Method and system for tracking authorship of content in data

Abstract

According to one aspect of the invention, iterative local alignment is employed to process two versions of a text and to identify novel contributions and their positions in the newer text version. In one embodiment, the new or target version of the text is aligned to the old or reference version of the text in an iterative process. The iterative process produces a local alignment of both text versions, which is optimal according to the selected parameters. In another embodiment, aligned substrings are removed from the texts and the iterative process is continued until no more aligned substrings can be obtained. In one example, authorship may be transferred from every aligned substring of the reference text version to the corresponding substring of the target text version. In another example, authorship for unaligned substrings of the target text version may be assigned to the author of the target text version. In one embodiment, unaligned substrings of the reference text version can be identified as deleted by the author of the target text version. In another embodiment, deleted substrings can be stored latently and can be considered in subsequent alignments. In another aspect of the invention, the method and system for tracking authorship of content in data may be employed in collaborative text editing systems or in word processing applications to identify and track the contributions of individual authors.

1 . A method for tracking authorship of content in data, the method comprising the acts of
 aligning at least a portion of data from reference data with at least a portion of the data from target data;   storing any aligned data and authorship information;   repeating the acts of aligning at least a portion of the data and storing any aligned data until no significant alignment of the data is obtained; and   storing any unaligned data and authorship information.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the act of repeating the act of aligning at least a portion of the data comprises excluding previous alignment from consideration during subsequent acts of aligning. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the act of aligning at least a portion of the data: further comprises an act of removing the aligned data that is identified; or includes employing an optimal local alignment algorithm. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the act of aligning at least a portion of the data further comprises replacing the removed aligned data with control information. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the act of aligning at least a portion of the data further comprises the acts of:
 identifying substrings;   and aligning the substrings.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the act of aligning at least a portion of the data further comprises the acts of:
 assigning a weight to at least one of the substrings; and   considering the weight of the at least one of the substrings in identifying alignment.   
     
     
         7 . (canceled) 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the act of identifying substrings in the data includes identifying substrings in the data based on at least one of a punctuation mark, blank, and symbol. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the act of aligning the substrings: includes considering gaps within the alignment; or considering sentence borders when identifying alignment. 
     
     
         10 . (canceled) 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the act of aligning the substrings further comprises an act of considering partial substrings for alignment. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the act of storing any unaligned data and authorship information further comprises the acts of displaying any unaligned data from the reference document as deleted data and displaying any unaligned data of the target document as inserted data. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the method for tracking authorship of content in data is used to track authorship through a plurality of edit cycles by a plurality of authors. 
     
     
         14 . (canceled) 
     
     
         15 . (canceled) 
     
     
         16 . A computer-readable medium having computer-readable signals stored thereon that define instructions that, as a result of being executed by a processor instruct the processor to perform a method for tracking authorship of content in data, the method comprising the acts of:
 aligning at least a portion of the data from reference data with at least a portion of the data from target data;   storing any aligned data and authorship information;   repeating the acts of aligning at least a portion of the data and storing any aligned data until no significant alignment of the data is obtained; and   storing any unaligned data with authorship information.   
     
     
         17 . A system for tracking authorship of content in data, the system comprising a processor configured to perform a method for tracking authorship of content in data, the processor comprising:
 an alignment component adapted to compare data from reference data with data from target data to identify alignment of at least a portion of the data, wherein the alignment component is further adapted to identify alignments iteratively until no significant alignments of the data is obtained; and   a storage component adapted to store aligned portions of data and authorship information, wherein the storage component is further adapted to store any unaligned portions of the data and authorship information.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the alignment component is further adapted to: exclude previous alignment from consideration during subsequent acts of aligning; remove aligned data that is identified; or employ an optimal local alignment algorithm. 
     
     
         19 . (canceled) 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the alignment component is further adapted to replace the removed aligned data with control information. 
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the alignment component is further adapted to identify substrings and align the substrings. 
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the alignment component is further adapted to assign a weight to at least one of the substrings and consider the weight of the at least one of the substrings in identifying alignment; identify substrings in the data based on at least one of a punctuation mark, blank, and symbol; consider gaps within the alignment; consider sentence borders when identifying alignment; or consider partial substrings for alignment. 
     
     
         23 . The system of  claim 21 , further comprising a verification component adapted to verify a possible alignment exceeds an expected alignment score. 
     
     
         24 . (canceled) 
     
     
         25 . (canceled) 
     
     
         26 . (canceled) 
     
     
         27 . (canceled) 
     
     
         28 . The system of  claim 17 , further comprising a display component that in combination with the alignment component is adapted to display any unaligned data from the reference document as deleted data and display any unaligned data of the target document as inserted data. 
     
     
         29 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the system for tracking authorship of content in data is adapted to track authorship through a plurality of edit cycles by a plurality of authors. 
     
     
         30 . (canceled) 
     
     
         31 . (canceled)