-known procedure of requiring input of a usemame as the user logs on to a network. Other user identification methods may include any known or later-developed form of voice recognition, retinal scan, fingerprinting, DNA analysis or the like.  
      In step S 205 , the user identifies which document they wish to view. In a preferred embodiment, a display for browsing a repository and selecting an entry, similar to the MS Windows file explorer, may be provided, but any method sufficient to obtain the user input is sufficient.  
      In step S 210 , the system determines the version of the document being requested. In a preferred embodiment, the current version of the document is automatically selected and retrieved. In another preferred embodiment, the version may be specified by a rule, e.g. the most recent document version or the most recent version that can be accessed by this user. The current version includes, but is not limited to, new documents that were uploaded, scanned or otherwise inputted into a document storage unit, or existing documents that have been revised and stored in a document storage unit.  
      In step S 215 , the system determines the version of the identified document that was most recently accessed by the user. Hereinafter, this version will be referred to as the Most Recently Used version, or the MRU version.  
      In step S 230 , the system retrieves the document version determined in step S 210 .  
      In step S 220 , the system determines whether the requested document has changed since the last time that the document was accessed by the user. If the document has not changed since the last time that the document was accessed by the user, the document is output as-is in S 240 . If it is determined that the document has changed since the last time the document was accessed by the user, the method continues to step S 235 .  
      In step S 235 , the MRU version of the document, is acquired.  
      In step S 250 , after both the selected version and the MRU version of the document have been acquired, a new rendition, which consists of the requested version annotated to denote changes from the MRU version, is created. There are several available systems that are suitable for denoting changes. For example for text files, systems such as MS Visual Source Safe and the Unix “diff” command, are able to calculate the difference between any two versions of a document. For MS Word documents, MS Word is able to calculate deltas “under the hood” i.e., outside of the view of the user. The system used depends on the format of the content.  
      In a preferred embodiment, the annotations include, but are not limited to, for example, different fonts or colors, striking through deleted material, underlining added material, adding special notes or symbols before and/or after the added material.  
      In a preferred embodiment, the rendered document is output S 260  to a display device and displayed. In another preferred embodiment, the document is printed by a printing device.  
       FIG. 3  shows an overview of an exemplary data flow and system structure, according to a preferred embodiment. User and document identifications  300  are input, by which the user requests the a document and optionally some particular rendition of that document. The user identity may be supplied through typical user logon information, such as a username, or by any other known or later developed identification method such as voice recognition, retinal scan, finger printing, DNA analysis or the like. The user and document may be identified at separate points in the data flow, or may both be identified during the logon procedure.  
      A query engine  310  receives the user input. The engine determines which version of the document is requested. In a preferred embodiment, the current version of the document is automatically selected. In another preferred embodiment, the version may be specified by a rule, e.g. the most recent document version or the most recent version that can be accessed by this user. Two queries are formulated, query  315  and query  320 , one for each of the storage components in the preferred embodiment of the system.  
      In a preferred embodiment, the first storage component, database  330 , keeps track of which user most recently accessed which version of a document. The database  330  may be a standalone unit, or may be incorporated as an add-in or portion of the storage of any document repository or content management system, that tracks document versions. Query  315  queries database  300  to determine which version of the document was most recently accessed by this user. Database  330  then formulates another query to obtain the calculated document version from database  335 . In preferred embodiments, each time the document is accessed, the database  330  notes the access by the person logged in and associates that person&#39;s login ID with the requested version.  
      In a preferred embodiment, the second storage component, database  335 , is a content management system which manages multiple version of documents. The preferred embodiment assumes a means of adding updated content in the database  335 , by storing current content  345  via a content store application  340 . Query  320  requests the version of the document that was identified by the query engine. Concurrently, query  325  requests the version of the document that was most recently accessed by the user.  
      The result of both queries, the previously accessed version  350  and the requested version  360  are output by the database  335 .  
      The delta calculator component  370  determines the differences, herein referred to as the delta, between the two retrieved versions of the document, and generates a representation of those differences. The delta may include, but is not limited to, additions, changes and/or deletions. The invention does not specify the representation for deltas, but there are existing representations, as in the output of the Unix “diff” command for text files. The representation is likely to be specific to the format of the document versions being compared.  
      The document renderer  380  generates a new rendition  385  of the requested document version, annotated to indicate the changes since the document was last accessed by this user. Annotations may include, but is not limited to, one or more of underlining additions, striking through changes, changing a font or color, inserting notes or symbols before and after inserted text, inserting special sounds or words before and/or after added portions in an audio output, and/or the like.  
      In preferred embodiments, the document renderer  380  produces an output  385 , the rendered version of the document. In a preferred embodiment, the output  385  is sent to a display device  390 . The display device may be, but is not limited to, a monitor that is capable of displaying the rendered version of the document.  
      The document rendering device  390  in preferred embodiments is a word processor program.  
      In another embodiment, deltas between document versions may be calculated at the time that content in the storage system is updated, and thus all differences between document versions would be stored in the content management system. In this case, retrieval of an annotated rendition would be accomplished by providing a query to the content management system that contains two version numbers, the version being requested and the version most recently accessed. The document delta calculator and the annotated document renderer would not be required for this embodiment, although it is likely these components would be part of the storage application.  
      In another embodiment, information indicating the document version added to the document in the form of a document processing instruction object such as, for example, bar code or glyph that are associated with the document, or the like and contain at least version information for the document. For example, the document is scanned at a multifunction device (not shown), the device accesses the databases  330  and  335  and requests the most recent version and the current version. In this embodiment the database is the set of papers that contain glyph encoded version information. The processor determines the delta between the two documents and highlights the changes. The highlighted rendition of the document is sent to an output device.  
      In another embodiment, deletions may be indicated by the insertion of words or a graphical image, such as an icon, that indicates where deletions were made in the document.  
      In another preferred embodiment, the present invention may be implemented by using a content management system such as DocuShare®. In this example, DocuShare® stores documents in Extensible Markup Language (XML) form that notes when each change was made. Each time a user views a document, the version the user viewed is noted. The next time the user accesses the document, all of the elements that have changed since the last access would be highlighted using an Extensible Style Language Translator (XSLT) that translates the document into Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) for display in the browser. This embodiment would be helpful, where users are not allowed to print documents, to ensure that they always read the most current version.  
      In another preferred embodiment, the present invention may be implemented by Microsoft Word®. A Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) script keeps track of each access to a document and stores the accessed version of the document. When the document is accessed a second time, it compares the new document with the stored document and highlights all of changes. MS Word® has a feature that tracks changes in documents, as discussed above. In this example this feature is used to recognize a new document as an instance of a prior one. The additional function requires storing the previously accessed document so the new version can be compared to the previous one and thereby highlighting information that is likely to be new to the person reading a document.  
      In other embodiments, the document renderer  380  sends the output  385  to a printing device that is capable of printing the rendered version of the document.  
      It will be understood that various devices shown in  FIG. 3  may be implemented within the system depicted in  FIG. 1 . For example, the database  330  of  FIG. 3  may be contained within, or accessed by, the storage  132  of  FIG. 1 , and database  335  of  FIG. 3  may be contained within, or accessed by, the storage  151  of  FIG. 1 . The processor  131  of  FIG. 1  may contain the delta calculator component  370  and the document renderer  380  of  FIG. 3 . The query interface  310  of  FIG. 3  may be associated with the client processor  111  and the server processor  131  of  FIG. 1 .  
      It should be understood that each of the processing circuits or devices shown in  FIGS. 1-3  can be implemented as portions of a suitably programmed general purpose computer. Alternately, each of the processing circuits shown in  FIGS. 1-3  can be implemented as physically distinct hardware circuits within an ASIC, or using a FPGA, a PDL, a PLA or a PAL, or using discrete logic elements or discrete circuits.  
      While this invention has been described in conjunction with the specific embodiments outlined above, it is evident that alternatives, modifications and variations may be possible within the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the preferred embodiments of the invention as set forth above are intended to be illustrative and not limiting. Various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.  
      For example, in the embodiments described above, the highlighting is applied to the document before the document is output. However, as an alternative, the document may be displayed first and then the highlighting may be applied.