SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR COLLABORATION

• US 20110239135A1
• 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 8,713,106 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/753
• 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 computer-implemented method for collaboration, the method comprising:

providing a collaboration place interface to a first client that is configured to;

connect the first client to a collaboration place, as a result of which the first client is located in the collaboration place to which the first client is connected; and

generate a portion of data based on at least one or more events in the collaboration place, wherein the portion of the data is persistent and available for access by a second client after the first client has disconnected from the collaboration place and is no longer located in the collaboration place; and

administering collaboration activities among participating clients in the collaboration place.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

administering relationships of friends for users of the collaboration place.

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

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the generated data is based on activities within at least one collaboration, wherein the collaboration comprises at least one of a chat, a blog, a wiki, or a discussion group.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

forming network connections between the collaboration place and each of the first client and a second client;

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

including in the collaboration place interfaces, at least one display for presenting data related to at least one of an application for processing audio data, an application for processing graphic data, an application for processing multimedia data, an application for processing text data, and an application for processing video data.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

managing a notification of an event within the collaboration place based on the data presented in the at least one display, wherein the notification is displayed in at least one of the displays based on definitions of notifications defined by a collaboration object, a user'"'"'s identity, or a type of notification configured for the first or second clients.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing collaboration place data based on the collaboration activities;

formatting the stored collaboration place data based on a collaboration schema;

presenting in a content viewer the formatted collaboration data based on the collaboration schema and on a peripheral vision schema; and

publishing the collaboration place data based on a generated index of content in the collaboration place.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request from the first client to share content with the second client, the content including a primary type of data being administered by a primary software application in the first collaboration place interface;

based on the request, including in the second collaboration place interface (a) the primary software application for administering the primary type of data, and (b) a display of the primary type of data being administered by the primary software application in the first collaboration place interface; and

based on the request, updating data associated with the collaboration place to include the content, wherein the request is entered via a software application for requesting parameters for defining the request.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

transmitting a communication related to the shared content using a communication channel of the collaboration place, wherein the communication channel comprises an Internet based protocol for transmitting an object or an audio, video, or audio-video content;

providing an activity status for users in the collaboration place;

generating an index guide to the shared content in the collaboration place;

including a link to data in the index guide; and

generating a comment to the shared content in the collaboration place.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the primary type includes audio data files, video data files, or multimedia presentations, wherein the content is stored in a database located remotely from the clients and the server, and wherein the request includes an identifier for the primary software application.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the collaboration place interface is further configured to perform actions that comprise:

forming network connections between the collaboration place 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

including in the collaboration place interfaces, at least one display for presenting data related to at least one of an application for processing audio data, an application for processing graphic data, an application for processing multimedia data, an application for processing text data, and an application for processing video data.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the collaboration place interface is further configured to perform actions that comprise:

managing a notification of an event within the collaboration place based on the data presented in the at least one display, wherein the notification is displayed in at least one of the displays based on definitions of notifications defined by a collaboration object, a user'"'"'s identity, or a type of notification configured for the first or second clients.

11. A system for collaboration, the system comprising:

a collaboration place interface, the interface configured to perform actions that comprise;

connecting the first client to a collaboration place to locate the first client in the collaboration place to which the first client is connected;

generating a portion of data based on at least one or more events in the collaboration place, wherein the portion of the data is persistent and available for access by a second client after the first client has disconnected from the collaboration place and is no longer located in the collaboration place; and

administering collaboration activities among participating clients in the collaboration place

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the collaboration place interface is further configured to perform actions that comprise:

storing collaboration place data based on the collaboration activities;

formatting the stored collaboration place data based on a collaboration schema;

publishing the collaboration place data based on a generated index of content in the collaboration place, and

wherein the first client is further configured to perform actions that comprise;

presenting in a content viewer the formatted collaboration data based on the collaboration schema and on a peripheral vision schema; and

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the collaboration place interface is further configured to perform actions that comprise:

receiving a request from the first client to share content with the second client, the content including a primary type of data being administered by a primary software application in the first collaboration place interface;

based on the request, including in the second collaboration place interface (a) the primary software application for administering the primary type of data, and (b) a display of the primary type of data being administered by the primary software application in the first collaboration place interface; and

based on the request, updating data associated with the collaboration place to include the content, wherein the request is entered via a software application for requesting parameters for defining the request.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the collaboration place interface is further configured to perform actions that comprise:

transmitting a communication related to the shared content using a communication channel of the collaboration place, wherein the communication channel comprises an Internet based protocol for transmitting an object or an audio, video, or audio-video content;

providing an activity status for users in the collaboration place;

generating an index guide to the shared content in the collaboration place;

including a link to data in the index guide; and

generating a comment to the shared content in the collaboration place.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the primary type includes audio data files, video data files, or multimedia presentations, wherein the content is stored in a database located remotely from the clients and the server, and wherein the request includes an identifier for the primary software application.

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

providing a collaboration place interface to a first client;

connecting the first client to a collaboration place to locate the first client in the collaboration place to which the first client is connected;

generating a portion of data based on at least one or more events in the collaboration place, wherein the portion of the data is persistent and available for access by a second client after the first client has disconnected from the collaboration place and is no longer located in the collaboration place; and

administering collaboration activities among participating clients in the collaboration place.

19. The medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions further comprise:

receiving a request from the first client to share content with the second client, the content including a primary type of data being administered by a primary software application in the first collaboration place interface;

based on the request, including in the second collaboration place interface to (a) the primary software application for administering the primary type of data, and (b) a display of the primary type of data being administered by the primary software application in the first collaboration place interface; and

based on the request, updating data associated with the collaboration place to include the content, wherein the request is entered via a software application for requesting parameters for defining the request.

20. The medium of claim 19, wherein the primary type includes audio data files, video data files, or multimedia presentations, wherein the content is stored in a database located remotely from the clients and the server, and wherein the request includes an identifier for the primary software application.