Systems and methodologies supporting collaboration of users as members of a team, among a plurality of computing appliances

• US 8,924,859 B2
• Filed: 05/06/2011
• Issued: 12/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Collaboration Technologies, LLC
• Original Assignee: David H Sitrick
• Inventors: Sitrick, David H., Fling, Russell T.
• Primary Examiner(s): TITCOMB, WILLIAM D
• Application Number:
  US13/102,777
• Publication Number:
  US 20120284633A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,334 Days
• Field of Search: 715/764, 715/751, 715/762, 715/763, 715/765, 715/853
• US Class Current: 715/751
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/101 Collaborative creation, e.g. joint development of products or services

Abstract

A system and method providing for collaborating among a plurality of users each user at a respective associated one of a plurality of computing appliances. At least one user controls team designation definition for each of a plurality of computing appliances. Thereafter, each of the plurality of computing appliances that has a same said team designation, act (and communicate and provide a display) as a group. Each of the plurality of computing appliances in the group is a member of and a part of a defined team having a defined set of roles. Each respective one of the plurality of computing appliances is provided with a role designation. Operations of each respective one of the plurality of computing appliances is thereafter controlled in accordance with functionality as defined responsive to the respective role designation for said each respective one of the plurality of computing appliances. Associatively mapped storage is provided in a respective one of a plurality of data layers, memory of respective user data provided responsive to input by a respective user in a respective associatively mapped data layer from within a plurality of data layers in the memory. A display presentation is generated at each of said at least two of the plurality of computing appliances responsive to at least two of the data layers. The respective user data is representative of a display presentation of annotations originated (input by the user) at a respective associated computing appliance for each respective one of at least two of the plurality of computing appliances.

Claims

1. A system for collaborating among a plurality of users each at an associated one of a plurality of computing appliances each comprised of a non-transitory memory and an input apparatus providing for user input, the system comprising:

input logic permitting concurrent input via the input apparatus by at least two of the users, to provide annotation data having an associated image for display;

layer logic structuring storage in the memory of each of at least two of the computing appliances, as a plurality of data layers duplicated in each of said computing appliances, wherein each said user is associated with a same said data layer in each of the computing appliances;

control logic storing the annotation data associated with each said user in the associated said data layer that is associated with each said user, for each of at least two of the users;

display logic, selecting at least two of the plurality of said data layers as selected data layers;

display generation logic responsive to the annotation data from the selected data layers to generate a display presentation for viewing by at least one of the users.

2. The system as in claim 1,

wherein the annotation data is comprised of associated content data and associated context data, said context data defining a specific position within the display presentation;

wherein the associated image for the annotation data is provided in the display presentation responsive to the content data of said annotation data, and wherein the associated image appears at the specific location in the display presentation responsive to the context data of said annotation data.

3. The system as in claim 2,

wherein the content data is comprised of at least one of:

vector line drawing data, graphic data, image data, tables of data, text data, audio data,

video data, gaming data, medical data, and other data; and

,

wherein the context data is comprised of at least one of;

information provided to the display logic to enable proper display of the content;

context parameters that apply to the display of associated said content data relative to the display of other said annotation data;

context parameters that apply to the display of associated said content data and directly to the display of other said annotation data, wherein the context parameters can be spatial locations or references to other said annotation data; and

,

information provided to define an ordering of the selected data layers in the display presentation.

4. The system as in claim 1,

wherein said selected data layers are different for each of the at least two of the plurality of computing appliances;

wherein a different said display presentation is viewed on each of the at least two computing appliances responsive to the selected data layers for said computing appliance.

5. The system as in claim 1,

wherein the display presentation is provided for concurrent viewing on at least two computing appliances, responsive to the selected data layers.

6. The system as in claim 1,

wherein the display presentation on at least two of the plurality of computing appliances is further comprised of a display of a base image;

wherein the associated image for the annotation data appears atop a part of the display of the base image in the display presentation.

7. The system as in claim 1, further comprising:

team logic assigning each of at least two of the users to be associated as a member of a team;

wherein the data layers associated with the members of the team comprise the selected data layers;

wherein the display presentation is provided to each of the members of the team responsive to the selected data layers.

8. The system as in claim 7,

wherein there are a plurality of the teams, each comprised of at least two of the users;

the system further comprising

communications apparatus providing communications between the computing appliances of the members of each said team, of media data having an associated presentation,

wherein the media data is comprised of at least one of;

voice data, video data, image data, software program display output data, interactive game display data, and computer screen capture data;

wherein the display presentation is comprised of the associated presentation of the media data combined with the associated images associated with the annotation data for the selected data layers.

9. The system as in claim 7,

wherein there are at least two said teams;

wherein at least one of the users associated with each of at least two of the teams are associated as members of an interteam team;

wherein the data layers associated with said members of the interteam team are associated as interteam layers;

wherein at least one of the interteam layers is selected as interteam selected layers,

wherein at least a part of the display presentation provided for viewing to at least one of the members of the interteam team, is provided responsive to the interteam selected layer.

10. The system as in claim 9,

wherein at least one of the users on the interteam is not permitted to provide input, and comprises an interteam listener;

wherein at least a part of the display presentation provided to at least one said interteam listener is provided responsive to the interteam layers.

11. The system as in claim 1,

wherein for each of at least two of the users, the associated data layers are permitted to store the annotation data associated with said user providing the input;

wherein the annotation data as input by the at least two of the users is stored in the associated data layers, and

wherein no storage is provided for input by other than the at least two of the users.

12. The system as in claim 1,

wherein each of at least two of the users is associated as a student user, and the data layer associated with the student user comprises a student layer;

wherein the student layer stores the annotation data associated with said student user;

wherein each of at least one of the users is associated as a teacher user, and the data layer associated with the teacher user comprises a teacher layer;

wherein the teacher layer for stores the annotation data associated with said teacher user;

wherein the selected data layers are comprised of at least one of the teacher layers and at least one of the student layers;

wherein the display generation logic utilizes the annotation data from the selected data layers to generate the display presentation for viewing by at least one of the users.

13. The system as in claim 12,

wherein the display generation logic provides a multiple user display mode wherein the display presentation presented to at least one of the teacher users is comprised of multiple separate said display presentations provided in multiple display windows;

wherein each said display window is generated responsive to a different one of the student layers being selected as the selected layer used for generating the display presentation in said display window, for each of the multiple separate said display presentations.

14. The system as in claim 1, further comprising:

storage logic selecting which of the data layers are enabled to store the annotation data responsive to input by the user associated with the annotation data, for each said user.

15. The system as in claim 1,

wherein at least one of the users is associated as a presenter user, and the data Layer associated with said presenter user comprises a presenter layer, as to each said presenter user;

wherein at least one of the users is associated as a participant user and the data layer associated with said participant user comprises a participant layer, as to each said participant user;

wherein at least one said presenter layer comprises a set of selected presenter layers;

wherein the participant layer associated with each said participant user is selected as a selected participant layer associated with said participant user;

wherein the display presentation presented for viewing to each said participant user is provided responsive to the set of selected presenter layers and the selected participant layer associated with each said participant user.

16. The system as in claim 15,

wherein there are at least two said participant users each having an associated said participant layer where the annotation data associated with said participant user is stored;

wherein the set of selected presenter layers and at least two said participant layers are utilized to provide the display presentation.

17. The system as in claim 1,

wherein at least one of the users is not permitted to provide input, and comprises a listener user;

wherein the display presentation is further provided for viewing by at least one said listener user.

18. The system as in claim 16,

wherein at least two said participant layers are selected as a set of selected participant layers;

wherein the annotation data associated with each said participant user is stored in an associated said data layer from said set of selected participant layers;

wherein the selected data layers is comprised of the set of selected presenter layers and at least one of the set of selected participant layers;

wherein the selected data layers are utilized to provide the display presentation.

19. The system as in claim 18,

wherein the annotation associated with at least two of said participant users are stored in a same said selected participant layer;

wherein the same said selected participant layer and at least one other of the selected participant layers are selected as a group of selected participant layers;

wherein the annotation data associated with each said participant user is stored in the selected participant layer that is associated with said participant user;

wherein the annotation data associated with the set of selected presenter layers and the annotation data associated with the group of selected participant layers, are utilized to provide the display presentation for viewing by at least one of the users.

20. A method for collaborating among a plurality of users at an associated one of a plurality of computing appliances each comprised of a non-transitory memory and an input apparatus providing for user input, the method comprising:

permitting concurrent input via the input apparatus by at least two of the users, to provide annotation data having an associated image for display;

structuring storage in the memory of each of the computing appliances as a plurality of data layers duplicated in each of said computing appliances, wherein each said user is associated with a same said data layer in each of the computing appliances;

storing the annotation data associated with each said user in the associated said data layer that is associated with said user, for each of at least two of the users;

selecting at least two of the plurality of said data layers as selected data layers;

providing a display presentation for viewing by at least one of the users responsive to the annotation data from the selected data layers.

21. The method as in claim 20, further comprising:

selecting at one of the computing appliances, which of the data layers are the selected data layers.

22. The method as in claim 20, further comprising:

determining for each of a plurality of the computing appliances, which of the data layers are the selected data layers associated with said computing appliance; and

generating the display presentation at each of at least two of the plurality of computing appliances, responsive to the selected data layers associated with each of said at least two of the plurality of computing appliance.

23. The method as in claim 20,

wherein the annotation data is representative of annotations made by the associated said user and made by said user to appear at a specified location specified by said user;

the method further comprising;

providing a local display presentation at at least one of the plurality of computing appliances, responsive to the data layers that are associated with the at least one of the computing appliances, and further responsive to the selected data layers associated with at least one other one of the plurality of computing appliances.

24. The method as in claim 20,

wherein user interaction with at least one of the computing appliances provides selection of which of the data layers are selected data layers to be used in display generation;

wherein the at least one of the computing appliances communicates the selection of the selected data layers, with all other ones of the computing appliances;

and

wherein thereafter, all of said computing appliances, each use the selected data layers for display generation.

25. The method as in claim 20,

wherein each of the computing appliances locally determines which of the data layers are locally selected data layers to be used to provide a local display of the display presentation at said computing appliance;

and

wherein the local display of the display presentation is generated separately at each said computing appliance responsive to the locally selected data layers for said computing appliance.

26. A method for collaborating among a plurality of users, each user at a respective associated one of a plurality of computing appliances, the method comprising:

permitting concurrent input by at least two of the users, to provide annotation data having an associated image for display,

wherein the respective annotation data is representative of a display presentation of annotations originated at a respective associated computing appliance, for each respective one of at least two of the plurality of computing appliances;

providing associatively mapped storage in non-transitory memory of associated said annotation data associated with the user providing said input, to provide storage of the annotation data in an associatively mapped data layer from a plurality of data layers in the memory;

selecting at least two of the users as selected users; and

generating a local display presentation for viewing by each of the selected users, responsive to the said data layers associated with the selected users.

27. The method as in claim 26, further comprising:

assigning each of at least two of the users to be associated as a member of a team;

wherein the members of the team comprise the selected users;

wherein a same display presentation is provided to each of the members of the team.

28. The method as in claim 26, further comprising:

assigning each of at least two of the users to be associated as a member of a team, for each of a plurality of said teams;

assigning at least one said user from at least two of the teams to be a member of an interteam team;

displaying the same said display presentation to each member of a same said team, responsive to the data layers associated with the members of said team; and

displaying an interteam display presentation to each member of the interteam team, responsive to the data layers associated with the members of said interteam team.

29. The method as in claim 28, further comprising:

displaying the interteam display presentation to at least one of said members of the team that is not said interteam member.

30. The method as in claim 26, further comprising:

determining which of the data layers are selected data layers that are to be used locally at each of the computing appliances; and

generating the local display presentation at each of the respective plurality of computing appliances responsive to the respective selected data layers.

31. The method as in claim 26,

wherein at least one of the data layers is associated as a leader data layer, for storage of display related data representative of a display presentation associated with the input by one of said users;

and,

wherein the display presentation is provided at each one of said plurality of computing appliance responsive to the leader data layer.

32. The method as in claim 31,

wherein at least one other of the data layers is associated as a member data layer for storing display related data for at least one said user;

wherein said display related data is representative of a display presentation associated with input of the annotation data; and

wherein the display presentation is provided on each one of at least two of said plurality of computing appliances, responsive to the leader data layer and the member data layer associated with each said computing appliance providing the display.