Document-Based Conferencing via Edit Synchronization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current network-hosted conferencing solutions require standalone client software and specific plugins, limiting flexibility and compatibility, and often necessitate sharing the entire document view instead of just edits, which can be inefficient and insecure.
Innovation Solution
A system that allows a document to serve as a conferencing tool by synchronizing edits and modifications across local document copies, using a collaboration server to manage connections and data transmission, enabling participants to use different applications and reducing the need for shared document views.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If standalone client software and conferencing-specific plugins are used, then connection and data transmission can be managed, but device complexity and requirement for specific software increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the conferencing functionality from standalone client software and implements it through a web-based system that can be accessed via any standard web browser. This eliminates the need for specialized conferencing software while maintaining reliable connection management through web protocols.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses universal web technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) that can be executed in any standard web browser, making the conferencing system accessible to users with diverse software environments without requiring installation of specific conferencing clients.
2Loss of information
If entire document view is shared, then all information is transmitted, but network bandwidth consumption increases and security risks arise
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential changes and modifications from the complete document view and transmits only these differential updates between participants. This maintains information completeness regarding what changed while significantly reducing network bandwidth consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The document transmission is segmented into delta updates containing only the modified portions rather than transmitting the entire document view. This allows participants to receive only the necessary change information while maintaining the ability to reconstruct the complete document state locally.
3Productivity
If document-based conferencing is implemented, then collaboration efficiency improves, but compatibility issues may arise between different applications
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a web-based intermediary layer that translates between different application formats and the conferencing system. This mediator handles the compatibility layer, allowing participants using different applications to collaborate efficiently through standardized web protocols.
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs universal web standards that can render and process various document types and application formats, providing broad compatibility while maintaining high collaboration efficiency through standardized communication protocols.
Data Source
AI summary
Various embodiments described herein provide one or more of systems, methods, software, and data structures that allow a document, or other file type, to be used to connect to a network-based conference, such as over the Internet. Some embodiments may further allow a local copy of a document, viewed by each conference participant on their local computing devices, to be used as a conferencing tool by synchronizing document views across each local document copy and edits or other modifications and notations made by each participant. As a result, an actual image of the document of a document-based conference need not be shared. Rather, only the edits or other modifications and notations made by each participant are captured, transmitted, and recreated and displayed within the local document copies of the other participants.