Collaborative Editing System with Conflict Resolution Queues
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems do not allow multiple users to simultaneously edit electronic documents, such as formatted documents or PDFs, leading to a cumbersome and time-consuming merging process, especially when multiple authors update the same portions of documents.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that enables multiple users to participate in collaborative editing by designating a leader for a shared document, synchronizing edits through peer-to-peer communication, and maintaining operation queues to manage and propagate changes, allowing real-time updates and conflict resolution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If multiple users simultaneously edit electronic documents, then editing efficiency and real-time collaboration are improved, but system complexity and conflict management difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the document into versions (original version and updated versions) and tracks changes as delta information. Each user works with a version, and changes are segmented into specific regions rather than requiring full document synchronization, reducing the complexity of managing multiple simultaneous edits.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by automatically detecting conflicts before they affect the final document. When multiple users edit the same region, the system identifies the conflict and presents resolution options in advance, preventing the complexity of merging conflicts during the final review stage.
2Productivity
If multiple users simultaneously edit electronic documents, then real-time collaboration is improved, but conflict resolution time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides immediate feedback to users about conflicts detected in real-time. When two users simultaneously edit the same region, the system notifies both users of the conflict and presents resolution options, enabling rapid decision-making without requiring manual review cycles later.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary conflict detection and presentation of resolution options before the editing session concludes. This preliminary action eliminates the need for time-consuming manual conflict resolution during final review, as conflicts are identified and resolved in real-time.
3Ease of operation
If conventional separate editing of subparts is used, then document control and author independence are improved, but merging time and labor requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges multiple user edits and versions automatically by identifying delta information between versions. Instead of manually merging separate subpart edits, the system combines all changes into a unified document structure, maintaining author independence while eliminating manual merging labor.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates copies of the document as versions, allowing multiple authors to work independently on different versions simultaneously. The original document serves as a template, and each author's edits create new versions that are automatically integrated, eliminating the need for manual merging of subparts.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for collaborative editing may include a viewer to open a master copy of an electronic document in a local editor, a first queue to store edit operations requested by the local editor, a second queue to store edit operations requested by the remote editor, an update detector to detect a request from the remote editor to perform an edit operation on a remote copy of the electronic document, an update module to perform the edit operation on the master copy of the electronic document and to update the second queue with the edit operation, and a distributor to propagate the edit operation to the remote copy of the electronic document.