WO1999003034A1 - System and method for generating a chat room over a computer network - Google Patents

System and method for generating a chat room over a computer network Download PDF

Info

Publication number
WO1999003034A1
WO1999003034A1 PCT/IL1998/000313 IL9800313W WO9903034A1 WO 1999003034 A1 WO1999003034 A1 WO 1999003034A1 IL 9800313 W IL9800313 W IL 9800313W WO 9903034 A1 WO9903034 A1 WO 9903034A1
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
chat room
users
server
servers
room
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/IL1998/000313
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Ofer Shem-Tov
Amit Or
Alon Cohen
Original Assignee
Vocaltec Communications Ltd.
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Vocaltec Communications Ltd. filed Critical Vocaltec Communications Ltd.
Priority to EP98930998A priority Critical patent/EP0941509A4/en
Priority to AU81263/98A priority patent/AU8126398A/en
Publication of WO1999003034A1 publication Critical patent/WO1999003034A1/en

Links

Classifications

    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04LTRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L12/00Data switching networks
    • H04L12/02Details
    • H04L12/16Arrangements for providing special services to substations
    • H04L12/18Arrangements for providing special services to substations for broadcast or conference, e.g. multicast
    • H04L12/1813Arrangements for providing special services to substations for broadcast or conference, e.g. multicast for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms
    • H04L12/1818Conference organisation arrangements, e.g. handling schedules, setting up parameters needed by nodes to attend a conference, booking network resources, notifying involved parties
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04LTRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L67/00Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
    • H04L67/01Protocols
    • H04L67/02Protocols based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04LTRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L67/00Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
    • H04L67/01Protocols
    • H04L67/10Protocols in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04LTRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L67/00Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
    • H04L67/01Protocols
    • H04L67/131Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04LTRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L69/00Network arrangements, protocols or services independent of the application payload and not provided for in the other groups of this subclass
    • H04L69/30Definitions, standards or architectural aspects of layered protocol stacks
    • H04L69/32Architecture of open systems interconnection [OSI] 7-layer type protocol stacks, e.g. the interfaces between the data link level and the physical level
    • H04L69/322Intralayer communication protocols among peer entities or protocol data unit [PDU] definitions
    • H04L69/329Intralayer communication protocols among peer entities or protocol data unit [PDU] definitions in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Definitions

  • the present invention generally relates to chat rooms over computer networks, such as the INTERNET, and more particularly to client generated server independent chat rooms over a computer network.
  • a client 2 is able to connect to a chat room 3 stored in a server 4 via a computer network 5.
  • the server is an IRC servers network of three servers jointly referenced 6, the network is the INTERNET and the client is a PC connected to the INTERNET.
  • the user operates its client 2 to connect to chat room 3 located in server 4, in order to view the user list 8 .
  • Other servers such as the Internet Location Server (ILS) operate in the same fashion.
  • ILS Internet Location Server
  • chat rooms are server(s) dependent they are limited in their performance and use. For example, as illustrated in Fig. 1 , ILS server clients cannot join an IRC server chat room and vice versa. This results in two separate chat rooms having two different plurality of users and thus requiring the user to run two different clients as illustrated by client lists 8 and 18 although both plurality of clients are interested in the same content 9.
  • FIG. 1 illustrates the operation of prior art chat rooms on servers of different type, i.e. IRC and ILS
  • the same also applies to different servers of the same type, i.e. if both servers 4 and 14 were of the IRC or the ILS type.
  • the present invention is a client generated chat room.
  • client refers herein throughout the specification and claims to any kind of application running on a computer connected to a computer network, in the preferred embodiment to the INTERNET.
  • user refers herein to the person using the client.
  • chat room refers herein throughout the specification and claims to a virtual space in which a plurality of users co-present in the chat room are capable of exchanging any type of information, such as audio, video, textual, graphic and any combination therebetween.
  • the present invention provides a client generated chat room which does not depend on any single chat room server or servers.
  • the client generated chat room of the present invention allows the user of that client co-presence with users connected to chat rooms of different servers of the same type (e.g. different IRC servers) and/or to chat rooms of different servers type (e.g. IRC and ILS).
  • a method for producing a client generated chat room over a computer network includes the steps of: a. executing in the client, an application enabling selection of a chat room; b. selecting the chat room, the selection triggers connection to users in at least two independent servers of the same type or of a different type; and c. adding the users from the at least two independent servers to the client generated chat room.
  • the application is implemented in the client or in a server in the computer network.
  • the computer network is the INTERNET.
  • the triggering activates a chat room URL which points to a chat room in an HTTP server.
  • the two independent servers are IRC or ILS servers or a combination therebetween.
  • the step of adding also including the step of removing duplicate users from the two independent servers.
  • the chat room includes a users list and shared content by the users currently co-present in the chat room.
  • the step of selecting includes selecting the chat room through a multi level menu.
  • chat room produced by the method of the invention.
  • Fig. 1 is a schematic pictorial illustration of prior art chat rooms
  • Figs. 2A and 2B are a schematic pictorial illustration of the chat room of the present invention according to one embodiment and a method of generating same, respectively;
  • Figs. 3A - 3C are three exemplary displays of the chat room of Fig. 2;
  • Figs. 4A - 4D are four non limiting exemplary embodiments of the chat room of the present invention.
  • Figs. 2A and 2B illustrate a client generated chat room 20 according to one embodiment of the present invention and the method of generating and utilizing same.
  • the client generated chat room of the present invention is a universal chat room, that is, it is characterized by co-presence of users utilizing different directory servers.
  • chat room 20 is virtually located in client 21 and shared by users of both IRC servers 6 and ILS server 14 connected to client 21 via the INTERNET 5.
  • a user operating client 21 connects to the INTERNET 5 (step 22) and executes (step 23) a universal chat room application capable of generating client generated chat rooms.
  • this application is activated from the INTERNET Phone Application for multimedia communication over the INTERNET, commercially available from VocalTec Ltd. of Herzelia, Israel.
  • a multilevel menu which includes a main menu 31 , a main index 32, topics 33, chat room icons 34, chat room title name and status 35, a list of the chat room users 36 and shared content 37, indicated by chat room file content, and an indication of other chat rooms in which the user is present 38.
  • These are ordered in an hierarchy, from menu 31 which is at the highest level, down to the chat room user list 36 and shared content 37 (Fig. 3B).
  • a chat room URL is activated from the INTERNET browser or from any other application.
  • the file pointed to by the URL is retrieved from an HTTP server or from any other place, such as a hard disk in a PC.
  • the file uses HTML syntax and can be embedded in an HTML file without distracting standard INTERNET browser displays when they display such a file.
  • the file is parsed and fields describing the chat rooms are read. If the LOCATION field (all fields refer to the file format described herein below) points to another chat room file then this file is also retrieved in a similar way and the fields from the new file are added to the description, overriding the old fields if the same fields are found. This continues until the last chat room file does not point to another chat room file. A virtual chat room icon is retrieved from the URL in the ICON field. If the SRC field points to an HTML content file then this file is retrieved from an INTERNET server or another place and displayed as the chat room content. If the SRC field does not exist then the chat room file is used as the content file.
  • steps 25 through 27 the user selects a chat room by multiple selection through the hierarchy. For example, after the user has received the five level menu of Figs. 3A -3C, the user then selects a topic (step 25). An icon within the topics (step 26) is used to select a sub-topic, such as sixties music, as in the example of Fig. 2 or a computer game, as shown in the example of Figs. 3B and 3C (step 27). This selection triggers the generation of the specific client generated chat room and the user receives a current user list 36 and a current shared content 37 (step 28) of the client generated chat room 20.
  • a topic for example, after the user has received the five level menu of Figs. 3A -3C, the user then selects a topic (step 25). An icon within the topics (step 26) is used to select a sub-topic, such as sixties music, as in the example of Fig. 2 or a computer game, as shown in the example of Figs. 3B and 3C (step 27
  • the client connects to the server described in the chat room file SERVERS field, which also contains the server type, for example IRC or ILS.
  • the SERVERJJRL field can point to a file containing a list of IRC servers that form an IRC network.
  • the server list file is also retrieved and one of the servers is used as the IRC server.
  • the ROOM field is used as the name of the IRC room to join.
  • the PRIVATE field is used in this case to specify if the IRC chat room is private or public.
  • the list of users is retrieved from the IRC server chat room or from the ILS server and translated from native server format to a uniform format which is identical for all servers.
  • the user list is then filtered according to the rules in the FILTER field.
  • chat room 20 of the present invention is server independent. It is located in client 21 , in the non limiting example of Fig. 2A, and it unifies, that is it enables co-presence of the user with users connected to different directory server types (Fig. 2A) and also of different non-connected server(s) of the same type (e.g. two non connected ILS servers).
  • client 21 in the non limiting example of Fig. 2A
  • non-connected server(s) of the same type e.g. two non connected ILS servers.
  • a preferred non limiting, client based, server independent, chat room file format is now described for a client generated chat room in the INTERNET as described above.
  • a link (a pointer) to a chat-room is an URL in the following format: "gold://hostname/path.”
  • the link has the format of a standard INTERNET HTTP URL, and can be accessed using the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP protocol).
  • HTTP protocol Hyper Text Transfer Protocol
  • a link to a chat room file can also have the form of a normal HTTP file pointer such as "http://hostname/path.”
  • the retrieved chat room file will have a mime-type of text/html. It is also possible to use specific fields in the HTTP protocol to define this page as a gold page.
  • chat room specific parameters syntax is defined such that it can seamlessly be included as part of a standard HTML page which can contain the
  • the chat room syntax is using standard HTML tags with values of the different parameters and properties of the chat-room.
  • the properties of the chat room can be defined as follows:
  • ROOM- 'room name Specifies the room name on the above server.
  • the value is defined as a Regular Expression.
  • the filtering is activated on the lists of users supplied by the above server and is operated on specific fields of the list according to the different tags and the corresponding values.
  • PRIVATE 0
  • 1 Specifies if the room is private or public (displayed in rooms' lists or not) ICON URL of image
  • LOCATION "URL" Any parameters in the previous page can be overriden by the parameters of the next file. New parameters are added to the chat room parameters. This is used mainly to reference a new server list that can be modified in a central location to enable frequent updates.
  • PRIVATE may repeat themselves as many times as required for the sake of supporting different networks of servers of different types.
  • the syntax can be recognized. However, if the browser being used does not recognize the chat room syntax, an alternative message will be displayed.
  • the message could be any standard HTML message such as an Icon allowing the user to download the chat room application.
  • This HTML page can contain PICS information that specifies the 'rating' of the page and any other standard HTML elements.
  • FIGs. 4A - 4D illustrate four different non limiting examples of client generated server independent chat rooms of the present invention.
  • Example A (Fig. 4A)
  • the method of generating and utilizing the chat room of Fig. 4A includes the following steps:
  • the method of generating and utilizing the chat room of Fig. 4B includes the following steps:
  • Chat Room file GOLD_NAME field 5. Retrieve chat room icon pointed by URL in ICON field from
  • INTERNET server 58 and display it in joined chat room list as the chat room icon; 6. Retrieve HTML file 54 pointed by URL in SRC field from INTERNET server 58 and display as the chat room content; 7. Connect to ILS server in the SERVERS field;
  • the method of generating and utilizing the chat room of Fig. 4C includes the following steps: 1. Activate Chat Room URL by clicking on the 'Music' 61 image in
  • This example demonstrates the use of both an IRC network and an ILS server to create a virtual 'Music' room which includes users from both IRC and ILS:
  • the method of generating and utilizing the chat room of Fig. 4D includes the following steps:
  • Chat Room file GOLD_NAME field 5. Retrieve chat room icon pointed by URL in ICON field from
  • INTERNET 75 server and display it in joined chat room list as the chat room icon; 6. retrieve HTML file pointed by URL in SRC field from INTERNET 75 server and display as the chat room content 76;
  • IRC users format to a uniform user format 10. Get the users 81 from the ILS server 79 and translate ILS users format to a uniform user format; 11. Remove duplicate users and display users from both servers in the chat room users list;

Abstract

A client (21) generated chat room (20) which does not depend on any single chat room server (14) or servers (6) and a method for producing a client (21) generated chat room (20) over a computer network (5) is provided. The client (21) generated chat room (20) allows the user of a client (21) co-presence with users (36) connected to chat rooms of different servers of the same type (6) and/or to chat rooms of different servers type (6, 14).

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERAΗNG A CHAT ROOM OVER A COMPUTER NETWORK
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to chat rooms over computer networks, such as the INTERNET, and more particularly to client generated server independent chat rooms over a computer network.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the last few years, the use of computers over wide and local area networks, both within organizations (INTRANET networks) and by the public (INTERNET network) has dramatically increased. As more and more information is accumulated in network computers and databases, the ability to enjoy the information spread out in the network has decreased, therefore network browsers and search engines, such as the Browser provided by Netscape of California, US and the ALTA VISTA search engine provided by Digital of Massachusetts, US were developed to allow individual users to browse the INTERNET, thereby making the information on the network more accessible. However, these browsers and search engines fail to address another function computer networks can provide, namely that of chat rooms, which provide virtual places where a plurality of people virtually co-present in the chat room can share and exchange a variety of information. In state of the art chat rooms, such as the ones provided on the Internet
Relay Chatrooms (IRC) servers and illustrated in Fig. 1 , a client 2 is able to connect to a chat room 3 stored in a server 4 via a computer network 5. In the illustrated example, the server is an IRC servers network of three servers jointly referenced 6, the network is the INTERNET and the client is a PC connected to the INTERNET. In operation the user operates its client 2 to connect to chat room 3 located in server 4, in order to view the user list 8 . Other servers, such as the Internet Location Server (ILS) operate in the same fashion.
Since state of the art chat rooms are server(s) dependent they are limited in their performance and use. For example, as illustrated in Fig. 1 , ILS server clients cannot join an IRC server chat room and vice versa.. This results in two separate chat rooms having two different plurality of users and thus requiring the user to run two different clients as illustrated by client lists 8 and 18 although both plurality of clients are interested in the same content 9.
It will be appreciated that while Fig. 1 illustrates the operation of prior art chat rooms on servers of different type, i.e. IRC and ILS, the same also applies to different servers of the same type, i.e. if both servers 4 and 14 were of the IRC or the ILS type.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to one aspect, the present invention is a client generated chat room.
The term client refers herein throughout the specification and claims to any kind of application running on a computer connected to a computer network, in the preferred embodiment to the INTERNET. The term user refers herein to the person using the client.
The term chat room refers herein throughout the specification and claims to a virtual space in which a plurality of users co-present in the chat room are capable of exchanging any type of information, such as audio, video, textual, graphic and any combination therebetween.
According to a further aspect, the present invention provides a client generated chat room which does not depend on any single chat room server or servers. In a further aspect of the present invention, the client generated chat room of the present invention allows the user of that client co-presence with users connected to chat rooms of different servers of the same type (e.g. different IRC servers) and/or to chat rooms of different servers type (e.g. IRC and ILS).
According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for producing a client generated chat room over a computer network. The method includes the steps of: a. executing in the client, an application enabling selection of a chat room; b. selecting the chat room, the selection triggers connection to users in at least two independent servers of the same type or of a different type; and c. adding the users from the at least two independent servers to the client generated chat room. Furthermore, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the application is implemented in the client or in a server in the computer network. The computer network is the INTERNET.
Furthermore, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the triggering activates a chat room URL which points to a chat room in an HTTP server.
Furthermore, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the two independent servers are IRC or ILS servers or a combination therebetween. In addition, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the step of adding also including the step of removing duplicate users from the two independent servers.
Furthermore, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the chat room includes a users list and shared content by the users currently co-present in the chat room.
In addition, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the step of selecting includes selecting the chat room through a multi level menu.
Additionally, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention, there is provided a chat room produced by the method of the invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The present invention will be understood and appreciated more fully from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the appended drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a schematic pictorial illustration of prior art chat rooms;
Figs. 2A and 2B are a schematic pictorial illustration of the chat room of the present invention according to one embodiment and a method of generating same, respectively;
Figs. 3A - 3C are three exemplary displays of the chat room of Fig. 2; and
Figs. 4A - 4D are four non limiting exemplary embodiments of the chat room of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
Reference is now made to Figs. 2A and 2B which illustrate a client generated chat room 20 according to one embodiment of the present invention and the method of generating and utilizing same. As illustrated in Fig. 2A, in which similar elements to Fig. 1 are referenced by the same reference numerals, the client generated chat room of the present invention is a universal chat room, that is, it is characterized by co-presence of users utilizing different directory servers. In the illustrated example chat room 20 is virtually located in client 21 and shared by users of both IRC servers 6 and ILS server 14 connected to client 21 via the INTERNET 5. In operation a user operating client 21 connects to the INTERNET 5 (step 22) and executes (step 23) a universal chat room application capable of generating client generated chat rooms. In a preferred embodiment, this application is activated from the INTERNET Phone Application for multimedia communication over the INTERNET, commercially available from VocalTec Ltd. of Herzelia, Israel.
Referring also to Figs. 3A - 3C, after executing the chat room application in step 24 the user receives a multilevel menu which includes a main menu 31 , a main index 32, topics 33, chat room icons 34, chat room title name and status 35, a list of the chat room users 36 and shared content 37, indicated by chat room file content, and an indication of other chat rooms in which the user is present 38. These are ordered in an hierarchy, from menu 31 which is at the highest level, down to the chat room user list 36 and shared content 37 (Fig. 3B).
In operation, after a selection is made through the menu, a chat room URL is activated from the INTERNET browser or from any other application. The file pointed to by the URL is retrieved from an HTTP server or from any other place, such as a hard disk in a PC. The file uses HTML syntax and can be embedded in an HTML file without distracting standard INTERNET browser displays when they display such a file.
In a preferred embodiment, the file is parsed and fields describing the chat rooms are read. If the LOCATION field (all fields refer to the file format described herein below) points to another chat room file then this file is also retrieved in a similar way and the fields from the new file are added to the description, overriding the old fields if the same fields are found. This continues until the last chat room file does not point to another chat room file. A virtual chat room icon is retrieved from the URL in the ICON field. If the SRC field points to an HTML content file then this file is retrieved from an INTERNET server or another place and displayed as the chat room content. If the SRC field does not exist then the chat room file is used as the content file.
In steps 25 through 27, the user selects a chat room by multiple selection through the hierarchy. For example, after the user has received the five level menu of Figs. 3A -3C, the user then selects a topic (step 25). An icon within the topics (step 26) is used to select a sub-topic, such as sixties music, as in the example of Fig. 2 or a computer game, as shown in the example of Figs. 3B and 3C (step 27). This selection triggers the generation of the specific client generated chat room and the user receives a current user list 36 and a current shared content 37 (step 28) of the client generated chat room 20.
In the preferred embodiment, the client connects to the server described in the chat room file SERVERS field, which also contains the server type, for example IRC or ILS. The SERVERJJRL field can point to a file containing a list of IRC servers that form an IRC network. In this case, the server list file is also retrieved and one of the servers is used as the IRC server. When connected to the IRC network, the ROOM field is used as the name of the IRC room to join. The PRIVATE field is used in this case to specify if the IRC chat room is private or public.
The list of users is retrieved from the IRC server chat room or from the ILS server and translated from native server format to a uniform format which is identical for all servers. The user list is then filtered according to the rules in the FILTER field.
If another set of servers and related fields (ROOM, PRIVATE, FILTER) exists in the chat room description, then the same process is executed from this server. All users from all servers are merged into one list, duplicated users are removed, and the list is displayed in the chat room user list. For IRC rooms, the list is updated whenever the server informs the client about users joining or leaving the rooms.
It is a particular feature of the present invention that, unlike prior art chat rooms, the chat room 20 of the present invention is server independent. It is located in client 21 , in the non limiting example of Fig. 2A, and it unifies, that is it enables co-presence of the user with users connected to different directory server types (Fig. 2A) and also of different non-connected server(s) of the same type (e.g. two non connected ILS servers). A preferred non limiting, client based, server independent, chat room file format is now described for a client generated chat room in the INTERNET as described above.
A link (a pointer) to a chat-room is an URL in the following format: "gold://hostname/path." The link has the format of a standard INTERNET HTTP URL, and can be accessed using the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP protocol). Thus, a link to a chat room file can also have the form of a normal HTTP file pointer such as "http://hostname/path."
The retrieved chat room file will have a mime-type of text/html. It is also possible to use specific fields in the HTTP protocol to define this page as a gold page.
The chat room specific parameters syntax is defined such that it can seamlessly be included as part of a standard HTML page which can contain the
Content for Content display of the chat-room 20. The chat room syntax is using standard HTML tags with values of the different parameters and properties of the chat-room.
The Properties of the Chat Room
The properties of the chat room can be defined as follows:
<GOLD NAME="chat-room-name"
SERVERS_URL="http://hostname/path" Path to alternative file holding a list of servers to connect to.
SERVERS="type:name:port"
Alternative servers on same network, to provide backup or better access.
ROOM- 'room name" Specifies the room name on the above server.
FILTER=tag:"value";tag:"value"
The value is defined as a Regular Expression. The filtering is activated on the lists of users supplied by the above server and is operated on specific fields of the list according to the different tags and the corresponding values.
PRIVATE=0|1 Specifies if the room is private or public (displayed in rooms' lists or not) ICON=URL of image
SRC="URL" Address of HTML containing the contents of the chat room. If this entry is missing, use this HTML page as the Content.
LOCATION="URL" Any parameters in the previous page can be overriden by the parameters of the next file. New parameters are added to the chat room parameters. This is used mainly to reference a new server list that can be modified in a central location to enable frequent updates.
Location's can also be chained. The properties (SERVERS JRL, SERVERS, ROOM, FILTER, and
PRIVATE) may repeat themselves as many times as required for the sake of supporting different networks of servers of different types.
Not all properties have to be specified, and additional properties may be added. Using the chat room application of the present invention, the syntax can be recognized. However, if the browser being used does not recognize the chat room syntax, an alternative message will be displayed. For example, the message could be any standard HTML message such as an Icon allowing the user to download the chat room application. This HTML page can contain PICS information that specifies the 'rating' of the page and any other standard HTML elements.
Reference is now made to Figs. 4A - 4D which illustrate four different non limiting examples of client generated server independent chat rooms of the present invention. Example A (Fig. 4A)
This example demonstrates a 'Music' chat room in some IRC network. Note that the room actually exists on the network: <GOLD NAME="Music" SERVERS="irc:iphone.vocaltec.com"
ROOM="Music" PRIVATE=0
ICON="http://www.gold.vocaltec.com/images/music.jpg" SRC="http://www.gold.vocaltec.com/images/music.htm">
The method of generating and utilizing the chat room of Fig. 4A includes the following steps:
1. Activate Chat Room URL by clicking on the Music image 41 in the HTML index;
2. Retrieve Chat Room file 42 pointed by URL from HTTP server 40; 3. Parse Chat Room file and read description fields;
4. Open Chat Room window and display the 'Music 43' title found in the Chat Room file GOLD_NAME field;
5. Retrieve chat room icon pointed by URL in ICON field from INTERNET 48 server and display it in joined chat room list as the chat room icon;
6. Retrieve HTML file 44 pointed by URL in SRC field from INTERNET server and display as the chat room content;
7. Connect to the IRC server 45 in the SERVERS field and join IRC 'Music' chat room 46 from ROOM field; 8. Get the chat room users from the IRC server and translate IRC users format to a uniform user format; 9. Display users 47 in the chat room users list;
10. Get update from the IRC server and update chat room users list when users join and leave the room.
Example B (Fig. 4B)
This example demonstrates a virtual 'Israel' chat room using an ILS server. Note that a virtual room is created from a much larger list of users on the server using a filter and that users with 'Adult' type are not included: <GOLD NAME="lsrael" SERVERS="ils:ils2.microsoft.com" PRIVATE=0
FILTER=Country:"lsrael" UserType:"Adult"
ICON="http://www.gold.vocaltec.com/images/israel.jpg"
SRC="http://www.gold.vocaltec.com/images/israel.htm">
The method of generating and utilizing the chat room of Fig. 4B includes the following steps:
1. Activate Chat Room URL by clicking on the 'Israel' 51 image in the HTML index;
2. Retrieve Chat Room file 52 pointed by URL from HTTP server 50;
3. Parse Chat Room file and read description fields; 4. Open Chat Room window and display the 'Israel' 53 title found in the
Chat Room file GOLD_NAME field; 5. Retrieve chat room icon pointed by URL in ICON field from
INTERNET server 58 and display it in joined chat room list as the chat room icon; 6. Retrieve HTML file 54 pointed by URL in SRC field from INTERNET server 58 and display as the chat room content; 7. Connect to ILS server in the SERVERS field;
8. Get the users from the ILS server 55 and translate ILS users format to a uniform user format;
9. Display users 56 with Country property 'Israel' and with 'UserType' Property different from 'Adult' in the chat room users list.
Example C (Fig. 4C)
This example demonstrates the use of two different IRC networks used to create a virtual 'Music' room which includes users from two, not physically related, music chat rooms. <GOLD NAME="Music"
SERVERS="irc:iphone.vocaltec.com" ROOM="Jazz_Music" SERVERS="irc:irc.mit.com" ROOM="Rock_Music" PRIVATE=0
ICON="http://www.gold.vocaltec.com/images/music.jpg" SRC="http://www.gold.vocaltec.com/images/music.htm"> The method of generating and utilizing the chat room of Fig. 4C includes the following steps: 1. Activate Chat Room URL by clicking on the 'Music' 61 image in
HTML index;
2. Retrieve Chat Room file 62 pointed by URL from HTTP server 63;
3. Parse Chat Room field and read description fields;
4. Open Chat Room window and display the 'Music' 64 title found in the Chat Room file GOLD NAME field; 5. Retrieve Chat Room icon pointed by URL in ICON field from INTERNET server 65 and display it in joined chat room list as the chat room icon.
6. Retrieve HTML file 66 pointed by URL in SRC field from INTERNET server and display as the chat room content;
7. Connect to the first IRC server 67 and form IRC "Jazz Music" chat room 68. Connect second IRC 69 server which is in a different IRC network, in the second SERVERS field and join IRC 'Rock_Music' chat room 70 from the second ROOM field; 8. Get the "jazz music" chat room users 90 from the first IRC server 67 and translate IRC users format to a uniform user format;
9. Get the "rock music" chat room users 91 from the second IRC server 69 and translate IRC users format to a uniform user format;
10. Remove duplicate users and display users from both servers in the chat room users list.
11. Get update from both IRC servers, remove duplicate users, and update chat room users list when users join and leave one of the IRC rooms.
Example D (Fig. 4D)
This example demonstrates the use of both an IRC network and an ILS server to create a virtual 'Music' room which includes users from both IRC and ILS:
<GOLD NAME="Music" SERVERS="irc:iphone.vocaltec.com" ROOM="Music"
SERVERS="ils:music.microsoft.com" PRIVATE=0
ICON="http://www.gold.vocaltec.com/images/music.jpg" SRC="http://www.gold.vocaltec.com/images/music.htm"> The method of generating and utilizing the chat room of Fig. 4D includes the following steps:
1. Activate Chat Room URL by clicking on 'Music' image 71 in HTML index;
2. Retrieve Chat Room file 72 pointed by URL from HTTP server 73;
3. Parse Chat Room file and read description fields; 4. Open chat room window and display the 'Music' title 74 found in the
Chat Room file GOLD_NAME field; 5. Retrieve chat room icon pointed by URL in ICON field from
INTERNET 75 server and display it in joined chat room list as the chat room icon; 6. Retrieve HTML file pointed by URL in SRC field from INTERNET 75 server and display as the chat room content 76;
7. Connect to the first IRC server in the first SERVERS field and join IRC 'Music' chat room 78 from the first ROOM field;
8. Connect to the ILS server 79 in the second SERVERS field; 9. Get the chat room users 80 from the first IRC server 77 and translate
IRC users format to a uniform user format; 10. Get the users 81 from the ILS server 79 and translate ILS users format to a uniform user format; 11. Remove duplicate users and display users from both servers in the chat room users list;
12. Get update from IRC server, remove duplicate users, and update chat room users list when users join and leave the IRC room. It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to what has been particularly shown and described hereinabove. Rather, the scope of the present invention is defined only by the claims that follow:

Claims

1. A method for producing a client generated chat room over a computer network comprising the steps of:
a. executing in a client, an application enabling selection of a chat room;
b. selecting said chat room, said selection triggers connection to users in at least two independent servers of the same type or of a different type; and
c. adding said users from said at least two independent servers to said client generated chat room.
2. A method according to claim 1 wherein said application is implemented in said client.
3. A method according to claim 1 wherein said application is implemented in a server in said computer network.
4. A method according to any of claims 1 - 3 wherein said computer network is the INTERNET.
5. A method according to claim 4 wherein said triggering activates a chat room URL which points to a chat room in an HTTP server.
6. A method according to claim 4 or 5 wherein said at least two independent servers are IRC or ILS servers or a combination therebetween.
7. A method according to any claims 1-6 wherein said step of adding also comprising the step of removing duplicate users from said at least two independent servers.
8. A method according to any claims 1-7 wherein said chat room includes a users list and shared content by said users currently co-present in said chat room.
9. A method according to any claims 1-8 wherein said selecting comprising selecting said chat room through a multi level menu.
10. A chat room produced by the method of any of claims 1 - 9.
PCT/IL1998/000313 1997-07-06 1998-07-06 System and method for generating a chat room over a computer network WO1999003034A1 (en)

Priority Applications (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP98930998A EP0941509A4 (en) 1997-07-06 1998-07-06 System and method for generating a chat room over a computer network
AU81263/98A AU8126398A (en) 1997-07-06 1998-07-06 System and method for generating a chat room over a computer network

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
IL121244 1997-07-06
IL12124497A IL121244A (en) 1997-07-06 1997-07-06 Chat room in a computer network

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO1999003034A1 true WO1999003034A1 (en) 1999-01-21

Family

ID=11070346

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
PCT/IL1998/000313 WO1999003034A1 (en) 1997-07-06 1998-07-06 System and method for generating a chat room over a computer network

Country Status (4)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0941509A4 (en)
AU (1) AU8126398A (en)
IL (1) IL121244A (en)
WO (1) WO1999003034A1 (en)

Cited By (13)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
KR20000049898A (en) * 2000-05-04 2000-08-05 고준원 Method for chatting service operation using internet
WO2000058867A1 (en) * 1999-03-26 2000-10-05 Telia Ab Personal communication on computer networks
EP1093271A2 (en) * 1999-10-14 2001-04-18 Fujitsu Limited Communication promotion method and system
WO2001052498A2 (en) * 2000-01-11 2001-07-19 Enow, Inc. Method and apparatus for reception and caching of multiple data objects
KR20010106551A (en) * 2000-05-22 2001-12-07 추후제출 A chatting service providing method in a computer network
KR20020017195A (en) * 2000-08-29 2002-03-07 송혜자 chatting system on ficture communication for providing supplementary information
KR20020021940A (en) * 2000-09-18 2002-03-23 전제완 A web chatting system and a method thereof
GB2368223A (en) * 2000-10-17 2002-04-24 Hewlett Packard Co Associating parties with communication sessions
KR20020064447A (en) * 2001-02-01 2002-08-09 (주)이지인터랙티브 Internet broadcast chatting system using server-to-server socket-relay technic
KR100397286B1 (en) * 2000-11-10 2003-09-06 주식회사 버츄얼웨어 real time chatting system between plural people through computers connected via network and method for the same, and storage medium storing program implementing the same method
WO2004046857A2 (en) * 2002-11-15 2004-06-03 Hubert Pauline System and method for providing targeted discussion group meeting information and related items for sale
US6778826B2 (en) 2000-04-15 2004-08-17 Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. User profiling communications system
US7143428B1 (en) * 1999-04-21 2006-11-28 Microsoft Corporation Concurrent viewing of a video programming and of text communications concerning the video programming

Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5784568A (en) * 1995-08-31 1998-07-21 Intel Corporation Multi-party audio chat system which allows individual user utterances to be staged separately to render received utterances in order
US5794006A (en) * 1995-08-18 1998-08-11 Microsoft Corporation System and method for editing content in an on-line network
US5793365A (en) * 1996-01-02 1998-08-11 Sun Microsystems, Inc. System and method providing a computer user interface enabling access to distributed workgroup members
US5796395A (en) * 1996-04-02 1998-08-18 Wegener Internet Projects Bv System for publishing and searching interests of individuals

Family Cites Families (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5764916A (en) * 1996-09-27 1998-06-09 Ichat, Inc. Method and apparatus for real time communication over a computer network

Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5794006A (en) * 1995-08-18 1998-08-11 Microsoft Corporation System and method for editing content in an on-line network
US5784568A (en) * 1995-08-31 1998-07-21 Intel Corporation Multi-party audio chat system which allows individual user utterances to be staged separately to render received utterances in order
US5793365A (en) * 1996-01-02 1998-08-11 Sun Microsystems, Inc. System and method providing a computer user interface enabling access to distributed workgroup members
US5796395A (en) * 1996-04-02 1998-08-18 Wegener Internet Projects Bv System for publishing and searching interests of individuals

Non-Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
See also references of EP0941509A4 *

Cited By (18)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2000058867A1 (en) * 1999-03-26 2000-10-05 Telia Ab Personal communication on computer networks
US7143428B1 (en) * 1999-04-21 2006-11-28 Microsoft Corporation Concurrent viewing of a video programming and of text communications concerning the video programming
EP1093271A2 (en) * 1999-10-14 2001-04-18 Fujitsu Limited Communication promotion method and system
US7426536B1 (en) 1999-10-14 2008-09-16 Fujitsu Limited Communication promotion method and system
EP1093271A3 (en) * 1999-10-14 2006-03-08 Fujitsu Limited Communication promotion method and system
WO2001052498A2 (en) * 2000-01-11 2001-07-19 Enow, Inc. Method and apparatus for reception and caching of multiple data objects
WO2001052498A3 (en) * 2000-01-11 2002-02-07 Enow Inc Method and apparatus for reception and caching of multiple data objects
US6778826B2 (en) 2000-04-15 2004-08-17 Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. User profiling communications system
KR20000049898A (en) * 2000-05-04 2000-08-05 고준원 Method for chatting service operation using internet
KR20010106551A (en) * 2000-05-22 2001-12-07 추후제출 A chatting service providing method in a computer network
KR20020017195A (en) * 2000-08-29 2002-03-07 송혜자 chatting system on ficture communication for providing supplementary information
KR20020021940A (en) * 2000-09-18 2002-03-23 전제완 A web chatting system and a method thereof
GB2368223A (en) * 2000-10-17 2002-04-24 Hewlett Packard Co Associating parties with communication sessions
GB2368223B (en) * 2000-10-17 2004-01-07 Hewlett Packard Co Associating parties with communication sessions
KR100397286B1 (en) * 2000-11-10 2003-09-06 주식회사 버츄얼웨어 real time chatting system between plural people through computers connected via network and method for the same, and storage medium storing program implementing the same method
KR20020064447A (en) * 2001-02-01 2002-08-09 (주)이지인터랙티브 Internet broadcast chatting system using server-to-server socket-relay technic
WO2004046857A2 (en) * 2002-11-15 2004-06-03 Hubert Pauline System and method for providing targeted discussion group meeting information and related items for sale
WO2004046857A3 (en) * 2002-11-15 2004-10-28 Hubert Pauline System and method for providing targeted discussion group meeting information and related items for sale

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
AU8126398A (en) 1999-02-08
IL121244A (en) 2000-06-01
EP0941509A1 (en) 1999-09-15
EP0941509A4 (en) 2002-05-02
IL121244A0 (en) 1998-01-04

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
US6237030B1 (en) Method for extracting hyperlinks from a display document and automatically retrieving and displaying multiple subordinate documents of the display document
Anklesaria et al. The Internet Gopher protocol (a distributed document search and retrieval protocol)
US6334145B1 (en) Method of storing and classifying selectable web page links and sublinks thereof to a predetermined depth in response to a single user input
US6412008B1 (en) System and method for cooperative client/server customization of web pages
US5878219A (en) System for integrating access to proprietary and internet resources
US6035330A (en) World wide web navigational mapping system and method
US6178460B1 (en) Method of efficiently retrieving data on a computer network by monitoring performance of mirrored network locations
US6209027B1 (en) Recirculating network address list with single button sequencer/selector
US6041326A (en) Method and system in a computer network for an intelligent search engine
US7596533B2 (en) Personalized multi-service computer environment
JP3683821B2 (en) Method for managing objects, method and system for sharing objects among user communities
US6904450B1 (en) Method and system for customizable network data retrieval
US6405222B1 (en) Requesting concurrent entries via bookmark set
US20060218245A1 (en) Method, system, and computer program product for distributing a stored URL and web document set
US20040199514A1 (en) Techniques for facilitating item sharing
JPH10162030A (en) Method and device for rendering hyperlink information
US6963901B1 (en) Cooperative browsers using browser information contained in an e-mail message for re-configuring
JP2002304419A (en) System and computer-based method for providing information converted in response to client search request
EP0941509A1 (en) System and method for generating a chat room over a computer network
Britten BITNET and the INTERNET: scholarly networks for librarians
Wiggins The University of Minnesota's Internet Gopher System: A tool for accessing network-based electronic information
Morgan The world-wide web and mosaic: an overview for librarians
Anklesaria et al. The Internet Gopher
US9015240B2 (en) Web-styled messaging system
KR100308705B1 (en) Load balancing across the processors of a server computer

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
AK Designated states

Kind code of ref document: A1

Designated state(s): AL AM AT AU AZ BA BB BG BR BY CA CH CN CU CZ DE DK EE ES FI GB GE GH GM GW HR HU ID IL IS JP KE KG KP KR KZ LC LK LR LS LT LU LV MD MG MK MN MW MX NO NZ PL PT RO RU SD SE SG SI SK SL TJ TM TR TT UA UG US UZ VN YU ZW

AL Designated countries for regional patents

Kind code of ref document: A1

Designated state(s): GH GM KE LS MW SD SZ UG ZW AM AZ BY KG KZ MD RU TJ TM AT BE CH CY DE DK ES FI FR GB GR IE IT LU MC NL PT SE BF BJ CF CG CI CM GA GN ML MR NE SN TD TG

WWE Wipo information: entry into national phase

Ref document number: 09364296

Country of ref document: US

WWE Wipo information: entry into national phase

Ref document number: 1998930998

Country of ref document: EP

121 Ep: the epo has been informed by wipo that ep was designated in this application
WWP Wipo information: published in national office

Ref document number: 1998930998

Country of ref document: EP

REG Reference to national code

Ref country code: DE

Ref legal event code: 8642

NENP Non-entry into the national phase

Ref country code: JP

Ref document number: 1999508391

Format of ref document f/p: F

NENP Non-entry into the national phase

Ref country code: CA

WWW Wipo information: withdrawn in national office

Ref document number: 1998930998

Country of ref document: EP