Inter-application communication and integration broker
First Claim
1. A computer system for facilitating electronic communication, comprising:
- a server having one or more processors;
a communication module of the server configured to communicate data between the server and a client computing device via a communication network;
a program memory of the server storing executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the server to implement a data broker configured to;
receive, via the communication network, a first message including user-indicated data from an application add-in component of a first application executing on the client computing device via the communication module; and
send, via the communication network, a second message including information relating to the received data to a web client application implemented by a second application executing on the client computing device via the communication module in response to the received data, wherein the information relating to the received data includes at least a portion of the received data and wherein the message causes the web client application to display the information relating to the received data to a user of the client computing device,wherein the application add-in component of the first application and the web client application of the second application are adapted to communicate with each other only by sending messages to and receiving messages from the data broker of the server via the communication network.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system for intermediated communication between applications running on the same computer is presented. The system routes communication between a first application and a second application through a data broker on a remote server to avoid direct communication between the applications. The first application may be a desktop application, such as a word processing application, that has an add-in installed to facilitate communication through the data broker. The second application may be a web browser that includes a web client implemented using standard functionality of the web browser, without an application-specific plug-in. The data broker operates on a remote server to receive and direct communication between the applications. By eliminating direct communication between the applications, the data broker improves system security and reliability by utilizing communication protocols and capabilities already existing within the computer.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A computer system for facilitating electronic communication, comprising:
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a server having one or more processors; a communication module of the server configured to communicate data between the server and a client computing device via a communication network; a program memory of the server storing executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the server to implement a data broker configured to; receive, via the communication network, a first message including user-indicated data from an application add-in component of a first application executing on the client computing device via the communication module; and send, via the communication network, a second message including information relating to the received data to a web client application implemented by a second application executing on the client computing device via the communication module in response to the received data, wherein the information relating to the received data includes at least a portion of the received data and wherein the message causes the web client application to display the information relating to the received data to a user of the client computing device, wherein the application add-in component of the first application and the web client application of the second application are adapted to communicate with each other only by sending messages to and receiving messages from the data broker of the server via the communication network. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium storing executable instructions for communication between a first application and a second application of a computer system, which executable instructions, when executed by one or more processors of the computer system, cause the computer system to:
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receive, at an add-in component of the first application, an indication of a portion of a document accessed using the first application from a user of the first application; generate, by the add-in component of the first application, a first message including information associated with the portion of the document; transmit the first message to a data broker of a server from the add-in component of the first application of the computer system via a communication network; receive a second message corresponding to the first message from the data broker of the server via the communication network at a web client of the second application of the computer system, wherein the second message includes at least a portion of the information included in the first message; and display information to the user by the web client of the second application based upon the second message, wherein the application add-in component of the first application and the web client application of the second application are adapted to communicate only by sending messages to and receiving messages from the data broker of the server via the communication network. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A computer-implemented method for facilitating electronic communication, comprising:
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establishing a first communication connection over a communication network between an add-on component of a first application executing on a client computer and a data broker executing on a server; establishing a second communication connection over the communication network between the data broker executing on the server and a web client of a second application executing on the client computer; sending to the data broker, from one of (i) the add-on component via the first communication connection or (ii) the web client via the second communication connection, a message including information relating to a user input indicating a comment regarding a portion of a document accessed via the first application; receiving from the data broker, at the other one of (i) the web client via the second communication connection or (ii) the add-on component via the first communication connection, the message; and recording, by one or more processors, a link between the portion of the document and the comment; wherein the application add-in component of the first application and the web client application of the second application communicate with each other only by sending messages to and receiving messages from the data broker of the server via the communication network. - View Dependent Claims (19)
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Specification