# US 10,769,356 B2 · Synchronizing review comments between source and shared documents

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- Number: US 10,769,356 B2
- Document ID: US10769356B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 15/448,721
- Filed: 2017-03-03
- Published: 2018-09-06
- Granted: 2020-09-08
- Earliest claimed: 2017-03-03
- Assignees: Adobe Inc.
- Applicants: Adobe Inc.
- Inventors: Sanjeev Kumar Biswas
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10769356B2

## CPC

- G06F 40/169: Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes
- G06F 40/134: Hyperlinking
- H04L 65/4015: {where at least one of the additional parallel sessions is real time or time sensitive, e.g. white board sharing, collaboration or spawning of a subconference}
- H04L 67/10: in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network (software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46)
- H04L 67/1095: Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
- H04L 67/12: specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)
- H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M)

## Abstract

Techniques are provided for synchronizing comments between a platform-dependent source document and a platform-independent shared document created from the source document. The shared document can accept feedback, edits, annotations, and other comments (all generally referred to herein as comments) from a variety of platforms and collaborators. The comments entered in the shared document automatically become part of, or otherwise become visible from, the source document. In an embodiment, the techniques are implemented as a computer-driven methodology that includes creating a logical link between the source and shared documents. This link is based on unique IDs of the respective documents, and is used to determine that reviewer comments have been made in the shared document. In response to the source document being open on a given source tool, periodic polling for reviewer comments is carried out and any new comments made in the shared document are displayed in the source tool.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method of synchronizing comments between a source document and a shared document, the method comprising:
sending the source document from an author computing system to a shared storage resource administered by a cloud-based service;
after the source document has been sent to the shared storage resource, sending, from the author computing system, to the shared storage resource, a first query for a source document asset ID, wherein the first query includes an access token associated with a user of the author computing system and a location of the source document in the shared storage resource;
after the source document has been sent to the shared storage resource, sending, from the author computing system, to the shared storage resource, a second query for a shared document asset ID, wherein the second query includes the access token, such that the first and second queries include the same access token;
receiving, at the author computing system, from the shared storage resource, the source document asset ID and the shared document asset ID, wherein the source document asset ID uniquely identifies the source document, wherein the shared document asset ID uniquely identifies the shared document, and wherein the source and shared document asset IDs are generated and assigned to their respective documents by the shared storage resource;
generating, at the author computing system, a logical link between the source document and the shared document, the logical link including the shared document asset ID and the source document asset ID received from the shared storage resource;
associating the logical link with the source document;
opening the source document at the author computing system;
reading the shared document asset ID from the logical link that is associated with the source document;
sending a comment polling request from the author computing system to a review commenting tool administered by the cloud-based service, wherein the comment polling request includes the shared document asset ID read from the logical link;
receiving, at the author computing system, from the review commenting tool, one or more reviewer comments made in the shared document; and
causing display of the reviewer comments made in the shared document in a display of the author computing system.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising sending a subsequent comment polling request from the author computing system to the review commenting tool, wherein the subsequent comment polling request is sent after a designated time interval.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein causing display of the reviewer comments made in the shared document includes causing display of the reviewer comments in a reviewer comment panel displayed adjacent to but not covering content of the source document.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein causing display of the reviewer comments made in the shared document includes updating display of content of the source document to include one or more content changes made by a reviewer.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein associating the logical link with the source document includes storing the logical link with the source document.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein generating, associating, and causing are carried out by an executable module that is downloadable to the author computing system.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein
the author computing system has installed thereon a source tool that is a platform-dependent software application available via a cloud-based subscription service, and
the reviewer comments are provisioned in the shared document via a collaboration tool that is a platform-independent software application.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein:
the author computing system has installed thereon a source tool that is a platform-dependent software application;
when the source document is open at the author computing system, the source tool is capable of at least one of adding a new comment, and sending a reply to one or more of the displayed reviewer comments; and
the method further comprises initiating propagation of a communication from the author computing system to one or more collaboration tools, the communication comprising the added new comment, the reply, or both the added new comment and the reply.

### Claim 9

A computer program product including one or more non-transitory machine readable mediums encoded with instructions that when executed by one or more processors cause a process to be carried out for synchronizing comments between a source document and a shared document, the shared document having been exported from the source document, the source document having been created via a source tool and having a first format, and the shared document having a second format different from the first format, the process comprising:
sending the source document from an author computing system to a shared storage resource administered by a cloud-based service;
after the source document has been sent to the shared storage resource, sending, from the author computing system, to the shared storage resource, a first query for a source document asset ID, wherein the first query includes an access token associated with a user of the author computing system and a location of the source document in the shared storage resource;
after the source document has been sent to the shared storage resource, sending, from the author computing system, to the shared storage resource, a second query for a shared document asset ID, wherein the second query includes the access token, such that the first and second queries include the same access token;
receiving, at the author computing system, from the shared storage resource, the source document asset ID and the shared document asset ID, wherein the source document asset ID uniquely identifies the source document, wherein the shared document asset ID uniquely identifies the shared document, and wherein the source and shared document asset IDs are generated and assigned to their respective documents by the shared storage resource;
generating, at the author computing system, a logical link between the source document and the shared document, the logical link including the shared document asset ID and the source document asset ID received from the shared storage resource;
associating the logical link with the source document;
opening the source document at the author computing system;
reading the shared document asset ID from the logical link that is associated with the source document;
sending a comment polling request from the author computing system to a review commenting tool administered by the cloud-based service, wherein the comment polling request includes the shared document asset ID read from the logical link;
receiving, at the author computing system, from the review commenting tool, one or more reviewer comments made in the shared document; and
causing display of the reviewer comments made in the shared document in a display of the author computing system.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the process further comprises sending a subsequent comment polling request from the author computing system to the review commenting tool, wherein the subsequent comment polling request is sent after a designated time interval.

### Claim 11 (depends on 9)

The computer program product of claim 9, wherein causing display of the reviewer comments made in the shared document includes causing display of the reviewer comments in a reviewer comment panel displayed adjacent to but not covering content of the source document.

### Claim 12 (depends on 9)

The computer program product of claim 9, wherein causing display of the reviewer comments made in the shared document includes updating display of the source document to include one or more content changes made by a reviewer.

### Claim 13 (depends on 9)

The computer program product of claim 9, wherein associating the logical link with the source document includes storing the logical link with the source document.

### Claim 14 (depends on 9)

The computer program product of claim 9, wherein generating, associating, and causing are carried out by an executable module that is downloadable to the author computing system.

### Claim 15 (depends on 9)

The computer program product of claim 9, wherein
the author computing system has installed thereon a source tool that is a platform-dependent software application available via a cloud-based subscription service, and
the reviewer comments are provisioned in the shared document via a collaboration tool that is a platform-independent software application.

### Claim 16 (depends on 9)

The computer program product of claim 9, wherein:
the author computing system has installed thereon a source tool that is a platform-dependent software application;
when the source document is open at the author computing system, the source tool is capable of at least one of adding a new comment, and providing a reply to one or more of the displayed reviewer comments; and
the process further comprises initiating propagation of a communication from the author computing system to one or more collaboration tools, the communication comprising the added new comment, the reply, or both the added new comment and the reply.

### Claim 17

An author computing system for synchronizing comments between a source document and a shared document, the source document having been created via a source tool and having a first format, and the shared document having a second format different from the first format, the author computing system comprising:
a display;
one or more computer memories encoded with instructions; and
one or more processors configured to execute the instructions, thereby causing operations comprising
send the source document to a shared storage resource administered by a cloud-based service,
after the source document has been sent to the shared storage resource, send, to the shared storage resource, a first query for a source document asset ID, wherein the first query includes an access token associated with a user of the author computing system and a location of the source document in the shared storage resource,
after the source document has been sent to the shared storage resource, send, to the shared storage resource, a second query for a shared document asset ID, wherein the second query includes the access token, such that the first and second queries include the same access token,
receive the source document asset ID and the shared document asset ID from the shared storage resource, wherein the source document asset ID uniquely identifies the source document, wherein the shared document asset ID uniquely identifies the shared document, and wherein the source and shared document asset IDs are generated and assigned to their respective documents by the shared storage resource,
generate a logical link between the source document and the shared document, the logical link including the shared document asset ID and the source document asset ID received from the shared storage resource,
associate the logical link with the source document,
open the source document at the author computing system,
read the shared document asset ID from the logical link that is associated with the source document,
send a comment polling request from the author computing system to a review commenting tool administered by the cloud-based service, wherein the comment polling request includes the shared document asset ID read from the logical link,
receive, from the review commenting tool, one or more reviewer comments made in the shared document, and
cause display of the reviewer comments made in the shared document in the display.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The system of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise send a second comment polling request to the review commenting tool, wherein the second comment polling request is sent after a designated time interval.

### Claim 19 (depends on 17)

The system of claim 17, wherein causing display of the reviewer comments made in the shared document includes at least one of
causing display of the reviewer comments in a reviewer comment panel displayed adjacent to but not covering content of the source document; and
updating display of content of the source document to include one or more content changes made by a reviewer.

### Claim 20 (depends on 17)

The system of claim 17,
wherein the source tool is a platform-dependent software application available via a cloud-based subscription service, and
wherein the reviewer comments are provisioned in the shared document via a collaboration tool that is a platform-independent software application.
