System And Method For Collaboration Via Team And Role Designation And Control And Management Of Annotations

• US 20120284197A1
• Filed: 05/06/2011
• Published: 11/08/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Collaboration Technologies, LLC
• Original Assignee: David H Sitrick
• Inventors: Sitrick, David H., Fling, Russell T.
• Granted Patent: US 9,330,366 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/301
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations

Abstract

A system and methodology for collaborating. The system and method utilize a plurality of computing appliances, each assigned a respective team designation and a respective role designation. Team control logic is responsive to a respective said team designation, to control operation of each respective said computing appliance to operate as a part of a group. Within a defined Team, the plurality of computing appliances operate having a defined set of roles. Role control logic controls operations of a respective one of the computing appliances in accordance with functionality as defined responsive to the respective said role designation for that respective one of the plurality of computing appliances. Each of the plurality of computing appliances is assigned a respective team designation and a respective role designation. Memory storage is structured as a plurality of mapped data layers, for associative storage of user input mapped by user to a respective one of the data layers. Thereafter, responsive to the respective team control logic and the role control logic, each of at least two of the plurality of computing appliances utilizes a respective associated said data layer in the memory for associated storage of annotation data representative of annotations as originated at that respective one, for the at least two of the plurality of computing appliances. Display logic selects which of the plurality of data layers are selected data layers utilized to locally generate a display presentation that is provided at each of at least two of the plurality of computing appliances.

Claims

1. A system for collaborating, the system comprising:

a plurality of computing appliances,

wherein each of the plurality of computing appliances is assigned a respective team designation and a respective role designation;

team control logic in each of the computing appliances, responsive to a respective said team designation, to control operation of each of the respective said computing appliances having a same said team designation to operate as a group and as a part of a defined team having a defined set of roles;

role control logic in each of the computing appliances, responsive to a respective said role designation to control operations of each respective one of the plurality of computing appliances in accordance with functionality defined responsive to the respective said role designation therefor;

memory storage structured as a plurality of mapped data layers, for associative storage of user input of annotation data that is stored as mapped by the respective said user to a respective associated one of the data layers;

wherein thereafter, responsive to the team control logic and the role control logic, each of at least two of the plurality of computing appliances is assigned and utilizes a respective associated set of the data layers in the memory for associated storage of annotation data representative of annotations originated at each respective one of the at least two of the plurality of computing appliances;

wherein the respective annotations are stored in respective ones of the plurality of data layers mapped as associated with each respective one of the plurality of computing appliances;

the system further comprising;

display logic selecting which of the plurality of data layers are selected data layers; and

wherein the selected data layers are utilized by at least two of the plurality of computing appliances to locally generate a display presentation at each of said at least two of the plurality of computing appliances.

2. The system as in claim 1,

wherein the defined set of roles associated with each respective one of said plurality of computing appliances determines which of the data layers are utilized in generation of the display presentation for at least one of the plurality of computing appliances.

3. The system as in claim 1,

wherein a same display presentation is provided at each of the plurality of computing appliances that have a same said team designation, responsive to at least two of the data layers.

4. The system as in claim 1,

wherein the display logic defines data layer utilization and selects which of the data layers, as associated with which of the respective computing appliances, are utilized in providing a display presentation of the respective user input annotations as associated with the respective computing appliance.

5. The system as in claim 1,

wherein the team type is comprised of at least one of an education team, a meeting team, a leader team, a document team, an ad-hoc team, and a social networking team.

6. The system as in claim 1,

wherein the respective annotations are stored in respective ones of a plurality of data layers;

wherein each of the data layers is associatively mapped to each respective one of the plurality of computing appliances for storage of respective said annotation data, that is used to locally generate a display presentation at each of said at least two of the plurality of computing appliances.

7. The system as in claim 1,

wherein the team designation is an educational team;

wherein the role designation is one of a teacher role and a student role; and

wherein for the teacher role, there is provided a classroom display mode on the respective computing appliance that is the teacher role, for viewing of a simultaneous multiple-window display presentation comprised of a display presentation as appears on at least one other one of the plurality of computing appliances as a local display presentation on the computing appliance having the role designation as student, plus a display presentation as appears as a local display presentation on the computing appliance and having the role designation of the teacher role.

8. The system as in claim 6,

wherein the computing appliance having the teacher role provides a display presentation utilizing the layer data for the data layers for teacher data layer, and utilizing student layer data for at least one of the student data layers for the respective computing appliances having the role designation of the student role.

9. The system as in claim 1, further comprising:

display logic providing a same common display presentation to said computing appliances having a same said team designation; and

input apparatus, at least two of the plurality of computing appliances, responsive to user input by each of said respective users to create user annotation data for a respective display of annotations displayed and aligned relative to said same common display presentation.

10. The system as in claim 9,

wherein the annotations for each of said respective users are stored as respective layer data in a respective said data layer of the plurality of data layers;

and

wherein each respective said data layer, of said plurality of data layers, is associatively mapped to provide mapped storage of the respective layer data associated with each respective one of said at least two of the plurality of computing appliances.

11. The system as in claim 9, further comprising:

layer selection logic providing selection of certain ones of the data layers as selected data layers to be utilized in generation of the display presentation at each said computing apparatus.

12. The system as in claim 11, further comprising:

local layer selection logic responsive to a user input to provide selection of which of the data layers are the selected data layers to be utilized to provide the respective said display presentation at the computing appliance of the respective user.

13. The system as in claim 1, further comprising:

conference apparatus providing at least voice communications between the computing appliances that have the same said team designation, simultaneously to the providing the display presentation.

14. The system as in claim 1,

wherein a same display presentation is provided to each of said at least two of the plurality of computing appliances at the same time.

15. The system as in claim 1,

wherein each respective one of the plurality of computer appliances having a same team designation for a same said team type, each utilize a same defined set of a plurality of the data layers in providing the respective said display presentation.

16. A method for collaborating among a plurality of users, each of the plurality of users associated with and using a respective one of a plurality of computing appliances, the method comprising:

assigning a respective team designation and a respective role designation for each of the plurality of computing appliances;

providing for operation of each of the plurality of computing appliances to interact as a group so as to be a part of a defined team having a defined set of role responsive to the team designation definition being for a same team for each of the plurality of computing appliances in the group;

providing control of operations of each respective one of the plurality of computing appliances responsive to the respective role designation for said each respective one of the plurality of computing appliances;

utilizing memory for associatively mapped storage in a respective plurality of data layers, of annotations originated at each respective one of the plurality of computing appliances for at least two of the plurality of computing appliances, responsive to the respective said team designation and said role designation for each said respective computing appliance;

storing the respective annotations in respective ones of the plurality of data layers as associatively mapped to each respective one of the plurality of computing appliances; and

generating a display presentation at each of said at least two of the plurality of computing appliances responsive to at least two selected ones of the plurality of the data layers utilized at each of said at least two of the plurality of computing appliances to locally.

17. The method as in claim 16, further comprising:

associating a respective one of a defined set of roles with each respective one of said plurality of computing appliances;

determining which of the data layers are selected data layers responsive to the respective said defined set of roles; and

generating the display presentation for each respective one of the plurality of computing appliances responsive to the selected data layers associated with the respective computing appliance.

18. The method as in claim 17,

wherein the team designation is one of a plurality of team types, each team type having a respective separate defined set of roles on the respective team type.

19. The method as in claim 17,

wherein the team designation is an educational team;

wherein the role designation is one of a teacher role and a student role; and

wherein for the computing appliance having the role designation of the teacher role, there is provided a classroom display mode on the respective computing appliance that is the teacher role for viewing of a simultaneous multiple-window display presentation comprised of a display presentation as appears on at least one other one of the plurality of computing appliances as a local display presentation on the computing appliance having the role designation as student, plus a display presentation as appears as a local display presentation on the computing appliance having the role designation of the teacher role.

20. The method as in claim 19, further comprising:

providing a display presentation on the computing appliance having the teacher role utilizing the layer data for the teacher data layer, and utilizing student layer data for at least one of the student data layers for all the respective computing appliances on the education team having the role designation of the student role.

21. The method as in claim 16, further comprising:

displaying to each of said respective users of at least two of the plurality of computing appliances a same said display presentation of a base image; and

permitting each said respective user to store annotations that are made by the respective user relative to the display presentation of said base image.

22. The method as in claim 16, further comprising:

providing voice communications between the computing appliances having the same team designation, simultaneously to the providing of the display presentation.

23. The method as in claim 16, further comprising:

utilizing a same defined set of a plurality of the data layers for each respective one of the plurality of computer appliances having a same said team designation.

24. The method as in claim 16,

wherein the storage in said plurality of data layers is of respective annotation data that is representative of modifications made by the respective user of the respective computer appliance, as made by the respective user relative to the display presentation generated at the respective computing appliance.

25. The method as in claim 16, further comprising:

providing a defined set of operating functions and a defined set of data layer assignment of selected ones of the plurality of the data layers, which are implemented in the respective said each one of the plurality of computing appliance for each one of the plurality of computing appliances having a common said team designation;

providing a defined set of role functions and data layer assignments that are implemented in the respective said each one of the plurality of computing appliances for said each one of the plurality of computing appliances having a same respective said role designation within the team designation; and

generating a local display presentation utilizing the defined set of data layer assignment for at least two of the plurality of the data layers for each of the computing appliances having the common said team designation.

26. The method as in claim 25,

controlling storage of user annotations in local data layers in local memory at said each one of the plurality of computing appliances at all the computing appliances having a same said team designation, responsive to the data layer assignment;

and

providing storage in respective ones of the defined set of the plurality of the data layers, of respective layer data representative of annotations as made by each said respective user.

27. The method as in claim 26,

wherein the annotations as made by each said respective user are made relative to a common display presentation provided at said respective one of the plurality of computing appliances for the respective user.

28. The method as in claim 16, further comprising:

selecting which ones of the data layers are said selected ones of the data layers for use in generation of the display presentation.

29. The method as in claim 28,

wherein utilization of selection of the data layers for selective inclusion of selected ones of the data layers in generation of the display presentation at each respective one of the plurality of computing appliances, is responsive to the respective user of said each said respective one of the plurality of computing appliances.

30. The method as in claim 16,

wherein each of the respective computing appliances has an input apparatus which is responsive to the respective user of said each respective one of the respective computing appliances, to provide edit data for said respective user for storage in a respective one of the data layers representative of annotations made by the respective user relative to a display presentation on said respective one of the computing appliances.

31. A method for collaborating, the method comprising:

providing team designation for each of a plurality of computing appliances to provide for operation of each of the plurality of computing appliances as part of a group so as to be a member of a defined team having a defined set of roles;

providing role designation for each respective one of the plurality of computing appliances;

providing control of operations of each respective one of the plurality of computing appliances responsive to the respective said role designation for said each respective one of the plurality of computing appliances;

organizing storage in memory of annotation data associatively mapped for storage to respective data layers associated with a respective computing appliance, responsive to the team designation and the role designation of at least two of the plurality of computing appliances defining associated mapping of storage of the annotation data for annotations as input by a respective user, as associatively mapped to a respective said data layer that is associated with the respective said one of the plurality of computing appliances that is associated with the respective input by the respective user;

storing the annotation data as respective layer data for the respective annotations, stored in a respective one of the plurality of data layers as associatively mapped to the respective one of the plurality of computing appliances; and

locally generating a display presentation at each of at least two of the plurality of computing appliances responsive to selected ones of the plurality of the data layers.

32. The method as in claim 31,

wherein for said each one of the plurality of computing appliances having a same respective said role designation within the team designation, there is provided control logic for a same defined set of role functions and for a same data layer assignment that are implemented in each one of the plurality of computing appliances having the same respective said role designation.

33. The method as in claim 31, further comprising:

selecting which of the data layers are selected data layers; and

generating the display presentation responsive to the selected data layers.