SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PRESENTING COMPARISONS OF ELECTRONIC DOCUMENTS

1 . A system, comprising:

a display;

at least one memory component storing a software program, changes between documents, and a review state of each change;

at least one input device;

a processor coupled among the display, the at least one memory component, and the at least one input device, wherein the processor is configured to execute the software program, the software program comprising:

a comparison module operable to compare two documents for changes and to store a resulting comparison document with the changes in the at least one memory component;

a review state module operable to assign and update the review state of each of the changes and to store the review states in the at least one memory component;

a categorization module operable to categorize each of the changes according to a plurality of categories, wherein the display shows a first view of at least a portion of the changes organized according to the plurality of categories;

a user interface module operable to receive changes to review states from a user using the at least one input device.

2 . A system, comprising:

a display;

at least one memory component storing a software program;

a processor coupled among the display and the memory component, wherein the processor is configured to execute the software program, the software program comprising:

a communication module operable to receive a list of changes between two documents;

a categorization module operable to categorize each of the changes according to a plurality of categories;

wherein the display shows a first view of at least a portion of the changes organized according to the plurality of categories.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the software program further comprises a review state module operable to assign and update a review state for each of the changes and to store the review states in the at least one memory component, and wherein the at least one memory component further stores a review state for each change.

4 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the system further shows a second view of the changes in a context of the comparison document.

5 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the system further comprises at least one input device, and further wherein the software program further comprises a user interface module operable to receive changes to review states from a user using the at least one input device.

6 . The system of claim 2 , wherein updating the review state occurs automatically when a particular change has been visible on the display in the first view for a predetermined period of time.

7 . The system of claim 2 , wherein a review state is selected from a group consisting of: unreviewed, reviewed and accepted, reviewed and rejected, and reviewed and needs further discussion.

8 . The system of claim 7 , wherein each of the different review states in the group has a different symbol associated with it and an appropriate symbol is shown near the changes in the first view.

9 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the plurality of categories comprises trivial changes, matching changes, potentially missing changes, unexpected changes, unexpected boilerplate changes, and missing placeholder changes.

10 . The system of claim 2 , wherein a user defines a one or more of the plurality of categories.

11 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the software program further comprises a comparison module operable to compare two documents for changes and to store a resulting comparison document with the changes in the at least one memory component;

12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the comparison module is further operable to store the comparison document in the at least one memory component, and further wherein the review state for each change is stored within the comparison document as metadata.

13 . A computer-implemented method of presenting a comparison of electronic documents, comprising:

identifying changes between two documents or receiving changes identified between two electronic documents;

categorizing the changes according to a plurality of categories;

displaying at least a portion of the changes in a first view, wherein the changes are grouped hierarchically by the plurality of categories.

14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

assigning an initial review state to each change;

updating the initial review state responsive to user input or automatically according predetermined criteria.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the predetermined criteria comprises displaying the change for a prespecified period of time.

16 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the initial review state is updated to a second review state selected from a group consisting of reviewed and accepted, reviewed and rejected, and reviewed and needs further discussion.

17 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising storing the review states associated with the changes.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein storing the review states comprises storing the review states within the comparison document as metadata.

19 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising displaying next to the first view a redlined view of a comparison document containing the identified changes.

20 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the computer implemented method is part of an add-in or extension to a master application program.

21 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the plurality of categories comprises trivial changes, matching changes, potentially missing changes, unexpected changes, unexpected boilerplate changes, and missing placeholder changes.

22 . A computer-readable medium encoded with processing instructions for implementing a method performed by a computer, the method comprising:

identifying changes between two documents or receiving changes identified between two electronic documents;

categorizing the changes according to a plurality of categories;

displaying at least a portion of the changes in a first view, wherein the changes are grouped using the plurality of categories.

23 . The computer-readable medium of claim 22 , further comprising:

assigning an initial review state to each change;

updating the initial review state responsive to user input or automatically according predetermined criteria.

24 . The computer-readable medium of claim 23 , wherein the predetermined criteria comprises displaying the change for a prespecified period of time.

25 . The computer-readable medium of claim 23 , wherein the initial review state is updated to a second review state selected from a group consisting of reviewed and accepted, reviewed and rejected, and reviewed and needs further discussion.

26 . The computer-readable medium of claim 22 , further comprising storing the review states associated with the changes.

27 . The computer-readable medium of claim 26 , wherein storing the review states comprises storing the review states within the comparison document as metadata.

28 . The computer-readable medium of claim 22 , further comprising displaying next to the first view a redlined view of a comparison document containing the identified changes.

29 . The computer-readable medium of claim 22 , wherein the computer implemented method is part of an add-in or extension to a master application program.

30 . The computer-readable medium of claim 22 , wherein the plurality of categories comprises trivial changes, matching changes, potentially missing changes, unexpected changes, unexpected boilerplate changes, and missing placeholder changes.

31 . A system, comprising:

a communications module operable to receive two documents for comparison or locations where the two documents are stored;

a comparison module operable to compare the two documents to identify changes;

a categorization module operable to categorize each of the changes according to a plurality of categories,

wherein the communications module is further operable to transmit the comparison document and the categorized changes to a display to show a first view of at least a portion of the changes organized according to the plurality of categories.

32 . The system of claim 31 , further comprising:

a review state module operable to assign and update a review state to each of the changes,

wherein the communications module is further operable to transmit the review states to the display to show with the first view.

33 . The system of claim 31 , wherein the plurality of categories comprises trivial changes, matching changes, potentially missing changes, unexpected changes, unexpected boilerplate changes, and missing placeholder changes.

34 . The system of claim 32 , further comprising a memory component, wherein the comparison module stores a resulting comparison document with the changes in the memory component, and further wherein the review state module stores the review states in the memory component.

35 . The system of claim 32 , wherein the communications module is further operable to stream the comparison document, categorized changes, or the review states to the display.

36 . The system of claim 32 , wherein updating a review state comprises responding to user input or automatically based upon predetermined criteria.

37 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:

identifying changes between two documents or receiving changes identified between the two documents;

determining whether each of the changes is a potentially missing change;

displaying at least a portion of a listing of the potentially missing changes.

38 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:

identifying changes between two documents or receiving changes identified between the two documents;

determining whether each of the changes is an unexpected change;

displaying at least a portion of a listing of the unexpected changes.

39 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:

identifying changes between two documents or receiving changes identified between the two documents;

determining whether each of the changes is an unexpected boilerplate change;

displaying at least a portion of a listing of the unexpected boilerplate changes.

40 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:

identifying changes between two documents or receiving changes identified between the two documents;

determining whether each of the changes is a missing placeholder change;

displaying at least a portion of a listing of the missing placeholder changes.

41 . A system, comprising:

a display;

at least one memory component storing a software program and changes between documents;

a processor coupled among the display and the memory component, wherein the processor is configured to execute the software program, the software program comprising:

a change module operable to compare two documents for changes and to store a resulting comparison document with the changes in the at least one memory component or to receive a list of changes between two documents;

an analysis module operable to determine whether each of the changes is a particular change;

wherein the display shows a view of at least a portion of a listing of the particular changes.

42 . The system of claim 41 , wherein the particular change is a potentially missing change.

43 . The system of claim 41 , wherein the particular change is an unexpected change.

44 . The system of claim 41 , wherein the particular change is an unexpected boilerplate change.

45 . The system of claim 41 , wherein the particular change is a missing placeholder change.