Method and apparatus for interactive and synchronous display session
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 comprising:
storing a data object in a database;
transmitting the data object to one or more computers, wherein at least a portion of the data object is displayed on the one or more computers by client software; and
synchronizing display of at least the portion of the data object on the one or more computers, wherein synchronizing comprises:
generating an update message that describes a modification of the display of at least the portion of the data object, wherein the update message includes a camera position of the data object; and
transmitting the update message to the one or more computers such that the display of at least the portion of the data object can be updated at the one or more computers based on the update message.
2. 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 the one or more computers.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the update message is generated and transmitted by a controlling computer, and wherein the one or more computers are designated as viewing computers.
4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising receiving a request from a computer to designate the computer as the controlling computer, and responsive to receiving the request, designating a prior controlling computer as a viewing computer.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the update message is transmitted from a system server to the one or more computers.
6. The method of claim 3 , wherein the camera position describes a current camera position of the data object on the controlling computer, and wherein the viewing computers are configured to change the display of the data object on the viewing computers to correspond to the current camera position of the data object on the controlling computer.
7. The method of claim 3 , wherein the data object includes pre-recorded information, and wherein the update message includes an instruction to play the pre-recorded information.
8. The method of claim 3 , wherein the data object includes information relating to alternative configurations of a product, and wherein the update message includes an instruction to display an alternative configuration of the product.
9. The method of claim 3 , wherein the data object comprises an animation, and wherein synchronizing comprises synchronizing the display of the animation on the one or more computers.
10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving a store current view message from one of the one or more computers and, responsive to the store current view message, recording view data related to a current display of the data object.
11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising transmitting a new view message to each of the one or more computers from which the store current view message was not received, wherein the new view message includes the view data and an identifier for the view data.
12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
receiving a display stored view message from a controlling computer, wherein the display stored view message includes the identifier for the view data; and
transmitting a corresponding display stored view message to the one or more computers.
13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising establishing an interactive communication link between the one or more computers to facilitate interactive communication between the one or more computers, wherein the interactive communication link is an audio communication link.
14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising establishing an interactive communication link between the one or more computers to facilitate interactive communication between the one or more computers, wherein the interactive communication link is a text communication link.
15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the database is stored in a system server and wherein the data object is transmitted from the system server to the one or more computers.
16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving an initiate interactive information session message, wherein the data object is transmitted to the one or more computers in response to the initiate interactive information session message.
17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data object comprises product data relating to a product and an image of the product.
18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data object comprises at least one image of a planogram, a floor plan, a photograph, a drawing, an architectural plan, or a model.
19. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving additional data from one of the one or more computers;
storing the additional data in the database; and
transmitting the additional data to any of the one or more computers from which the additional data was not received, wherein the additional data is displayed on each of the one or more computers.
20. The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting a link to join the interactive session to the one or more computers.
21. The method of claim 1 , wherein the update message includes an annotation of the data object on a controlling computer, and wherein the one or more computers are configured to display the annotation of the data object.
22. The method of claim 6 , wherein the current camera position is defined using polar coordinates and an orbit distance, and wherein the polar coordinates are relative to a horizontal reference plane and a vertical reference plane defined with respect to the data object.
23. The method of claim 6 , wherein the current camera position is defined using Cartesian coordinates relative to a reference position defined with respect to the data object.
24. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data object comprises at least one of an image of a planogram, an image of a floor plan, a consumer product, a moving image, a video, an animation, a photograph, a model, an architectural plan, textual information, an audio file, a color scheme, and a layout option.
25. A server apparatus comprising:
a database configured to store a data object; and
a processor operatively coupled to the database and configured to:
transmit the data object to one or more computers, wherein at least a portion of the data object is displayed on the one or more computers by client software;
generate an update message that describes a modification of a display of at least the portion of the data object, wherein the update message includes a camera position of the data object; and
transmit the update message to the one or more computers such that the display of at least the portion of the data object can be updated at the one or more computers based on the update message.
26. The server apparatus of claim 25 , wherein the update message includes an annotation of the data object on a controlling computer, and wherein the one or more computers are configured to display the annotation of the data object.
27. The server apparatus of claim 25 , wherein the data object comprises an animation, and wherein the update message is used by the one or more computers to synchronize a display of the animation on the one or more computers.