Server-Mediated Spreadsheet Collaboration with Segmented Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing spreadsheet applications are difficult to distribute and modify when used in a group environment, as they typically execute locally on a single user's computer, limiting collaborative access and modification.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for providing simultaneous multiuser collaborative access to a spreadsheet through a server that transmits the spreadsheet to multiple devices, allowing users with different privileges to edit and view changes in real-time, with the server managing conflicts and providing visual indications of user edits.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If spreadsheet applications execute locally on a single user's computer, then the application can run with full functionality and performance, but the application becomes difficult to distribute and modify in a group environment
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a server as an intermediary component that hosts the spreadsheet application and mediates access between multiple users and the spreadsheet data. This server architecture enables collaborative access while maintaining centralized control over the application logic and data, resolving the contradiction between local execution capabilities and group environment requirements.
2Productivity
If multiple users access the spreadsheet simultaneously, then collaborative productivity is enhanced, but conflict management and data consistency become more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms where the server continuously monitors and tracks edits from multiple users, providing real-time updates to all connected clients. This feedback loop ensures that all users see consistent data states and enables the server to manage conflicts by coordinating changes across the network, maintaining data consistency while supporting simultaneous collaborative editing.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the spreadsheet is transmitted to multiple devices, then collaborative access is enabled, but network bandwidth and server load increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the spreadsheet data into different parts or ranges that are assigned to different users based on their privileges and needs. Instead of transmitting the entire spreadsheet to every user, only relevant segments are transmitted and updated, reducing network bandwidth consumption while maintaining multiuser access capabilities. This segmentation approach allows efficient data distribution across multiple devices.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of simultaneous multiuser collaborative access to a spreadsheet includes transmitting the spreadsheet to a first device of a first user having a first privilege for a first part that includes a first cell, transmitting the spreadsheet to a second device of a second user having a second privilege for a second part, receiving a first edit of the first cell from the first device, and a second edit of the second cell from the second device, and in response to the first cell and the second cell being different, the first privilege including an edit privilege, and the second privilege including the edit privilege, accepting the first edit, accepting the second edit, forwarding the first edit for display with the first cell at the second device, and providing, to the second device, a real-time visual indication identifying the first user as a last user editing the first part.