Online Document Change Identification via Visual Highlighting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current web-browsing tools do not effectively support dynamic content changes, requiring users to manually seek and compare historical versions of online documents, which can disrupt the browsing experience and is not user-friendly for identifying changes in frequently updated content.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that automatically identifies changes in online documents by comparing prior and current versions, using visual or auditory representations to highlight differences, allowing users to be aware of changes without interfering with their browsing experience.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If web-browsing tools display current version of online documents, then users can access updated content, but users cannot easily identify changes from prior versions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies color changes by highlighting modified text elements in the current document version using visual indicators such as yellow background coloring or red text. This allows users to immediately perceive changes from prior versions through color differentiation, solving the problem of change identification while maintaining the current document display format and not disrupting the browsing experience.
2Loss of information
If users manually request and compare historical versions of documents, then change identification is possible, but browsing experience is disrupted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by automatically retrieving and storing prior versions of documents in a cache before users need to compare them. When users access the current document version, the system has already prepared the historical versions for comparison, eliminating the time users would otherwise spend manually searching for and retrieving prior versions, while still enabling comprehensive change identification.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the change identification function with the existing document display by integrating visual indicators directly into the current document view. Instead of requiring separate comparison operations or switching to different views, the system combines the display of current content with overlaid visual indicators showing changes, allowing users to identify modifications without leaving their browsing context or spending additional time on separate comparison steps.
3Measurement precision
If multiple versions of documents are stored and compared, then change detection accuracy improves, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies taking out by extracting and comparing only the specific elements that have changed between document versions, rather than storing and processing entire document copies. The system identifies and retrieves only the modified text elements from prior versions for comparison with the current version, reducing the amount of data that needs to be stored and processed while maintaining accurate change detection for all meaningful modifications.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques and systems are disclosed for providing changed content identification for an online document that is accessed by a user or user agent. A reference point for an online document that a user or user agent is interested in accessing is identified, comprising a stored prior version of the document. The prior version of the document is retrieved, when the user or user agent accesses the online document, such as by using the reference point. Elements of the prior version are compared with elements of a current version of the document, to determine whether there are differences between the versions. If changes are identified between the prior version and the current version, the current version is automatically updated with visual or auditory representations that identify those changes of content.