SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR COLLABORATION

• US 20110238759A1
• Filed: 06/08/2011
• Published: 09/29/2011
• 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 8,856,237 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

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, comprising:

forming connections between a collaboration place that is persistent and addressable on a server and each of a first and second clients;

associating the collaboration place with first and second collaboration place interfaces executing on the respective first and second clients; and

establishing communications via a plurality of network connections between the collaboration place interfaces and the server that supports collaboration among the clients.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

administering user profiles of the collaboration place, the user profiles including relationships of friends for users.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the collaboration place interface comprises a website.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

managing interactions performed by a third-party application executing on at least one of the clients via the server; and

providing by the server, information related to the interactions.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

communicating with a third-party application managed by another server to control user interactions and data related to the users.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

synchronizing activity in a third-party application via a back channel connection of the network connections, wherein the back channel is dedicated to pushing content to the collaboration place interfaces, wherein the provided information comprises data associated with the user.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

managing friends information for users of the collaboration place;

managing interactions performed by a third-party application executing on the clients via the server; and

determining authorization of the users by the third-party application.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

administering co-editing activity performed by a third-party application by;

managing sequential or simultaneous co-editing activity among users of the collaboration place; and

tracking a history of interactions for the co-editing activity;

detecting by the server co-editing collisions based on the co-editing activity;

advising at least one of the clients of detected changes to shared content based on the co-editing activity; and

providing comments about the shared content based on the co-editing activity.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

tracking an update of shared content by a user; and

advising at least one of the client of the update to the shared content based on a type of change to the shared content.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein administering further comprises:

detecting and avoiding co-editing collisions of changes to data of the third-party application based on administering data ranges within objects; and

transmitting to the clients the detected changes to the data, wherein the third-party application includes a spreadsheet application, and wherein the co-editing activity is performed on a cell, row, or column of a spreadsheet.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

taking a poll of users in the collaboration place.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

escalating the collaboration place interfaces between a chat interface, voice interface, or video interface.

13. A system for collaboration, comprising:

a server that provides collaboration place interface that is persistent and addressable to each of a first and second clients by, the server further configured to perform actions that comprise;

associating the collaboration place with first and second collaboration place interfaces executing on the respective first and second clients; and

establishing communications via a plurality of network connections between the collaboration place interfaces and the server that supports collaboration among the clients.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the server is further configured to perform actions that comprise:

administering user profiles of the collaboration place, including relationships of friends for users.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the collaboration place interface comprises a website.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the server is further configured to perform actions that comprise:

synchronizing activity in a third-party application via a back channel connection of the network connections, wherein the back channel is dedicated to pushing content to the collaboration place interfaces, wherein the provided information comprises data associated with the user.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the server is further configured to perform actions that comprise:

managing friends information for users of the collaboration place;

managing interactions performed by a third-party application executing on the clients via the server; and

determining authorization of the users by the third-party application.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the server is further configured to perform actions that comprise:

administering co-editing activity performed by a third-party application by;

managing sequential or simultaneous co-editing activity among users of the collaboration place; and

tracking a history of interactions for the co-editing activity;

detecting by the server co-editing collisions based on the co-editing activity;

advising at least one of the client of detected changes to shared content based on the co-editing activity; and

providing comments about the shared content based on the co-editing activity.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein administering further comprises:

detecting and avoiding co-editing collisions of changes to data of the third-party application based on administering data ranges within objects; and

transmitting to the clients the detected changes to the data, wherein the third-party application includes a spreadsheet application, and wherein the co-editing activity is performed on a cell, row, or column of a spreadsheet.

20. A non-transitory processor readable medium for collaboration, the medium comprising instructions that when executed by a processor causes the processor to perform actions that comprise:

forming connections between a collaboration place that is persistent and addressable on a server and each of a first and second clients;

associating the collaboration place with first and second collaboration place interfaces executing on the respective first and second clients; and

establishing communications via a plurality of network connections between the collaboration place interfaces and the server that supports collaboration among the clients.