Method and apparatus for managing a peer-to-peer collaboration system

Apparatus comprising a computer adapted to operate within a managed peer-to-peer collaboration system, the computer being a first device and the managed peer-to-peer collaboration system comprising a second device, the apparatus comprising:

• client software recorded on computer storage media in the first device, the software when operated, connecting a first user of the first device to a second user in a peer-to-peer collaboration session including the first and second users, the first user having a first collaboration identity in a shared space and the second user having a second collaboration identity in the shared space;
• a download manager that downloads from a management server to the client software operating in the first device a definition file containing a definition of the identity of a managed entity, wherein the definition file is an operating system registry file;
• a mechanism in the client software that associates the definition with the first collaboration identity or first device information in order to create the managed entity, the management identity associated with the managed entity being different than the first collaboration identity, the management identity allowing the first user or the first device to be identified by the management server, wherein associating comprises incorporating the definition of the identity of the managed entity into another file stored on the first device, the another file being a portion of a system registry on the first device;
• and
• a mechanism that exchanges management information relating to the managed entity between the client software operating in the first device and the management server using the management identity, the management information relating to monitoring operation of the managed entity and/or synchronizing the managed entity with information on the management server, the management information exchanged being associated with the identity of the managed entity, wherein:
• the management information exchanged comprises at least a policy restriction file, wherein the policy restriction file comprises a list of policy restrictions in the client software operating in the first device or a list of policy restrictions in the management server;
• the exchange of management information is repeated;
• and
• the apparatus is adapted to, in response to information in the policy restriction file, restrict at least one function in the client software.

At least one computer readable storage medium encoded with instructions, that are executable in a computer system to perform a method managing a peer-to-peer collaboration system, comprising acts of:

• connecting a first user to a second user in a peer-to-peer collaboration session including the first and second users, the first user having a first collaboration identity in a shared space and the second user having a second collaboration identity in the shared space;
• downloading from a management server to client software operating in the computer system a definition file containing a definition of a managed entity;
• associating a management identity in the definition file with the first collaboration identity in the client software in order to create the managed entity, the management identity associated with the managed entity being different than the first collaboration identity, the management identity allowing the first user or the computer system to be identified by the management server, wherein associating comprises incorporating information from the definition file into another file stored on the computer system, wherein the definition file is an operating system registry file, and the another file is a portion of a system registry on the first device;
• and
• interacting with the management server using the management identity to exchange management information relating to the managed entity within a collaboration session using the shared space, wherein the management information exchanged comprises at least a policy restriction file, and the interacting further comprises:
• in response to information in the policy restriction file, restricting at least one function in the client software, wherein said interacting further comprises steps:
• i) creating a client list of policy restrictions in the client software operating in the computer system of the managed entity;
• ii) sending the client list of policy restrictions to the management server;
• iii) creating a server list of policy restrictions in the management server;
• iv) comparing the client list of policy restrictions to the server list of policy restrictions;
• and
• v) adjusting and synchronizing the client list of policy restrictions in the client software operating on the computer system based on the comparison on step iv);
• wherein the steps i) to v) are repeated.

Apparatus comprising a computer adapted to operate within a managed peer-to-peer collaboration system in which users having identities are directly connected to each other in a collaboration session using a shared space by client software operating in devices and wherein the users can communicate with a management server using the client software, the apparatus comprising:

• means operable in devices for connecting a first user having a first collaboration identity in the shared space to a second user having a second collaboration identity in the shared space in a peer-to-peer collaboration session including the first and second users;
• means for downloading from a management server to the client software a definition file containing a definition of the identity of the managed entity;
• means in the client software for associating the identity of the managed entity with the first collaboration identity or first device information in the client software in order to create the managed entity, the management identity associated with the managed entity being different than the first collaboration identity, the management identity allowing the first user or the first device to be identified by the management server, wherein associating comprises incorporating the definition of the identity of the managed entity into another file on the first device, wherein the definition file is an operating system registry file, and the another file is a portion of a system registry on the first device;
• means for exchanging management information associated with the managed entity using the management identity, the management information relating to the collaboration session, and the management information being exchanged between the client software operating in the first device and the management server, and the management information identifying an entity to which the information relates using the identity of the managed entity, wherein:
• the management information exchanged comprises at least a policy restriction file, wherein the policy restriction file comprises a list of policy restrictions in the client software operating in the first device or a list of policy restrictions in the management server;
• the exchange of management information is repeated;
• and
• means for restricting at least one function in the client software in response to information in the policy restriction file.