Variable speed collaborative web browsing system
The present invention is directed towards computerized social networks and e-commerce including facilitating ad-hoc screen sharing and co-browsing between users of a social network. The collaborative web browsing method comprising providing a server computer having a Shopping With A Friend (SWAF) server engine coupled to a database, a SWAF client engine coupled to the SWAF server engine and a plurality of client computers each having a web browser program that runs the SWAF client engine. The web browser program does not include a collaboration plug-in.
1. A collaborative web browsing method comprising:
providing a server computer having a Shopping With A Friend (SWAF) server engine coupled to a database, a SWAF client engine coupled to the SWAF server engine and a plurality of client computers each having a web browser program that runs the SWAF client engine, the web browser program does not include a collaboration plug-in;
establishing by the SWAF server engine, a collaborative website;
displaying the collaborative website on a first of the plurality of client computers;
detecting a request for a friend connection by the SWAF client engine;
transmitting the request for the friend connection to a second of the plurality of client computers;
storing by the SWAF server engine, browser activity data of the first client computer of the plurality of client computers on the database at a first frequency before the request for the friend connection is detected by the SWAF client engine;
storing by the SWAF server engine, the browser activity data of the first client computer of the plurality of client computers on the database at a second frequency after the request for the friend connection is detected by the SWAF client engine, the first frequency is slower than the second frequency;
detecting an acceptance for the friend connection by the SWAF client engine; displaying the collaborative website on the second of the plurality of client computers;
detecting by the SWAF client engines, browser activity data of the first and the second client computers of the plurality of client computers;
storing browser activity data of the first client computer of the plurality of client computers on the database at a third frequency after the collaborative website is displayed on the second of the plurality of client computers, the second frequency is slower than the third frequency; and
transmitting the browser activity data that has been stored from the database through the SWAF server engine to the second client computer of the plurality of client computers after the collaborative website is displayed on the second of the plurality of client computers.