Metadata capture for screen sharing

• US 9,021,367 B2
• Filed: 04/23/2012
• Issued: 04/28/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Chan, Yuk, To, Tin H., Tsang, Andrew, Zhou, Wei
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu, Kieu
• Assistant Examiner(s): LOWENBERGER, AARON J
• Application Number:
  US13/453,009
• Publication Number:
  US 20120203854A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,100 Days
• Field of Search: 715/751, 715/759, 715/753
• US Class Current: 715/751
• 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

Abstract

A method for metadata capture for screen sharing of a graphical user interface (GUI) screen includes determining by a screen share sending module a region of the GUI screen to be shared; analyzing the GUI screen by a metadata capture module to determine metadata relevant to the region to be shared; and sending a screen share of the region comprising the relevant metadata to a receiver by the screen share sending module.

Claims

1. A method for metadata capture for screen sharing of a graphical user interface (GUI) screen, the method comprising:

determining by a screen share sending module a region of the GUI screen to be shared, wherein the region comprises less than the entire GUI screen;

using object recognition to analyze the GUI screen by a metadata capture module to determine metadata relevant to the region to be shared, wherein the determined metadata comprises at least a universal resource locator (URL), a search string, and a link, wherein a first portion of the determined metadata is located inside the region of the GUI screen, and wherein a second portion of the determined metadata is located in a visible portion of the GUI screen outside of the region of the GUI screen;

sending a screen share of the region comprising the determined metadata to a receiver by the screen share sending module; and

receiving the screen share of the region comprising the determined metadata by a screen share receiving module, wherein the received screen share comprises the first portion of the determined metadata in the same format in which it is presented in the GUI screen, and wherein the first portion and the second portion of the determined metadata comprising the screen share are available to a user at the receiver.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining a list of the determined metadata relevant to the region to be shared by the object recognition;

displaying the list of the determined metadata to a sender of the screen share, wherein the list of the relevant metadata comprises a first piece of metadata regarding a window and a second piece of metadata regarding said window;

receiving a selection of the first piece of metadata from the sender; and

sending the screen share of the region with the determined metadata comprising the first piece of metadata and not the second piece of metadata regarding the window.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein a third portion of the determined metadata is located in the GUI screen outside of the visible portion of the GUI screen, and wherein the third portion of the determined metadata comprising the screen share is available to the user at the receiver.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising applying a set of stored preferences to the determined metadata to determine a set of preferred metadata, and sending the screen share of the region with the set of preferred metadata designated by the set of stored preferences.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the relevant metadata comprises authorship of a document.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the screen share is sent as part of a web conference or chat session.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the relevant metadata comprises confidentiality information.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the relevant metadata comprises audit trail information.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the relevant metadata comprises table cell color.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the relevant metadata comprises a persistent session ID.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the relevant metadata comprises text content.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the relevant metadata comprises text font size.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the relevant metadata comprises text line spacing.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the relevant metadata comprises window title.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the relevant metadata comprises whether a window is minimized or maximized.

16. The method according to claim 1, further comprising selecting the URL by a user at the screen share receiving module.

17. The method according to claim 1, further comprising copying the search string by a user at the screen share receiving module.

18. The method according to claim 1, further comprising clicking the link by a user at the screen share receiving module.

19. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing computer code that, when executed by a computer, implements a method for metadata capture for screen sharing of a graphical user interface (GUI) screen, wherein the method comprises:

determining by a screen share sending module a region of the GUI screen to be shared, wherein the region comprises less than the entire GUI screen;

using object recognition to analyze the GUI screen by a metadata capture module to determine metadata relevant to the region to be shared, wherein the determined metadata comprises at least a universal resource locator (URL), a search string, and a link, wherein a first portion of the determined metadata is located inside the region of the GUI screen, and wherein a second portion of the determined metadata is located in a visible portion of the GUI screen outside of the region of the GUI screen;

sending a screen share of the region comprising the determined metadata to a receiver by the screen share sending module; and

receiving the screen share of the region comprising the determined metadata by a screen share receiving module, wherein the received screen share comprises the first portion of the determined metadata in the same format in which it is presented in the GUI screen, and wherein the first portion and the second portion of the determined metadata comprising the screen share are available to a user at the receiver.

20. A computer system for metadata capture for screen sharing of a graphical user interface (GUI) screen, the system comprising:

a memory; and

a processor, communicatively coupled to said memory, the computer system configured to perform a method comprising;

determining by a screen share sending module a region of the GUI screen to be shared, wherein the region comprises less than the entire GUI screen;

using object recognition to analyze the GUI screen by a metadata capture module to determine metadata relevant to the region to be shared, wherein the determined metadata comprises at least a universal resource locator (URL), a search string, and a link, wherein a first portion of the determined metadata is located inside the region of the GUI screen, and wherein a second portion of the determined metadata is located in a visible portion of the GUI screen outside of the region of the GUI screen;

sending a screen share of the region comprising the determined metadata to a receiver by the screen share sending module; and

receiving the screen share of the region comprising the determined metadata by a screen share receiving module, wherein the received screen share comprises the first portion of the determined metadata in the same format in which it is presented in the GUI screen, and wherein the first portion and the second portion of the determined metadata comprising the screen share are available to a user at the receiver.