Control unit operations in a real-time collaboration server

• US 20040181579A1
• Filed: 03/13/2003
• Published: 09/16/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle Corporation
• Inventors: Teplov, Ilya, Huck, Paul, Skurikhin, Aleksey
• Granted Patent: US 7,219,127 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/59 Providing operational support to end devices by off-loading in the network or by emulation, e.g. when they are unavailable
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

In a real-time collaboration server, a control unit manages a collaboration mode. The control unit operates a virtual client that maintains a virtual screen reflecting the status of the collaboration (e.g., the contents of a shared desktop or whiteboard). The virtual client renders collaboration data within the virtual screen. New clients are synchronized with an ongoing collaboration by packing and sending them a copy of the virtual screen. The control unit maintains a queue of collaboration data to be sent to participating clients. Each client may have a pointer identifying the queued data it is processing. The queue may be collapsed (e.g., when it reaches a maximum size) by sending a copy of the virtual screen to one or more clients that have not yet consumed old data in the queue; those clients are then updated to skip the queue entries embodied in the virtual screen.

Claims

1. In a real-time collaboration among multiple collaboration clients, a method of tracking the status of the collaboration, the method comprising:

receiving, at a real-time collaboration server, data submitted as part of a real-time collaboration involving multiple collaboration clients;

updating a representation of the status of the real-time collaboration to include the data;

establishing a connection with a new collaboration client;

generating a copy of said representation of the status of the real-time collaboration; and

transmitting said copy to the new collaboration client to facilitate synchronization of the new collaboration client with the real-time collaboration.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said receiving comprises:

receiving at the real-time collaboration server a set of data from a first collaboration client; and

queuing said data for consumption by the other collaboration clients.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said receiving further comprises:

passing said data to a virtual client executing within the real-time collaboration server;

wherein said virtual client is configured to maintain said representation.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said representation comprises a virtual screen configured to track the appearance of a desktop of the first collaboration client.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said updating comprises:

adding the data to a collection of data, wherein a current state of the real-time collaboration can be recreated by applying said collection of data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said updating comprises:

rendering the data within said representation to reflect a current visual appearance of the real-time collaboration.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said generating comprises:

packing said representation of the status of the real-time collaboration into a form that can be applied by the new collaboration client to reproduce said status.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said status comprises graphical content of a shared client desktop.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

queuing the data as an entry in a queue of collaboration data released to collaboration clients; and

for each collaboration client, maintaining a reference to the queue entry comprising data currently being processed by the collaboration client.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

transmitting said copy to a first collaboration client; and

updating said reference for said first collaboration client to refer to the newest data included in said copy.

11. A computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method of tracking the status of a real-time collaboration involving multiple collaboration clients, the method comprising:

receiving, at a real-time collaboration server, data submitted as part of the collaboration;

updating a representation of the status of the real-time collaboration to include the data;

establishing a connection with a new collaboration client;

generating a copy of said representation of the status of the real-time collaboration; and

transmitting said copy to the new collaboration client to facilitate synchronization of the new collaboration client with the real-time collaboration.

12. A method of monitoring the status of a real-time collaboration in which a presenter'"'"'s desktop is shared with multiple clients, comprising:

operating a virtual client within a real-time collaboration server configured to manage a real-time collaboration in which a presenter'"'"'s desktop is shared with multiple clients;

receiving a first set of data from the presenter at the virtual client, wherein said a first set of data comprises one or more media streams;

rendering the first set of data within a virtual screen configured to mimic the presenter'"'"'s desktop;

receiving a media sync modifier configured to trigger a reset of said media streams; and

in response to said media sync modifier, packing said virtual screen for transmission to a client.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said packing comprises:

generating a communication configured to facilitate reproduction of the virtual screen on a client.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

forwarding said packed virtual screen to a new client joining the real-time collaboration.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

forwarding said packed virtual screen to one or more of the multiple clients.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein said virtual client is configured to maintain said virtual screen as a copy of content displayed on the presenter'"'"'s desktop.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the first set of data comprises graphical data representing a change in the appearance of the presenter'"'"'s desktop.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said rendering comprises rendering said change in said virtual screen.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein said rendering comprises updating a cache of graphical objects cached by the presenter.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein the first set of data comprises one or more of audio data and video data.

21. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

maintaining a queue in said real-time collaboration server, wherein each entry in said queue comprises collaboration data distributed to the multiple clients;

maintaining, for each of the multiple clients, a reference identifying the queue entry comprising data currently being processed by the client; and

adding the first set of data to a first entry in said queue.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising, if the queue reaches a maximum size:

identifying a slow client referencing the oldest entry in the queue;

sending said packed virtual screen to the slow client; and

updating the slow client'"'"'s reference to identify the first entry in the queue.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

receiving a request from a slow client for the data in a next entry in the queue;

comparing a size of said packed virtual screen to a total size of all data in the queue from said next entry to said first entry; and

if said total size exceeds said size of said packed virtual screen;

sending said packed virtual screen to the slow client; and

updating the slow client'"'"'s reference to identify the first entry.

24. A computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method of monitoring the status of a real-time collaboration in which a presenter'"'"'s desktop is shared with multiple clients, the method comprising:

operating a virtual client within a real-time collaboration server configured to manage the real-time collaboration;

receiving a first set of data from the presenter at the virtual client, wherein said a first set of data comprises one or more media streams;

rendering the first set of data within a virtual screen configured to mimic the presenter'"'"'s desktop;

receiving a media sync modifier configured to trigger a reset of said media streams; and

in response to said media sync modifier, packing said virtual screen for transmission to a client.

25. A method of managing a queue of collaboration data for clients participating in a real-time collaboration, comprising:

operating a control unit configured to manage dissemination of collaboration data to clients participating in a real-time collaboration;

in said control unit, maintaining a queue to store said collaboration data, wherein the clients are configured to consume said collaboration data in the order queued;

for each client, maintaining a reference identifying the queue entry comprising data currently being processed by the client; and

executing a virtual client configured to maintain a virtual screen comprising a portion of the collaboration data; and

collapsing the queue by;

transmitting said virtual screen to a first client; and

updating the client'"'"'s reference to identify the queue entry comprising the newest data included in said virtual screen.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein said collapsing the queue further comprises:

deleting one or more entries of the queue.

27. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

determining whether the queue has reached a maximum size;

wherein, if the queue has reached the maximum size, said first client is a client whose reference refers to the oldest entry in the queue.

28. The method of claim 25, further comprising, prior to said collapsing:

receiving from the first client a request for data from a next entry in the queue;

identifying a virtual screen entry in the queue comprising the newest collaboration data included in said virtual screen;

determining a total amount of data in all queue entries between said next entry and said virtual screen entry, inclusive; and

comparing the amount of data in said virtual screen to said total amount.

29. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

receiving new collaboration data from a presenter client;

passing said new collaboration data to said virtual client; and

storing said new collaboration data in the queue only after said virtual client processes said new collaboration data.

30. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

receiving new collaboration data from a presenter client; and

storing said new collaboration data in the queue;

wherein said virtual client receives access to said stored new collaboration data at substantially the same time as the clients.

31. A computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method of managing a queue of collaboration data for clients participating in a real-time collaboration, the method comprising:

operating a control unit configured to manage dissemination of collaboration data to clients participating in a real-time collaboration;

in said control unit, maintaining a queue to store said collaboration data, wherein the clients are configured to consume said collaboration data in the order queued;

for each client, maintaining a reference identifying the queue entry comprising data currently being processed by the client; and

executing a virtual client configured to maintain a virtual screen comprising a portion of the collaboration data; and

collapsing the queue by;

transmitting said virtual screen to a first client; and

updating the client'"'"'s reference to identify the queue entry comprising the newest data included in said virtual screen.

32. A real-time collaboration system, comprising:

a control unit configured to manage a mode of a real-time collaboration in which content of a first attendee'"'"'s client is shared with other attendees'"'"' clients;

a virtual client configured to maintain a virtual screen configured to mirror said content;

a queue in which said control unit stores said content for transmission to the other attendees'"'"' clients;

for each attendee'"'"'s client, a corresponding reference identifying a queue entry containing content the client is currently processing; and

one or more communication modules configured to transmit said content to the other attendees'"'"' clients;

33. The system of claim 32, wherein updated content of the first attendee'"'"'s client is provided to said virtual client prior to being stored in said queue.

34. The system of claim 32, wherein updated content of the first attendee'"'"'s client is stored in said queue, and made available to said virtual client and the other attendees'"'"' clients, at substantially the same time.

35. The system of claim 32, wherein said virtual client is configured to render, in said virtual screen, updated content received from the first attendee'"'"'s client.

36. The system of claim 32, wherein said virtual client is further configured to generate a copy of said virtual screen for transmission to a new attendee'"'"'s client, to facilitate synchronization of the new attendee'"'"'s client with the real-time collaboration.

37. The system of claim 32, wherein said control unit comprises said virtual client.

38. The system of claim 32, further comprising:

one or more data consumers configured to schedule the transmission of queued content to an attendee client.

39. The system of claim 38, wherein said one or more data consumers comprises one data consumer for each attendee client.

40. The system of claim 38, wherein said one or more data consumers comprises a data consumer for said virtual client.

41. The system of claim 32, further comprising:

one or more data providers configured to provide content to said control unit from attendees'"'"' clients, including said first attendee'"'"'s client.

42. The system of claim 32, wherein said control unit is configured to collapse said queue if said queue reaches a maximum size.

43. The system of claim 42, wherein collapsing said queue comprises:

identifying a slow attendee client, wherein the corresponding reference of said slow attendee client identifies the oldest entry in said queue;

sending the slow attendee client a copy of said virtual screen;

updating said slow attendee client'"'"'s corresponding reference to identify the queue entry comprising the newest content mirrored in said virtual screen; and

deleting said oldest entry in said queue.

44. The system of claim 32, wherein said control unit is configured to:

receive a request for content in a first entry of said queue for a slow attendee client;

identify an amount of content in said virtual screen;

determine a total amount of content in said first entry, a second entry comprising the newest content mirrored in said virtual screen and all entries between said first entry and said second entry; and

if said amount of content in said virtual screen is less than said total amount of content, collapse said queue.

45. The system of claim 44, wherein collapsing said queue comprises:

sending the slow attendee client a copy of said virtual screen; and

updating said slow attendee client'"'"'s corresponding reference to identify said second entry.