Interactive web collaboration systems and methods

• US 20080270555A1
• Filed: 01/25/2008
• Published: 10/30/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fiver LLC
• Original Assignee: Family Systems, Ltd.
• Inventors: Reynolds, Brian, Conway, Mark J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,904,526 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/253 Grammatical analysis; Style critique
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/289 Phrasal analysis, e.g. finite state techniques or chunking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• 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 12/1831 Tracking arrangements for later retrieval, e.g. recording contents, participants activities or behavior, network status
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/02 using automatic reactions or user delegation, e.g. automatic replies or chatbot-generated messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/18 Commands or executable codes

Abstract

A topic room is provided in which one or more individuals or other entities may collaborate on topics of mutual interest. Multiple individuals or participants may use the topic room to communicate in real or non-real time and may work together to create, browse, modify, comment on, and perform any other suitable action on content. A chat room within the topic room receives, records, and transmits the communications and all activity in the topic room to all participants as messages. Client processes at a participant'"'"'s user equipment may listen to the messages and take particular actions. For example, one participant can follow another participant as that participant browses through material by using the messages received from that participant.

Claims

1. A method for using a chat room, comprising:

passing messages from at least one object associated with a user of the chat room to one or more users of the chat room when the user takes an action; and

enabling a user to decide whether or not an object associated with that user is to take a particular action based on a received message.

2. The method defined in claim 1, further comprising passing messages from at least one object associated with a user of the chat room to one or more users of the chat room when an event occurs.

3. The method defined in claim 1 wherein a user of the chat room is selected from the group consisting of a human, an object associated with a human that is defined by scripts, and an object with its own identity that is defined by scripts.

4. The method defined in claim 1, wherein content of the message is based on the action.

5. The method defined in claim 1, further comprising enabling a user to decide whether or not an object associated with the user is to take a particular action when a combination of messages is received.

6. The method defined in claim 1, further comprising taking the particular action when the message is received or after the message has been received.

7. The method defined in claim 1, wherein enabling the user to decide whether or not an object associated with the user is to take a particular action comprises enabling the user to program the object to follow an associated script whenever a specified event or message or a combination of specified events or messages occurs.

8. The method defined in claim 1, wherein enabling the user to decide whether or not an object associated with the user is to take a particular action comprises enabling the user to program the object by inputting a whenever statement and an associated script.

9. The method defined in claim 1, wherein the messages are speakable commands.

10. The method defined in claim 9, further comprising enabling a user to create, monitor, examine, and react to speakable or spoken commands.

11. The method defined in claim 1, wherein enabling the user to decide whether or not an object associated with the user is to take a particular action comprises allowing the user to decide after the message has been received whether or not an object associated with the user is to take a particular action.

12. The method defined in claim 1, further comprising passing a message from an object associated with the user of the chat room to the one or more users of the chat room when the user takes an action selected from the group consisting of changing a location of the user'"'"'s web browser, making an audio recording, setting an index point relating to a recording or a portion thereof, creating a new page, and revising a page.

13. The method defined in claim 12, wherein the message passed when the user makes the audio recording includes information to play the audio recording or a portion of the audio recording.

14. The method defined in claim 13, wherein the information to play the audio recording includes a link.

15. The method defined in claim 1, further comprising passing a message from an object associated with the user of the chat room to the one or more users of the chat room when the user plays an audio recording.

16. The method defined in claim 1, wherein one object associated with the user has an identity defined by scripts.

17. The method defined in claim 16, wherein the one object has a meeting coordinator identity and wherein the one object includes scripts for coordinating meetings of remote participants.

18. The method defined in claim 17, wherein the scripts for coordinating meetings of remote participants comprise a script for calling the remote participants and a script for connecting the remote participants to a conference call.

19. The method defined in claim 16, wherein the one object has a glossarizer identity and wherein the one object includes scripts for linking words or phrases to a glossary page.

20. The method defined in claim 1, further comprising creating a log, wherein the content of the log is selected from the group consisting of all messages that are passed and all activity that relates to a specific user.

21. The method defined in claim 20, further comprising enabling a user to play back the history of participation in the chat room using the log.

22. The method defined in claim 20, wherein the log is created in the form of scripts.

23. The method defined in claim 20, further comprising enabling a user to search the log based on the content of the log.

24. The method defined in claim 1, further comprising enabling a user to add behavior to content by providing a tag which references the content and an object that defines the behavior.

25. The method defined in claim 24, further comprising enabling the user who added the tag to indicate whether the tag is to be displayed or hidden.

26. The method defined in claim 25, further comprising enabling a user who is viewing the content to which a tag has been added to determine whether the tag is to be displayed or hidden.

27. The method defined in claim 24, wherein the content is selected from the group consisting of a word processing document, a spreadsheet document, an image document, a web page, digital audio, multimedia recording, text, two-dimensional graphics, three-dimensional graphics, n-dimensional graphics, animation, video, source code, and executable code.

28. The method defined in claim 24, wherein the behavior is defined by scripts.

29. The method defined in claim 24, wherein the behavior is defined by a persona.

30. The method defined in claim 1, further comprising enabling users of the chat room to build personas having a set of behaviors.

31. The method defined in claim 30, further comprising enabling the personas to communicate using multiple languages.

32. The method defined in claim 30, wherein the set of behaviors comprises a set of human-like behaviors.

33. The method defined in claim 30, wherein the set of behaviors of a persona is defined by scripts.

34. The method defined in claim 33, wherein the scripts are provided by multiple users.

35. The method defined in claim 30, further comprising enabling a user of the chat room to adopt a persona by inheriting the behavior.

36. The method defined in claim 30, further comprising enabling a user of the chat room to have an assistant object adopt a persona.

37. The method defined in claim 36, wherein the assistant object acts as an artificial agent.

38. The method defined in claim 1, further comprising using the chat room to communicate between objects.

39. The method defined in claim 1, wherein an object that implements the chat room is a participant in the chat room.

40. A method for using a chat room, comprising:

passing messages from at least one object associated with a user of the chat room to one or more users of the chat room when the user takes an action or when at least one event occurs; and

enabling a user to decide whether or not an object associated with the user is to take a particular action based on a received message.

41. The method defined in claim 40, further comprising enabling a user to define the at least one event that causes a message to be passed.