Real-Time Document View Synchronization Across Native and Web Apps
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional online presentations lack interactive capabilities for attendees, who can only passively view shared content without accessing native application features, and changes made by one attendee affect all others, disrupting the experience.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a system for real-time synchronization of a presenter's document view across native and web applications, allowing attendees to view and interact with documents independently while maintaining seamless synchronization, using a content sharing service that tracks and updates the presentation state, enabling attendees to navigate and annotate documents without impacting others.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If screen sharing is used to transmit presenter content to attendees, then content can be shared across the network, but attendees cannot interact with the content and lose native application capabilities
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a local copy of the document in the attendee's web application rather than simply transmitting the presenter's screen. This copy allows attendees to interact with the document using native web application capabilities while maintaining synchronization with the presenter's view through state updates transmitted via the content sharing service.
Solution Approach 2:
The system separates the document viewing functionality from the presentation control. The content sharing service transmits only the necessary state information (position, selection, etc.) rather than the entire document, allowing independent rendering at each client while maintaining synchronization.
2Ease of operation
If attendees are allowed to navigate documents independently, then interaction capability improves, but synchronization with presenter's view becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The content sharing service continuously monitors the presenter's document state and transmits updates to all connected web applications. This feedback mechanism ensures that independent navigation by attendees does not disrupt synchronization, as the service constantly reconciles state differences between presenter and attendees.
Solution Approach 2:
The content sharing service acts as an intermediary between the presenter's native application and attendees' web applications. It receives state information from the presenter, processes it, and distributes synchronized state updates to all attendees, mediating between independent navigation needs and synchronization requirements.
3Productivity
If document state is synchronized in real-time, then collaboration effectiveness improves, but network bandwidth consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and transmits only the essential state information needed for synchronization (document position, selection state, etc.) rather than transmitting the entire document or all possible state changes. This selective extraction minimizes network bandwidth consumption while maintaining collaboration effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The content sharing service transmits state updates at a frequency sufficient for collaboration effectiveness without over-transmitting. It sends updates when state changes occur rather than continuously, providing just enough synchronization information to maintain collaboration without excessive bandwidth consumption.
Data Source
AI summary
A generic means for synchronizing information about a user's view of a document or other content within an application across native client and web applications is provided. Attendees of an online broadcast are enabled to see what the presenter is seeing within their own application. In addition, meeting-specific information such as the meeting time and notes may be synchronized enabling nearly real time synchronization. Moreover, by enabling attendees to view the presented document within their own applications, the attendees are afforded the capabilities provided by that application, such as navigating through the document manually.