METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR BROWSER-BASED SCREEN SHARING

• US 20110126130A1
• Filed: 11/23/2010
• Published: 05/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ClearSlide Incorporated (BigTinCan Holdings Limited)
• Original Assignee: ClearSlide Incorporated (BigTinCan Holdings Limited)
• Inventors: Benton, James L., Lieb, Adam Michael
• Granted Patent: US 9,733,886 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/753
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1454 involving copying of the display data of a local workstation or window to a remote workstation or window so that an actual copy of the data is displayed simultaneously on two or more displays, e.g. teledisplay
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/02 Networking aspects

Abstract

A method for remote screen sharing using only web-browsers is described. The presenter opens a web page containing an applet that sends the screen data to the server. The presenter may share their entire screen, or may only share a specially marked active display area. The server stores the data and makes it available viewers. Viewers are able to view the presenters screen directly in the web browser, without any downloads, plug-ins, or dialog boxes.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method comprising:

receiving from a presenter device, at a presentation sharing server, encoded presentation data;

storing presentation image data at the presentation sharing server;

launching a web browser at a viewer device;

loading a presentation viewing webpage in the web browser, the presentation viewing webpage including viewing code;

transmitting presentation image data from the presentation sharing server to the viewer device;

receiving, from the viewer device, an image refresh request at the presentation sharing server, and transmitting the image refresh request to the presenter device;

executing the viewing code at the web browser including;

receiving presentation image data;

displaying appropriate presentation screen images, wherein the appropriate presentation images are determined in part by layering over existing images.

2. A computer implemented method as recited in claim 1, wherein the viewer device is one of a plurality of viewer devices accessing the presentation via the presentation sharing server.

3. A computer implemented method as recited in claim 2, wherein the presenter device can change to be another device including one of the plurality of viewer devices.

4. A computer implemented method comprising:

providing a communication network coupling a presenter device, a presentation sharing server, and a viewer device;

launching a first web browser in the presenter device;

loading a presentation webpage in the first web browser, the presentation webpage including presentation control code;

enabling the presentation control code to gain access to the screen of the first web browser;

executing the presentation control code via the first web browser including;

determining a display area for capturing a screen image of the presenter device;

capturing the screen image of the presenter device;

determining whether to send a full refresh image or a differential update image to the viewer as the current presentation data;

encoding the current presentation data;

transmitting the encoded presentation data to the presentation sharing server;

storing presentation image data at the presentation sharing server;

launching a second web browser at the viewer device;

loading a presentation viewing webpage in the second web browser, the presentation viewing webpage including viewing code;

transmitting presentation image data from the presentation sharing server to the viewer device;

receiving, from the viewer device, an image refresh request at the presentation sharing server, and transmitting the image refresh request to the presenter device;

executing the viewing code at the second web browser including;

receiving presentation image data;

displaying an appropriate presentation of screen images.

5. A computer implemented method as recited in claim 4, wherein the screen sharing server determines which images to transmit to the viewer device by comparing stored images to an image associated with an image sequence identifier received from the viewing device together with a request for images.

6. A computer implemented method as recited in claim 4, wherein the screen sharing server evaluates a presentation token received from the viewer device to determine whether the viewer device is authorized to participate in a specific presentation.

7. A computer implemented method as recited in claim 4, wherein the screen sharing server stores presentation images for record keeping purposes.

8. A computer implemented method as recited in claim 4, wherein the viewer code determining the appropriate presentation image includes receiving current presentation pointer position and constructing a reasonable point path from the current pointer position to a previous presentation pointer position.

9. A computer implemented method as recited in claim 8, further including the viewer code determining the appropriate presentation image by layering over existing images.

10. A computer implemented method comprising:

launching a first web browser in a presenter device;

loading a presentation webpage in the first web browser, the presentation webpage including presentation control code;

enabling the presentation control code to gain access to the screen of the first web browser;

executing the presentation control code via the first web browser including;

determining a display area for capturing a screen image of the presenter device;

capturing the screen image of the presenter device;

determining whether to send a full refresh image or a differential update image to the viewer as the current presentation data;

encoding the current presentation data;

transmitting the encoded presentation data.

11. A computer implemented method as recited in claim 10, wherein the presentation control code includes a JAVA applet.

12. A computer implemented method as recited in claim 10, wherein the presentation control code gains access to the first web browser by obtaining explicit permission from the presenter.

13. A computer implemented method as recited in claim 10, further including initializing the presentation control code, the initialization including generating a token which uniquely and securely identifies a presentation, and generating a key controlling who can present.

14. A computer implemented method as recited in claim 10, wherein the presenter control code provides feedback regarding operation and status to the presenter.

15. A computer implemented method as recited in claim 10, wherein the presentation webpage provides the presenter a thumbnail image of a webpage and a button which opens a new browser window including the webpage to facilitate the presentation.

16. A computer implemented method as recited in claim 10, wherein the presentation control code determines an active window for determining the display area.

17. A computer implemented method as recited in claim 16, wherein the active window has an identifying image, and determining the active window is accomplished by finding the identifying image.

18. A computer implemented method as recited in claim 17, wherein the identifying image includes at least one of unique markings, unique color combinations, and/or a unique strip framing the active window.

19. A computer implemented method as recited in claim 10, wherein the full refresh image is used a) when the presentation is sending a first image, b) the display area has changed, c) a request for a full refresh has been received at the presentation device, d) a difference between a previous captured image and a current captured image exceeds a predefined level, and e) a maximum number of differential image updates have been transmitted since the last full refresh image.

25. A computer implemented method as recited in claim 10, wherein the presentation webpage provides the presenter a button which opens a new browser window including a pre-determined set of webpages to facilitate the presentation.

26. A computer implemented method as recited in claim 10, wherein the presentation webpage provides the presenter a button which opens a new browser window within which the presenter can enter the URL to browse to any webpage.

27. A computer implemented method as recited in claim 10, wherein the presentation webpage provides a link to download and display a document.

28. A computer implemented method as recited in claim 10, wherein the presentation webpage provides a placeholder instructing the presenter to open a specific desktop application.

20. A system for providing presentations to a viewer without requiring viewer downloads, the system comprising:

a presenter device running a first web browser with a first web page having a presentation control applet for capturing screen images and transmitting the screen images to a presentation sharing server;

the presentation sharing server coordinating which presentation images to store and transmit to a viewer device, the presentation sharing server responsive to both the presenter device and the viewer device; and

the viewer device running a second web browser having a presentation viewing applet for requesting images from the presentation sharing server, determining what images to display on the viewer device.

21. A system as recited in claim 20, wherein the presentation control applet is operable to identify an active window via unique markings.

22. A system as recited in claim 20, wherein the presentation control applet determines whether image information transmitted to the presentation sharing server is a full refresh image or a differential image refresh, and wherein the full refresh image is used a) when the presentation is sending a first image, b) a display area has changed, c) a request for a full refresh has been received at the presentation device, d) a difference between a previous captured image and a current captured image exceeds a predefined level, and e) a maximum number of differential image updates have been transmitted since the last full refresh image.

23. A system as recited in claim 20, wherein the viewer code is operable to generate as part of displayed presentation images a reasonable presentation pointer path having only previous and current presenter pointer position information.

24. A method for remote screen sharing using only web-browsers, the method characterized in that:

a presenter opens a first web page containing a first applet that sends screen data to a sharing server, the presenter may share an entire screen, or may only share a specially marked active display area, the sharing server stores the screen data and makes the screen data available to one or more viewers, and the one or more viewers are able to view the presenters screen directly in each viewer web browser via a second web page, without the viewer having to engage any downloads, plug-ins, or dialog boxes.