Methods and apparatus for obtaining a state of a browser
First Claim
1. A method for obtaining a state of a browser containing a document on a client computer system, the method comprising the steps of:
- extracting, from the browser, via a capture process executed at the client computer system that operates in conjunction with the browser, complete state information associated with the browser and the document contained in the browser, wherein the state information includes a document state, a session state associated with the browser, and at least one of document cookies, application session cookies and communications session cookies;
storing the complete state information in at least one content object on the client computer system;
transmitting the at least one content object from the capture process on the client computer system to a server computer system to maintain a complete state of the browser in the server computer system;
detecting an intent to initiate a collaboration session with a first participant browser;
obtaining the capture process;
operating the capture process to perform the steps of extracting, storing and transmitting such that the capture process captures the complete state information associated with the browser, including state information created before the initiation of the collaboration session related to the document contained in the browser upon initiation of the collaboration session;
transmitting the complete state information to the server computer system such that the server computer system can provide the complete state information to other participants of the collaboration session, and wherein, in response to detecting the intent to initiate a collaboration session, the method performs the step of setting a document domain property of each document contained in the browser to a common value.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Mechanisms and techniques provide the system that allows the server computer system to capture the complete state of the browser process performing on a client computer system in a remote manner. The capture of such state information by a server computer system is useful, for example, to allow participants to a shared collaborative communications session to join such a session prior to initiation of such a session, or at any point in time during the lifetime of the collaboration session. In operation, the system of the invention can be initiated by browser process performing to the client computer system which obtains the capture process, for instance, as an applet. The capture process can extract from the browser process state information associated with the browser containing document contained within the browser. The capture process can store such state information in a content object on the client computer system and can format and transmit the content object from the capture process on the client computer system to a server computer system in order to maintain a state of the browser in the server computer system. By capturing the state of the browser on the client computer system via the capture process on the client computer system, the complete image of the state information of the browser, including any user supplied information, can be obtained and returns to the server computer system, thus allowing the server computer system, for example, to have participants to a collaboration session join the collaboration session prior to its existence or at any point during the lifetime of the collaboration session without having to navigate through the entire collaboration session.
96 Citations
31 Claims
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1. A method for obtaining a state of a browser containing a document on a client computer system, the method comprising the steps of:
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extracting, from the browser, via a capture process executed at the client computer system that operates in conjunction with the browser, complete state information associated with the browser and the document contained in the browser, wherein the state information includes a document state, a session state associated with the browser, and at least one of document cookies, application session cookies and communications session cookies; storing the complete state information in at least one content object on the client computer system; transmitting the at least one content object from the capture process on the client computer system to a server computer system to maintain a complete state of the browser in the server computer system; detecting an intent to initiate a collaboration session with a first participant browser; obtaining the capture process; operating the capture process to perform the steps of extracting, storing and transmitting such that the capture process captures the complete state information associated with the browser, including state information created before the initiation of the collaboration session related to the document contained in the browser upon initiation of the collaboration session; transmitting the complete state information to the server computer system such that the server computer system can provide the complete state information to other participants of the collaboration session, and wherein, in response to detecting the intent to initiate a collaboration session, the method performs the step of setting a document domain property of each document contained in the browser to a common value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A computer system comprising:
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a memory configured with a browser containing at least one document; an input-output mechanism; a processor; and an interconnection mechanism coupling the memory, the processor and the input-output mechanism; wherein the memory is further configured with a capture process, that when performed on the processor, causes the processor to obtain a complete state of the browser containing the at least one document by performing the operations of; extracting, from the browser, complete state information wherein the complete state information includes a document state, a session state associated with the browser, and at least one of document cookies, application session cookies and communications session cookies; storing the state information in at least one content object in the memory; transmitting the at least one content object to a server computer system, via the input-output mechanism, to maintain a complete state of the browser in the server computer system; detecting an intent to initiate a collaboration session with a first participant browser; obtaining the capture process; and operating the capture process to perform the steps of extracting, storing and transmitting such that the capture process captures the complete state information associated with the browser, including state information created before the initiation of the collaboration session related to the document contained in the browser upon initiation of the collaboration session; and transmitting the complete state information to the server computer system such that the server computer system can provide the complete state information to other participants of the collaboration session, and wherein, in response to detecting the intent to initiate a collaboration session, the method performs the step of setting a document domain property of each document contained in the browser to a common value. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A computer program product having a computer-readable medium including capture process computer program logic encoded thereon for obtaining a complete state of a browser containing a document on a client computer system, such that the computer program logic, when performed on at least one processor within a computer system, causes the at least one processor to perform the operations of:
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extracting, from the browser, complete state information associated the browser and the document contained in the browser, wherein the complete state information includes a document state, a session state associated with the browser, and at least one of document cookies, application session cookies and communications session cookies; storing the complete state information in at least one content object on the client computer system; transmitting the at least one content object from the client computer system to a server computer system to maintain a complete state of the browser in the server computer system; detecting an intent to initiate a collaboration session with a first participant browser; obtaining the capture process; and operating the capture process to perform the steps of extracting, storing and transmitting such that the capture process captures the complete state information associated with the browser, including state information created before the initiation of the collaboration session related to the document contained in the browser upon initiation of the collaboration session; and transmitting the complete state information to the server computer system such that the server computer system can provide the complete state information to other participants of the collaboration session, and wherein, in response to detecting the intent to initiate a collaboration session, the method performs the step of setting a document domain property of each document contained in the browser to a common value. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27)
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28. A method for performing collaboration between participant browsers, the method comprising the steps of:
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obtaining complete state information from a browser process performing on a first client computer system, from within the first client computer system, wherein the complete state information includes a document state, a session state associated with the browser, and at least one of document cookies, application session cookies and communications session cookies and state information created before the initiation of the collaboration session related to; transmitting the complete state information from the client computer system to a server computer system; distributing the complete state information from the server computer system to at least one participant browser on a second client computer system to allow the participant browser on the second client computer system to re-create the state of the browser process performing on the first client computer system and to enable the participant browser on the second client computer system to enter a collaboration session with the browser process of the first client computer system at a point in the collaboration session defined by the complete state information, wherein a document domain property of each document contained in the browser is set to a common value. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31)
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Specification