US 7,013,426 B1 · Exchanging and converting document versions

Abstract

Document version interoperability is provided by allowing members of a community to maintain independent migration by permitting the members to continue to run native application software on their respective systems. A community may define a community version by establishing certain rules for documents. When electronically transmitting a document, a member of the community may provide in the transmitted message containing the document his native version of the document, the community version of the document, as well as any or all versions of the document which are closer to the community version of the document than his native version of the document. This may be accomplished by performing document transformations when creating the message. Upon receipt of the documents, the recipient may choose the document version contained in the message that is most easily read by the recipient's native application program and transform it so that it may be opened by the recipients native application program if necessary. Regardless of what rules are established to define the community version, data loss in any document exchange is minimized. Entities that follow these rules can migrate their native support without requiring coordination with other entities. Members do not have to know the native version supported by other members. This ensures privacy for the members and also lessens the need for direct communications between the members.

Claims45

Dependent claims

A computer-implemented method for sending an electronically perceivable document to a second community member from a first community member, the document saved in a version native to the first community member, the method including:

determining if the native version is equivalent to a community version;
sending the native version document to the second community member if the native version is equivalent to said community version;
converting the native version document to said community version and to all versions closer to said community version than the native version if the native version is not equivalent to said community version;
and
sending the native version document, community version document, and any other converted documents to the second community member if the native version is not equivalent to said community version.

2 more elements

A computer-implemented method for communicating an electronically perceivable document from a first community member to a second community member, the document saved in a version native to the first community member, the method including:

determining if the version native to the first community member is equivalent to a community version;
sending the document to the second community member in a message if the version native to the first community member is equivalent to said community version;
converting the document to said community version and to all versions closer to said community version than the version native to the first community member if the version native to the first community member is not equivalent to said community version;
sending the document, community version document, and any other converted documents to the second community member by encapsulating said community version document in a message and saving said document and any other converted documents as attachments to said message if the version native to the first community member is not equivalent to said community version;
receiving said message from said first community member;
determining if said message has only one document;
converting said document from a community version to a version native to said second community member if said message has only one document and said version native to said second community member is not equivalent to said community version;
determining which of said documents is closest to a version native to said second community member if said message ha more than one document, said closest document having a version;
and
transforming said closest document to said version native to said second community member if said message has more than one document and said version native to said second community member is not equivalent to said version of said closest document.

7 more elements

A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method for communicating a document from a first community member to a second community member, the document saved in a version native to the first community member, the method including:

determining if the version native to the first community member is equivalent to a community version;
sending the document to the second community member in a message if the version native to the first community member is equivalent to said community version;
converting the document to said community version and to all versions closer to said community version than the version native to the first community member if the version native to the first community member is not equivalent to said community version;
sending the document, community version document, and any other converted documents to the second community member by encapsulating said community version document in a message and saving said document and any other converted documents as attachments to said message if the version native to the first community member is not equivalent to said community versions;
receiving said message from said first community member;
determining if said message has only one document;
converting said document from a community version to a version native to said second community member if said message has only one document and said version native to said second community member is not equivalent to said community version;
determining which of said documents is closest to a version native to said second community member if said message has more than one document, said closest document having a version;
and
transforming said closest document to said version native to said second community member if said message has more than one document and said version native to said second community member is not equivalent to said version of said closest document.

7 more elements

An apparatus for communicating a document from a first community member to a second community member, the document saved in a version native to the first community member, the apparatus including:

means for determining if the version native to the first community member is equivalent to a community version;
means for sending the document to the second community member in a message if the version native to the first community member is equivalent to said community version;
means for converting the document to said community version and to all versions closer to said community version than the version native to the first community member if the version native to the first community member is not equivalent to said community version;
means for sending the document, community version document, and any other converted documents to the second community member by encapsulating said community version document in a message and saving said document and any other converted documents as attachments to said message if the version native to the first community member is not equivalent to said community version;
means for receiving said message from said first community member;
means for determining if said message has only one document;
means for converting said document from a community version to a version native to said second community member if said message has only one document and said version native to said second community member is not equivalent to said community version;
means for determining which of said documents is closest to a version native to said second community member if said message has more than one document, said closest document having a version;
and
means for transforming said closest document to said version native to said second community member if said message has more than one document and said version native to said second community member is not equivalent to said version of said closest document.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Exchanging and converting document versions

Life of this patent

Exchanging and converting document versions

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims45