Method and software for enabling n-way collaborative work over a network of computers

• US 20030200352A1
• Filed: 04/22/2002
• Published: 10/23/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ZAMA Innovations LLC
• Original Assignee: Rosebud LMS, Inc.
• Inventors: Lejter, Moises, Greene, Stephen, Mohan, John J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,454,760 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/318
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4015 where at least one of the additional parallel sessions is real time or time sensitive, e.g. white board sharing, collaboration or spawning of a subconference
• 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 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality

Abstract

Method, software, and system for efficiently enabling n-way collaborative work using common software over a network of computers. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, each participant in a collaborative session starts up a common software application, which includes a collaboration component. This collaboration component is used to establish a common session that includes all interested parties. The collaboration component replicates operations performed on any one instance of said application to all other instances participating in the same session, so the effect is as if all members of the session were sharing a single instance of the application on a single computer. In one aspect, the collaboration component also supports broadcast of audio and video over a computer network, to enable session participants to see and/or hear each other, and further includes other features that support collaborative work.

Claims

1. A method for collaboration over a computer network, comprising:

intercepting data regarding one or more application level events that occur within a first instance of an application; and

transmitting data comprising said data regarding application level events over said computer network to a second instance of said application,

wherein said second instance of said application is configured to receive and use said data comprising data regarding application level events to replicate said events that occurred within said first instance.

2. A method as in claim 1, wherein said application is Adobe Acrobat.

3. A method as in claim 1, wherein said second instance is further configured to queue received event notifications.

4. A method as in claim 3, wherein said second instance of said application controls retrieval of said queued event notifications.

5. A method as in claim 3, wherein said application is Adobe Acrobat.

6. A method as in claim 1, wherein a plurality of instances of said application are configured to receive and use said data comprising data regarding application level events, and wherein each instance uses said data comprising data regarding application level events to replicate said events that occurred within said first instance in a manner consistent with that of the other instances.

7. A method as in claim 1, wherein said data comprising data regarding application level events is transmitted to said second instance via a session manager.

8. A method as in claim 1, wherein said data regarding application level events comprises one or more event sequence numbers.

9. Software for collaboration over a computer network, comprising:

software for intercepting data regarding one or more application level events that occur within a first instance of an application; and

software for transmitting data comprising said data regarding application level events over said computer network to a second instance of said application,

wherein said second instance of said application is configured to receive and use said data comprising data regarding application level events to replicate said events that occurred within said first instance.

10. Software as in claim 9, wherein said application is Adobe Acrobat.

11. Software as in claim 9, wherein said second instance is further configured to queue received event notifications.

12. Software as in claim 11, wherein said second instance of said application controls retrieval of said queued event notifications.

13. Software as in claim 11, wherein said application is Adobe Acrobat.

14. Software as in claim 9, wherein a plurality of instances of said application are configured to receive and use said data comprising data regarding application level events, and wherein each instance implements said data comprising data regarding application level events to replicate said events that occurred within said first instance in a manner consistent with that of the other instances.

15. Software as in claim 9, wherein said data comprising data regarding application level events is transmitted to said second instance via a session manager.

16. Software as in claim 15, further comprising session manager software.

17. Software as in claim 16, wherein said session manager software comprises an instance of said application.

18. Software as in claim 9, wherein said data regarding application level events comprises one or more event sequence numbers.

19. Software comprising

means for configuring an application to transmit data regarding application level events over a computer network;

means for configuring an application to receive data comprising application level events over a computer network; and

means for configuring an application to replicate events based on received data comprising application level events over a computer network.

20. Software as in claim 19, further comprising means for causing first instance of an application configured by said software to implement application level events described in data received from a second instance of the application in a manner consistent with the second instance'"'"'s implementation of said events.

21. A system for conducting collaborative sessions, comprising:

a first computer connected to a computer network and configured to transmit application level event information over said computer network, wherein said application level event information describes events executed by said first computer;

a second computer connected to said computer network and configured to transmit and receive application level event information over said computer network; and

a third computer connected to said computer network and configured to receive application level event information over said computer network and then replicate application level events described in said information,

wherein said second computer is further configured to receive application level event information received from said first computer and then transmit said information to said third computer, and

wherein said second computer is configured to manage information transmitted from said first computer to said third computer.