Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Display driving control circuitry – Controlling the condition of display elements
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-23
2003-11-25
Luu, Sy D. (Department: 2174)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Display driving control circuitry
Controlling the condition of display elements
C345S215000, C709S204000, C709S205000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06654032
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to data conferencing, and more particularly to instant document sharing in a data conference.
2. Related Art
Whenever two or more people are involved in the viewing, creation or modification of a computer document, whether it be a browser web page, financial spread sheet, a CAD design, a circuit schematic layout, an organization report, a bit map image, and the like, succeeding drafts of the document are prepared, circulated, and modified in the process. Each person works on his or her portion of the document and stores it or forwards a copy to the next person. The next person will subsequently retrieve the stored copy or work on his or her copy of the document. Typically, several drafts of the document will be circulated before a final draft is produced. This is a very time-consuming process.
In the case where the reviewers involved in this document preparation process are at different geographical locations, getting the document from one location to another location and back becomes another tedious and time-consuming task. The document must be mailed or faxed to that person, further complicating the entire process.
An additional complication in many cases is that each person must have a copy of the document editing program required to view, create or modify the document. Examples of such document editing programs include Browsers, spreadsheet applications, word processing programs, image editing programs, and the like. Further, each person must have an identical copy of the document editing program. This scenario not only is expensive in many cases, but also requires additional effort to install, maintain, and update the document editing programs on the user's individual computer systems, referred to here as client computer systems.
One alternative method to this process is to hold meetings where the users gather and comment on the document with the hope to reduce the number of drafts needed before a final draft is produced. The shortcoming with this method is that there may be significant travel time and travel cost in getting everyone to the same location. There may be an additional restriction that the “right” location is constrained to be the location with access to the “correct” document editing program. In addition, the final draft of the document is usually circulated again for final comments.
One solution to this problem is to use a teleconferencing software program to share the document among the geographically dispersed reviewers. This process is often referred to as “data conferencing.” By using computer network connections, modem-connected phone lines, and the like, everyone can be connected via his or her computer. By using the teleconferencing software program, everyone's computer screen can display the same document. In addition to using the software program and network or modem connections, conference calling over the voice phone lines or through the software program creates a dynamic and live atmosphere where everyone can participate in the discussion and refer to the document displayed on the screen.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is an apparatus, method, and computer program product for instant sharing of a remote document. In one embodiment, referred to as “remote document sharing,” a file located on a remote application server is converted to a “shared document” which is distributed to the members of a data conference for review. The method of this embodiment includes printing the file, on the application server, to a virtual printer from an application associated with the file, thereby creating a shared document; and sending the shared document to a plurality of remote clients, whereby the shared document is displayed at each remote client by a viewer application.
In another embodiment, referred to as “remote application sharing,” the “owner” of a remote document shares the screens created by an application located on a remote application server, where the document is associated with the application. Each member of the application sharing session can view the screens and interact with the application. The method of this embodiment includes creating a shared screen at a server by sending an application screen generated by an application to a virtual device; sending the shared screen to a plurality of remote clients; presenting, on a display device attached to each of the remote clients, a display of the shared screen; collecting user input from a user at one of the remote clients; sending the user input to the remote server; causing the application at the remote server to edit the application screen based on the user input to produce an application screen update; creating a shared screen update at the remote server by sending the application screen update to the virtual device, wherein the shared screen update represents only the portion of the application screen that was edited; sending the shared screen update to the plurality of remote clients; and revising the display of the shared screen on each display device using the shared screen update.
In another embodiment, referred to as “remote application viewing,” the “owner” of a remote document shares the screens created by an application associated with the document. The other members of the data conference can view the screens, but cannot interact with the remote application. Only the owner can interact with the remote application.
In all embodiments, an annotation mode is available, where a transparent window is displayed over the shared document. Users can create objects to be displayed in the transparent window, thereby annotating the document.
One advantage of the present invention is that, by sharing applications in a client-server system, it provides robust, scalable, instant sharing of remote documents.
Another advantage of the present invention is that a document can be shared among clients without distributing the original full-featured document to those clients. Thus a client cannot present a modified copy of the document as an original.
Another advantage of the present invention is that it permits clients to use an application without permitting them to copy that application. Thus, clients can be billed for the use of the application on a per-use basis.
Further features and advantages of the present invention as well as the structure and operation of various embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1
depicts an example client-server system in which the present invention may be used.
FIG. 2
depicts two clients engaged in an application sharing session using a conferencing server and an application server.
FIG. 3
is a block diagram of a client document sharing application according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4
is a block diagram of a server document sharing application according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5
depicts the software layers in a structured system environment.
FIG. 6
depicts the software layers in a structured system environment as modified by a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7
is a flow diagram depicting the operation of remote document sharing mode according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 8
is a flowchart depicting the operation of remote document sharing mode according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 9
is a flow diagram depicting the operation of remote application viewing mode according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIGS. 10A and 10B
constitute a flowchart depicting the operation of remote application viewing mode according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 11
is a flow diagram depicting the operation of remote application sharing mode according to a preferred embodiment of the presen
Wei Song Xiang
Yang Guanghong
Yuan Zheng
Zhu Min
Fish & Richardson P.C.
Luu Sy D.
Webex Communications, Inc.
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