Method and apparatus for designating endpoints in a collaborative computer system to facilitate maintaining data consistency
First Claim
1. A method of operating a plurality of computers to implement a distributed method for assigning designations to endpoints for use in a peer-to-peer collaboration system having a plurality of members that share a telespace and exchange data change requests, the method comprising:
- operating each of at least two of the plurality of computers in the peer-to-peer collaboration system to perform acts comprising;
inviting an invited member to join the telespace;
independently assigning a unique designation to an endpoint of the member invited to join the telespace, each designation of an endpoint of the invited member comprising;
(a) a value indicative of the order in which the invited member was invited by a respective inviting member to join the telespace; and
(b) a unique endpoint designation indicative of the respective inviting member; and
ordering received data change messages based on endpoint designations in the received data change messages.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In a peer-to-peer collaborative system in which collaborators communicate via a shared telespace and exchange data change requests, a unique number is assigned to each endpoint (a unique pairing of a device and a person) of each of the telespace members. Each endpoint number indicates the order in which the member joined the telespace, and, for each member invited to join (or otherwise sponsored) by another telespace member (the “inviting member”), it also indicates the inviting member. As more and more members are invited to join by those new members, the designations add additional orders of digits to indicate the family tree or chain of inviting members. The designations are used to resolve collisions between two data change requests that are both dependent on the same data change request.
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Citations
32 Claims
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1. A method of operating a plurality of computers to implement a distributed method for assigning designations to endpoints for use in a peer-to-peer collaboration system having a plurality of members that share a telespace and exchange data change requests, the method comprising:
operating each of at least two of the plurality of computers in the peer-to-peer collaboration system to perform acts comprising; inviting an invited member to join the telespace; independently assigning a unique designation to an endpoint of the member invited to join the telespace, each designation of an endpoint of the invited member comprising; (a) a value indicative of the order in which the invited member was invited by a respective inviting member to join the telespace; and (b) a unique endpoint designation indicative of the respective inviting member; and ordering received data change messages based on endpoint designations in the received data change messages. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A distributed apparatus for assigning designations to endpoints for use in a peer-to-peer collaboration system having a plurality of members that share a telespace and exchange data change requests, the apparatus comprising:
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means for forming the telespace by inviting members to join the telespace; means for assigning a unique designation to each endpoint of each member of the telespace, each designation of a member comprising a portion indicative of the order in which the member joined the telespace and a portion indicative of an inviting member inviting the member to join the telespace, the means for assigning comprising means operable by each of the inviting members for assigning a unique designation to each new telespace member that an inviting endpoint invites into the telespace; and means for resolving dependency collisions between a plurality of data change messages, the dependency collisions being resolved based on respective unique designations in each of the plurality of data change messages, the unique designations being assigned by the means for assigning. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. Computer readable storage comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform a method of operating a computer of an invited member of a peer-to-peer collaboration system in which computers used by a plurality of members communicate changes to a shared telespace by transmitting change messages and the computers used by the plurality of members maintain a copy of the shared telespace by applying changes in the change messages, the method comprising:
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receiving an invitation for the invited member to join the shared telespace, the invitation being sent by an inviting member of the plurality of members having an inviting member endpoint designation; receiving from a computer of the inviting member of the peer-to-peer collaboration system an invited member endpoint designation for the invited member, the invited member endpoint designation having a hierarchical representation with a first portion identifying the inviting member endpoint designation and a second portion identifying when the invited member was invited to join the shared telespace relative to when the inviting member invited other members to join the shared telespace; and transmitting change messages indicating changes to the shared telespace, each change message comprising the invited member endpoint designation. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32)
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Specification