Fairly adding documents to a collaborative session

• US 9,794,078 B2
• Filed: 03/05/2014
• Issued: 10/17/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Schwartz, Edward L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Jimmy H
• Application Number:
  US14/198,522
• Publication Number:
  US 20150256638A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,322 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1462 with means for detecting differences between the image stored in the host and the images displayed on the remote displays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/18 for broadcast or conference , e.g. multicast
• 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 67/5651 Reducing the amount or size of exchanged application data

Abstract

A system and method for sharing documents and markup to documents in near real-time. A server coupled with a plurality of client devices via a network is configured to fairly distribute documents to each of the plurality of client devices in one or more collaborative sessions. The server receives a document for distribution to a plurality of client devices associated with a particular collaborative session, breaks the documents into pieces, and repeatedly, until all pieces of the document are distributed: selects a piece of the document for transmission, sends the selected piece to each of the plurality of client devices, computes a delay based on the size of the selected piece and a minimum network bandwidth, and waits for the computed delay.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a document for distribution to a plurality of client devices in a collaboration session;

breaking the document into pieces; and

repeatedly, until all pieces of the document are distributed;

selecting a piece of the document for transmission from a first collaboration session queue;

adding the selected piece to a global queue for transmission;

sending the selected piece simultaneously to each of the plurality of client devices;

computing a delay between sending the selected piece and sending a next piece of the document to each of the plurality of client devices based on a size of the selected piece and a minimum network bandwidth, wherein the minimum network bandwidth is determined based on a bandwidth of a client device, of the plurality of client devices, having a limited bandwidth connection;

updating the global queue by adding data from a second collaboration session queue while waiting for the computed delay to send the next piece to each of the plurality of client devices;

synchronizing the sending of the next piece to the plurality of client devices by waiting for the computed delay to send the next piece to each of the plurality of client devices; and

destroying the first collaboration session queue in response to all pieces of document being distributed.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to receiving the document, creating the first collaboration session queue.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the piece of the document for transmission comprises:

determining a page most viewed by users of the plurality of client devices; and

selecting the page most viewed for transmission.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the pieces of the document comprise header and stroke pieces.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the stroke pieces of the document are in scalable vector graphics (SVG) format.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the delay is computed using a token bucket algorithm.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting images of the document on a different channel using a lazy loading algorithm.

8. A system comprising:

one or more hardware processors; and

a memory storing instructions, which when executed by the one or more hardware processors, cause the system to;

receive a document for distribution to a plurality of client devices in a collaboration session;

break the document into pieces; and

repeatedly, until all pieces of the document are distributed;

select a piece of the document for transmission from a first collaboration session queue;

add the selected piece to a global queue for transmission;

send the selected piece simultaneously to each of the plurality of client devices;

compute a delay between sending the selected piece and sending a next piece of the document to each of the plurality of client devices based on a size of the selected piece and a minimum network bandwidth, wherein the minimum network bandwidth is determined based on a bandwidth of a client device, of the plurality of client devices, having a limited bandwidth connection;

update the global queue by adding data from a second collaboration session queue while waiting for the computed delay to send the next piece to each of the plurality of client devices;

synchronize the sending of the next piece to the plurality of client devices by waiting for the computed delay to send the next piece to each of the plurality of client devices; and

destroy the first collaboration session queue in response to all pieces of the document being distributed.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the instructions cause the system to create the first collaboration session queue in response to receiving the document.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the system communicates with the plurality of client devices using eXtensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP).

11. The system of claim 8, wherein to select the piece of the document for transmission, the instructions cause the system to:

determine a page most viewed by users of the plurality of client devices; and

select the page most viewed for transmission.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the pieces of the document comprise header and stroke pieces.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the stroke pieces of the document are in scalable vector graphic (SVG) format.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the delay is computed using a token bucket algorithm.

15. The system of claim 8, wherein the instructions cause the system to transmit images of the document on a different channel using a lazy loading algorithm.

16. The system of claim 8, wherein the plurality of client devices include one or more of a projector, a monitor, a television, an interactive whiteboard, a webcam, a microphone, a loudspeaker, a CD/DVD player, an electronic paper device, an electronic reader device, a desktop computer, a tablet, or a smartphone.

17. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium including a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to:

receive a document for distribution to the plurality of client devices in a collaboration session;

break the document into pieces; and

repeatedly, until all pieces of the document are distributed;

select a piece of the document for transmission from a first collaboration session queue;

add the selected piece to a global queue for transmission;

send the selected piece simultaneously to each of the plurality of client devices;

compute a delay between sending the selected piece and sending a next piece of the document to each of the plurality of client devices based on a size of the selected piece and a minimum network bandwidth, wherein the minimum network bandwidth is determined based on a bandwidth of a client device, of the plurality of client devices, having a limited bandwidth connection;

update the global queue by adding data from a second collaboration session queue while waiting for the computed delay to send the next piece to each of the plurality of client devices;

synchronize the sending of the next piece to the plurality of client devices by waiting for the computed delay to send the next piece to each of the plurality of client devices; and

destroying the first collaboration session queue in response to all pieces of the document being distributed.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the computer readable program further causes the computer to create the first collaboration session queue in response to receiving the document.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the computer readable program further causes the computer to send the selected piece using eXtensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP).

20. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein to select the piece of the document for transmission, the computer readable program further causes the computer to:

determine a page most viewed by users of the plurality of client devices; and

select the page most viewed for transmission.