Methods and systems for collaborative whiteboarding and content management

• US 7,681,136 B2
• Filed: 01/08/2004
• Issued: 03/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/08/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Gennaro, Norman, Patel, Umesh
• Primary Examiner(s): Hailu; Tadesse
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ulrich; Nicholas S
• Application Number:
  US10/755,195
• Publication Number:
  US 20040158495A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,259 Days
• Field of Search: 700/100, 715/511, 715/751, 715/753, 705/26, 705/27, 705/400, 709/204
• US Class Current: 715/751
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/208 Input by product or record sensing, e.g. weighing or scanner processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

Described herein is a collaborative and Web-based whiteboarding tool for creating, collecting, storing, managing and performing searches on graphical customer information and information related thereto. When implementing the present invention, the company retains possession of and control over the sales-related diagrams generated by its sales force. Participants in a collaborative Web session are provided with one or more palettes of diagram primitives, which reduce the whiteboarding (diagram) task to an easily mastered series of object drag-and-drops, line connections, and text blurbs. The diagrams, as well as the diagram primitives (including, for example, icons, diagrams and portions thereof) are stored in a selectably accessible database. In addition, the diagram primitives may have fully searchable information associated therewith, in the form of metadata or tags, for example.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method of conducting a collaborative web-based whiteboarding session, the method comprising:

establishing a selectively accessible web page defining a whiteboard area and a palette area at a set of one or more computer systems controlled by an employer of sales representatives, the palette area including a plurality of selectable palettes, each of the palettes including representations of a plurality of predefined diagram primitives that are each configured to be selected, dragged and dropped from the palette area into the whiteboard area by users having accessed the web page, each of the drawing primitives including metadata associated therewith stored in a first database accessible to the set of one or more computer systems, the metadata including;

at least a description of the diagram primitive, and

an industry to which the diagram primitive is associated;

enabling, at the set of one or more computer systems, a sales representative and a customer to separately or simultaneously access the established web page;

receiving, at the set of one or more computer systems, information from the sales representative and the customer collaboratively creating a diagram by selecting diagram primitives from the palette area dragging and dropping the selected diagram primitives into the whiteboard area;

storing the created diagram in a selectively accessible database accessible to the set of one or more computer systems and controlled by the employer of the sales representative;

logging, with the set of one or more computer system, an activity of the customer and of the sales representative in the whiteboard area and logging, with the set of one or more computer system, which diagram primitives were selected by the customer and by the sales representative for inclusion in the created diagram;

associating, with the set of one or more computer system, the metadata of the selected diagram primitives stored in the first database, the logged activity and the logged diagram primitives with the created diagram and storing the associated metadata, the logged activity and the logged diagram primitives in the selectively accessible database controlled by the employer of the sales representative;

searching, with the set of one or more computer system, at least the stored associated metadata in the selectively accessible database controlled by the employer of the sales representative to derive industry, product and/or customer information and to derive information regarding the created diagram in response to information provided by another sales representative of the employer;

determining, with the set of one or more computer system, a potential solution for customers of the another sales representative using the created diagram and the derived information; and

generating information about the potential solution for at least one customer of the another sales representative using the set of one or more computer system.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising a step of retrieving a diagram stored in the database by carrying out a search of the metadata stored in the database.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the step of carrying out the search includes at least one of searching and browsing through menus showing at least one of industry-specific lists of diagrams, product category lists of diagrams and customer-created diagrams using the stored metadata associated with the diagram primitives of the created diagrams.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising a step of the sales representative and the customer carrying out a voice conversation during the collaborative diagram creating step.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the logging step logs a time the customer spends on the selectively accessible web page.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the logging step logs any diagram created by the customer.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the storing step stores the created diagram in such a manner that neither the customer nor the sales representative may delete the created diagram without permission from the employer of the sales representative.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the customer activity logging step includes maintaining lists detailing a last N diagrams accessed by each customer.

9. A software application configured to enable a sales representative at a first computer and a customer at a second computer to collaboratively create and edit a diagram over a network linking the first and second computers, and comprising, stored on a computer-readable medium:

code configured to establish a selectively accessible web page defining a whiteboard area and a palette area, the palette area including a plurality of selectable palettes, each of the palettes including representations of a plurality of predefined diagram primitives that are each configured to be selected, dragged and dropped from the palette area into the whiteboard area by users having accessed the web page, each of the diagram primitives including metadata associated therewith stored in a first database, the metadata including;

at least a description of the diagram primitive, and

an industry to which the diagram primitive is associated;

code configured to enable the sales representative and the customer to separately or simultaneously access the established web page;

code configured to enable a collaborative creation of a diagram by the sales representative and/or the customer selecting diagram primitives from the palette area dragging and dropping the selected diagram primitives into the whiteboard area;

code configured to store the created diagram in a selectively accessible database controlled by an employer of the sales representative;

code configured to log an activity of the customer and of the sales representative in the whiteboard area and to log which diagram primitives were selected by the customer and by the sales representative for inclusion in the created diagram;

code configured to associate the metadata of the selected diagram primitives stored in the first database, the logged activity and the logged diagram primitives with the created diagram and to store the associated metadata, the logged activity and the logged diagram primitives in the selectively accessible database controlled by the employer of the sales representative;

code configured to enable searching at least the stored associated metadata in the selectively accessible database controlled by the employer of the sales representative to derive industry, product and/or customer information regarding the created diagram in response to information provided by another sales representative of the employer;

code configured to determine a potential solution for customers of the another sales representative using the created diagram and the derived Information; and

code for generating information about the potential solution for at least one customer of the another sales representative.

10. The software application of claim 9, further comprising code configured to retrieving a diagram stored in the database by carrying out a search on the metadata stored in the database.

11. The software application of claim 9, further comprising code configured to enable the sales representative and the customer to carry out a voice conversation during the collaborative diagram creating step.

12. The software application of claim 9, wherein the activity logging code is configured to log a time the customer spends on the selectively accessible web page.

13. The software application of claim 9, wherein the activity logging code is configured to log any diagram created by the customer.

14. The software application of claim 9, wherein the diagram storing code is configured to store the created diagram in such a manner that neither the customer nor the sales representative may delete the created diagram without permission from the employer of the sales representative.

15. The application of claim 9, wherein the customer activity logging code includes code for maintaining lists detailing a last N diagrams accessed by each customer.

16. The application of claim 9, wherein the code configured to log the customer activity includes code for at least one of searching and browsing through menus showing at least one of industry-specific lists of diagrams, product category lists of diagrams and customer-created diagrams using the stored metadata associated with the diagram primitives of the created diagrams.