Methods and apparatus for enabling shared web-based interaction in stateful servers

#The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for providing shared web-based interaction and, more particularly, to providing shared web-based interaction involving dynamically generated or stateful content.

#A browser is a software program run on a computer that allows a computer user to request, view, manipulate and/or send information across a computer network. For example, a web-based browser serves as a user's front-end interface to the World Wide Web (WWW) on the Internet. As is known, using a web-based browser, a user types in or selects the address or URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of a website to request a webpage (e.g., homepage) associated with the website that he wishes to visit. The browser transmits the request over the Internet to the Web server with which the website is associated and the server downloads the homepage to the browser for viewing by the user. The homepage is typically an index to other pages on that website that can be accessed by clicking on icons which represent the addresses of the other pages.

#In U.S. Pat. No. 5,991,796, issued Nov. 23, 1999 and entitled: “Technique For Obtaining And Exchanging Information On World Wide Web,” which is a continuation of U.S. Pat. No. 5,862,330, issued Jan. 19, 1999 with the same title, a technique is disclosed for shared Internet browsing among multiple users (e.g., clients) using unmodified browsers and servers. The technique employs client-side executable content that is dynamically downloaded into the browser, such as an applet. An applet is a limited-function, utility program. The applet at one endpoint communicates with an applet of a collaborator (e.g., another browser) via some communication channel, and allows the “connected” browsers to move from webpage to webpage in synchrony, viewing the same (or related) content. One way of achieving this interaction is to have all connected browsers submit the same URL. However, in the case of dynamically generated content, this causes the Web server to execute the same request multiple times, once for each participating browser (i.e., as many times as the same request was respectively made by the multiple users). This may not be desirable, particularly, when a URL submission causes an order to be placed on the Web server. That is, multiple executions of the request will cause multiple orders to be placed on the Web server. This may not be what the multiple users intended in participating in the shared browsing session. That is, the intent may have been only to place a single, joint order at the end of the shared browsing session.

#These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments thereof, which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

#FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a server system for the establishment of surrogates which may be employed with the invention;

#FIGS. 2A and 2B are flow charts jointly illustrating the steps in carrying out the operation of the server system of FIG. 1;

#The invention will be described below in conjunction with an exemplary web-based browser and web server arrangement that is compatible with standard web-based browsers such as, for example, the NETSCAPE browser (available from Netscape Communications Corporation), the standard hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), and hypertext markup language (HTML). Although particularly well-suited for implementation over the Internet using Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) connections, the invention is not limited to use with any particular type of network or network communication protocol. The disclosed techniques are suitable for use with a wide variety of other networks and protocols, and many different types of browsers installed on client computers. Further, the term “processor” as used herein is intended to include any processing device, including a CPU (central processing unit), which may be utilized in a client computer, server computer, or any other computer employed in conjunction with the invention. Also, the term “memory” as used herein is intended to include memory associated with a processor or CPU, such as, for example, RAM, ROM, a fixed memory device (e.g., hard drive), or a removable memory device (e.g., diskette). In addition, the processing device may include one or more input devices, e.g., keyboard, for inputting data to the processing unit, as well as one or more output devices, e.g., CRT display and/or printer, for providing results associated with the processing unit. Further, it is to be understood that one or more processing devices within the network may share associated resources. Accordingly, the software instructions or code for performing the methodologies of the invention, described herein, may be stored in one or more of the associated memory devices (ROM, fixed or removable memory) and, when ready to be utilized, loaded into RAM and executed by a CPU.

#Before providing a detailed description of preferred embodiments of interactive browsing methods and apparatus of the invention, an explanation will follow as to a preferred method for establishing a surrogate on the computer of each user who wishes to participate in an interactive browsing session. This method is described in the above-referenced U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,991,796 and 5,862,330.

#FIG. 1 illustrates a server system 100 which is connected to the World Wide Web (WWW) as a web server. System 100 works compatibly with standard web browsers such as the NETSCAPE browser, HTTP and HTML. Among other things, system 100 provides users with services of: (a) collaborative browsing of HTML documents at various websites on WWW, and (b) real-time interactive communications between the users. Specifically, with system 100, during a collaborative browsing session, multiple users or collaborators are allowed to synchronously and cooperatively browse information from websites addressable by their uniform resource locators (URLs). The collaborators may also interact with one another through text-chat communications for example. In addition, system 100 allows users to freely join and exit an on-going session and is capable of scaling its capacity to accommodate a changing number of sessions and collaborators in a particular session.