Systems and methodologies providing for collaboration among a plurality of users at a plurality of computing appliances

• US 8,875,011 B2
• Filed: 05/06/2011
• Issued: 10/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Collaboration Technologies, LLC
• Original Assignee: David H Sitrick
• Inventors: Sitrick, David H., Fling, Russell T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong, Stephen
• Assistant Examiner(s): Vaughn, Gregory J
• Application Number:
  US13/102,798
• Publication Number:
  US 20120284605A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,271 Days
• Field of Search: 715/200, 715/230, 715/231, 715/243, 715/248
• US Class Current: 715/231
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/20 Education

Abstract

A system and methodology for collaboration among a plurality of users at a plurality of computing appliances. A respective one computing appliance of the plurality of computing appliances is for use by each respective one user of the plurality of users. Each said respective one computing appliance is comprised of a processor, a display apparatus providing a display presentation, and a communications interface providing coupling of data between itself and at least one other of the plurality of computing appliances. A memory provides storage that is associatively structured as a plurality of data layers. Each of the data layers is associatively mapped to a respective at least one of said plurality of computing appliances, to provide mapped storage in each respective data layer of respective layer data representative of annotations originated from at least one respective one of said plurality of computing appliances, preferably for each of at least two of said plurality of the computing appliances. The display apparatus at at least one of said plurality of the computing appliances provides a display presentation generated responsive to said at least two of the plurality of the data layers. In one embodiment, the display apparatus for at least two of the computing appliances provide a same said display presentation. In a preferred embodiment, said same said display presentation is comprised of an underlying image which appears as an underlying display relative to which is aligned a display presentation of the annotations as made atop the respective underlying image.

Claims

1. A system for collaboration among a plurality of users, the system comprising:

a plurality of computing appliances, each said computing appliance for use by a respective one said user, each said computing appliance comprised of a memory, a display apparatus providing a display presentation, and a communications interface;

memory logic, structuring the memory to provides storage structured as a plurality of data layers in each said computing appliance;

team logic associating at least two of the computing appliances to be members on a team;

mapping logic associating each said data layer as an associated data layer that is associated with at least one said computing appliance;

wherein the memory provides storage in the associated data layer, of annotation data representative of annotations having an associated annotation image, said annotations originated from said associated said computing appliance;

wherein the communications interface at each of the at least two of the computing appliances on the team, communicates selected data from the data layer associated with one of said computing appliances on the team, for storage in a same said data layer in the memory of at least one other one of said computing appliances on the team, for each of at least two of the data layers;

the system further comprising;

display logic generating the display presentation on the display apparatus of at least one said computing appliance on the team, comprising a combined display presentation generated responsive to at least some of the annotation data stored in at least two of the data layers.

2. The system as in claim 1,

wherein a same said combined display presentation is provided on the display apparatus of all of said computing appliances team.

3. The system as in claim 1,

wherein one of the data layers provides storage of base image data having an associated base image display presentation;

and

wherein the display apparatus of at least one of said computing appliances on the team provides said combined display presentation comprising the annotation images associated with at least a part of the annotation data stored in at least two of the data layers,

wherein said combined display presentation is comprised of an overlay image generated responsive to the layer data stored in said at least two of the data layers, said overlay image displayed as overlaid atop of the base image display presentation in the combined display presentation.

4. The system as in claim 3,

wherein the base image is representative of a display of one of:

a Word document, an Excel document, a PowerPoint document, an image document, a text document, a spreadsheet document, a presentation document, a JPEG file, a TIFF file, an MP4 file, an image, a portion of a display presentation from an interactive game, a portion of a display presentation from a movie, a portion of a computer generated display presentation, and a PDF document.

5. The system as in claim 1,

wherein the display logic designates a part of the annotation data stored in each said data layer in the memory of each one of the computing appliances on the team as the selected data;

wherein the communications interface at each of the at least two of the computing appliances communicates the selected data among all other ones of the plurality of computing appliances on the team;

wherein the memory logic stores the selected data in the data layer associatively mapped to said computing appliance communicating the selected data;

wherein the display logic is responsive to at least a part of the selected data from at least two of the data layers to generate the combined display presentation.

6. The system as in claim 1,

wherein each of at least two of the computing appliances on the team is each further comprised of an input apparatus responsive to input by the user of the computing appliance, to provide associated annotation data;

wherein the associated annotation data is stored responsive to the mapping logic, in the data layer that is associated with said computing appliance providing the input.

7. The system as in claim 6,

wherein the annotation data has an associated display image that is representative of the input of said annotations, as input by the respective user to appear in the display presentation relative to and aligned with a base image display presentation as shown on the display apparatus of said computing appliance.

8. The system as in claim 1,

wherein at least one of the computing appliances on the team is a teacher computing appliance;

wherein at least two of the computing appliances on the team are student computing appliances;

wherein each said teacher computing appliance is mapped to the data layer associated with the teacher computing appliance as a teacher data layer;

wherein each said student computing appliance is mapped to the data layer associated with said student computing appliance as a student data layer;

wherein the display apparatus associated with each said student computing appliance provides the combined display presentation generated responsive to the teacher data layer and the student data layer for said student computing appliance providing the combined display presentation; and

wherein the display apparatus associated with each said teacher computing appliance provides the combined display presentation generated responsive to at least one of;

the teacher data layer,

one of the student data layers as chosen by the teacher computing appliance;

at least two of the student data layers,

and,

a combination of the teacher data layers and at least one said student data layer.

9. The system as in claim 1,

wherein each of at least two of the plurality of computing appliances on the team has an input apparatus which is responsive to input by the respective user of said computing appliances, to provide said annotation data;

wherein the memory logic structures duplicate sets of data layers in the memory within each of at least two said computing appliances on the team, each said set of data layers comprised of a plurality of said data layers;

wherein the mapping logic assigns a same said data layer in each of the duplicate sets, as associated to provide storage of said annotation data as input by an associated said computing appliance, for each of said at least two said computing appliances on the team; and

,

wherein the memory provide storage of the annotation data provided responsive to the input from each said computing appliance in the data layer associated with said computing appliance, in each of the duplicate sets.

10. The system as in claim 1,

wherein the display apparatus for each of at least two of the computing appliances on the team provides an initial display of said display presentation comprising a base image;

and

wherein thereafter, at each of the at least two of the computing appliances on the team, input of said annotations is made relative to said initial display presentation on the display apparatus of each of the at least two of the computing appliances on the team.

11. The system as in claim 10,

wherein said mapping logic associates each of at least two of said computing appliances on the team with a first role designation, and associates each of at least two other of said computing appliances with a second role designation;

wherein said memory logic structures a group of first duplicate sets of the data layers, in storage within local memory in each said computing appliance having said first role designation, and structures a group of second duplicate sets of the data layers, in storage within local memory in each said computing appliance having said second role designation;

wherein said mapping logic assigns a same said data layer as associated with a same said computing appliance in each said first duplicate set, to provide storage of said annotation data as input by the associated said computing appliance for each said computing appliance having said first role designation, and, assigns a same said data layer as associated with a same said computing appliance in each said second duplicate set, to provide storage of said annotation data as input by the associated said computing appliance for each said computing appliance having said second role designation;

wherein the memory provides storing of the annotation data from each said computing appliance with the first role designation, in said data layer associated with said computing appliance, in each of the first duplicate sets, and, storing the annotation data from each said computing appliance with the second role designation, in said data layer associated with said computing appliance, in each of the second duplicate sets;

wherein said combined display presentation at each said computing appliance on the team is generated responsive to at least a part of the annotation data stored in the duplicate set of data layers stored at said computing appliance.

12. The system as in claim 11, further comprising:

selection logic selecting, for each said computing appliance with the first role designation, which of the data layers from the first duplicate sets are the selected layers for said computing appliance, and selecting for each said computing appliance with the second role designation, which of the data layers from the second duplicate sets are the selected layers for said computing appliance;

wherein the combined display presentation for each said computing appliance is generated responsive to the selected layers for said computing appliance.

13. The system as in claim 11, further comprising:

selection logic, selecting, for all of said computing appliances with the first role designation, a same group of the data layers from the first duplicate sets to be the selected layers, and, selecting, for all of said computing appliances with the second role designation, a same group of the data layers from the second duplicate sets to be the selected layers;

wherein the combined display presentation for each said computing appliance is generated responsive to the selected layers for said computing appliance responsive to the selected layers for said computing appliance.

14. The system as in claim 11, further comprising:

selection logic, selecting at least one of said computing appliances having the first role designation to also have a third role designation, and, selecting at least one of said computing appliances having the second role designation to also have the third role designation;

wherein the mapping logic selects the data layers associated with each of said computing appliances with the third role designation, as the selected layers for the computing appliances with the third role designation,

wherein the display presentation is provided to said computing appliances with the third role designation responsive to the selected layers for the computing appliances with the third role designation.

15. The system as in claim 1, further comprising:

display control logic determining an ordering hierarchy for defining a layering atop one another of the annotation images associated with the annotations from at least two of the computing appliances on the team, responsive to utilization of the data layers associated with the computing appliances, for generating the combined display presentation

responsive to the ordering hierarchy.

16. The system as in claim 15,

wherein the display control logic determines a separate ordering hierarchy for each of the plurality of computing appliances on the team;

wherein a separate version of the combined display presentation is generated responsive to each said separate ordering hierarchy.

17. The system as in claim 1,

wherein the annotation data is representative of the annotations as input by a respective said user;

made relative to the display presentation.

18. The system as in claim 1,

wherein each of the computing appliances on the team has an input apparatus which is responsive to the respective user thereof, to provide respective said annotation data responsive to input of respective said annotations by the respective said user;

wherein at least one of the computing appliances on the team is designated as a teacher that provides an output of teacher annotations having associated teacher annotation data and having an associated teacher data display image associated therewith;

wherein at least one of the data layers is designated a teacher data layer providing storage and retrieval of the teacher annotation data in the teacher data layer,

and

wherein at least one of the computing appliances on the team is designated as a student that provides an output of student annotations having associated student annotation data and having an associated student data display image associated therewith,

wherein at least one of the data layers is designated a student data layer providing storage and retrieval of the student annotation data in the student data layer, and

wherein the combined display presentation is generated responsive to the teacher data layer and to the student data layer.

19. The system as in claim 18,

wherein the mapping of the data layer for association with said one of the teacher computing appliances adds an additional mapping of another said data layer as a teacher-student data layer for use in storing data for communicating with the one said student computing appliance, and

wherein the combined display presentation shown on said one said student computing appliance and on the teacher computing appliance is generated responsive to the teacher-student data layer and the student data layer for said one said student computing appliance.

20. The system as in claim 1, further comprising:

coordinator logic associating at least one said computing appliance on the team as a teacher computing appliance;

wherein the mapping logic associates one of said data layers as a teacher data layer that is associated with the teacher computing appliance;

wherein said teacher computing appliance communicates changes from the teacher data layer, to other of the plurality of computing appliances;

wherein the display apparatus at each of at least two other of said computing appliances on the team provides said combined display presentation generated at least in part responsive to the communicated changes from the teacher data layer.

21. The system as in claim 1,

wherein duplicated storage is provided in each said memory of each said computing appliance on the team in duplicate sets of the data layers for locally storing the annotation data in the associated said data layer as said layer data;

and

wherein the display presentation at at least one respective one of the plurality of computing appliances on the team is generated responsive the respective layer data in the data layers in the memory of said at least one of the computing appliances.

22. The system as in claim 21, further comprising:

synchronization logic managing updating of the duplicated storage in duplicate sets of the data layers in the memory at each of said computing appliances on the team, to provide duplicate storage in the data layers in each of the duplicate sets.

23. The system as in claim 1,

wherein the annotation data is representative of annotations of the user that is responsive to the input of said annotations made such that the associated image of the annotations is shown as aligned relative to and atop of an underlying display presentation presented on the display apparatus at said computing appliance where the input is being made;

and

wherein at least one of the computing appliances on the team provides generation of the combined display presentation utilizing the annotation data from the data layers associated with the from the at least two of the computing appliances on the team shown atop of the display of the underlying display presentation.

24. The system as in claim 1,

wherein at least one of the computing appliances on the team provides said annotation data associated with said annotations responsive to input of the annotations by the user associated with said computing appliance,

wherein the associated image of the annotations responsive to the input appears in the display presentation provided on the display apparatus of said at least one of the computing appliances on the team;

wherein the annotation data is representative of said annotations and is stored in a corresponding said data layer in the memory at another one of the computer appliances on the team; and

wherein the annotation data stored in the corresponding said data layer in the memory of said another one of the computer appliances on the team is utilized in generating the display presentation at said another one of the computing appliances on the team.

25. The system as in claim 24,

wherein each said computing appliance on the team at which the user provides the annotations, thereafter communicates to at least one other said computing appliance, at least a part of said layer data for storage in said at least one other said computing appliance on the team in said data layer associated with the computing appliance at which the user provides the annotations.

26. The system as in claim 1,

wherein a specific said data layer is associated with each of the computing appliances on the team and is utilized to generate a separately identifiable display image within the combined display presentation that is associated with the computing appliance that is associated with the specific said data layer,

wherein the combined display presentation is generated at least in part responsive to said specific data layer, and,

wherein said separately identifiable display image within the combined display presentation appears at each of at least two of the plurality of computing appliances on the team.

27. The system as in claim 1,

wherein at least one of the computing appliances on the team is designated as a leader computing appliance, and is responsive to a respective said user providing input to provide the annotation data for storage in an associated said data layer in the memory of at least one other of the computing appliances on the team.

28. The system as in claim 27,

wherein the data layer associated with said leader computing appliance is a leader data layer;

wherein the data layers in each of the computing appliances is comprised of one said data layer that is a corresponding said leader data layer;

wherein the leader computing appliance communicates the annotations for storage in the corresponding leader layer in the memory of other said computing appliances on the team.

29. The system as in claim 1,

wherein at least one of the computing appliances on the team is an editor computing appliance;

wherein the editor computing appliance designates which of the data layers in the memory are the selected data layers;

wherein the combined display presentation is generated responsive to the selected data layers; and

wherein the editor computing appliance communicates with other of the computing appliances on the team to each use said selected data layers within the memory at each of the computing appliances on the team;

wherein the combined display presentation is generated responsive to the selected data layers in the memory of each said computing appliance on the team.

30. The system as in claim 1,

wherein the mapping logic, associates at least four said computing appliances on the team with a first role designation, and associates at least two said computing appliances of said at least four said computing appliances with a second role designation, and, associates at least two other said computing appliances of said at least four said computing appliances with a third role designation;

wherein the memory logic structures a group of first duplicate sets of the data layers in storage within local memory, in each said computing appliance having said first role designation, and, structures a group of second duplicate sets of the data layers in storage within the local memory, in each said computing appliance having said second role designation; and

, structures a group of third duplicate sets of the data layers in storage within the local memory, in each said computing appliance having said third role designation;

wherein each said data layer is structured to be a part of each said group having the role designation of said computing appliance associated with said data layer;

wherein the annotation data, as input from each said computing appliance on the team, is stored in the data layer associated with said computing appliance on the team, in each said duplicate set in the memory of each said computing appliance on the team;

wherein the a part of the annotation data stored in each said data layer in the memory of each one of the computing appliances on the team as the selected data;

wherein the display logic is to at least a part of the selected data from at least two of the data layers to generate the combined display presentation; and

,

wherein the display logic is responsive to at least a part of the selected data from at least two of the data layers to generate the combined display presentation at each said computing appliance on the team.

31. A method for collaboration among a plurality of users at a respective plurality of computing appliances, a respective one computing appliance of the plurality of computing appliances each for use by a respective one user of the plurality of users, each said computing appliance comprised of a memory, and a display apparatus, the method comprising:

associating plurality of computing appliances as members on a team;

providing structured storage in the memory of each of the computing appliances on the team, as a plurality of data layers;

associatively mapping each of said data layers to at least one of said computing appliances on the team, in the memory of each of at least two of said computing appliances on the team;

providing storage in each said data layer of annotation data representative of an image of user input annotations, wherein each said data layer is associatively mapped to provide storage of said annotation data in the data layer that is associated with the computing appliance that originated said annotation data;

for each said one of the computing appliances on the team, communicating the annotation data from the data layer associated with said computing appliance, and providing storage of the annotation data in a corresponding said data layer in the memory of at least one other one of said computing appliances on the team; and

generating a combined display presentation at the display apparatus of at least one of the computing appliances on the team, responsive to said annotation data stored in at least two of the data layers in said computing appliance.

32. The method as in claim 31,

generating a same said combined display presentation at each of said at least two of said plurality of the computing appliances on the team, responsive to the annotation data stored in the data layers associated with at least two of said computing appliances on the team, as stored in each said memory in each of said least two of said computing appliances on the team, generated responsive to at least a part of the annotation data in a corresponding said at least two of the data layers in each of said least two of said computing appliances on the team.

33. The method as in claim 31, further comprising:

providing storage of base layer data, in at least one of the data layers;

wherein the base layer data is representative of a respective display presentation of a base image that is utilized as an underlay portion of the combined display presentation;

the method further comprising;

providing said combined display presentation at the display apparatus at at least one of said plurality of the computing appliances generated responsive to said at least two of the plurality of the data layers associated with said computing appliances, and responsive to said base data layer.

34. The method as in claim 31, further comprising:

generating a specifically identifiable display characteristic for each said data layer, that is utilized in displaying the associated images for the annotations associated with the annotation data as stored in said data layer, that appears within the combined display presentation appearing at at least one of the plurality of computing appliances,

wherein the specifically identifiable display characteristic is displayed for the associated images for the annotations associated with the annotation data as stored in at least two of the data layers.

35. The method as in claim 31, further comprising:

providing a same said display presentation on the display apparatus for at least two of the computing appliances.

36. The method as in claim 35,

wherein said same said display presentation is comprised of an underlying image to be annotated relative to and atop of which is overlaid an associated image of the annotations, aligned to provide a display of the annotations that appears atop the underlying image within the combined display presentation.

37. The method as in claim 36,

wherein the underlying image is at least a part of a display presentation associated with one of:

a Word document, an Excel document, a PowerPoint document, an image document, a text document, a spreadsheet document, a software application, a camera, a sensor, a social network, an interactive game, a JPEG file, A TIFF file, an MP4 file, a photographic image, and a PDF document.

38. The method as in claim 31, further comprising:

selecting an ordering hierarchy for controlling utilization of the data layers in generation of the display presentation for each said computing appliance on the team, for at least one of the computing appliances; and

generating the combined display presentation at at least one said computing appliance responsive to the ordering hierarchy associated with said computing appliance.

39. The method as in claim 38, further comprising:

determining an individual ordering hierarchy for each of the computing appliances; and

,

generating the combined display presentation at each said computing appliance responsive to the individual associated ordering hierarchy for said computing appliance.

40. The method as in claim 31, further comprising:

communicating the annotation data as input and stored in an associated said data layer in the memory of each of at least two of the computing appliances to the other of said at least two of the computing appliances;

storing the communicated said annotation data in the associated said data layer in the memory of the computing appliance receiving the communicating; and

,

providing the combined display presentation at least in part in response to the communicated said annotation data as stored in the memory of said computing appliance receiving the communicating.

41. The method as in claim 31, further comprising:

structuring duplicate sets of data layers, each said set of data layers comprised of a plurality of said data layers provided in local memory within each of at least two said computing appliances; and

assigning a same said data layer, in each of the duplicate sets, to provide storage of said annotation data as input by a same said computing appliance, for each of said at least two said computing appliances; and

,

storing the annotation data provided responsive to the input from each said computing appliance, in the data layer associated with said computing appliance, in each of the duplicate sets.

42. The method as in claim 31, further comprising:

communicating the annotation data for a user input of the annotations made at a first one of the computing appliances, for storage in the memory of at least one other one of the plurality of computing appliances; and

providing the combined display presentation on the at least one other one of the computing appliances responsive to the annotation data communicated and stored in the memory of the at least one other one of the plurality of computing appliance.

43. The method as in claim 31, further comprising:

associating each of at least two of the computing appliances with a first role designation;

associating each of at least two other of said computing appliances with a second role designation;

structuring a group of first duplicate sets of the data layers, in storage within local memory in each said computing appliance having said first role designation;

structuring a group of second duplicate sets of the data layers, in storage within local memory in each said computing appliance having said second role designation;

assigning a corresponding said data layer as associated with a same said computing appliance in each said first duplicate set, to provide storage of said annotation data as input by the associated said computing appliance for each said computing appliance having said first role designation;

assigning a corresponding said data layer as associated with a same said computing appliance in each said second duplicate set, to provide storage of said annotation data as input by the associated said computing appliance for each said computing appliance having said second role designation;

storing the annotation data from each said computing appliance with the first role designation, in said corresponding said data layer associated with said computing appliance, in each of the first duplicate sets; and

storing said annotation data from each said computing appliance with the second role designation, for storage in said corresponding said data layer associated with said computing appliance, in each of the second duplicate set.

44. The method as in claim 43, further comprising:

selecting, for each said computing appliance with the first role designation, which of said data layers in the memory from the first duplicate sets are the selected data for said computing appliance; and

selecting, for each said computer appliance with the second role designation, which of the data layers from the second duplicate sets are the selected data.

45. The method as in claim 44, further comprising:

selecting, for all of said computing appliances with the first role designation, a same group of said data layers from the first duplicate sets to be the selected data; and

,

selecting, for all of said computing appliances with the second role designation, a same group of the data layers from the second duplicate sets to be the selected data.

46. The method as in claim 31, further comprising:

designating a part of the annotation data stored in at least two of said data layers in the memory of one of the computing appliances as the selected data; and

communicating the selected data to other ones of the computing appliances on the team; and

generating the combined display presentation at each said computing appliance on the team, responsive to the selected data.

47. A method for collaboration among a plurality of users at a plurality of computing appliances, a respective one computing appliance of the plurality of computing appliances each for use by a respective one user of the plurality of users, each said respective one computing appliance comprised of a display apparatus, the method comprising:

associating a plurality of computing appliances to be members on a team;

providing storage that is structured as a plurality of separate data layers, each said data layer providing storage of annotation data associated with user input of annotations from a respective one of the computing appliances on the team;

associatively mapping each of said data layers to a respective at least one of said plurality of computing appliances on the team;

providing mapped storage in each respective data layer of respective said annotation data representative of annotations originated at one of said computing appliances, for each of at least two of said plurality of the computing appliances;

communicating said annotation data from the data layer associated with one of the computing appliances on the team for storage in a same said data layer in the memory of at least one other one of said computing appliances on the team; and

,

providing a display presentation at the display apparatus of at least one of said plurality of the computing appliances on the team;

wherein the display presentation is generated responsive to at least a part of the annotation data stored in at least two of the data layers.

48. The method as in claim 47, further comprising:

associating at least four of the computing appliances on the team with a first role designation;

associating at least two said computing appliances of said at least four said computing appliances with a second role designation;

associating at least two other said computing appliances on the team of said at least four said computing appliances with a third role designation;

structuring a group of first duplicate sets of the data layers in storage within local memory, in each said computing appliance having said first role designation;

structuring a group of second duplicate sets of the data layers in storage within the local memory, in each said computing appliance having said second role designation;

structuring a group of third duplicate sets of the data layers in storage within the local memory, in each said computing appliance having said third role designation;

wherein each said data layer is structured to be a part of each said group having the role designations of the computing appliance associated with said data layer;

storing the annotation data, as input from each said computing appliance in said data layer associated with said computing appliance, in each said duplicate set associated with said computing appliance;

generating the local display presentation at said computing appliance responsive to the selected layers for said computing appliance.

49. The method as in claim 47, further comprising:

providing a same said display presentation to each said respective user at each of said at least two of the computing appliances on the team;

wherein said same said display presentation is comprised of an underlying image which appears as an underlying display relative to which is overlaid and aligned a display presentation of the annotations associated with a respective said computing appliance, and which appears atop of the underlying image within the display presentation; and

,

wherein the display presentation is comprised of the associated images for at least a part of the annotation data stored in the data layers associated with said at least two of the computing appliances on the team, displayed as an overlay image atop the underlying image.

50. The method as in claim 47, further comprising:

providing an ordering hierarchy defining utilization of the data layers in generation of the display presentation for at least one of the plurality of computing appliance on the team;

wherein the display presentation is generated responsive to the ordering hierarchy.