Selective Version Control for Digital Document Objects
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current digital document editing tools lack the ability to efficiently view and compare different versions of objects within a document without impacting other objects, leading to a poor user experience and inefficient use of computing resources, as they are limited to rolling back modifications in a sequential order and cannot concurrently display non-coexistent versions.
Innovation Solution
A system that allows users to select specific objects and roll back their modifications independently of other objects, enabling concurrent viewing of different versions by determining a subset of objects within a content section and applying modification states based on user input, without affecting unselected objects.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If sequential rollback of all content is used to view previous versions, then users can access historical modifications, but users cannot view different versions of different objects simultaneously and must scroll through the entire edit history
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the document into multiple content sections, allowing independent version control for each section. Users can select specific content sections and view their modification history separately, enabling parallel viewing of different versions across sections without scrolling through the entire document history.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a spatial dimension to version control by displaying different versions of content sections in parallel within the same document view. Instead of temporal sequential scrolling, users can simultaneously see multiple versions distributed across different content sections, transforming the version viewing experience from a single-time-line scroll to a multi-dimensional parallel display.
2Loss of information
If multiple copies of the digital document file are saved to view different versions concurrently, then users can compare versions side-by-side, but hard drive consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the document into multiple content sections, each with its own modification history. Users can view different versions of different sections simultaneously within the same document file, eliminating the need to create multiple full document copies for version comparison purposes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates lightweight version references within the document structure rather than full document copies. Each content section maintains its version history as metadata or embedded version information, allowing parallel version viewing without duplicating the entire document file on disk.
3Ease of operation
If sequential undo operations are used to rollback modifications, then users can revert changes, but users cannot selectively rollback specific objects while maintaining current states of other objects
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the document into multiple independently controllable content sections. Each section can be selected and rolled back to different versions independently, allowing users to apply different modification states to different sections simultaneously without affecting other parts of the document.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic version control where the modification state of each content section can be independently adjusted. Users can interactively select different versions for different sections, creating a flexible and adaptive system that responds to specific user needs rather than forcing uniform rollback across the entire document.
Data Source
AI summary
The disclosed technologies enable users to view a particular modification state of select objects of a document without impacting the display of unselected objects. For example, a user can create a number of objects located at different sections of a document. The user may perform modifications to each object that result in a sequence of modification states for each object. The user may select a subset of the objects by the use of an input gesture. The user can then view a specific modification state of the selected objects that existed at a first point in time, while viewing a modification state of other objects that existed at another point in time. In this way, the user is enabled to concurrently view different versions of each object even if these particular versions did not coexist at any point in time during the user's editing process.