Methods for interactive and synchronous displaying session
View Patent ↗A system for interactively displaying and distributing information. The information may relate to consumer products, any type of article of commerce, marketing and advertising layouts, floor plans, planograms or any other type of information that is capable of being illustrated graphically. A consumer engages in an Interactive Information Session with an attendant, such a help desk attendant. During the Interactive Information Session, the attendant and consumer see synchronized displays of images or animations of the information, which may be manipulated by either one of them. The attendant and the user can communicate interactively by voice or text during at least part of the Interactive Information Session. In another embodiment, two or more users of a system according to the invention can collaboratively design a product, marketing or advertising layouts, planograms, floor plans or other graphical information in an Interactive Design Session. During the session one of the users controls the design at any time. Different users may have control at different times. The users can engage in interactive voice or text communications during at least part of the Interactive Design Session.
1. A method for an interactive session between two or more user computers, wherein each of the user computers is operated by a user, the method comprising:
storing a data object in a server system;
transmitting the data object to at least some of the user computers, wherein at least some of the data object is displayed on the user computers by user client software; and
synchronizing the display of at least some of the data object on the user computers, wherein synchronizing comprises:
at the server system, receiving one or more Update Messages from one of the user computers, wherein the Update Messages describe a manipulation of the display of at least some of the data object;
recording at least some of the Update Messages at the server system;
transmitting corresponding Update Messages from the server system to the remaining user computers; and
at the remaining user computers, updating the display of at least some of the data object in response to the corresponding Update Messages.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
transmitting the data object to an additional user computer, wherein at least some of the data object is displayed on the additional user computer by user client software;
transmitting at least some of the recorded Update Messages from the server system to the additional computing;
updating the display of the at least some of the data object on the additional user computer in response to the recorded Update Messages.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the data object includes initial display instructions for defining how the data object is displayed when initially displayed on each of the user computers.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein one of the user computers is designated as a controlling computer and the remaining user computers are designated as viewing computers and wherein the modification of at least some of the data object occurs on the controlling computer.
5. The method of claim 4 including permitting a user to designate the user's computer as the controlling computer, wherein a computer previously designated as the controlling computer is then designated as a viewing computer.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein synchronizing comprises receiving the Update Messages at a system server and transmitting the corresponding Update Messages from the system server to the remaining user computers.
7. The method of claim 4 further comprising receiving a Store Current View message from a user computer, in response to the Store Current View message, recording view data related to the current display of the data object.
8. The method of claim 7 further comprising transmitting a New View message to each of the user computers other than the user computer from which the Store Current View message was received, wherein the New View message includes the view data and an identifier for the view data.
9. The method of claim 7 further comprising receiving a Display Stored View message from the controlling computer, wherein the Display Stored View message includes the identifier for the view data, and transmitting to the viewing computer a corresponding Display Stored View message.
10. The method of claim 1 wherein the data object is transmitted to the user computers in response to receiving an Initiate Interactive Information Session message at the server system from a user computer.
11. The method of claim 1 further comprising: receiving an additional data object from one of the user computers; transmitting the additional data object to the remaining user computers; and displaying at least some of the additional data object on the remaining user computers.
12. The method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting a link to join the interactive session to a user computer, wherein the link comprises a URL relating to the interactive session.
13. The method of claim 4 wherein the Update Messages describe an annotation of the data object on the controlling computer and wherein the viewing computer is configured to display a corresponding annotation of the data object.
14. A method for an interactive session between two or more user computers, wherein each of the user computers is operated by a user, the method comprising
starting an interactive session between at least some of the user computers by transmitting a data object to the user computers and displaying at least some of the data object on the user computers by user client software; and
synchronizing the display of at least some of the data object on the user computers, wherein synchronizing comprises:
at a server system, receiving one or more Update Messages from one of the user computers, wherein the Update Messages describe a manipulation of the display of at least some of the data object;
recording at least some of the Update Messages at the server system;
transmitting corresponding Update Messages from the server system to the remaining user computers;
and at the remaining user computers, updating the display of at least some of the data object in response to the corresponding Update Messages;
re-creating at least some of the interactive session by transmitting Update Messages corresponding to at least some of the recorded Update Messages from the server system to at least some of the user computers and updating the display of at least some of the data object on the user computer using the Update Messages corresponding to at least some of the recorded Update Messages.
15. The method of claim 14 further comprising adding an additional user computer to the interactive session after it has started, wherein adding the additional user comprises:
transmitting Update Messages corresponding to at least some of the recorded Update Messages from the server system to the additional user computer;
updating the display at least some of the data object on the additional user computer using the Update Messages corresponding to at least some of the recorded Update Messages.
16. The method of claim 14 further comprising ending the interactive session; and wherein re-creating at least some of the interactive session occurs after the interactive sessions ends.
17. The method of claim 14 wherein the data object includes initial display instructions for defining how the data object is displayed when initially displayed on each of the user computers.
18. The method of claim 14 wherein one of the user computers is designated as a controlling computer and the remaining user computers are designated as viewing computers and wherein the modification of at least some of the data object occurs on the controlling computer.
19. The method of claim 14 including permitting a user to designate the user's computer as the controlling computer, wherein a computer previously designated as the controlling computer is then designated as a viewing computer.
20. The method of claim 14 wherein synchronizing comprises receiving the Update Messages at a system server and transmitting the corresponding Update Messages from the system server to the remaining user computers.
21. The method of claim 18 further comprising receiving a Store Current View message from a user computer, in response to the Store Current View message, recording view data related to the current display of the data object.
22. The method of claim 21 further comprising transmitting a New View message to each of the user computers other than the user computer from which the Store Current View message was received, wherein the New View message includes the view data and an identifier for the view data.
23. The method of claim 21 further comprising receiving a Display Stored View message from the controlling computer, wherein the Display Stored View message includes the identifier for the view data, and transmitting to the viewing computer a corresponding Display Stored View message.
24. The method of claim 14 wherein the data object is transmitted to the user computers in response to receiving an Initiate Interactive Information Session message at the server system from a user computer.
25. The method of claim 14 further comprising: receiving an additional data object from one of the user computers; transmitting the additional data object to the remaining user computers; and displaying at least some of the additional data object on the remaining user computers.
26. The method of claim 14 further comprising transmitting a link to join the interactive session to a user computer, wherein the link comprises a URL relating to the interactive session.
27. The method of claim 18 wherein the Update Messages describe an annotation of the data object on the controlling computer and wherein the viewing computer is configured to display a corresponding annotation of the data object.