Patent ID: 8566729

Claim:
An editing apparatus for allowing a plurality of users to edit a same document in parallel, comprising: a screen output section for outputting to each of a plurality of terminals used by the users, an editing screen to edit the same document in parallel with other said terminals; an operation input section for receiving, from said terminals, edited content from the users input by operating said editing screen on said terminals; said screen output section further outputting to a terminal used by one of the users a reference screen received from a terminal used by another of the users and displaying content being edited by said other of the users; said screen output section outputting to said terminal used by said one of the users said reference screen in order to allow said one of the users to copy said content being edited by said other of the users and paste said content onto said editing screen so that said one of the users can edit said content being edited by said other of the users; the document includes a plurality of parts, and the operation input section further receives, respectively from said plurality of terminals, identification information indicative of which of said document parts is being edited on each of said plurality of terminals; the editing apparatus further comprises a warning sending section for sending two or more of said plurality of terminals a warning message when determining that a same document part is being edited on said two or more of said plurality of terminals at a same time; a selection input section for inputting from an administrator of the same document, an instruction for selecting from among said edited content from the users, edited content to be reflected in the same document; and an update section for reflecting in the same document said edited content to be reflected in the same document, and for updating the same document.