Shared telepointer

• US 7,996,776 B2
• Filed: 02/27/2006
• Issued: 08/09/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Bisker, Solomon M., Parker, Cameron J., Shah, Mehal H., Fletcher, Joseph T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hutton; Doug
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dasgupta; Soumya
• Application Number:
  US11/364,575
• Publication Number:
  US 20070204047A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,989 Days
• Field of Search: 715/753, 715/201
• US Class Current: 715/753
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/543 User-generated data transfer, e.g. clipboards, dynamic data exchange [DDE], object linking and embedding [OLE]
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13093 Personal computer, PC

Abstract

A facility is described for providing shared telepointers and for enabling hosts and participants to highlight portions of documents or applications using the shared telepointers. In various embodiments, the facility establishes a sharing session wherein an application executing on a host computing device is shared with a participant computing device, receives at the host computing device an indication from a participant computing device to identify a region to users in the sharing session, draws the identified region on a display device associated with the host computing device, and causes the identified region to be drawn on a display device associated with the participant computing device. In various embodiments, the region is a spot region or a highlighted region that is drawn in a color associated with a user of the participant computing device.

Claims

1. A method performed by a computer system for identifying on multiple computing devices a region identified by a user of a computing device, comprising:

receiving at a host computing device a request to establish a sharing session with a participant computing device, the request made by a client application executing on the host computing device;

establishing a sharing session wherein an application executing the host computing device that is different from the client application establishes the sharing session between at least the host computing device and the participant computing device, wherein the sharing session shares a document opened by the client application;

receiving at the host computing device an indication from the participant computing device to identify a region to users participating in the sharing session, the region identified by a user at the participant computing device and specifying a portion of the shared document;

drawing, by the client application that requested to establish the sharing session, the identified region on a display device associated with the host computing device before the region is drawn on the participant computing device; and

causing the identified region to be drawn on a display device associated with the participant computing device after the identified region is drawn on the display device associated with the host computing device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the region is a spot region.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the indication is a mouse click event.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the indication is a selection of a point.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein the causing includes sending a portion of an image that is displayed on the display device associated with the host computing device so that the participant computing device can update the image it displays.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the drawing includes identifying a user of the participant computing device.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the identifying includes associating a color with the user, and the drawing is in the associated color.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the participant computing device draws the identified region after the host computing device draws the identified region even though the user identified the region at the participant computing device.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage device storing computer-executable instructions, the instructions comprising:

instructions for receiving at a host computing device a request to establish a sharing session with a participant computing device, the request made by a client application executing on the host computing device;

instructions for establishing a sharing session wherein an application executing at the host computing device that is different from the client application establishes the sharing session between at least the host computing device and the participant computing device, wherein the sharing session shares a document opened by the client application;

instructions for receiving at the host computing device an indication from the participant computing device to identify a region to users participating in the sharing session, the region identified by a user at the participant computing device and specifying a portion of the shared document;

instructions for drawing, by the client application that requested to establish the sharing session, the identified region on a display device associated with the host computing device before the region is drawn on the participant computing device; and

instructions for causing the identified region to be drawn on a display device associated with the participant computing device after the identified region is drawn on the display device associated with the host computing device.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the region is a spot region.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the indication is a mouse click event.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the indication is a selection of a point.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the causing includes sending a portion of an image that is displayed on the display device associated with the host computing device so that the participant computing device can update the image it displays.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein the drawing includes identifying a user of the participant computing device.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the identifying includes associating a color with the user, and the drawing is in the associated color.

16. A system, comprising:

a processor and memory;

a component configured to receive at a host computing device a request to establish a sharing session with a participant computing device, the request made by a client application executing on the host computing device;

a component configured to establish a sharing session wherein an application executing at the host computing device that is different from the client application establishes the sharing session between at least the host computing device and the participant computing device, wherein the sharing session shares a document opened by the client application;

a component configured to receive at the host computing device an indication from the participant computing device to identify a region to users participating in the sharing session, the region identified by a user at the participant computing device and specifying a portion of the shared document;

a component configured to draw, by the client application that requested to establish the sharing session, the identified region on a display device associated with the host computing device before the region is drawn on the participant computing device; and

a component configured to cause the identified region to be drawn on a display device associated with the participant computing device after the identified region is drawn on the display device associated with the host computing device.