The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 27, 2022
Filed:
Apr. 24, 2020
Philip L. Richards, Pleasant Grove, UT (US);
Daniel K. Blair, Northfield, IL (US);
John T. Ritter, Charlotte, NC (US);
Gregory R. Sheaffer, Charlotte, NC (US);
Philip L. Richards, Pleasant Grove, UT (US);
Daniel K. Blair, Northfield, IL (US);
John T. Ritter, Charlotte, NC (US);
Gregory R. Sheaffer, Charlotte, NC (US);
Breakwater Solutions, LLC, Austin, TX (US);
Abstract
A method and system for tracking the history of possession, activity, and changes related to an electronic document after its creation includes a document in a file system on an computing device having linked metadata which tracks hash values that update when a user performs a document action. Each hash value indicates a fixed document state. The metadata stores hash value identifiers associated with the initial document state and the document state right before the most recent document action and a list of identifiers associated with every state of the document in its history. The method and system allows for branching of multiple documents from a common state, identified by a common hash value and includes components to visualize a document's lineage. The method and system also includes the ability to store information in a document regarding similar, or near duplicate, documents that do not share the same lineage.