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

• US 8,578,280 B2
• Filed: 09/09/2011
• Issued: 11/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: ZAMA Innovations LLC
• Original Assignee: Rosebud LMS, Inc.
• Inventors: Mohan, John J., Lejter, Moises, Greene, Stephen
• Primary Examiner(s): HAILU, TADESSE
• Application Number:
  US13/229,371
• Publication Number:
  US 20110320936A1
• Time in Patent Office: 788 Days
• Field of Search: 715/748, 715/751, 715/753, 715/759, 709/204, 709/205, 709217-220, 709/227, 709/248
• US Class Current: 715/751
• 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 a stand-alone application operable to create and edit to documents in response to user actions, and wherein the one or more application level events reflect user actions that result in changes to a native document file generated by the first instance of stand-alone application;

transmitting data comprising the native document file and the data regarding one or more application level events over the computer network, automatically and in real time, to a second instance of the stand-alone application; and

causing the second instance of the stand-alone application;

to display a local copy of a document corresponding to a local copy of the native document file,

to receive and use the data comprising data regarding one or more application level events to replicate the events that occurred within the first instance,

to mirror the user actions performed in the first instance without user intervention by performing an equivalent action on the local copy of the native document file and thereby make corresponding changes to the local copy of the native document file, and

to display the changes to the local copy of the document,

wherein no events that have an effect outside the stand-alone application are propagated to provide security of the collaboration.

2. A method as in claim 1, wherein the one or more application level events include adding annotations to the document in response to the user actions, and wherein the changes displayed to the local copy of the document include the added annotations.

3. A method as in claim 1, wherein the stand-alone application is Adobe Acrobat.

4. A method as in claim 1, wherein the second instance of the stand-alone application is further configured to queue received event notifications.

5. A method as in claim 4, wherein the second instance of the stand-alone application controls retrieval of the queued event notifications from multiple participants and resolves conflicts between the events.

6. A method as in claim 1, wherein the data regarding one or more application level events is transmitted to the second instance via a session manager, and in which conflict resolution between events from different sources is performed by the session manager.

7. A method of claim 1, wherein the stand-alone application comprises a document viewer viewing a first copy of a native document file generated by the first instance of the stand-alone application.

8. A method as in claim 7, wherein the application is Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader.

9. A method as in claim 1, wherein the application level events comprise one or more text changing events.

10. A method as in claim 1, further comprising saving the local copy of the native document file with changes including the added annotations made by the replicated events incorporated therein.

11. A method as in claim 1, wherein the second instance of the stand-alone application detects conflicts between the application level events and resolves detected conflicts between the application level events without requiring user intervention.

12. A method as in claim 1, wherein a session manager detects conflicts between the application level events and resolves the detected conflicts using sequence numbers assigned to the application level events and without requiring user intervention.

13. A computer readable storage medium storing software for collaboration over a computer network, comprising:

a software plug-in operable to intercept data regarding application level events that occur within a first instance of a stand-alone application operable to create and edit documents in response to user actions, and to which the first instance of the software plug-in has been plugged in and wherein the one or more application level events reflect user actions that result in changes to a native document file generated by the first instance of stand-alone application are delivered to the plug-in, wherein a sequence number is assigned to each of the one or more application level events to resolve any conflicts between the one or more application level events;

wherein the software plug-in is further operable to receive data regarding one or more application level events that occur within a second instance of the stand-alone application and are transmitted over the computer network from a second instance of the plug-in plugged into the second instance of the stand-alone application, wherein the instances of stand-alone application are separate instances;

wherein the first instance of the software plug-in is further operable to use the received data regarding one or more application level events to replicate the events that occurred within the second instance of the stand-alone application, using the first instance of the stand-alone application to mirror the user actions performed on the second instance by performing an equivalent action including on a local copy of the native document file, and to display the changes to the local document corresponding to the native document file, automatically, in real time, and without user intervention, and

wherein communications over the computer network that links workstations in a session are encrypted to preserve privacy of a session.

14. A computer readable storage medium storing software as in claim 13, wherein the stand-alone application is Adobe Acrobat.

15. A computer readable storage medium storing software as in claim 13, wherein the data regarding one or more application level events is transmitted by the second instance via a session manager.

16. A computer readable storage medium storing software as in claim 13, wherein the first instance of the stand-alone application detects conflicts between the application level events and resolves detected conflicts between the application level events without requiring user intervention.

17. A computer readable storage medium storing software as in claim 13, wherein the session manager detects conflicts between the application level events and resolves the detected conflicts using a sequence numbers assigned to the application level events and without requiring user intervention.

18. 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 a stand-alone application operable to create and edit documents in response to user actions, and wherein the one or more application level events reflect user actions that result in changes to a native document file generated by the first instance of stand-alone application wherein a sequence number is assigned to each of the one or more application level events to resolve any conflicts between the one or more application level events;

transmitting data comprising the native document file and the data regarding one or more application level events over the computer network, automatically and in real time, to a one or more other instances of the stand-alone application, wherein the instances of stand-alone application are separate instances running only on workstations operated by users;

receiving data regarding one or more application level events that reflect user actions that result in changes to a native document file generated by one or more other instances of stand-alone application; and

causing the first instance of the stand-alone application;

to use the received data comprising data regarding one or more application level events to replicate the events that occurred within the one or more other instances,

to mirror the user actions performed in the one or more other instances by performing an equivalent action on the local copy of the native document file and thereby make corresponding changes to the local copy of the native document file, and

to display the changes to the local copy of the document,

wherein no events that have an effect outside the stand-alone application are propagated to provide security of the collaboration.

19. A method as in claim 18, further comprising causing a session manager to detect and resolve conflicts caused by user actions performed in said one or more other instances.

20. A method as in claim 18, wherein said session manager detects and resolves conflicts using said sequence numbers assigned to said application level events.