Synchronized web scrolling

• US 6,958,981 B1
• Filed: 05/24/1999
• Issued: 10/25/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: NCR Voyix Corporation
• Original Assignee: NCR Corporation
• Inventors: Hemminger, Donald F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kizou, Hassan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Levitan, Dmitry
• Application Number:
  US09/317,312
• Time in Patent Office: 2,346 Days
• Field of Search: 370/270, 709/204, 709/205
• US Class Current: 370/270
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

A video conferencing system. In a type of conferencing known as “synchronized browsing,” several computers download a common web page from a public-access, packet-switched network, such as the Internet. Software in a first computer informs the other computers how the first computer is navigating through the web page, and sends the other computers data which enables them to navigate the same path, so that all computers navigate in synchrony, and display the same sequence of images. Under the invention, while such a web page is being navigated by such computers, software observes one of them, and looks for the event of scrolling (as opposed to navigation). When scrolling is detected, its termination is awaited. When termination occurs, the invention tells the other computers which part of the page is currently being displayed, so that the others can navigate to that part and also display it.

Claims

1. In a conference among multiple computers which are operated by participants, the improvement comprising the following steps:

a) detecting, in one computer, the occurrence of scrolling through a document;

b) when said scrolling terminates, ascertaining which part of the document is being displayed by said computer; and

c) after said ascertainment, transmitting to other computers data which enables them to display said part of the document.

2. Improvement according to claim 1, wherein the data consists essentially of a location of a group of data within the document.

3. Improvement according to claim 1, wherein the data enables the other computers to navigate to said part of the document, without scrolling.

4. Improvement according to claim 1, wherein all computers are linked by a packet-switched network, and the data is transmitted along said network.

5. Improvement according to claim 1, and further comprising the step of

d) maintaining a telephone conference among the participants.

6. Improvement according to claim 1, wherein the scrolling at said one computer is accompanied by motion of an elevator bar displayed by said one computer.

7. Improvement according to claim 1, wherein said document comprises multiple pages, and said scrolling involves displaying different pages at different times.

8. Improvement according to claim 1, wherein said document cannot be displayed in a single computer display, and said scrolling enables the user to selectively

i) display different parts of the document,

ii) while other parts are not displayed.

9. Improvement according to claim 1, and further comprising

d) providing synchronized browsing capability of a web site to a subset of computers in said group, wherein displays of the subset are caused to present common material.

10. In a conference among multiple computers which are operated by participants, the improvement comprising the following steps:

a) detecting, in one computer, the occurrence of scrolling through a document, wherein parts of the document are sequentially displayed on a screen;

b) when said scrolling terminates, ascertaining a coordinate within the document which is contained within the part of the document being displayed;

c) transmitting a data packet to a packet-switched network for delivery to other of the multiple computers; and

d) providing synchronized browsing capability of a web site to a subset of computers in said group, wherein displays of the subset are caused to present common material.

11. An apparatus, comprising:

a) a computer-readable storage medium;

b) software means, physically configured in the storage medium, for;

i) detecting when scrolling through a document occurs in a computer;

ii) detecting when said scrolling terminates, and, upon termination, ascertaining which part of the document is being displayed by said computer; and

iii) transmitting to other computers a coordinate which enables them to display said part of the document.

12. A method of operating a group of computers, comprising the following steps:

a) loading a common document into the computers;

b) detecting scrolling at a first computer, which causes a displayed image to scroll from a first position within the document, through intermediate positions within the document, to a final position within a document; and

b) transmitting information to other computers which are currently displaying the first position of the document, which causes the other computers to display said final position within the document, without displaying intermediate positions.

13. Method according to claim 12, wherein the document is loaded from a common web site, from a packet-switched, public-access network.

14. Method according to claim 12, wherein the information of paragraph (b) is transmitted to the other computers through a packet-switched, public-access network.

15. Method according to claim 12, wherein the scrolling at said first computer is accompanied by motion of an elevator bar displayed by said first computer.

16. Method according to claim 12, and further comprising

c) providing synchronized browsing capability to at least some computers in said group.