TECHNICAL FIELD

The subject matter described herein relates to advanced graphical user interfaces for visualizing markups amongst different versions of documents.

BACKGROUND

In a computer-implemented collaborative working environment, when multiple entities are working on a document, such as a contract document, the ability to track changes between a new version and an old version increases efficiency and saves time and labor. Sometimes, multiple parties need to review changes in more than two versions of the same document. In other cases, all historical versions of a document need to be reviewed. Among all the changes to the historical versions, some changes can be more important than the others, and the more important changes can deserve heightened attention from one or more reviewers. However, it is often difficult to readily identify and assess the relative importance of such changes.

SUMMARY

A computer-implemented collaborative working environment is provided in which historical changes of a document are highlighted with different visual distinctions on a graphical user interface according to their importance so that multiple users can track changes and make revisions according to their importance rankings. Users may also choose to review changes of only a particular importance level. Users may choose to ignore changes of certain importance levels, for example, the least important levels.

In another aspect, a first version of a document is accessed so that a contract dictionary can be built for the first version of the document with a plurality of string tokens contained in the first version of the document. For each string token in the document, if one of the plurality of string tokens contained in the first version of the document is a pre-determined string token, a ranking priority associated with the pre-determined string token can be assigned to the one of the plurality of string tokens. Otherwise, if one of the plurality of string tokens contained in the first version of the document is not a pre-determined string token, then an option can be provided via a graphical user interface to add the one of the plurality of string tokens to the contract dictionary and assigning a corresponding ranking priority to the one of the plurality of string tokens.

A visual distinction can be assigned to the corresponding ranking priority of each of the plurality of string tokens. Further, a second version of the document can be accessed so that changed string tokens can be identified by comparing the second version with the first version of the document. A corresponding ranking priority can then be retrieved for each of the changed string tokens in the contract dictionary. In addition, each of the changed string tokens can be highlighted with the visual distinction corresponding to the ranking priority, and each of the highlighted changed string tokens can be displayed with the visual distinction and the document on a graphical user interface.

In some variations, a subset of the changed string tokens can be highlighted in the graphical user interface with a visual distinction corresponding to a predetermined ranking priority. The highlighted subset of the changed string tokens can be displayed with a visual distinction corresponding to a predetermined ranking priority and the document on the graphical user interface.

The highlighted subset of the changed string tokens with the visual distinction corresponding to the predetermined ranking priority can be accepted in response to user-generated input received via the graphical user interface. Similarly, the graphical user interface can also be used to reject (in response to user-generated input) the highlighted subset of the changed string tokens with the visual distinction corresponding to the predetermined ranking priority.

A subset of the changed string tokens can be highlighted in the graphical user interface with the visual distinction corresponding to the predetermined ranking priority. The highlighted subset of the changed string tokens with the visual distinction corresponding to the predetermined ranking priority can be accepted in response, for example, to user-generated input via the graphical user interface.

The highlighted subset of the changed string tokens with the visual distinction corresponding to the predetermined ranking priority can be rejected in response, for example, to user-generated input via the graphical user interface.

In some variations, a first version of a document can be accessed after feeding a hard copy of the first version of the document to an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) unit. Similarly, a second version of the document can be generated after applying a hard copy to the OCR unit. The first and/or second versions of the document can be obtained locally (e.g. via local storage) or remotely from one or more networks.

If one of the plurality of string tokens contained in the first version of the document is not a pre-determined string token, and if the one of the plurality of string tokens contained in the first version of the document is a linking or auxiliary verb, a low ranking priority can be assigned to the one of the plurality of string tokens. Graphical user interface elements can be provided in the graphical user interface to accept or reject the highlighted subset of the changed string tokens. Non-transitory computer program products (i.e., physically embodied computer program products) are also described that store instructions, which when executed by one or more data processors of one or more computing systems, cause at least one data processor to perform operations herein. Similarly, computer systems are also described that may include one or more data processors and memory coupled to the one or more data processors. The memory may temporarily or permanently store instructions that cause at least one processor to perform one or more of the operations described herein. In addition, methods can be implemented by one or more data processors either within a single computing system or distributed among two or more computing systems. Such computing systems can be connected and can exchange data and/or commands or other instructions or the like via one or more connections, including but not limited to a connection over a network (e.g., the Internet, a wireless wide area network, a local area network, a wide area network, a wired network, or the like), via a direct connection between one or more of the multiple computing systems, etc.

The subject matter described herein provides many technical advantages. For example, the current subject matter is advantageous in that it provides advanced graphical user interfaces providing priority based color-coded document comparison, which, in turn, saves time for the reviewer in reviewing documents and enables quick sign off of the document. The current subject matter is also advantageous in that increases productivity because the reviewer can ignore revisions with low priority. The enhanced view provides quantitative review of the document for easy identification of critical changes, as a result, the method increase the confidence of the reviewer with clear markups. In a collaborative computer-implemented working environment, the current subject matter also facilitates the reviewers to identify important sections with higher priority to better collaborate.

The details of one or more variations of the subject matter described herein are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features and advantages of the subject matter described herein will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.

