US 6,144,991 A · System and method for managing interactions between users in a browser-based telecommunications network

Abstract

A software system which allows a guide/specialist to interact with a client on a real-time, interactive basis over the World Wide Web. The methodology includes configuring a guide system with a special-purpose browser displaying both locally displayable frames and remotely displayable frames; the client system utilizes a conventional browser. The remotely displayable frames are transmitted to the client so that both the guide and the client have identical views of the remotely displayable frames. The guide uses the locally displayable frames to call upon available Web resources, typically in response to a client request also transmitted over the Web via, for example, a chat program, and then the guide can load the remotely displayable frames into the remotely displayable frames for rendering by the conventional browser. In addition, the guide and client can interact with a shared pointer and a shared whiteboard. Moreover, the guide can record the live session for later playback by other clients. Also, a plurality of clients may be simultaneously interacting with the guide and each other.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method for communicating between a guide system and a client system interconnected via a browser-based network, the client system deploying a conventional browser, the method comprising the steps of

configuring the guide system with a special-purpose browser containing both a locally displayable frame layout for displaying local frames and a guide configurable remotely displayable frame layout for displaying remote frames,
under the control of a guide, selectively defining each frame of the remotely displayable frame layout, an
under the control of the guide, propagating the remotely displayable frame layout and frames over the network to the client system for display by the conventional browser of the client system.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

System and method for managing interactions between users in a browser-based telecommunications network

Life of this patent

System and method for managing interactions between users in a browser-based telecommunications network

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20