System and method for providing a synchronized display to a plurality of computers over a global computer network
First Claim
1. A system for providing a synchronized presentation of information slides over a computer network comprising:
- a plurality of computer workstations disposed in electrical communication across the computer network, each workstation running a browser application;
an instructor applet executing under a browser at a first of the plurality of computer workstations;
at least one student applet executing under a browser at a second of the plurality of computer workstations;
a network server responsive to requests from an instructor applet and at least one student applet to communicate a plurality of URLs that define a structured stateful presentation to the requesting applets; and
a synchronization process running on the network server for synchronizing the state of presentation information slides among the instructor and student applets, the synchronization process operative to receive state information from the instructor applet, and the synchronization process being further operative to communicate this state information to each of the plurality of student applets.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system is disclosed for providing synchronized presentation of slides over a computer network. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the system includes a plurality of computer workstations disposed in electrical communication across the computer network, each workstation running a Web browser application (e.g. Netscape'"'"'s Navigator, Microsoft'"'"'s Explorer, etc.). An instructor applet is executed under a browser application at a first of the plurality of computer workstations, and at least one student applet is executed under a browser application at a second of the plurality of computer workstations. Finally, a network server is provided and runs a synchronization application that is responsive to the instructor applet for managing a plurality of URLs that define the totality of the presentation. The synchronization application includes a code segment to direct each of the student applets to retrieve and display the presentation slides located at the URLs designated by the instructor and displayed via the Web browser. The display is synchronized in that the same presentation URL is displayed at the instructor workstation and each of the plurality of student workstations.
332 Citations
31 Claims
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1. A system for providing a synchronized presentation of information slides over a computer network comprising:
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a plurality of computer workstations disposed in electrical communication across the computer network, each workstation running a browser application; an instructor applet executing under a browser at a first of the plurality of computer workstations; at least one student applet executing under a browser at a second of the plurality of computer workstations; a network server responsive to requests from an instructor applet and at least one student applet to communicate a plurality of URLs that define a structured stateful presentation to the requesting applets; and a synchronization process running on the network server for synchronizing the state of presentation information slides among the instructor and student applets, the synchronization process operative to receive state information from the instructor applet, and the synchronization process being further operative to communicate this state information to each of the plurality of student applets. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for synchronizing the presentation of information slides between a workstation executing an instructor applet under a browser and at least one workstation executing a student applet under a browser, the workstations being disposed in electrical communication over a computer network, comprising the steps of:
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directing the instructor applet via user interaction to modify a state of the instructor applet; accessing a network server to report the state of the instructor applet; communicating the state to each of the at least one workstation executing the student applet, to modify the state of all student applets; and directing a parent browser of each applet participating in the presentation to retrieve and display an object specified by a new URL in response to a change in the state information.
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17. A computer readable storage medium containing program code for execution on a server of a global computer network for synchronizing the presentation of information slides on browsers running on workstations in communication across a computer network, comprising:
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a first code segment for managing and distributing an electronic file having a plurality of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) defining a single presentation, and for managing and distributing separate code segments; a second code segment for recording state information that identifies the ordinality of an individually selected URL from the plurality of URLs; a third code segment responsive to correct protocol requests from applets to accept a new and persistent network connection to each applet; a fourth code segment responsive to a request from a directing applet to receive updated synchronization state information from the directing applet; and a fifth code segment for communicating updated state information to each of the at least one client applets that have established a prior network connection. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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21. A computer readable storage medium containing program code for execution on a computer workstation connected to a global computer network for viewing a synchronized stateful presentation via a browser, comprising:
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a first code segment for initiating a network connection with a synchronizing application executing on a network server; a second code segment for receiving state information from the network server; a third code segment configured to direct the retrieval of information from a URL designated by the state information; and a fourth code segment configured to retrieve and display an object defined by the specified URL. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A computer readable storage medium containing program code for execution on a computer workstation connected to a global computer network for directing a synchronized stateful presentation via a browser, comprising:
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a first code segment for initiating a network connection with a synchronizing application executing on a network server; a second code segment responsive to interactive user input for selecting a specific URL from the plurality of URLs, and for recording state information concerning that selection; a third code segment for transmitting the state information to the network server; a fourth code segment configured to direct the retrieval of information from a URL, designated by the updated state information; and a fifth code segment configured to retrieve and display an object defined by the specified URL. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29)
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30. A system for providing a synchronized presentation of information slides over a computer network comprising:
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a plurality of computer workstations disposed in electrical communication across the computer network, each workstation running a browser application; a first workstation configured to select at least one of a plurality of slides identified by Uniform Resource Locators (URLs); means for communicating an identification of the selected URL to another workstation on the computer network; and a second workstation configured to receive an identification of the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) defining the at least one slide, the second workstation including means for retrieving the information slide located at a location on the network defined by the received URL, and means for displaying the received information slide.
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31. A computer readable storage medium containing program code for execution on a server of a global computer network for synchronizing the presentation of information on browsers running on workstations in communication across a computer network, comprising:
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a first code segment for managing an electronic file having a plurality of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) that define a presentation; a second code segment responsive to a request from a master application to communicate to the master application the plurality of URLs; a third code segment responsive to a request from a slave application to communicate to the slave application the plurality of URLs; a fourth code segment responsive to an instruction from the master application to identify one of the plurality of URLs as an active URL; and a fifth code segment for communicating the URL identified as the active URL to the master and the at least one slave application.
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Specification