Method for session sharing

• US 7,441,000 B2
• Filed: 09/16/2004
• Issued: 10/21/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GOTO Group Incorporated (LogMeIn, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Fischer, Peter, Schulz, Sven, Koziolek, Heiko, Maurer, Uwe, Boehringer, Jochen
• Primary Examiner(s): Jacobs; Lashonda T
• Application Number:
  US10/942,684
• Publication Number:
  US 20050138122A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,496 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 709/205, 709/203, 709/217, 709/223, 709/224
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2216/15 Synchronised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2147 Locking files
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

The present invention provides a method and system for session sharing that allows multiple authorized users (e.g., assistants) to access the same session and synchronize the browser views, when the current state changes. Through the use of use of session sharing, it is ensured that all users work on the same data and have the same Web side state. The Client side is kept in synchronization through the use of a publisher-subscriber model that initiates an update of all connected Clients when a state change occurs. These functionalities of the present invention ensure that all participating users can work together and can share the same state both on server and Client side.

Claims

1. A method for sharing session data, comprising:

sending communication connection request from a first user to a web application;

sending session data and an information element from the web application to the first user, in response to the communication connection request, to create the communication connection, wherein the information element comprises a graphical user interface which includes a link for automatically generating a first session sharing request from the first user and the first session sharing request includes at least a session ID of the first user;

sending at least the session ID of the first user and a universal resource locator (URL) of the web application from the web application to a second user who is allowed to share the session data in response to the first session sharing request;

sending a second session sharing request from the second user to the web application in response to the sending of at least the session ID of the first user and the URL of the web application, wherein the second session sharing request from the second user includes at least the session ID of the first user;

assigning and sending the session data from the web the application to the second user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically dispatching each additional session sharing request to the second user;

automatically receiving a session sharing request from the second user, wherein the session sharing request contains information included in the additional session sharing request; and

sending data generated by the additional session sharing request to the first and second users.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein each additional session sharing request is generated by clicking a link in the session data, and wherein clicking of the link automatically causes the link to blink in the session data provided to the first and second users.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the second user is authenticated by a login procedure.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein communication between the first user, the second user, and the web application is encrypted.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the web application comprises a portal application.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second users share the session data using a client-server architecture.