Patent Document ID: 8984396
Application ID: 13316258

Base Claim:
1. A method of identifying one or more differences between a first extensible markup language (XML) file and a second XML file, comprising: determining a first plurality of symbols associated with the first XML file, wherein the first plurality of symbols comprises symbols that indicate a first plurality of data elements of the first XML file and a hierarchical arrangement of the first plurality of data elements of the first XML file, and wherein each symbol of the first plurality of symbols indicates a particular data element of the first plurality of data elements and further indicates a direction to arrive at the particular data element of the first plurality of data elements in a particular level of the first hierarchical arrangement; determining a second plurality of symbols associated with the second XML file, wherein the second plurality of symbols comprises symbols that indicate a second plurality of data elements of the second XML file and a hierarchical arrangement of the second plurality of data elements of the second XML file, and wherein each symbol of the second plurality of symbols indicates a particular data element of the second plurality of data elements and further indicates a direction to arrive at the particular data element of the second plurality of data elements in a particular level of the second hierarchical arrangement; comparing the first plurality of symbols with the second plurality of symbols; determining, based on the comparing, a first edit transcript that comprises a first plurality of operational changes that may be applied to at least one of the first plurality of symbols or the second plurality of symbols to arrive at the other of the first plurality of symbols or the second plurality of symbols; determining, based on the comparing, a second edit transcript that comprises a second plurality of operational changes that may be applied to at least one of the first plurality of symbols or the second plurality of symbols to arrive at the other of the first plurality of symbols or the second plurality of symbols; and selecting one of the first edit transcript or the second edit transcript as an optimal edit transcript based on whether the first number of operational changes is less than the second number of operational changes.

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Claim 3:
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the optimal edit transcript is a first optimal edit transcript, and further comprising: determining at least one second optimal edit transcript that comprises a same number of changes as the first optimal edit transcript.