Interactive web collaboration systems and methods

• US 20040049539A1
• Filed: 05/14/2003
• Published: 03/11/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fiver LLC
• Original Assignee: Family Systems, Ltd.
• Inventors: Reynolds, Brian, Conway, Mark J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,571,212 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/253 Grammatical analysis; Style critique
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/289 Phrasal analysis, e.g. finite state techniques or chunking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1822 Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1831 Tracking arrangements for later retrieval, e.g. recording contents, participants activities or behavior, network status
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/02 using automatic reactions or user delegation, e.g. automatic replies or chatbot-generated messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/18 Commands or executable codes

Abstract

A topic room is provided in which one or more individuals or other entities may collaborate on topics of mutual interest. Multiple individuals or participants may use the topic room to communicate in real or non-real time and may work together to create, browse, modify, comment on, and perform any other suitable action on content. A chat room within the topic room receives, records, and transmits the communications and all activity in the topic room to all participants as messages. Client processes at a participant'"'"'s user equipment may listen to the messages and take particular actions. For example, one participant can follow another participant as that participant browses through material by using the messages received from that participant.

Claims

1. A method for using a web site in association with a chat room to create a topic room, comprising:

storing content on the web site;

passing a message that comprises a reference to the content to the associated chat room;

allowing users of the associated chat room to view the message; and

allowing the users to view or play the content by using the reference to the content within the message.

2. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising allowing objects to listen to messages and take scripted actions in response.

3. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising enabling objects to send messages to the associated chat room describing their actions.