Web site cobrowsing

• US 7,660,899 B2
• Filed: 10/28/2004
• Issued: 02/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Bassali, Harpal, Gavrilescu, Alexandru, Anderson, Noel W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Abdullahi; Salad
• Assistant Examiner(s): GOLD, AVI M
• Application Number:
  US10/975,612
• Publication Number:
  US 20050091572A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,930 Days
• Field of Search: 709203-205, 709/208, 709/209, 709/217, 709/220, 709/225, 709/227, 709/248, 709/207
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2216/15 Synchronised browsing

Abstract

Cobrowsing web sites by two or more users is disclosed. For a cobrowsing session between a first client of a first user and a second client of a second user, the cobrowsing session is first initiated. The first user browses a web site on the first client. The first client sends to the second client a synchronization message. The synchronization message indicates one or more commands reflecting the browsing performed by the first user. The second client receives the synchronization message, and cobrowses the web site in accordance with the message and its included commands. Cobrowsing continues until the cobrowsing session is terminated. The commands of the synchronization message allow for fine granularity of cobrowsing.

Claims

1. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that cause a computing device to generate a synchronization message, the synchronization message comprising an indication of a cobrowsing command that reflects a browsing action to a location within a web page, the browsing action indicated by an object mapping the web page to a document object model and the cobrowsing command indicating the location relative to a position within an element of the web page specified by a node identified in the document object model, wherein the location relative to the position is indicated as a percentage in each of the horizontal and vertical directions, the synchronization message sent from a first computing device having a first display with first display attributes to a second computing device having a second display with second display attributes different than the first display attributes, the first and second display attributes including screen size and/or screen resolution, the cobrowsing command for causing the second computing device to cobrowse the web page to the location based at least in part on the location relative to the node identified in the document object model in accordance with the browsing action performed at the first computing device, wherein during the cobrowse a portion of the web page associated with the location displayed on the first display is different than a portion of the web page associated with the location displayed on the second display.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the cobrowsing command comprises an indication to cobrowse to a uniform resource identifier.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the cobrowsing command comprises an indication to scroll, the indication expressed as a percentage.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the cobrowsing command includes an indication of a cookie.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the cobrowsing command is indicated using an extensible markup language.

6. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the synchronization message is sent using a Session Initiation Protocol.

7. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the first display attribute includes a first screen size and the second display attribute includes a second screen size that is different than the first screen size.

8. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the portion of the web page displayed on the second display is less than the portion of the web page displayed on the first display.

9. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the portion of the web page displayed on the second display is greater than the portion of the web page displayed on the first display.

10. A method performed by a first computing system to cause a second computing system to cobrowse a web page in accordance with a browsing action performed at the first computing system, comprising:

receiving an indication of a browsing action to a location within the web page, the indication provided by an object mapping the web page to a document object model;

displaying a first portion of the web page associated with the location on a first display as a result of the browsing action, the first display having a first resolution;

generating a synchronization message for a second computing system having a second display with a second resolution, the second resolution being different than the first resolution, the synchronization message comprising an indication of a cobrowsing command corresponding to the browsing action and indicating the location relative to a position within an element of the web page specified by the node identified in the document object model using a Session Initiation Protocol, wherein the location relative to the position is indicated as a percentage in each of the horizontal and vertical directions;

sending the synchronization message to the second computing system; and

in response to the synchronization message including the location relative to the node identified in the document object model, the second computing system displaying a second portion of the web page associated with the location on the second display to reflect the browsing action, the second portion of the web page containing at least a part of the first portion of the web page.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first display attribute includes a first screen size and the second display attribute includes a second screen size that is different than the first screen size.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the second portion of the web page is less than the first portion of the web page.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the second portion of the web page is greater than the first portion of the web page.

14. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that cause a computing device to generate a synchronization message, the synchronization message comprising an indication of a cobrowsing command that reflects a browsing action to a location within a web page, the browsing action indicated by an object mapping the web page to a document object model, the synchronization message sent from a first computing device having a first display with first display attributes to a second computing device having a second display with second display attributes different than the first display attributes using a Session Initiation Protocol, the first and second display attributes including screen size and/or screen resolution, the cobrowsing command indicating the location relative to a node identified in the document object model and indicated using an extensible markup language conforming to a document type definition, the document type definition defining at least one cobrowsing command selected from a set of cobrowsing, the cobrowsing command indicating the location relative to a position within an element of the web page specified by the node identified in the document object model for causing the second computing device to cobrowse the web page to the location in accordance with the browsing action performed at the first computing device, wherein the location relative to a position is indicated as a percentage in each of the horizontal and vertical directions and wherein during the cobrowse a portion of the web page displayed on the first display associated with the location is different than a portion of the web page associated with the location displayed on the second display.

15. A method performed by a first computing system to cause a second computing system to cobrowse a web page in accordance with a browsing action performed at the first computing system, the first computing system having a first display with first display attributes, and the second computing system having a second display with second display attributes different than the first display attributes, the method comprising:

receiving an indication of a browsing action to a location within a web page, the indication provided by an object mapping the web page to a document object model;

displaying a first portion of the web page associated with the location on a first display as a result of the browsing action, the first display having first display attributes;

generating a synchronization message to a second computing system having a second display with second display attributes, the second display attributes being different than the first display attributes and including screen size and/or screen resolution, the synchronization message comprising an indication of a cobrowsing command corresponding to the browsing action and indicating the location relative to a position within an element of the web page specified by the node identified in the document object model, within the location related to the position is indicated as a percentage in each of the horizontal and vertical directions; and

sending the synchronization message to the second computing system, wherein upon receiving the synchronization message the second computing system is caused to display a second portion of the web page associated with the location on the second display relative to the node identified in the document object model to reflect the browsing action, the second portion of the web page containing at least a part of the first portion of the web page.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the display attributes include resolution, and the second display has a different resolution than the first display.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the display attributes include size, and the second display has a different size than the first display.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the second portion of the web page is less than the first portion of the web page.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the second portion of the web page is greater than the first portion of the web page.