SHARED STATE MANAGER AND SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR COLLABORATION

• US 20080301228A1
• Filed: 05/31/2007
• Published: 12/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Flavin, Robert A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,375,086 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A shared state manager (SSM) for collaboration includes an updating module for updating a shared state of data based on a request to edit the data made by a client, and a notifying module for, upon the updating the shared state, notifying another client of the updated state.

Claims

1. A shared state manager (SSM) for collaboration, said shared state manager comprising:

an updating module for updating a shared state of data based on a request to edit said data made by a client; and

a notifying module for, upon said updating said shared state, notifying another client of said updated state.

2. The shared state manager of claim 1, further comprising:

an authorization module for confirming an authorization of said request; and

a reply module for generating a reply to said request to said client.

3. The shared state manager of claim 1, wherein said client comprises one of a browser, an editor, a graphical-based client, a text-based client, and a server.

4. The shared state manager of claim 1, wherein said shared state of data comprises a shared state of document content data.

5. The shared state manager of claim 4, wherein at least one of said client and said another client comprise:

a storage module for storing SSM application software for controlling said request to edit said document content data, and causing said notifying module to notify said another client of said updated state of document content data; and

a storage module for storing a shared state object (SSO) comprising a representation of said shared state of said document content data.

6. The shared state manager of claim 4, wherein said shared state manager is included in a server in a network, said server comprising:

a storage device for storing SSM application software for controlling said request to edit said shared state of said document content data, and causing said notifying module to notify said another client of said updated state of said document content data.

7. The shared state manager of claim 6, wherein said network comprises the Internet, and said document content data comprises Web page content data content for a Web page which is accessible by said client and said another client via the Internet.

8. The shared state manager of claim 7, wherein said client and said another client comprise a Web browsing application for inputting a request to edit said Web page content data and viewing said Web page content data.

9. The shared state manager of claim 8, wherein said notifying said another client of said updated state comprises updating a view of said Web page content data generated by said Web browsing application on said another client.

10. The shared state manager of claim 9, wherein said another client comprises a plurality of other clients, and

wherein said notifying module updates in real time a view of said Web page content data on said client and said plurality of other clients to reflect said updated state of said Web page content data without refreshing a Web page comprising said Web page content data.

11. The shared state manager of claim 1, further comprising:

a storage device for storing a shared state object (SSO) comprising a representation of said shared state of said data.

12. The shared state manager of claim 11, wherein said shared state object comprises metadata integrated with said data, such that said notifying said another client of said updated state comprises rendering a different view of said data based on one of a user preference, user role, user access right, and a configuration of said another client.

13. The shared state manager of claim 11, wherein a tree in said shared state object is tagged with information for controlling a view of said data.

14. The shared state manager of claim 11, wherein said representation of said shared state of said data comprises an abstract representation of said shared state of said data.

15-24. -24. (canceled)

25. A system for collaboration, comprising:

a plurality of clients; and

a server connected to a network, said server comprising;

a shared state manager (SSM) for collaboration, said SSM being accessible by said plurality of clients and comprising;

an updating module for updating a shared state of data based on a request to edit said data made by a client; and

a notifying module for, upon said updating said shared state, notifying another client of said updated state.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein said shared state comprises a shared state of content data for a document.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein said shared state manager (SSM) further comprises

a storage device for storing SSM application software for controlling said request to edit said data, and causing said notifying module to notify said another client of said updated state of said data;

and

a storage device for storing a shared state object (SSO) comprising a representation of said shared state of said data.

28. A method of collaboration, comprising:

updating a shared state of data based on a request to edit said data made by a client; and

upon said updating said shared state of said data, notifying another client of said updated state.

29. The method according to claim 28, wherein said shared state of data comprises a shared state of document content data.

30. The method according to claim 28, further comprising:

confirming an authorization of said request; and

generating a reply to said request to said client.

31. The method according to claim 28, further comprising:

storing application software for controlling said request to edit said data.

32. The method according to claim 28, further comprising:

storing a shared state object (SSO) comprising a representation of said shared state of said data.

33. The method according to claim 28, wherein said notifying said another client of said updated state comprises filtering and translating an abstract representation of said data into a plurality of different presentation formats for viewing said update state of said data.

34. A programmable storage medium tangibly embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform a method of collaboration, said method comprising:

updating a shared state of data based on a request to edit said data made by a client; and

upon said updating said shared state of said data, notifying another client of said updated state.

35. A method of deploying computing infrastructure in which computer-readable code is integrated into a computing system, such that said code and said computing system combine to perform a method of collaboration, said method of collaboration comprising:

updating a shared state of data based on a request to edit said data made by a client; and

upon said updating said shared state of said data, notifying another client of said updated state.