Spatial Event Map Coordination for Secure Multi-Device Collaboration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing digital collaboration systems face challenges in coordinating multiple users across distributed displays, ensuring security of confidential workspace data, and managing concurrency and flexibility of expression, particularly in large-scale, distributed networks.
Innovation Solution
A collaboration system utilizing a spatial event map that tracks interactions in an unlimited virtual workspace, classifying events as persistent or ephemeral, and enabling near-real-time sharing across multiple devices while maintaining security through encryption and access control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If multiple users share a single display for collaboration, then real-time interaction and idea exchange are improved, but coordination problems and restrictions on flexibility of expression occur
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the collaboration space by creating separate drawing regions for different users on the display. Each user is assigned a specific region where they can work independently, while the server coordinates these segmented regions to maintain overall collaboration. This resolves the contradiction by providing both real-time interaction (through the shared display) and flexibility (through user-specific regions).
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from a single two-dimensional display surface to a multi-dimensional virtual workspace that can be accessed from multiple devices and locations. The spatial event map creates a virtual third dimension by mapping events across distributed devices, allowing users to collaborate without being constrained by the physical display boundaries while maintaining real-time interaction.
2Adaptability or versatility
If distributed displays are used to provide large interaction surfaces, then collaboration flexibility and accessibility are improved, but security risks and concurrency management problems increase
Solution Approach 1:
The server acts as an intermediary between distributed displays and the workspace data. It receives events from multiple displays, validates them against security policies, and coordinates their execution. This intermediary layer maintains security and concurrency control while allowing flexible access from multiple distributed devices.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where the server continuously monitors events from distributed displays, validates them against security rules, and provides real-time coordination. This feedback loop ensures that security policies are enforced while maintaining collaboration flexibility across distributed devices.
3Adaptability or versatility
If workspace data is made accessible across multiple devices, then collaboration flexibility is improved, but concurrency control and data consistency challenges worsen
Solution Approach 1:
Each display client independently generates and sends events to the server based on local user actions. The server then coordinates these events and maintains the authoritative workspace state. This self-service approach allows multiple devices to access workspace data flexibly while the server handles the complex concurrency control automatically.
Solution Approach 2:
The system merges the workspace state from multiple distributed displays into a single authoritative spatial event map maintained by the server. Events from different devices are combined and coordinated centrally, allowing multi-device accessibility while simplifying concurrency management through centralized state management.
4Reliability
If confidential workspace data is protected with strict access control, then security is improved, but real-time sharing and collaboration flexibility are restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements dynamic access control where security policies are applied in real-time to each event based on the current collaboration context. Users can have different levels of access to different regions or types of workspace data, and these permissions can change dynamically during the collaboration session. This maintains security while enabling real-time sharing.
Solution Approach 2:
Different security policies are applied to different regions of the workspace and different types of data. Confidential areas have stricter access controls, while collaborative areas allow more flexible real-time sharing. This local differentiation of security quality maintains overall security while enabling real-time collaboration where appropriate.
Data Source
AI summary
A spatial event map system including server-side data processor that maintains a spatial event map which locates events in a workspace. The spatial event map includes a log of events, entries in the log having a location of an object of the event in the workspace and a time. The system includes logic to send messages including a location of an object of the event in the workspace and a time of the event to client-side network nodes; and to receive messages identifying events that create or modify an object, and to add corresponding entries to the log of events. The events can include history events that are sent to the other client-side network nodes, and added to the log for the corresponding history events, and ephemeral events that are sent to other client-side network nodes without adding corresponding entries in the log.