Systems and methods for collaboration

• US 20060053196A1
• Filed: 11/15/2004
• Published: 03/09/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ip Ot Sub Ulc
• Original Assignee: Open Text Corporation
• Inventors: Schneider, Ronald E., West, Cornelia A., Glazer, David, Spataro, Jared M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,707,249 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15

Abstract

In some embodiments, the disclosed systems and methods provide a client-server infrastructure capable of supporting a variety of asynchronous and synchronous collaboration activities in a so-called collaboration place. Some of these activities include chatting, viewing and/or editing one or more data files, and sharing one or more applications, data files, and/or displays. The client-server infrastructure supports seamless navigation between the supported asynchronous and synchronous activities in the collaboration place. Additionally, the client-server architecture supports data persistence, so that data files associated with the collaboration place can be stored for subsequent access.

Claims

1. A method for collaboration, the method comprising:

providing a database for storing data associated with two or more independent collaboration places,

administering collaboration activities among participating clients in each of the two or more independent collaboration places,

based on administering the collaboration activities, generating activity data for each of the two or more independent collaboration places,

receiving a request from a requesting client for the activity data for one or more of the two or more independent collaboration places, and

based on the request, providing the activity data to the requesting client for presentation in a collaboration place interface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the activity data includes:

determining whether the client has permission to view the activity data, and

based on determining that the client has permission to view the activity data, providing the activity data to the client for presentation in a collaboration place interface.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining includes:

determining whether the client is a member of the one or more of the two or more collaboration places, and

based on determining that the client is a member, determining that the client has permission to view the activity data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the participating clients do not include the requesting client.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the activity data includes data based on the clients participating in the collaboration place.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the activity data includes the number of clients currently participating in the collaboration place.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the-activity data includes identifiers of the clients currently participating in the collaboration place.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the activity data includes data based on the activity of one or more of the clients participating in the collaboration place.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the activity data includes one or more miniature screen shots of one or more portions of an interface of one or more of the clients participating in the place.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the activity data includes data based on group activities in the place.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the activity data includes data identifying the type of group activities occurring in the place.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the activity data includes data identifying the numbers of clients participating in each of the group activities.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the activity data includes identifiers of the clients participating in each of the group activities.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the activity data includes data based on changes to the place.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the changes include at least one of:

a number of client leaving the place, a number of clients entering the place, identities of one or more clients leaving the place, and identities of one or more clients entering the place.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the request is automatically generated by the client based on a list of the places of which the client is a member.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the request is automatically generated by the client based on a subset of the places of which the client is a member.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the subset is selected by the client.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the subset is selected automatically based on criteria established by the client.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein the subset is selected automatically based on system-wide criteria.

21. The method of claim 7 wherein the identifiers of the clients are provided based on a selection of a display of the number of clients.

22. The method of claim 9 wherein the interface includes a collaboration place interface.

23. The method of claim 10 wherein the activity data relates to the existence of a currently-running meeting object.

24. The method of claim 10 wherein the activity data relates to an instance of screen sharing.

25. A computer readable medium having instructions thereon for performing steps for collaboration, the steps comprising:

providing a database for storing data associated with two or more independent collaboration places,

administering collaboration activities among participating clients in each of the two or more independent collaboration places,

based on administering the collaboration activities, generating activity data for each of the two or more independent collaboration places,

receiving a request from a requesting client for the activity data for one or more of the two or more independent collaboration places, and

based on the request, providing the activity data to the requesting client for presentation in a collaboration place interface.

26. The computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein providing the activity data includes:

determining whether the client has permission to view the activity data, and

based on determining that the client has permission to view the activity data, providing the activity data to the client for presentation in a collaboration place interface.

27. The computer readable medium of claim 26, wherein determining includes:

determining whether the client is a member of the one or more of the two or more collaboration places, and

based on determining that the client is a member, determining that the client has permission to view the activity data.

28. The computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the participating clients do not include the requesting client.

29. The computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the activity data includes data based on the clients participating in the collaboration place.

30. The computer readable medium of claim 29, wherein the activity data includes the number of clients currently participating in the collaboration place.

31. The computer readable medium of claim 29, wherein the activity data includes identifiers of the clients currently participating in the collaboration place.

32. The computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the activity data includes data based on the activity of one or more of the clients participating in the collaboration place.

33. The computer readable medium of claim 32, wherein the activity data includes one or more miniature screen shots of one or more portions of an interface of one or more of the clients participating in the place.

34. The computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the activity data includes data based on group activities in the place.

35. The computer readable medium of claim 34, wherein the activity data includes data identifying the type of group activities occurring in the place.

36. The computer readable medium of claim 35, wherein the activity data includes data identifying the numbers of clients participating in each of the group activities.

37. The computer readable medium of claim 35, wherein the activity data includes identifiers of the clients participating in each of the group activities

38. The computer readable medium of claim 25 wherein the activity data includes data based on changes to the place.

39. The computer readable medium of claim 38 wherein the changes include at least one of:

a number of client leaving the place, a number of clients entering the place, identities of one or more clients leaving the place, and identities of one or more clients entering the place.

40. The computer readable medium of claim 25 wherein the request is automatically generated by the client based on a list of the places of which the client is a member.

41. The computer readable medium of claim 25 wherein the request is automatically generated by the client based on a subset of the places of which the client is a member.

42. The computer readable medium of claim 41 wherein the subset is selected by the client.

43. The computer readable medium of claim 41 wherein the subset is selected automatically based on criteria established by the client.

44. The computer readable medium of claim 41 wherein the subset is selected automatically based on system-wide criteria.

45. The computer readable medium of claim 31 wherein the identifiers of the clients are provided based on a selection of a display of the number of clients.

46. The computer readable medium of claim 33 wherein the interface includes a collaboration place interface.

47. The computer readable medium of claim 34 wherein the activity data relates to the existence of a currently-running meeting object.

48. The computer readable medium of claim 34 wherein the activity data relates to an instance of screen sharing.

49. A system for collaboration, the method comprising:

a computer that is configured to contain a database for storing data associated with two or more independent collaboration places, and is configured to administer collaboration activities among participating clients in each of the two or more independent collaboration places, based on administering the collaboration activities, generate activity data for each of the two or more independent collaboration places, receive a request from a requesting client for the activity data for one or more of the two or more independent collaboration places, and based on the request, provide the activity data to the requesting client for presentation in a collaboration place interface.

50. The system of claim 49, wherein providing the activity data includes:

determining whether the client has permission to view the activity data, and

based on determining that the client has permission to view the activity data, providing the activity data to the client for presentation in a collaboration place interface.

51. The system of claim 50, wherein the computer is further configured to determine whether the client is a member of the one or more of the two or more collaboration places, and based on determining that the client is a member, determine that the client has permission to view the activity data.

52. The system of claim 49, wherein the participating clients do not include the requesting client.

53. The system of claim 49, wherein the activity data includes data based on the clients participating in the collaboration place.

54. The system of claim 53, wherein the activity data includes the number of clients currently participating in the collaboration place.

55. The system of claim 53, wherein the activity data includes identifiers of the clients currently participating in the collaboration place.

56. The system of claim 49, wherein the activity data includes data based on the activity of one or more of the clients participating in the collaboration place.

57. The system of claim 56, wherein the activity data includes one or more miniature screen shots of one or more portions of an interface of one or more of the clients participating in the place.

58. The system of claim 49, wherein the activity data includes data based on group activities in the place.

59. The system of claim 58, wherein the activity data includes data identifying the type of group activities occurring in the place.

60. The system of claim 59, wherein the activity data includes data identifying the numbers of clients participating in each of the group activities.

61. The system of claim 59, wherein the activity data includes identifiers of the clients participating in each of the group activities.

62. The system of claim 49 wherein the activity data includes data based on changes to the place.

63. The system of claim 62 wherein the changes include at least one of:

a number of client leaving the place, a number of clients entering the place, identities of one or more clients leaving the place, and identities of one or more clients entering the place.

64. The system of claim 49 wherein the request is automatically generated by the client based on a list of the places of which the client is a member.

65. The system of claim 49 wherein the request is automatically generated by the client based on a subset of the places of which the client is a member.

66. The system of claim 65 wherein the subset is selected by the client.

67. The system of claim 65 wherein the subset is selected automatically based on criteria established by the client.

68. The system of claim 65 wherein the subset is selected automatically based on system-wide criteria.

69. The system of claim 55 wherein the identifiers of the clients are provided based on a selection of a display of the number of clients.

70. The system of claim 57 wherein the interface includes a collaboration place interface.

71. The system of claim 58 wherein the activity data relates to the existence of a currently-running meeting object.

72. The system of claim 58 wherein the activity data relates to an instance of screen sharing.