Document Collaboration Playback via Vector Recording
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional document collaboration solutions struggle with synchronizing audio/video recordings with document navigation, making it difficult for collaborators to understand changes and communications, especially in asynchronous scenarios, and lack high-fidelity recording and playback features.
Innovation Solution
A system that records and plays back collaborator interactions, including text selection, mouse/pen movements, and voice comments, allowing for synchronized playback of document edits and comments, enabling natural communication and gesture capture for both synchronous and asynchronous collaboration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If screen recording is used to capture document collaboration, then visual content can be recorded, but the recording does not adjust when content is changed and does not support different scroll/zoom positions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses vector-based document representation instead of rasterized screen recordings. The document is copied and maintained in its native editable format, allowing the recording to automatically adjust when content changes while preserving the ability to navigate to different scroll/zoom positions.
Solution Approach 2:
The recording system dynamically updates the document representation when content changes occur during or after recording. The scroll position and zoom level are stored as dynamic parameters that can be adjusted during playback to match the original collaboration context.
2Ease of manufacture
If separate application is used for audio/video recording, then recording functionality is available, but the recordings are maintained in a separate application from the document
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the document editing application and recording functionality into a single integrated system. The recording is maintained within the same application as the document, ensuring that audio/video comments are directly associated with the specific document content and context they reference.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses an intermediary layer that captures both document state changes and audio/video comments simultaneously, then plays them back in synchronized sequence. This intermediary recording mechanism ensures that comments and document changes remain contextually aligned.
3Ease of operation
If ink annotations are overlaid on the document, then comments can be recorded, but it remains difficult for collaborators to understand the flow of comments and changes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the collaboration recording into discrete, time-ordered events that include both document changes and associated comments. Each segment is played back in sequence, allowing collaborators to understand the flow of interactions rather than viewing all annotations simultaneously overlaid on the document.
Solution Approach 2:
The system prepares and structures the collaboration data in advance during recording, organizing comments and changes into a sequential narrative. This preliminary organization enables easy playback and understanding of the collaboration flow without requiring complex post-processing.
4Speed
If synchronous collaboration via separate application is used, then real-time communication is available, but the audio/video playback does not illustrate the navigation that occurs in the document
Solution Approach 1:
The patent maintains continuous recording of both document navigation actions and audio commentary throughout the collaboration session. During playback, the document navigation and audio comments are presented continuously in their original temporal sequence, preserving the complete context of what was being discussed at each moment.
Data Source
AI summary
Collaborator content selection and manipulation actions and comments during interaction with a document are recorded to enhance asynchronous collaboration. The collaborator content selection and manipulation actions and comments are recorded during interaction with a document in a first collaboration viewport at a first time and played back in a second collaboration viewport at a second time while the same or a different instance of the document is displayed. The collaborator content selection and manipulation actions and comments include at least text selection, mouse or pen movements, and voice comments or ink annotations that are played back to recreate the collaborator changes and comments as though they were occurring in real-time, thereby creating a user experience that is more like the “over the shoulder” collaboration that would be available to collaborators that are at the same physical location.