Remote document serving

• US 6,763,501 B1
• Filed: 06/09/2000
• Issued: 07/13/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/09/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: WebEx Communications Incorporated (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Yang, Guanghong, Wei, Song Xiang, Yuan, Zheng, Zhu, Min
• Primary Examiner(s): Shah, Sanjiv
• Application Number:
  US09/591,377
• Time in Patent Office: 1,495 Days
• Field of Search: 715/530, 715/531, 715/526, 715/517, 345/753, 709/204, 709/205
• US Class Current: 715/234
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99952 Coherency, e.g. same view to multiple users

Abstract

An apparatus, method, and computer program product for instant remote document serving. In one implementation, referred to as “remote document serving,” a remote file is converted to a “served document” which is distributed to a member of a data conference for review. In another implementation, referred to as “remote application serving,” the “owner” of a remote document views the screens created by a remote application associated with the document. The owner can view the screens and interact with the remote application.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

an application invoker configured to invoke an application on a application server, thereby generating an application screen;

a document loader configured to send the application screen to a virtual device, thereby creating a served screen;

a communication module configured to send the served screen to a remote server for distribution to a remote computer, whereby the served screen is displayed at the remote computer by a viewer application;

means for receiving user input from the remote computer;

means for driving the application to edit the application screen based on the user input;

means for receiving an application screen update from the application, the application screen update occasioned by the editing of the application screen;

means for sending the application screen update to a virtual device, thereby creating a served screen update; and

means for sending the served screen update to the remote server for distribution to the remote computer, thereby updating the display of the application screen by the viewer application.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the document loader comprises:

means for replacing the default device driver with a virtual device driver associated with the virtual device.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising:

means for revising the display of the served screen on the display device using the served screen update.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the served screen update represents only the portion of the application screen that was edited.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the document loader comprises:

means for replacing a default device driver with a virtual device driver associated with the virtual device.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, further comprising:

means for revising the display of the served screen on the display device using the document update.

7. A method, comprising:

invoking an application on an application server, thereby generating an application screen;

sending the application screen to a virtual device, thereby creating a served screen;

sending the served screen to a remote server for distribution to a remote computer, whereby the served screen is displayed at the remote computer by a viewer application;

receiving user input from the remote computer;

driving the application to edit the application screen based on the user input;

receiving an application screen update from the application, the application screen update occasioned by the editing of the application screen;

sending the application screen update to a virtual device, thereby creating a served screen update; and

sending the served screen update to the remote server for distribution to the remote computer, thereby updating the display of the application screen by the viewer application.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of sending the application screen comprises:

replacing the default device driver with a virtual device driver associated with the virtual device.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

revising the display of the served screen on the display device using the served screen update.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the served screen update represents only the portion of the application screen that was edited.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of sending the application screen comprises:

replacing a default device driver with a virtual device driver associated with the virtual device.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

revising the display of the served screen on the display device using the document update.

13. A method, comprising:

presenting, on a display device attached to a local computer, a display of a served screen generated at an application server by sending an application screen to a virtual device;

receiving user input from the local computer;

sending the user input to a remote server for distribution to the application server, where an application associated with the application screen edits the application screen based on the user input;

receiving a served screen update from the application server via the remote server, the served screen update occasioned by the editing of the application screen, wherein the served screen update represents only the portion of the application screen that was edited; and

revising the display of the served screen on the display device using the served screen update.

14. A computer program tangibly stored on a computer-readable medium, containing instructions for causing an application server to:

invoke an application on the computer, thereby generating an application screen;

send the application screen to a virtual device, thereby creating a served screen;

send the served screen to a remote server for distribution to a remote computer, whereby the served screen is displayed at the remote computer by a viewer application;

receive user input from the remote computer;

drive the application to edit the application screen based on the user input;

receive an application screen update from the application, the application screen update occasioned by the editing of the application screen;

send the application screen update to a virtual device, thereby creating a served screen update; and

send the served screen update to the remote server for distribution to the remote computer, thereby updating the display of the application screen by the viewer application.

15. The computer program of claim 14, further including instructions for causing the application server to:

replace the default device driver with a virtual device driver associated with the virtual device.

16. The computer program of claim 14, wherein the served screen update represents only the portion of the application screen that was edited.

17. The computer-program of claim 16, further including instructions for causing the application server computer to:

replace a default device driver with a virtual device driver associated with the virtual device.

18. The computer program of claim 17, further including instructions for causing the remote computer to:

revise the display of the served screen on the display device using the document update.