Document Revision Merge Interface for Multi-User Conflict Resolution
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current document management systems (DMSs) lack the ability to efficiently display, manage, and merge changes made by multiple users, making it difficult for users to understand and manage document revisions, particularly in scenarios involving branched revisions.
Innovation Solution
A revision management system that compares file versions with a reference document to identify changes, presents these changes in a merge interface, allowing users to selectively accept or reject revisions, and handles conflicts by using data structures to maintain synchronization between documents.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If current DMS displays changes from multiple users, then visibility of revisions is improved, but the system cannot allow selective acceptance of changes from individual users
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the revision management process into distinct components: individual user change sets are separated and presented independently in the merge interface, allowing the author to evaluate and selectively accept or reject changes from each reviewer. This segmentation enables both comprehensive visibility of all revisions and granular control over which changes to incorporate.
2Loss of information
If current DMS displays history of changes by multiple users, then revision tracking is improved, but the history is not readily comprehensible by users
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the complex multi-dimensional revision history into a more comprehensible format by organizing changes along clear dimensions: reviewer identity, specific document portions affected, and change type. The merge interface presents revisions in a structured layout that maps changes to their locations in the master document, making the revision history both complete and easily understandable.
3Reliability
If current DMS provides revision management, then document control is improved, but it lacks efficient way to handle branched revisions merging
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary actions by automatically comparing each revised document against the master document before presenting changes to the author. The system pre-processes the revision data, identifies all changes, and organizes them in the merge interface, so that when branched revisions need to be merged, the author receives a ready-to-review summary of all changes rather than dealing with raw complex data.
Solution Approach 2:
The merge interface acts as an intermediary between multiple revised documents and the master document. It mediates the complex merging process by presenting changes from multiple reviewers in a unified view, allowing the author to selectively incorporate changes while maintaining document control. This intermediary layer simplifies the complexity of merging branched revisions.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed are methods and systems for managing file revisions, including revisions of a document. The system may compare various file versions (e.g., revised documents having revisions to a master document from multiple users) with a reference file (e.g., a master document) to obtain the changes (e.g., revisions) in each file version. The system may present the changes from each of the users in a merge interface from which a user may selectively accept or reject the changes from any of the users to update the reference file.