Common drawing model

Abstract

An approach for sharing a master version of a drawing with multiple clients is provided, wherein an example embodiment comprises capturing a first gesture associated with a first digital resource at a first device, transmitting data representing the first gesture from the first device to a server, processing the data representing the first gesture at the server, storing the data representing the first gesture at the server, transmitting the data representing the first gesture to a second device, processing the data representing the first gesture at the second device, and rendering the first gesture on the second device.

Description

CLAIM OF PRIORITY AND RELATED APPLICATION DATA[0001]This application claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application No. 61 / 649,759, filed May 21, 2012, entitled “Cloudpanels”, by Benjamin P. Bauermeister et al., the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.[0002]This application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13 / 898,314, filed on May 20, 2013, entitled “Cursor-Driven Interface For Layer Control”, by Benjamin P. Bauermeister et al., the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.BACKGROUND[0003]The growth of the Internet and high-speed network connections has enabled the proliferation of collaborative document creation and modification. Multiple users are able to create, view, edit and comment on a single document, often in real-time. While text documents are particularly well suited to these shared collaborative models, documents such as drawi...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent describes a system for creating and sharing digital drawings online. The system captures and stores the first steps of a user's gesture when they create a drawing on a computer, and then sends this data to a server. The server processes the data and sends it to another computer for display. This allows multiple users to create and view the same drawing on different devices. The system also ensures that the drawing is accurately replicated and can be synchronized across devices. The technical effects of this system include improved collaboration and communication for creating and sharing drawings online.

Problems solved by technology

While text documents are particularly well suited to these shared collaborative models, documents such as drawings, graphs, pictures and other graphical elements have characteristics that do not lend themselves to online collaboration.

If the juncture of two lines is displayed differently on two devices, even being offset by a tiny amount, the entire drawing will be compromised.

Without an exact replica whose representation may be reproduced exactly the same on each potential device, synchronizing changes is impossible.

Another difficulty in providing a shared collaborative drawing model is the need for perfect synchronization wherein each individual user's version of the drawing to be shared must be identical to the other members of the group of users taking actions on the drawing such as viewing, commenting or modifying the drawing.

Using the native drawing routines of each device results in consistencies between renditions of each panel on the various platforms.

This is further complicated when a toolbar is hidden, then creating 3 separate gestures for switching tools, and then 3 again to switch back.

All of these steps further distance the usage of the digital tablet from the ease of its analog sister, the traditional whiteboard.

Having many objects stacked in this manner causes difficulty in altering or rearranging the z-order of an object in one of these applications.

As a result, a difficulty presented is that with the tools hidden, changes from one tool to another become difficult and involve many steps of showing and hiding toolbars, etc.

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