Persistent network resource and virtual area associations for realtime collaboration

• US 9,065,874 B2
• Filed: 02/17/2012
• Issued: 06/23/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Knapp Investment Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Social Communications Company
• Inventors: Butler, Robert J., Moyers, Josh, Leacock, Matthew, Brody, Paul J., Van Wie, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Lazaro, David
• Assistant Examiner(s): HUQ, FARZANA B
• Application Number:
  US13/399,737
• Publication Number:
  US 20120215900A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,222 Days
• Field of Search: 709/201, 709/208, 709/217, 709/223, 709/227, 709/238, 709/248
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1822 Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4053 without floor control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1059 Inter-group management mechanisms, e.g. splitting, merging or interconnection of groups
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes

Abstract

Apparatus and methods relating to persistent network resource and virtual area associations for realtime collaboration include managing and displaying an object associated with a virtual area that supports establishment of respective presences of communicants operating respective client network nodes. Examples of the object include an object that has one or more user-modifiable property fields and an object that is associated with screen sharing functionality of the client network node.

Claims

1. A method, comprising

by a client network node:

displaying a graphical user interface comprising a graphical representation of a virtual area that supports establishment of respective presences of a communicant operating the client network node and one or more other communicants respectively operating one or more other client network nodes and realtime communications between co-present communicants, a graphical representation of each of the communicants who is present in the virtual area, and a graphical representation of a viewscreen object in the graphical representation of the virtual area, wherein the viewscreen object is associated with screen sharing functionality that allows a client network node of a communicant who is present in the virtual area to display visual content produced by an application on the client network node and transmit representations of the visual content for display on one or more other client network nodes of respective communicants who are present in the virtual area and have activated the viewscreen object;

responsive to receipt of communicant input, transmitting a request to associate a uniform resource identifier (URI) of a network resource with the viewscreen object to a network infrastructure service supporting communicant interactions in the virtual area;

receiving from the network infrastructure service one or more values defining respective properties of the viewscreen object including an association of the URI with the viewscreen object that allows a client network node of a communicant who is present in the virtual area to display data retrieved from the URI in response to activation of the viewscreen object by the communicant;

retrieving data from the URI based on communicant input received in connection with the graphical representation of the viewscreen object; and

showing visual content in the graphical user interface based on the data retrieved from the URI.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more values defining respective properties of the viewscreen object include an association of an iconographic representation of the network resource with the viewscreen object, and the displaying comprises displaying the iconographic representation of the network resource in connection with the graphical representation of the viewscreen object.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the shown visual content to one or more other client network nodes of respective communicants who are present in the virtual area and have activated the viewscreen object.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface comprises network navigation controls, and further comprising navigating to another URI in response to communicant input received in connection with the network navigation controls;

and further comprising retrieving data from the other URI, and showing visual content in the graphical user interface based on the data retrieved from the other URI.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the graphical user interface comprises a bookmarking control, and further comprising based on communicant input received in connection with the bookmarking control presenting a graphical user interface element comprising one or more fields corresponding to respective properties of the viewscreen object.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising extracting one or more values from the data retrieved from the other URI, and wherein the presenting of the graphical user interface element comprises presenting the one or more extracted values in the one or more fields of the graphical user interface element.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising, based on communicant input received in connection with the graphical representation of the viewscreen object, displaying a graphical user interface element comprising one or more communicant-configurable property fields corresponding to one or more properties of the viewscreen object.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising transmitting an indication of the received communicant input to the network infrastructure service and in return receiving from the network infrastructure service a web document comprising an identifier of the viewscreen object and a specification of the graphical user interface element.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the specification of the graphical user interface element comprises a specified size, and the displaying of the graphical user interface element comprises displaying the graphical user interface element at the specified size.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising, responsive to communicant input, deleting one or more values in one or more of the property fields in the graphical user interface element.

11. Apparatus, comprising:

a memory storing processor-readable instructions; and

a processor coupled to the memory, operable to execute the instructions, and based at least in part on the execution of the instructions operable to perform operations comprising

displaying a graphical user interface comprising a graphical representation of a virtual area that supports establishment of respective presences of a communicant operating client network node and one or more other communicants respectively operating one or more other client network nodes and realtime communications between co-present communicants, a graphical representation of each of the communicants who is present in the virtual area, and a graphical representation of a viewscreen object in the graphical representation of the virtual area, wherein the view object is associated with screen sharing functionality that allows a client network node of a communicant who is present in the virtual area to display visual content produced an application on the client network node and transmit representations of the visual content for display on one or more other client network nodes of respective communicants who are present in the virtual area and have activated the viewscreen object;

responsive to receipt of communicant input, transmitting a request to associate a uniform resource identifier (URI) of a network resource with the viewscreen object to a network infrastructure service supporting communicant interactions in the virtual area;

receiving from the network infrastructure service one or more values defining respective properties of the viewscreen object including an association of the URI with the viewscreen object that allows a client network node of a communicant who is present in the virtual area to display data retrieved from the URI in response to activation of the viewscreen object by the communicant;

retrieving data from the URI based on communicant input received in connection with the graphical representation of the viewscreen object; and

showing visual content in the graphical user interface based on the data retrieved from the URI.

12. At least one non-transitory computer-readable medium having processor-readable program code embodied therein, the processor-readable program code adapted to be executed by a processor to perform operations comprising:

displaying a graphical user interface comprising a graphical representation of a virtual area that supports establishment of respective presences of a communicant operating the client network node and one or more other communicants respectively operating one or more other client network nodes and realtime communications between co-present communicants, a graphical representation of each of the communicants who is present in the virtual area, and a graphical representation of a viewscreen object in the graphical representation of the virtual area, wherein the viewscreen object is associated with screen sharing functionality that allows a client network node of a communicant who is present in the virtual area to display visual content produced by an application on the client network node and transmit representations of the visual content for display on one or more other client network nodes of respective communicants who present in the virtual area and have activated the viewscreen object;

responsive to receipt of communicant input, transmitting a request to associate a uniform resource identifier (URI) of a network resource with the viewscreen object to a network infrastructure service supporting communicant interactions in the virtual area;

receiving from the network infrastructure service one or more values defining respective properties of the viewscreen object including an association of the URI with the viewscreen object that allows a client network node of a communicant who is present in the virtual area to display data retrieved from the URI in response to activation of the viewscreen object by the communicant;

retrieving data from the URI based on communicant input received in connection with the graphical representation of the viewscreen object; and

showing visual content in the graphical user interface based on the data retrieved from the URI.