Methods and systems for allowing a group of users to interactively tour a computer network
First Claim
1. A method for allowing a group of users interactively to tour a computer network, the method comprising:
- allocating leadership of a touring session to a first group member, whereby the first group member can select other objects within the computer network for display to the group;
assigning each group member a predefined set of administrative rights that govern the group member'"'"'s participation in the touring session; and
reallocating leadership upon receipt of a request from a second group member.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An invention is disclosed that uses methods and systems for enhancing users'"'"' Web surfing experiences by providing various functions including: delivery of content that is related to the user'"'"'s present location or actions; providing collaborative browsing tools that manage the participants'"'"' rights interactively to control a particular collaborative browsing session; aggregating and then sharing with users information related to a particular Web site, action or object on the Internet; and offering various types of predefined collaborative browsing sessions in order to enhance the users'"'"' online experiences. These and other functions are accomplished via a browser companion that is downloaded or incorporated into the users'"'"' Web browsers. The browser companion communicates with a back-end server architecture that couples to various databases. The browser companion provides the appropriate server(s) with information about each user'"'"'s present location or action within the network, e.g., Internet. The servers provide the browser companion with the information related to the user'"'"'s present location or action, such as links, other ongoing collaborative browsing or chat sessions, community groups, or bulletin boards. Likewise, a session server manages the users collaborative browsing session and tracks the various administrative privileges that are dynamically assigned to each session participant based on the status of the session, the status of the user and the user'"'"'s requests for particular rights.
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Citations
12 Claims
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1. A method for allowing a group of users interactively to tour a computer network, the method comprising:
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allocating leadership of a touring session to a first group member, whereby the first group member can select other objects within the computer network for display to the group;
assigning each group member a predefined set of administrative rights that govern the group member'"'"'s participation in the touring session; and
reallocating leadership upon receipt of a request from a second group member. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A method for associating information with each Web site within a group of Web sites without requiring permission of a Web site operator, the method comprising:
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aggregating at least two different Web sites to create a neighborhood;
associating shared information with either (1) the neighborhood or (2) each entry therein; and
accessing a Web server via a browser in order to retrieve the shared information when a user accesses the neighborhood or any entry therein. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8)
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9. A method for allowing visitors to a particular Web site to initiate a collaborative browsing session, the method comprising:
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authenticating each session participant to confirm that each has a browser adapted to communicate with a server that supports a collaborative browsing (“
CB”
) session;
designating at least one administrator or at least one of the authenticated session participants to be the leader of a CB session; and
analyzing each of the leader'"'"'s site changes to confirm that the CB session is operating within selected parameters. - View Dependent Claims (10)
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11. A method for enhancing Internet surfing to provide users additional content, collaboration and context, the method comprising:
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associating information with particular sites via a database that indicia describing a Web site with information related to the Web site;
providing each of a group of users with a browser companion;
assigning each user within the group of users a set of privileges controlling each users participation within a collaborative Internet touring session;
configuring each browser companion to;
1. communicate to a first server a particular user'"'"'s present URL;
2. receive from a second server information concerning at least some of the administrative privileges assigned to each; and
3. display to a user information related to the present URL. - View Dependent Claims (12)
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Specification