ABTS: A transformation-based consistency control algorithm for wide-area collaborative applications

Abstract

Operational transformation (OT) is an established optimistic consistency control method in collaborative applications. Most existing OT algorithms are developed under a well-accepted framework with a condition that cannot be formally proved. In addition, they generally support two character-based primitive operations, insert and delete, in a linear data structure. This paper proposes a novel OT algorithm that addresses the above two challenges as follows: First, it is based on a recent theoretical framework with formal conditions such that its correctness can be proved. Secondly, it supports two string-based primitive operations and handles overlapping and splitting of operations. As a result, this algorithm can be applied in a wide range of practical collaborative applications.