Application presentation synchronizer

• US 6,591,293 B1
• Filed: 03/31/1999
• Issued: 07/08/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Stein, Frank, Poetzschke, Dieter
• Primary Examiner(s): Sheikh, Ayaz
• Assistant Examiner(s): DINH, KHANH Q
• Application Number:
  US09/281,877
• Time in Patent Office: 1,560 Days
• Field of Search: 709/201, 709/206, 709/216, 709/220, 709/204, 709/224, 709/232, 709/218, 709/203, 348/14.01, 348/14.03, 370/394
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2216/15 Synchronised browsing

Abstract

A system for making presentations to audience clients in a computer network. The presentation is made by a presenter client via a Web server connected to one or more audience client units. Each audience client unit has a browser for linking to the network. The system comprises a receiver for receiving and processing page requests from at least one presenter client; a transmitter for transmitting requested pages to the presenter client; and a server siphon for intercepting composed pages and sending copies of each composed page to at least one connected audience client.

Claims

1. A system for making presentations to audience clients in a computer network, each audience client having a browser for linking to the network, the system comprising:

a receiver for receiving and processing at least one page request for at least one requested page from at least one presenter client;

a transmitter for transmitting the at least one requested page to the presenter client; and

a server siphon for intercepting the at least one requested page and sending copies of each of the at least one requested page to the at least one connected audience client in response to a generic request from the audience client and in response to the transmitting of the at least one requested page, wherein the generic request does not identify the at least one requested page and wherein the at least one requested page is specified by the at least one page request.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising means for transmitting to the audience clients an echo of the requested page before the page requested is processed by the receiver.

3. The system of claim 1 comprising means for sending a plug-in software module to each audience client, wherein the plug-in software module requires the client browser to operate under a set of architectural requirements.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising means for sending a Java applet to each audience client, wherein the Java applet is for executing as an integral part of the audience client browser and includes instructions for continuously sending page requests to the server and for receiving responses to said pages to be displayed on the audience client browser.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer network operates under the Internet protocol.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer network comprises a plurality of nodes operating under the Hypertext Markup Protocol (HTTP), and wherein the audience clients'"'"' browsers operate under the HTTP.

14. The system of claim 1 further comprising a client monitor for receiving one of the copies of the requested page from the server siphon and for transmitting, in response to receiving the one of the copies of the page to the server siphon a request for a next page.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the generic request is transmitted without intervention by a user.

7. A method for making presentations over a computer network comprising at least one presenter client and at least one audience client, by the at least one presenter client, each client having a browser, comprising the server steps of:

receiving at least one page request for at least one requested Web page from the presenter;

transmitting the at least one requested Web page requested by the presenter to the browser of the presenter; and

intercepting the requested Web page transmitted and transmitting copies of the Web page to at least one audience client connected to the server in response to receiving a generic request from the audience client and in response to the transmitting of the at last one requested page, wherein the generic request does not identify the at least one requested page and wherein the at least one requested page is specified by the at least one page request.

8. A computer readable medium comprising instructions that include instructions for:

receiving at least one page request for at least one requested Web page from the presenter;

transmitting the at least one requested Web page requested by the presenter to the browser of the presenter; and

intercepting the requested Web page transmitted and transmitting copies of the Web page to at least one audience client connected to the server in response to receiving a generic request from the audience client and in response to the transmitting of the at least one requested page, wherein the generic request does not identify the at least one requested page and wherein the at least one requested page is specified by the at least one page request.

9. The medium of claim 8 further comprising an adjunct library accessing a network server'"'"'s application program interface.

10. The medium of claim 8 wherein the medium is integrated with a network server.

11. The medium of claim 8 further comprising a storage area within a hard disk drive.

12. The medium of claim 8 further comprising a removable information storage medium storing the program instructions.

13. A computer readable medium comprising program instructions for:

receiving a page request from at least one presenter client;

sending a page to the presenter client, responsive to the page request;

intercepting the page sent to the presenter client;

continually receiving generic requests for successive pages from at least one audience client; and

sending copies of the page to each requesting audience client responsive to each pending audience client page generic request and responsive to the intercepting of the page set to the presenter client, wherein the generic request does not identify the at least one page and wherein the page is specified by the presenter client.