Synchronizing presentation states between multiple applications

• US 8,473,571 B2
• Filed: 01/08/2009
• Issued: 06/25/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/08/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Penner, Nathan Robert, Garg, Sharad Kumar, Kumar, Aditya, Goodwin, Gideon
• Primary Examiner(s): Maung, Zarni
• Application Number:
  US12/350,245
• Publication Number:
  US 20100174773A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,629 Days
• Field of Search: 709217-218, 709223-229, 709/250, 709/231
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1454 involving copying of the display data of a local workstation or window to a remote workstation or window so that an actual copy of the data is displayed simultaneously on two or more displays, e.g. teledisplay
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1027 Persistence of sessions during load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A presentation state is received from the presenting application. The presentation state may represent a current state of the local presentation. A request for the presentation state is received from the viewing application. In response to receiving the request for the presentation state, the presentation state is provided to the viewing application. A request for presentation data synchronized to the presentation state is received from the viewing application. In response to receiving the request for presentation data synchronized to the presentation state, the presentation file is transformed into the presentation data synchronized to the presentation state. The presentation data synchronized to the presentation state is provided to the viewing application. The viewing application may be operative to read the presentation data and to display a remote presentation in response to reading the presentation data.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for synchronizing a presentation state between a presenting application executing on a presenter device and a viewing application executing on an attendee device, the method comprising:

receiving a presentation state from the presenting application, the presenting application operative to read a presentation file and to display a local presentation in response to reading the presentation file, the presentation state representing a current state of the local presentation;

receiving a request for the presentation state from the viewing application; and

in response to receiving the request for the presentation state, providing the presentation state to the viewing application, wherein when the presentation state includes a plurality of coordinate parameters, the plurality of coordinate parameters at least partly defining a path, the plurality of coordinate parameters are provided to the viewing application.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the presenting application comprises a presentation program, the presentation file comprises a file generated by the presentation program, and the viewing application comprises a World Wide Web (“

web”

) browser.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the presentation state comprises a current slide of the local presentation.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising providing the presentation data synchronized to the presentation state to the viewing application by providing the presentation data corresponding to the current slide of the local presentation as specified by the presentation state.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the presentation state comprises a current video frame of a video, a current audio frame of an audio recording, a video bookmark, or a current animation step of an animation corresponding to the local presentation.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein providing the presentation data synchronized to the presentation state to the viewing application comprises providing the presentation data corresponding to the current video frame of the video, the current audio frame of the audio recording, the video bookmark, or the current animation step of the animation in the local presentation as specified by the presentation state.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the presentation state comprises information about a mouse or laser pointer interacting with the local presentation.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the information about the mouse or laser pointer comprises at least one of recent coordinates, a color, or a shape.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein providing the presentation data synchronized to the presentation state to the viewing application comprises providing the presentation data corresponding to the information about the mouse or laser pointer.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the presentation file from the presenting application.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request for presentation data synchronized to the presentation state from the viewing application;

in response to receiving the request for presentation data synchronized to the presentation state, transforming the presentation file into the presentation data synchronized to the presentation state; and

providing the presentation data synchronized to the presentation state to the viewing application, the viewing application operative to read the presentation data and to display a remote presentation in response to reading the presentation data.

12. A computer system comprising:

a processor;

a memory operatively coupled to the processor;

a program module (i) which executes in the processor from the memory and (ii) which, when executed by the processor, causes the computer system to synchronize a presentation state between a presenting application executing on a presenter device and a viewing application executing on an attendee device by;

receiving a presentation state from the presenting application, the presenting application operative to read a presentation file and to display a local presentation in response to reading the presentation file, the presentation state representing a current state of the local presentation and including a plurality of coordinates recently traversed by a pointer, a shape of the pointer and a color of the pointer;

transforming the presentation file into presentation data synchronized to the presentation state; and

providing the presentation data synchronized to the presentation state to the viewing application, the viewing application operative to read the presentation data and to display the remote presentation in response to reading the presentation data.

13. The computer system of claim 12, wherein receiving a presentation state from the presenting application comprises receiving a presentation state from the presenting application while the presenting is displaying the local presentation through the presenter device.

14. The computer system of claim 12, wherein providing the presentation data synchronized to the presentation state to the viewing application comprises initiating sending the presentation data to the viewing application in response to receiving an indication that the local presentation has started.

15. The computer system of claim 14, wherein providing the presentation data synchronized to the presentation state to the viewing application further comprises terminating sending the presentation data to the viewing application in response to receiving an indication that the local presentation has ended.

16. The computer system of claim 12, wherein receiving a presentation state from the presenting application comprises receiving the presentation state from the presenting application when a state of the local presentation changes.

17. A physical computer-readable storage device storing computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

receive a presentation file from a presentation program executing on a presenter device, the presentation file readable by the presentation program to display a local presentation through the presenter device, the presentation file unreadable by a viewing application executing on an attendee device, the presenter device and the attendee device operatively coupled via a network;

while the presentation program is displaying the local presentation through the presenter device, receive a presentation state from the presentation program when a state of the local presentation changes, the presentation state representing a current state of the local presentation being displayed through the presenter device, the presentation state including a coordinate parameter when a change to the state of the local presentation involves a specific coordinate of the local presentation, the specific coordinate corresponding to a position of a laser pointer input on the local presentation;

receiving a request for the presentation state from the viewing application;

in response to receiving the request for the presentation state, providing the presentation state to the viewing application;

receiving a request for presentation data synchronized to the presentation state from the viewing application;

in response to receiving the request for presentation data synchronized to the presentation state, transforming the presentation file into the presentation data synchronized to the presentation state; and

providing the presentation data synchronized to the presentation state to the viewing application, the viewing application operative to read the presentation data and to display a remote presentation in response to reading the presentation data.

18. The computer-readable storage device of claim 17, wherein the presenting application comprises a presentation program, the presentation file comprises a file generated by the presentation program, and the viewing application comprises a World Wide Web (“

web”

) browser.

19. The computer-readable storage device of claim 17, wherein the presentation state comprises a current slide of the local presentation;

and

wherein to provide the presentation data synchronized to the presentation state to the viewing application, the computer-readable medium having further computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to provide the presentation data synchronized to the presentation state to the viewing application comprises providing the presentation data corresponding to the current slide of the local presentation as specified by the presentation state.

20. The computer-readable storage device of claim 17, wherein the presentation state comprises a current video frame of a video, a current audio frame of an audio recording, a video bookmark, or a current animation step of an animation corresponding to the local presentation;

and

wherein to provide the presentation data synchronized to the presentation state to the viewing application, the computer-readable medium having further computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to provide the presentation data corresponding to the current video frame of the video, the current audio frame of the audio recording, the video bookmark, or the current animation step of the animation in the local presentation as specified by the presentation state.

21. The computer-readable storage device of claim 17, wherein the presentation state comprises information about a mouse or laser pointer interacting with the local presentation;

and

wherein to provide the presentation data synchronized to the presentation state to the viewing application, the computer-readable medium having further computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to provide the presentation data corresponding to the information about the mouse or laser pointer.