Simultaneous multi-user document editing system

Abstract

A system and methods for simultaneous editing of a document by two or more users are disclosed. The document is divided into a number of sections. Each section is stored in a separate data container, which is part of a document tree. A master copy of the document tree is accessible to a server which transmits all or part of the document tree to two or more clients, each of which is operated by a user. The clients can independently lock different sections, allowing the users to simultaneously edit different sections. When a user completes editing a section, the modified section is stored on the master server and broadcast to other users. The document tree is headed by an independently lockable and editable parent container which is used to store summary information and other information, such as default formatting and other document wide information.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09 / 933,012 filed on Aug. 21, 2001, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 226,572 filed Aug. 21, 2000. The disclosures of U.S. application Ser. Nos. 09 / 933,012 and 60 / 226,572 are incorporated herein, in their entirety, by this reference to them.FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] This invention relates to a system and methods for storing and simultaneous multi-user editing of documents, including text documents, presentation documents, graphic image documents, audio / visual clips and other types of documents. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] People often work together in groups to achieve common goals. Members of a workgroup should have convenient access to all of the documents relating to a topic or project. In contemporary workplaces, shared documents are usually stored on a file server connected to a network and accessible through networked computers. However, this arra...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0018] While one user has a section of a document locked, another user may have other sections of the same document locked. Each of the users may simultaneously edit his or her respective locked sections of the document. In this way, multiple users may simultaneously lock and edit different sections of the same document. Locking, editing and posting operations are done by each user using document editors built into the client software. In addition, the document editors allow a user to simply view a document by downloading sections of it and displaying them on a screen connected to a client computer.

[0024] The division of each document into sections affects the granularity with which different users may edit adjacent sections of a document. In one embodiment, text documents are broken into paragraph sections, although this is not necessary. In other embodiments, sentence or character sections may be used to provide finer granularity.

Problems solved by technology

However, this arrangement proves restrictive when team members are situated in widely disparate locations.

Most collaborative groupware or computing environments offer limited or no support for such activity.

Document type incompatibilities may arise when circulating a document in this manner.

For example, a text document may become unreadable if different team members edit it using different word processors or even using different versions of the same word processor.

Additionally, technical problems may arise with the transmission of email attachments.

Some applications achieve limited collaboration.

However, as with document circulation, only one user may edit a document at any given time.

However, if conflicts arise as replicas are compared and merged, Notes is limited in its ability to automatically resolve the conflicts.

However, while one team member has a document signed out of the service, others may not work on it.

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