Workiva has been granted a patent for a method that facilitates private drafting in collaborative document editing. The method allows a user to edit a section of a document in draft mode, with the edit only being visible to the user. Once the user requests to publish the edit, it is displayed to other users collaborating on the document. The method utilizes a mainline causal tree structure to track and store changes made to the document. GlobalData’s report on Workiva gives a 360-degree view of the company including its patenting strategy. Buy the report here.
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According to GlobalData’s company profile on Workiva, Intelligent voice assistant was a key innovation area identified from patents. Workiva's grant share as of September 2023 was 68%. Grant share is based on the ratio of number of grants to total number of patents.
Method for private drafting and collaborative document editing
A recently granted patent (Publication Number: US11755825B2) describes a method for facilitating private drafting in a collaborative document editing environment. The method involves storing a mainline causal tree structure in a database, which tracks and stores changes made to the document over its history. When a user requests to edit a section of the document in draft mode, a draft branch of the mainline causal tree structure is created to manage the editing instructions for that section. The user can make edits to the section, and the result of the edit is displayed only on their computing device, not on the devices of other users collaborating on the document.
Once the user is satisfied with their edit, they can request to publish it. In response to this request, the draft branch is merged with the mainline causal tree structure, and the result of the edit is displayed on the computing devices of the other users. The method also includes displaying an indicator on the computing devices of all users to indicate that a section of the document is being edited in draft mode. This indicator is removed after the edit is published.
While a section of the document is in draft mode, other users are prevented from editing that section. However, the method allows the first user to make edits to a different section of the document that is not in draft mode, and the result of these edits is displayed on the computing devices of the other users.
Each node in the mainline causal tree structure is associated with a document identifier, and each node in the draft branch is associated with a different document identifier. This allows for easy tracking and organization of edits made by different users.
The method also allows the first user to add a second user to the draft mode, granting them permission to make edits to the section of the document. Additionally, if the section of the document in draft mode includes content linked to other content not in draft mode, any edits made to the linked content will update the linked content in the draft mode.
Overall, this patented method provides a structured and controlled environment for collaborative document editing, allowing users to make private edits and publish them when ready, while also ensuring that other users are aware of ongoing edits and preventing simultaneous editing of the same section.
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GlobalData Patent Analytics tracks bibliographic data, legal events data, point in time patent ownerships, and backward and forward citations from global patenting offices. Textual analysis and official patent classifications are used to group patents into key thematic areas and link them to specific companies across the world’s largest industries.
