Dynamic Content Commenting via Opaque State Preservation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods fail to effectively capture and recreate the state of dynamic content in electronic documents, such as Adobe Flash movies, making it difficult to add meaningful comments that depend on specific configurations of the content, as these states are lost when the document is rendered anew.
Innovation Solution
The approach involves requesting and storing opaque state information from a rendering program, which allows for the recreation of dynamic content states along with user comments, using this information to restore the exact configuration at a later time, even if the document is reopened.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If dynamic content is rendered interactively to allow user configuration, then the content becomes adaptable to user needs, but the state information is lost when the document is reopened
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by capturing and storing the state information of dynamic content at the time of commenting, before the document is closed or reopened. The system proactively saves the configuration data (such as variable values in Flash movies) to association data, ensuring that the state is preserved beforehand rather than attempting to recover it later.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses copying by creating a duplicate representation of the dynamic content's state information. Instead of relying on the original runtime state, the system copies the relevant data (variable values, configuration parameters) into association data that can be stored independently and retrieved later to reconstruct the state.
2Ease of operation
If the document is reopened to allow others to view comments, then collaboration is enabled, but the dynamic content state cannot be recreated
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism (association data) that mediates between the dynamic content and the comment system. This association data serves as a bridge, storing state information that can be independently transmitted and retrieved, allowing the content state to be reliably recreated on different systems without direct access to the original runtime environment.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback by using the stored association data to recreate the dynamic content state when comments are viewed. The recreated state provides feedback to ensure that the comment context is accurately restored, allowing reviewers to see the content in the same configuration in which the comment was made.
3Reliability
If opaque state information is stored with comments, then comment state preservation is achieved, but data structure complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies taking out by extracting only the necessary state information from the dynamic content system. Instead of storing entire application states or complex runtime environments, the system extracts and stores only the specific variable values and configuration parameters needed to recreate the comment context, reducing the burden on the data structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses parameter changes by transforming the dynamic content state into a storable format of parameters (association data). The complex runtime state is converted into discrete, serializable parameters that can be stored in the association data structure, making the information preservable without requiring the original complex execution environment.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for adding comments to dynamic content is provided. The method may include receiving an indication to associate a comment with a comment state of a scripted dynamic content. The comment state may include a user-customized content element. In response to receiving the indication to associate the comment with the comment state, opaque state information for the comment state may be requested. The opaque state information may be useable to render the comment state. The comment may be stored in association with the opaque state information for the comment state.