J.T. Colby & Company, Inc. et al v. Apple, Inc.

Filing 89

DECLARATION of Partha P. Chattoraj in Support re: 87 MOTION for Partial Summary Judgment.. Document filed by Ipicturebooks LLC, J.Boyston & Company, J.T. Colby & Company, Inc., Publishers LLC. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit 1, # 2 Exhibit 2, # 3 Exhibit 3, # 4 Exhibit 4, # 5 Exhibit 5, # 6 Exhibit 6, # 7 Exhibit 7, # 8 Exhibit 8, # 9 Exhibit 9, # 10 Exhibit 10, # 11 Exhibit 11, # 12 Exhibit 12, # 13 Exhibit 13, # 14 Exhibit 14, # 15 Exhibit 15, # 16 Exhibit 16, # 17 Exhibit 17, # 18 Exhibit 18, # 19 Exhibit 19, # 20 Exhibit 20, # 21 Exhibit 21, # 22 Exhibit 22, # 23 Exhibit 23, # 24 Exhibit 24, # 25 Exhibit 25, # 26 Exhibit 26, # 27 Exhibit 27, # 28 Exhibit 28, # 29 Exhibit 29, # 30 Exhibit 30, # 31 Exhibit 31, # 32 Exhibit 32, # 33 Exhibit 33, # 34 Exhibit 34, # 35 Exhibit 35, # 36 Exhibit 36, # 37 Exhibit 37, # 38 Exhibit 38, # 39 Exhibit 39, # 40 Exhibit 40, # 41 Exhibit 41, # 42 Exhibit 42, # 43 Exhibit 43, # 44 Exhibit 44, # 45 Exhibit 45, # 46 Exhibit 46, # 47 Exhibit 47, # 48 Exhibit 48, # 49 Exhibit 49, # 50 Exhibit 50, # 51 Exhibit 51, # 52 Exhibit 52, # 53 Exhibit 53, # 54 Exhibit 54, # 55 Exhibit 55, # 56 Exhibit 56, # 57 Exhibit 57, # 58 Exhibit 58, # 59 Exhibit 59, # 60 Exhibit 60, # 61 Exhibit 61, # 62 Exhibit 62, # 63 Exhibit 63, # 64 Exhibit 64, # 65 Exhibit 65, # 66 Exhibit 66, # 67 Exhibit 67, # 68 Exhibit 68, # 69 Exhibit 69, # 70 Exhibit 70, # 71 Exhibit 71, # 72 Exhibit 72, # 73 Exhibit 73, # 74 Exhibit 74, # 75 Exhibit 75, # 76 Exhibit 76, # 77 Exhibit 77, # 78 Exhibit 78, # 79 Exhibit 79, # 80 Exhibit 80, # 81 Exhibit 81, # 82 Exhibit 82, # 83 Exhibit 83, # 84 Exhibit 84, # 85 Exhibit 85, # 86 Exhibit 86, # 87 Exhibit 87, # 88 Exhibit 88, # 89 Exhibit 89, # 90 Exhibit 90)(Chattoraj, Partha)

EXHIBIT68

1111~

111111111111111111111111~ 111111111111111111111111111
US007571212B2

United States Patent

(10)

Reynolds et al.

(12)

(45)

(54)

Inventors: Brian Reynolds, Hanover (JM); Mark
J. Conway, Newbury (GB)

(73)

Assignee: Family Systems, Ltd., Isle of Man (GB)

(•)

Notice:

(21)

Appl. No.: 10/439,143

(22)

Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this
patent is extended or adjusted under 35
U.S.C. 154(b) by 960 days.

(Continued)

(60)

Provisional application No. 60/381,060, filed on May
14,2002.

(51)

Int.Cl.
G06F 15/16
(2006.01)
U.S. Cl. ....................................... 709/206; 715/738
Field of Classification Search ......... 709/218-219,
709/206; 715/738
See application file for complete search history.
References Cited

(56)

U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
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5,809,250
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5,870,744
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A * 811999
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4/2000 Reynolds et at.
A
A * 1112000 Palmer et al. .. ............. 715n33
81 * 1/2001 Kirk et al .................... 715/205
81 * 5/2001 Ludwig et al ............... 709/204
81 * 3/2002 Anupam et al. .. ........... 709/204
81 * 4/2002 Aditham et al. .. ........... 7191313
81 * 7/2002 Shelton et al. .. ............ 709/227
81 * 812002 Kay et al. .. ................. 709/206
81 * 1/2003 Atkinson et al ............. 4341350
81 • 1212003 Rust ........................... 709/204
81 • 3/2004 Wongetal .................... 707/10

(Continued)

Mar. 11, 2004

Related U.S. Application Data

(52)
(58)

Aug. 4, 2009

OfHER PUBLICATIONS

Prior Publication Data
US 2004/0049539 AI

US 7,571,212 B2

Neil W. Van Dyke, Henry Lieberma, Pattie Maes, Butterfly: a conversation-finding agent for Internet relay chat, Los Angeles, California, United States Jan. 5-8, 1999, Proceedings of the 4th international
conference on Intelligent user interface, pp. 39-41.*

May 14, 2003

Filed:

(65)

MacNaughton et al ......
Kisor ......•..................
Anupam et al ..............
Sprague ......................
Schloss ......................
Scherpbier ..................
Anupam et al ..............

709/218
709/227
709/204
709/206
709/225
709/218
709/206

Chat lloom - Illest
~IT~~--~-~~:-..

•

6,052,717
6,151,020
6,175,842
6,237,025
6,353,851
6,378,001
6,418,471
6,430,602
6,507,726
6,668,273
6,708,172

INTERACTIVE WEB COLLABORATION
SYSTEMS AND MEmODS

(75)

Patent No.:
Date of Patent:

Primary Examiner-Larry D Donaghue
Assistant Examiner-Ajay Bhatia
(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Ropes & Gray LLP
(57)

ABSTRACT

A topic room is provided in which one or more individuals or
other entities may collaborate on topics of mutual interest.
Multiple individuals or participants may use the topic room to
communicate in real or non-real time and may work together
to create, browse, modifY, comment on, and perform any
other suitable action on content. A chat room within the topic
room receives, records, and transmits the communications
and all activity in the topic room to all participants as messages. Client processes at a participant's user equipment may
listen to the messages and take particular actions. For
example, one participant can follow another participant as
that participant browses through material by using the messages received from that participant.
8 Claims, 8 Drawing Sheets

US 7,571,212 B2
Page2
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
6,748,420 Bl * 612004
6,785,708 Bl • 812004
6,901,438 Bl • 5/2005
6,938,212 B2 • 812005
6,950,852 Bl • 9/2005
7,051,068 Bl • 5/2006
7,139,795 B2 • 1112006
1/2007
7,167,142 B2 •
2001/0037365 AI* 11/2001
200210002586 AI * 1/2002
200210032731 AI • 3/2002
200210046253 AI • 4/2002
200210103917 AI * 812002

Quatra.no et al. .... .... .. .. 709/20 5
Busey et al. .. .............. 709/204
Davis et al .................. 709/219
Nakamura .................. 7151748
Kobayaghi et al ........... 709/204
Kawase et al. .. ............ 709/203
Davis ......................... 709/204
Buckley et al. .. ............ 345/2.1
Montague et al ............ 709/204
Rafal et al. .. ............... 709/205
Qian et al. .. ................ 709/204
Uchida et al. .. ............. 709/217
Kay et al. .. ................. 709/229

OfHER PUBLICATIONS
David Vronay, Marc Smith, Steven Drucker, Symposium on User
Interface Software and Technology, Proceedings of the 12th annual
ACM symposium on User interface software and technology,
Asheville, North Carolina, United States Nov. 7-10, 1999, pp.
19-26.•
McNeill, Brian L, Deiregno, Christopher N, W0009944149Al, Sep.
2, 1999.•
de Jesus Hoyos Rivera, G.; Courtiat, J.-P.; Villemur, T., "A design
framework for collaborative browsing," Enabling Technologies:

Infrastructure for Collaborative Enteiprises, 2001. Wet Ice 2001.
Proceedings. Tenth IEEE International Workshops on, vol., No., pp.
362-367' 2001..
Roseman, M. and Greenberg, S. 1996. TeamRooms: network places
for collaboration. In Proceedings of the 1996 ACM Conference on
Computer Supported Cooperative Work (Boston, Massachusetts,
United States, Nov. 16-20, 1996). M. S. Ackerman, Ed CSCW '96.
ACM, New York, NY, 325-333.*
H. Lieberman, N. van Dyke, A. VIVacqua, Let's browse: a collaborative browsing agent, Knowledge-Based Systems, vol. 12, Issue 8,
Dec.l999,pp.427-431, ISSN0950-7051.*
"DreamChat-StreamingAvatar Photo Chat-Glossary of Chat Features," (Jan. 25, 2001), at web.archive.org/web/20010817025834/
www.drearnchat.com/products/features.html.
Ulrich Gall & Franz Hauck, "Promondia: a Java-based framework for
real-time group communication in the Web," Computer Networks
and ISDN Systems, North Holland Publishing, Amsterdam, NL, vol.
29, No. 8-13, (Sep. I, 1997), pp. 917-926.
Peter Hartwell, "Using !book Chat," (May 5, 2002) at www.ibook.
com/documentationlug!ug-chat.htm.
Twidale, M.B.; Nichols, D.M. & Paice, C.D., Browsing is a Collaborative Process, Information Processing & Management, vol. 33, No.
6, pp. 761-783 (1997).
Steinfield, C.; Jang, C.Y. & Pfaff, B., "Supporting Virtual Team
Collaboration: The TearnSCOPE System," Group '99, Phoenix, Arizona, USA, pp. 81-90 (1999).

* cited by examiner

U.S. Patent

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US 7,571,212 B2

U.S. Patent

Aug. 4,2009

Apr 24.2002 22:32:14
Apr 19 200215:41:02
Apr 19 200215:26:54
Apr 19 200215:26:34
Apr 17 2002 20:57:12
Apr 16 2002 20: 2S: 47
Apr 03 2002 21:50.31
Mar 28 200219:33:46

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US 7,571,212 B2
1

2

laborate on topics of mutual interest. A topic room is a collaborative framework built upon an interactive web site, in
which multiple individuals may carry out live or non-real time
written, verbal, or multimedia conversations, and may work
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED
together to discuss, create, browse, modifY, comment on,
APPLICATION
disagree about, create enhancements to or alternative versions of, and otherwise contribute to content or material.
Ibis application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional
Within the framework of the topic room, such discussions are
application No. 60/381,060, filed May 14, 2002, which is
recorded and logged, as are all elements of the collaboration,
hereby incorporated-by-reference herein in its entirety.
10 interactions between participants, and individual contribuREFERENCE TO A COMPUTER PROGRAM
tions of those participants.
LISTING APPENDIX
A topic room includes a chat room. A chat room holds all of
the currently active participants in the topic room, and supIbis application contains a computer program listing
ports their interactions. The chat room records the activity in
appendix submitted on two copies (i.e., copy I and copy 2) of 15 the topic room, makes that activity visible to the participants,
a compact disc, which is hereby incorporated-by-reference
monitors topic room activity, and carries out various support
herein in its entirety. The computer listing appendix is subtasks as requested by the chat room participants.
mitted as a Word file named Appendix A, which is a 570 kb in
Activity in a topic room is a sequence of actions. A record
size and was created on May 14, 2003.
of topic room activity comprises a log of topic room actions,
20 created by the chat room. Ibis log becomes part of the conBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
tents of the topic room, and may be selectively inspected,
reproduced, and animated. A recorded topic room action can
This invention relates to the Internet, and more particularly,
be animated. Animating a recorded action reproduces the
to techniques for creating and viewing material on the World
action, and animating a sequence of actions has the effect of
Wide Web ("web") in the form of an interactive web site, and 25 recreating the activity in the topic room.
to techniques by which multiple individuals can communiA conversation between participants in a topic room may
cate with each other and work collaboratively on content and
well include verbal communication. A conventional telematerials in an interactive web site.
phony system may be employed for this conversation. AlterThe World Wide Web has made the Internet accessible to a
natively, individuals or groups may employ local recording
broad range of people. One can search the web and view large 30 techniques that generate digital audio or other multimedia
amounts of material using a web browser. Recent improverecordings, and then share those recordings, or portions
ments have made it easier for individuals to contribute their
thereof. The audiorecorder is a topic room tool which supown ideas and creative content via the web. However, there is
ports local or remote capture of audio or multimedia recordno satisfactory framework within the web to assist and enable
ings of participants' conversation, singing, recitations, musia group of people who may be physically remote from each 35 cal or other performances, etc., and assists in the inclusion of
other, to talk to each other, work together, discuss ideas,
such material into the topic room along with useful other
create, view, enhance, modifY, alter, comment on, and create
information. The other information can include a timestamp,
multiple alternative versions of new material while recording
a source identifier (e.g., the speaker), and a topic specificatheir interactions and contributions in such a way that particition. The audiorecorder can be used to annotate a continuous
pants may be automatically identified and rewarded for their 40 recording, or include limited "clips" taken from a larger
efforts, the deliberations ofthe group preserved and reviewed,
recording in the topic room record.
and the sequence of interactions reproduced. As a result,
Digital recordings are only one example of material relmany people who have access to the web do not use it in their
evant to topic room activity that may not have a native form
collaborative efforts.
that allows them to be easily and directly incorporated into a
Furthermore, there is no satisfactory framework within the 45 page. Such material is called "external material". Topic
web to support the definition of pre-defined roles and responrooms include a method for representing external material
sibilities for group members, by which groups organize their
outside of a folder by a page inside the folder, and for generactivities, nor any satisfactory framework within the Web
ating an internal Universal Reference Locator from the extereither to assist participants in understanding, reviewing,
nal URL of the external material.
accepting, or performing those roles, or to implement systems 50
A tag makes it possible to locate external material. A tag is
or methods by which those roles may be objectively specified
a structured meta-content object that contains information
and carried out automatically or semi-automatically by intelabout folder content. A tag can be embodied as an HTML
ligent artificial agents.
element. A tag is created for, and stored in, every page. A tag
It is therefore an object of the present invention to facilitate
holds all the meta information (non-content information) for
the collaboration of multiple participants using a data net- 55 a page. A tag holds system-generated information, such as
work such as the web and to record the particulars of their
authoring information and various content links. A tag may
also contain a behavior object, through which the behavior of
collaboration.
the page is defined, using techniques that are discussed below.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a way
Finally, the tag of each page may hold a template copy of the
in which to facilitate a description, specification, and imple60 link to that page.
mentation of roles using a data network such as the web.
Collaborative efforts are aided by techniques which supSUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
port the tentative and contingent association of comments,
notes, alternative renderings, pictures, and other material
These and other objects of the invention are accomplished
with the content of pages. Topic rooms support this continin accordance with the principles of the present invention by 65 gent association with "links". Links are structured meta-content objects that refer to a page, and can be inserted into one
providing a framework and a space referred to as a topic room
or more pages. A link can be embodied as an HTML element.
in which one or more individuals or other entities may colINTERACTIVE WEB COLLABORATION
SYSTEMS AND METHODS

US 7,571,212 B2

3

4

The visual aspect of a link can be determined on a case-bycase basis when the page in which it is embedded is displayed.
As a result, a particular link can be rendered visible or invisible, sets of related links displayed in such a way as to share
identifying properties such as color, etc. The link could also
be rendered by rendering the contents ofthe page to which the
link refers. The rendering characteristics of a link can be
determined by the link's creator, the owner of the page in
which the link is embedded, the viewer of the page, or other
controlling factors. Links can be copied manually or automatically using a "drag-and-drop" or other operation.
Each participant in the activities that take place in a topic
room may be represented by an identity. An identity may be a
topic room whose topic is the entity it represents. Whenever
an entity participates in any topic room, that entity's activity
may also be recorded in their identity.
All activities in a topic room may be captured and
described using a formalism for creating, sustaining, and
supporting communication between independent, distributed, self-regulating, cooperating objects. An object can do
two things: it can communicate with other objects, and it can
control non-objects.
Folders and pages are objects. Other objects include the
audiorecorder, the controller, the chat room, and the server.
Objects may communicate with each other by constructing,
transmitting, receiving, and interpreting messages. Each
message constitutes a plurality of statements. A statement
may be a speakable command that can be interpreted by an
interpreter and complies with the specifications ofa grammar.
A statement may define an atomic event or action within a
topic room.
A script comprises a parallel sequence of statements.
Scripts are used to define useful collections of actions, often
described as "behavior". All objects have such scripts associated with them. Hence, objects have "behavior" associated
with them. One object can inherit the scripts associated with
another object, and thereby "inherit" part or all ofthe ''behavior" associated with that other object.
As described above, every page may have a tag associated
with it. In the tag is the behavior for the page. A behavior is the
collection of scripts that are attached to the page, and which
contribute to the behavior ofthe page. The behavior of a page
is the behavior specified by the page's tag. This in turn is the
behavior of the scripts in that tag, including any inherited
behavior.
Thebehaviorofafolderisthecompositionofthebehavior
of the pages in the folder. Composition is a well-defined
inheritance process.
A persona is a folder whose behavior has been designed to
be useful, interesting, entertaining, or otherwise distinguishing behavior. A participant in a topic room may temporarily or
permanently "adopt a persona" by having that participant's
identity folder inherit the scripts in the persona folder.
An assistant is a self-contained identity that has sufficiently
well-defined, sophisticated, useful, and or interesting behavior, history, and content that it can usefully contribute by itself
as a topic room participant.
Activity within a topic room may constitute parallel
sequences of messages exchanged between the objects representing the participants in the room and the material upon
which they are collaborating. Records of topic room activity
maytaketheformofscripts, andmayconstitutethehistoryof
their respective topic rooms.
Further features of the invention, its nature and various
advantages will be more apparent from the accompanying
drawings and the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 shows an illustrative Ibook site in accordance with
the present invention.
FIG. 2 shows an illustrative topic room in accordance with
the present invention.
FIG. 3 shows a system diagram of an !book site server, a
chat server, and client computers in accordance with the
present invention.
10
FIG. 4 shows topic room client components in accordance
with the present invention.
FIG. 5 shows a user chat message and Verbol chat message
in accordance with the present invention.
FIG. 6 shows an illustrative MySharer window in accor15 dance with the present invention.
FIG. 7 shows an illustrative chat room window in accordance with the present invention.
FIG. 8 shows an illustrative audiorecorder window in
accordance with the present invention.
20

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED
EMBODIMENTS
Generally speaking, the present invention provides
improvements on existing interactive web site systems. An
existing interactive web site system is described in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,052,717 to Reynolds et al.
(hereinafter "!book system" (!book is a registered trademark
of Family Systems, Ltd.)), which is hereby incorporated by
30 reference herein in its entirety. An interactive web site system
is a self-extending, self-sustaining information-redistributing
web robot which is resident on a data network such as the
Internet or an intranet. Material in an interactive web site
system may be organized in the form of web pages. Material
35 maybe text, two-dimensional, three-dimensionalorn-dimensional graphics, animation, audio, video, source or executable
code, or any type of multimedia format. Within each Web
page, material may be organized in passages. Passages can be
of any suitable size, such as a paragraph for textnal material,
40 or a video or audio clip of a certain length for multimedia
material. Related interactive web site system technology supports the automatic distribution, publishing, and synchronization of interactive web site system content and other data
between multiple users and sites. These features are described
45 in, for example, Reynolds et al. PCT Publication No. WO
02/088909, filed Feb. 1, 2002 (hereinafter "MySharer software" (MySharer is a registered trademark of Family Systerns, Ltd.)), which is hereby incorporated by reference herein
in its entirety.
50
Topic Rooms
A topic room may include all of the behavior and functionality of existing interactive web site systems, such as the
!book system. A topic room also preferably includes a chat
room that supports and records interactions between multiple
55 users and Verbol scripts (Verbol is a registered trademark of
Family Systems, Ltd.) that define the behavior and capabilities of the topic room. The term !book folder will be used
herein to refer to material that is stored in an interactive web
site system. Therefore, a topic room preferably includes an
60 !book folder, a chat room, and Verbol scripts.
Every topic room preferably has a topic. The topic is what
the material in the !book folder is about. A subject !book
folder is an !book folder whose topic is a particular subject
(other than being about an !book member or a persona). An
65 identity !book folder is an !book folder whose topic is an
individual (or other entity) that is an enrolled member of an
!book site. A persona is an Ibook folder whose topic is a
25

US 7,571,212 B2
5

6

history and a named set of behaviors, both of which a contributor can adopt to enhance their identity.
!book Sites
Topic Rooms are held in !book sites. !book sites allow
users to gain access to topic rooms by enrolling as members in
the !book site that holds the topic room. Every topic room is
preferably contained within a single !book site. An !book site
may contain multiple topic rooms. An exemplary !book site is
described more detail in the !book system patent.
!book Folders
As used herein, the terms "!book folder" and "topic room"
are largely interchangeable. Where a distinction appears to be
indicated, an !book folder should be considered to correspond
to the aspect of a topic room that has the properties of existing
interactive web site systems such as the !book system. An
!book folder has the capacity to store and present content,
maintain attribution and derivation information associated
with the content, and so forth.
Formally, in object-oriented programming terminology, a
topic room is an Ibook folder: it has all of the properties,
methods, and behaviors or an !book folder, and may well have
additional properties methods and behaviors.
The !book folder aspect of a topic room stores all of the
permanent content of the topic room. That is, the persistent
storage of all topic room state information is in the !book
folder of the topic room. The content, history, and behavior of
a topic room may be organized into a collection of !book
pages.
An Ibook page comprises an itag and content material.
Every !book page preferably has an itag. The content portion
of the !book page may be empty. An itag holds information
about the page, and a vspace. The vspace holds Verbal scripts
that define behavior associated with the page.
Each !book folder preferably has several distinguished
pages. One distinguished page may be the "home page" of the
Ibookfolder. The topic of the !book folder may be specified in
the itag of the !book folder's home page. Other distinguished
pages may be "chat pages". A chat page holds a record or log
of a Verbol chat that took place in the !book chat room.
Alternatively, a chat page may be located elsewhere within a
topic room such as within a Verbol chat room.
Itags
An itag is a structured text element. Every Ibook page
preferably has an itag. In one embodiment, an itag may be an
HTML element. Every itag preferably contains system-generated identifYing information about the !book page, an
archetypal istamp for the !book page, and the vspace of the
Ibookpage.
The system-generated information in an itag may include
but is not limited to a) template links, also known as attribution links; b) copy links, also known as derivation links; c)
identity links, which point to the contents of the !book page;
d) child links, which should be generated in the child list of
the vspace ofthe parent; and e) authoring information, including but not limited to the universal date and time of creation of
the content associated with the itag, author or speaker (that is,
the creator of the content itself), date of contribution to the
Ibook; identity of the !book contributor, and additional information such as type, category, notes, descriptions, etc.
Vspaces and Verbol Scripts
The itag in an !book page preferably holds a vspace. A
vspace contains a user-defined Verbal script that defines the
behavior of the !book page. Among other things, a page's
Verbol script may act to automatically incorporate contributions to the Ibook page or folder. As a result of the incorporation, some Ibook pages may be revised and new !book
pages may be created.

When an Ibook page is created, it normally inherits its
behavior, in the form ofVerbol statements, from its parent and
from its template. The parent of an Ibook page is the !book
page that the !book controller of the page's creator was
browsing when the page was created. As part of the creation
process, the creator can optionally designate any page in the
current !book folder as the template for the page being created.
The method by which an !book page inherits Verbal behavior may be either static or dynamic. In the static method, when
a page is created the contents ofthevspace ofits parent and its
template is copied into the new !book page's vspace. In the
dynamic method, when a page is created the contents of the
vspace of its parent and its template is referenced in its
vspace. Thus, in the static method, subsequent changes to a
page's parent or template behavior does not result in changes
in the page's behavior. In the dynamic method, subsequent
changes to the parent or template behavior is reflected in the
page's own behavior. When the static inheritance method is
employed, the inheritance may be "refreshed" from time to
time. In the refresh operation, new copies of the parent's and
template's behavior are transferred to the page, so that the
page acquires any changes in the parent's or template's
behavior that took place since the last static copy operation.
!Book Page Content
The content associated with an Ibook page may reside in
the !book page itself, or external to the page. In one embodiment of !book pages, content within the page is in the form of
HTML statements. Other forms of content include but are not
limited to Microsoft Word documents, PDF documents,
faxes, spreadsheets, audio and other multimedia recordings,
etc.
External Content
A topic room uses !book pages and istamps to incorporate
content into an !book folder. An !book folder may include any
kind of content that can be digitally located and accessed, so
that the fundamental advantages of being part of an !book
folder (the ability to access and manipulate the content, the
maintenance of a history for the content including at least
derivation and attribution information, and the storage and
invocation ofbehavior of the content) can apply to content of
any kind.
Content is incorporated into an !book folder by creating an
!book page to hold the content, or to refer to the content. All
the content associated with an !book folder is preferably held
in Ibook pages, or referred to by !book pages. For example, in
one embodiment of istamps, the Ibook controller uses Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) to refer to, locate, and access
all forms of content. In the embodiment under discussion, the
Ibookcontrolleralso uses a URL to refer to, locate, and access
!book pages. In this embodiment, the !book controller
handles "external content"--content that can not be inserted
into an !book page, but that is to be logically included as part
of the !book page-by making use of an algorithm that
accepts as input an arbitrary content URL, and produces as
output a "mapped" URL that is within the domain of the
Ibook folder. The Ibook controller creates an !book page with
this mapped URL. The itag of the new page includes the URL
of the external content. If some content is stored inside of its
istamp, it is stored in such a way that it can be easily located
once the istamp has been located. Thus either the !book page
or the external content may be located by knowing the URL of
the other element.
Verbal Chat Rooms
A. Overview
As discussed above, and as illustrated in FIG. 1, !book site
100 may include multiple !book folders 1000. Some of the

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folders may be identity !book folders, and some may be
modifY lbook pages. As shown in FIG. 3, these interactions
subject !book folders. In addition, !book site 100 may include
are supported by !book site server computer 2000 and chat
one or more topic rooms 2000. FIG. 2 shows a more detailed
server computer 3000. In particular, chat server process 3100
diagram of topic room 2000. As discussed above, and as
receives chat messages from individual client computers
illustrated in FIG. 2, topic room 2000 comprises an Ibook
4000 and 5000 and rebroadcasts those messages to all participants in the chat room of a topic room. Chat server process
folder 1000 and a Verbol chat room 1200. The Ibook folders
in topic rooms may typically be subject !book folders, but
3100 also sends all chat messages to the chat room software
may also be identity Ibook folders. !book folders may include
component running on chat server computer 3000. This chat
multiple !book passages such as !book passages 1100. Topic
room software component is responsible for logging all chat
room 2000 preferably includes a chat page or chat log 1150. 10 messages in the chat page of the associated topic room, and
Verbol chat room 1200 allows Ibook site members to
for retrieving those messages on demand for playback to chat
exchange messages and contributing content to the Ibook
room participant. The chat room software component use
folder 1000 within topic room 2000. An interaction of this
standard !book folder software and operations to maintain
sort is referred to as "Verbol chat," or simply as a "chat".
and access the chat page in which this log, or history, of chat
Verbol chat room 1200 (or simply the chat room) supports 15 messages is maintained.
Verbol chats, and generates a complete history of each chat,
!book site server 2000 and chat server 3000 may simultastoring the history in the chat page or chat log 1150 of topic
neously support multiple chat room participants and multiple
room 2000. The history becomes an integral part of the conenrolled non-chat Room Ihook site users.
!book site server 2000, chat server 3000, and client comtent of topic room 2000.
A topic room may include one or more !book folders and 20 puters 4000 and 5000 may be personal computers, laptop
one or more chat rooms. In one possible embodiment, one
computers, mainframe computers, personal digital assistants
chat room is created for each !book folder nominated as a
(PDAs), etc. or any combination of the same. !book site server
Topic Room. When a Topic Room is created (for instance,
2000 and chat server 3000 may communicate with client
computers 4000 and 5000 over any communications links
during enrollment of an Ibook site user, or when an Ibook site
user issues a "create new Ibook folder" command to the Ibook 25 suitable for communicating data such as network links, dialsite) a chat room is created by the Ibook site that is supporting
up links, wireless links, hard-wired links, etc.
the !book system, and is associated with the Topic Room.
E. IRC Embodiment
Each Verbol chat room preferably has a name. Its name may
In one possible embodiment, the Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
be derived from the name of the Topic Room with which it is
protocol is used support chat rooms. In such an embodiment,
30 the chat server is built on top of a standard IRC server, and
associated.
A Verbol chat room may a) allow topic room participants to
chat messages are text messages wrapped inside the IRC
engage in live, on-line communication with each other via
message protocol. In this embodiment, the Verbol chat client
chat messages; b) record their interactions as a log of chat
communicates with the chat server over a network or Internet
using the IRC protocol.
messages in the chat page; and c) is capable of animating
those records-playing them back-so as to reproduce 35
F. Chat Room Activation
recorded chat room interactions. The chat room also redupliAn enrolled lbook site member needs to log into a topic
cates the contributions of participants to other lbook folders
room before he or she can participate in a Verbol chat. In
by sending Verbol messages to other relevant Ibook folders.
addition to logging in, the member also needs to "enter" the
Whenever a participant makes a contribution to a topic room,
chat room of the topic room. Once they have entered the chat
an entry is added to the log, or history, of that topic room 40 room, they become a participant in the Verbol chat. Users may
describing the contribution, and a Verbol message is also sent
enter a chat room by running their Verbol chat client software
to the participant's identity, which results in an entry in the
on their client computer, and providing certain information to
the chat client, such as the name of the chat room they want to
history of that !book folder.
B. Server Side Chat Room Components
enter, and the URL of the chat server that is supporting that
An !book site sponsor maintains a chat server computer on 45 chat room. Alternatively, this process may be automated so
that a user may simply select a chat room icon in the topic
a network in order to support topic rooms. The chat server
computer runs a chat server process. The chat server comroom to enter the chat room.
puter may be the same physical computer as the !book site
When an enrolled user enters a chat room, the chat server
computer, or they may be different computers attached via a
determines whether or not the chat room is active. If the chat
network. In addition to the chat server process, one chat room so room is not active, the chat server accesses the topic room
software component for each active chat room runs on the
database, activates the chat room, initializes the chat room
software component running on the chat server computer, and
chat server computer supporting that chat room.
enters the user as a participant in the chat room. The chat room
C. Client Side Software
When a user enrolls in a topic room, an enrollment program
will remain active as long as it has any participants. When it
directs the user to download and install any necessary topic 55 no longer has any participants, the chat server preferably
room software onto their client computer. In another suitable
deactivates the chat room.
FIG. 7 shows an illustrative chat room window 8000. As
approach, the software may be downloaded and installed at
any later time onto a client computer. The topic room software
illustrated in the top portion of window 8000, there are two
includes a standard web browser, an Ibook controller which
participants in the chat room: gerald and steve2. The top
creates a Verbol wrapper around the web browser, a Verbol 60 portion of window 8000 also shows their most recent action,
which is "browses" for both participants and the locations of
chat client (or simply chat client) software, and any other
suitable client software for supporting interaction with the
their web browser.
topic room.
G. Chat Room Participation
D. General Operation
Chat room participants can send and receive messages to
During operation, Verbol chat participants of a topic room 65 and from other participants, and make various requests of the
using client computers interact with each other by exchangchat room and of other participants. For instance, they can ask
ing text, media, and Verbol messages, and create, display, and
the chat room to let them ''follow" another participant as the

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possible embodiment), a recognized Verbol command field
participant browses from place to place. Participants make
(such as "BROWSE", "REVISE", or "CREATE"), and a set
such requests using the Verbol chat client. The chat client may
of command arguments (such as a URL). In one possible
perform at least the following functions:
embodiment cat messages are "wrapped" in an IRC protocol
I. Display relevant information, including the names,
for transmission between software components on a client
actions, and locations of participants, and certain selected
computer, for transmission from a client computer to the chat
chat messages.
server, and for transmission from the chat server to all par2. Provide a user interface for issuing chat room requests.
ticipant client computers.
3. Filter chat messages, selecting certain messages for display.
Topic Room Client Components
10
4. Hide chat messages, so that they are not displayed.
A topic room client computer runs software designed to
5. Monitor chat messages, and execute predefined prosupport Ibook folder contribution and chat room participacesses when certain messages, or combinations of messages,
tion. This software may be downloaded (e.g., from an Ibook
are detected.
site) during topic room user enrollment, or at a convenient
The requests that a chat client supports include the followlater time. As shown in FIG. 4, a client computer 5000 runs a
ing:
15 web browser 5200 to support Ibook folder contribution, and a
1. Enter a designated chat room.
Verbal chat client 5400 to support chat room participation.
2. Leave the current chat room.
The client computer may also be running additional Ibook
3. Follow another participant in the chat.A participant may
client components. All of these components communicate
follow another participant for example by right clicking on
with each other by exchanging Verbol chat messages through
the other participant in window 8000 and selecting this 20 a communications component referred to as ''Corns Layer"
option.
5500. Chat client 5400 receives all chat messages from the
4. Browse to the same location as another participant in the
chat room (e.g., chat room 3200 (FIG. 3)), interprets each
chat. A participant may browse to the same location as
message, and also passes it on to the other client components
another participant by selecting that participant's location in
by sending the message to the Corns Layer 5500.
25
the top portion of window 8000.
The web browser used to access the Ibook folder is cus5. Send a user message to the chat room. A participant may
tomized by wrapping it in an !book controller component
send a message to the chat room by entering the message in
5100 that supports specialized Ibook folder operations. This
message text box 8050 in window 8000.
controller also acts as a Verbol wrapper, translating the web
6. Show older messages in the chat room. A participant
browsers actions into Verbal chat messages, and allowing
may view older messages by selecting menu option 8100 in 30 other components to interact with the web browser by sending
window 8000 and selecting this option.
it Verbal chat messages. The web browser continues to comThe chat client supports these requests by gathering necmunicatewith the !book web server using, for example, stanessary information from the participant, and then creating and
dard web messages, such as HTTP messages. In addition,
transmitting chat messages. The chat client also receives all
whenever a topic room user is participating in a Verbal chat
chat messages broadcast by the chat server, examines each 35 room, every action the !book controller takes, such as creating
messages, and processes it appropriately. Depending upon
a new !book page, browsing to a different !book page, or
certain predefined participant preferences, the chat client may
revising an Ibook page, is expressed as a Verbal command
display some of the messages it receives. Chat messages are
that is transmitted as a Verbol chat message to the chat room.
displayed for example in area 8150 ofwindow 8000. The chat
As a result, the log of the chat room contains a complete
client also passes all chat messages to other client topic room 40 history of the action of all participants in the chat room. In
software components. When a topic room user is participataddition, any participant "A" can browse to the current locaing in a chat room, all of the topic room participants' client
tion in the topic room that any other participant "B" is at.
software components monitor all chat messages.
Furthermore, any participant "A" can "follow" any other parH. Chat Messages
ticipant "B" from location to location in the Ibook folder. The
Topic room software generates two types of chat messages: 45 "follow" operation would be performed as follows:
user chat messages and Verbol chat messages. User chat
1. Participant A selects participant B from the list of current
messages are generated by the chat client whenever the user
chat room participants displayed by participant A's chat clitypes, or otherwise creates, a message to chat room particient;
pants. User chat messages may have arbitrary message con2. Participant A indicates that participant B should be ''foltent that is examined but often not interpreted by topic room 50
lowed" by selecting a "Follow" control (such as a menu
software components. Verbol chat messages are chat mesoption) displayed by participant A's chat client;
sages that are generated by topic room client or server soft3. Participant A's chat client issues a Verbal chat message
ware components. Verbol chat messages contain Verbol comspecifYing the follow action, and the name of the participant
mands that are typically interpreted by and acted upon by
other topic room software components. Thus, in general, both 55 to be followed, and transmits that message to the chat server
and to the Corns layer of the client computer.
human participants and software clients create, monitor,
4. Participant A's Ibook controller has registered with the
examine, and react to chat messages.
Corns layer, and thus receives the follow Verbol chat message.
FIG. 5 illustrates content 6300 and 6600 of user chat mesIt registers the fact that from now on it is to monitor all chat
sage 6100 and Verbol chat message 6500, respectively. Content 6300 of user chat message 6100 comprises the following 60 messages for "BROWSE"Verbol chat messages from participant B, and when it finds such a message it is to instruct the
fields: a) a user name indicating the name of the participant
web browser that it is wrapping to browse to the URL speciwho generated the message; b) a timestamp indicating when
fied in participant B's chat message.
the message was generated, and c) an arbitrary message content that the user entered. Content 6600 ofVerbol chat mes5. Participant A's "follow" chat message is also sent to the
sage 6500 also comprise the user name field and the time 65 chat server. The chat server sends it to the chat room software
stamp field. In addition, Verbol chat message 6500 also comcomponent running on the chat server computer, and to all of
prises a designated prefix field (the string "VERBOL!" in one
the chat room participants.

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6. The chat room server component receives the chat message and writes it to the chat page of the Topic Room.
If at some later time Participant A wants to stop following
Participant B, the following steps are taken:
1. Participant A selects a "stop following participant B"
control on his chat client.
2. Participant A's chat client issues a Verbal chat message
specifYing the "stop following" action, and transmits that
message to the chat server and to the Corns layer of the client
computer.
3. Participant A's !book controller receives the stop following Verbal chat message. It registers the fact that from now on
it is to ignore any chat messages for "BROWSE" Verbal chat
messages from participant B, and does so.
4. Participant A's stop following chat message is also sent
to the chat server. The chat server sends it to the chat room
software component running on the chat server computer, and
to all of the chat room participants.
5. The chat room server component receives the chat message and writes it to the chat page of the topic room.
History Activation
Playing back the history of participation in a chat room is
another important capability. Because !book folder content is
not removed or modified, only revised (that is, a new copy
made with the desired modifications), any previous !book
folder state can always be redisplayed. For instance, a participant can ask for the last 10 minutes of chat room activity to be
re-enacted, as follows:
1. Participant A selects "replay recent history" from a control on his or her chat client.
2. The chat client asks participant A how many minutes
back the playback should begin.
Participant A enters a response (for example "10 minutes").
3. Participant A's chat client issues a Verbal chat message
specifYing the replay history action, and the time value of 10
minutes, and transmits that message to the Corns layer of the
client computer and to the chat client.
4. Participant A's !book controller has registered with the
Corns layer, and thus receives the replay history Verbol chat
message. It registers the fact that from now on it is to monitor
all chat messages for "BROWSE" Verbol chat messages with
its own name, and when it finds such a message it is to instruct
the web browser that it is wrapping to browse to the URL
specified in those chat messages.
5. ParticipantA's replay history chat message is also sentto
the chat server. The chat server sends it to the chat room
software component running on the chat server computer, and
to all of the chat room participants.
6. The chat room server component receives the replay
history chat message and interprets the message. It acts on the
message by retrieving all of the messages it has received
during the last ten minutes and resending them to the chat
server in chronological order.
7. The chat server broadcasts all of the recorded messages.
8. The recorded messages are received by participant A. As
participant A's chat client receives each recorded message, it
displays the message. As participant A's !book controller
component receives the messages, it ffiters them and directs
the web browser it controls to browse to the location that
participant A had browsed to during the designated times.
Verbal "Whenever" Statements
Chat client software components monitor chat messages
by acting as chat listeners. A chat listener is an object that
monitors chat messages, and detects certain designated messages or combinations ofmessages arriving in a chat room. A
client component becomes a chat listener by registering with

the Corns layer. In one possible embodiment, it does this by
calling the Corns layer with the address of a callback function
to be invoked whenever the Corns layer receives a chat message.
Each client component may handle every chat message, but
a particular component may respond to many chat messages
by ignoring them. However, when certain designated chat
messages, or combination of chat messages, are detected, the
chat listener may automatically trigger certain scripted processes. In one possible embodiment, each triggering chat
message or chat message combination, and the scripted process to execute in response, is specified using a Verbal "whenever" statement stored in the vspace attached to or associated
with the current !book page. The Verbol whenever statement
has the following form: whenever <event pattern> <action
pattern>. The event pattern may be any regular expression
defining one or more users and their actions as Jogged in
Verbal statements in the chat room, and action pattern may be
any action or process expressed in a scripting or other language such as Verbal, Java, JavaScript, Perl, PHP, etc. For
example, the following is a Verbal whenever statement:
"whenever {any page/this page is} revise[d] email [it to]
email-address-Jist," where the text in square brackets is
optional, and does not change the meaning of the message.
The text in braces are alternate forms meaning, respectively,
any web page or the current web page, and "email-addressJist" is a valid Internet electronic mail address list.
!book Contributors and Chat Room Participants
Topic rooms are used by members oflbook sites. !book site
members can contribute to !book folders on the site, and
participate in the site's chat rooms. In order to contribute or
participate, each user may be required to enroll as an !book
site member (a one-time operation) and then Jog into each
topic room to which they want to contribute. The member's
contribution may take the form of participation in the chat
room, or contribution of material to the !book folder, or both.
Making a contribution to the !book folder includes participation in the chat room, because the topic room records a complete history of all contributions as entries in the chat room
record.
The terms "contributor" and "participant" are largely interchangeable. The term "contributor" focuses on people who
contribute content to the !book folder. The term "participant"
focuses on people who participate in the chat room. A person
can be a participant without being a contributor (if you only
exchange messages with other participants, but never make a
contribution to the !book), but if you are a contributor you are
also a participant, because every !book contribution results in
an entry in the chat room history.
The topic room may be considered a participant in its own
chat room. When it updates the chat history files in its !book
folder, it creates a message in the chat history reflecting that
contribution. Therefore it is listed as a participant, and can be
found in the Jist of chat room participants.
Thus, some participants are human, other participants may
be legal entities, and still others are objects such as topic
rooms.
Identity !books Folders
Every enrolled member of an !book site has an identity
!book folder on that site. An identity may be a part of a topic
room whose topic is an !book site member. The site member
may be a human individual or it may be a legal entity such as
an organization or corporation.
Other identity !book folders describe purely Verbal constructs-collections of content, behavior, and capabilities.
This sort of identity !book is called a Verbal assistant. Verbal
assistants can contribute to !book systems, and participate in

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chat rooms. For example, a meeting coordinator assistant is a
a message from one of the participants, or one of the Verbal
set of Verbal scripts, stored in an identity !book folder, that
assistants. Each message is tagged so as to identify its origin.
It is also time stamped.
knows how to coordinate meetings of remote participants. It
A Verbal chat room allows every object to receive mesincludes scripts for calling individuals, connecting them to
sages from other objects in the chat room. Although users chat
the conference call, etc. A glossarizer is another example of a
Verbal assistant that makes contributions to an !book folder
to each other in unrestricted text, or send pictures, or send
messages with similarly unrestricted contents, the process of
by monitoring the contents ofthe !book folder, finding imporsending a message results in a Verbal co=and being genertant words and phrases, linking them to glossary pages in the
Ibook folder, and helping (human) contributors add new glosated. This Verbal co=and "wraps" the message contents,
10 and is recorded in the history of the Verbal chat by the Verbal
sary pages to the Ibook folder.
chat controller.
The history of an identity Ibook folder may include a
In addition to sending co=ents, topic room participants
complete record of all contributions that its entity has made to
can tie their browser displays to the display of another par!book folders on the site.
ticipant, in effect "following" that "leader" around as she or
Persona
15 he browses content. In this mode, the leader's Ibook controlA persona is an Ibook folder that defines and names a
ler generates Verbal messages that specify where the "leader"
collection of behaviors and capabilities that have been
is browsing. These Verbal messages are sent to the chat room.
designed to be adopted-that is, inherited by-an identity
..o\ny other participants you have become followers can follow
Ibook folder. !book site members may temporarily take on a
the leader by having the topic room send the leader's Verbal
persona by having their identity Ibook folders temporarily
20 messages to each follower's Ibook controller. When a followinherit the Verbal scripts of a persona !book folder. Some
er's Ibook controller receives such a Verbal message, it will
personae are intended to be adopted by human entities and
direct the follower's browser to browse to the same location
others are intended to be adopted by Verbal assistants.
as the leader.
Roles
Participants in chat rooms have, or can have, roles (see
A role is a specification of what is to be achieved by the 25 Roles above).
behavior of a persona. Some roles are intended to be adopted
Fundamentally, Verbal chat generally comprises: a) parby human contributors and others are intended to be adopted
ticipants who use Verbal to participate in the chat room and
by Verbal assistants.
make contributions to the Ibook; b) a history log of all the
Istamps
Verbal commands for those interactions and contributions; c)
An istamp is a named, addressable, structured text object 30 a mechanism for capturing and displaying those Verbal
scripts; d) a mechanism for listing the participants; e) a
that points to some content. In one embodiment, an istamp is
mechanism for storing, searching, and locating those histoan HTML element. An istamp is designed to be used in Ibook
ries, and episodes within those histories; and f) a mechanism
folder content to "point to" other Ibook folder content, such as
for animating the Verbal histories (that is, a means of executan Ibook page. An istamp's name and address is intended to
make it easy to link to istamps from within other !book 35 ing the logged Verbal co=ands so as to recreate the history
of the Verbal conversation and contributions).
locations. Every itag includes an istamp for the Ibook page
Searching Verbal Histories
containing the itag. An istamp is designed to be inserted into
Verbal chat logs can be scanned and filtered based on the
Ibook content. Tools that manipulate istamps generally supproperties of the Verbal co=ands in the logs. Some ofthe
port a "drag and drop" operation. Therefore users can drag a
page's istamp to a new location, and copy that istamp by 40 properties that can be combined to search or filter the logs
include the name of the topic room, the name of the partici"dropping" it into that location.
pants in a chat, the temporal characteristics of the script
An istamp contains a reference to some content. In one
elements (time, date, duration, etc.), the types of roles played
embodiment, this reference takes the form of an HTML
by the participants, the nature and effect of the Verbal comanchor element. The value of the "href' property of the ele45 mands that comprise the logs, and location properties of the
ment points to the content that the istamp designates.
content and messages contributed in the log.
Display ofltags and !stamps
Voice Chat
Itags and istamps can be displayed when their associated
As discussed above, in order to log into an Ibook site, an
Ibook page is displayed, or they can be hidden. Any contribu!book site member may be required to launch an Ibook contor who creates an itag or an is tamp can indicate whether that 50 troller. The version of !book controller used with topic rooms
element is to be displayed or to be hidden. The viewer of an
may include an "audiorecorder" controller or audiorecorder.
Ibook page can also indicate whether they want to have itags
The audiorecorder helps contributors record, markup, save,
and istamps displayed, hidden, or handled according to the
and playback audio material, including material spoken by
specification of the element's creator. The preference of the
the user. The audio recorder is software that controls standard
viewer may take precedence over the preference of the 55 audio, multimedia, and/or telephony hardware on the conelement's creator.
tributor's computer.
Verbal Chat Generally
Using the audiorecorder, audio content can be added to an
In one embodiment, the chat room of a topic room is
Ibook folder. This audio content is added as "external content" as described above. Such a page is called an
implemented using Verbal chat. In this embodiment, chat
room participants chat by exchanging Verbal messages. Ver- 60 "audiopage".
bal chat supports collaborative conversations by the particiMore particularly, recorded audio content can be downpants in the topic room. In one embodiment ofVerbol chat,
loaded to the server that is hosting an Ibook site. An Ibook
participants use the IRC protocol to exchange messages. Text
page can be created whose itag points to the external audio
messages can be typed by each participant, including Verbal
content (this is the audio page). Using the audiorecorder,
assistant objects. The messages appear in a chronological, 65 istamps that designate specific locations and/or regions in the
audio recording can be added to the audiopage. These istamps
scrollable log in a "Verbal chat" window on the screen of all
are called "index points". When a user clicks on an index
of the participants. Each entry in the chat log corresponds to

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point in an audiopage, the audio content beginning at the
the MySharer Ibook folder link in his or her identity lbook
designated location, or within the designated region, will be
folder. The URL should now look like this: http://free.familysystems.org/identity-ibook/myname/mysharer/myfilelplayed back for the user.
In one embodiment, the MySharer software is used to
ist.htm. The user may copy the path of this URL (excluding
transfer audio content from a participant's machine to the 5 the filename myfilelist.htm) and paste it into the Web Address
field in the "Nominated Dir Properties" window. For
!book site. In this embodiment, each participant specifies
through the MySharer software that they want a particular file
example, copy: http://free.familysystems.org/identity-ibook/
folder on their computer to be regularly updated and synchromyname/mysharer.
6. Enter his or her user ID and password for his or her
nized with a corresponding folder on the !book site. Each
participant may specifY that their audiorecorder is to drop 10 identity lbook folder in the Userid and Password fields.
audio files into their local copy of the shared folder. When a
7. Click apply to apply your changes.
person makes a recorded co=ent in the topic room, an audio
8. Click the general tab and make sure that the send chat
messages check box is selected. Set update, for example, to
file with a recording of their co=ent is placed in their local
one minute.
copy of the shared folder. The MySharer software may then
copy that file into the !book site synchronized folder. From 15
9. Click OK to save the changes to the general tabset and
there, the MySharer software may propagate a copy of the
exit from the MySharer options window.
10. To enable the MySharer software to automatically
recorded co=ent to the corresponding folder on each participant's computer.
upload his or her files from the nominated directory at the
Software Usage
specified interval, click start on the MySharer window.
The following explains how to integrate one specific 20
To start !book chat, a user may:
embodiment of a standalone audiorecorder, the MySharer
1. Start the Ibook controller, go to the chat menu, and
software, and chat, to record, send, and play back voice mesconnect to the chat server (e.g., the free.familysystems.org
sages while co=unicating with people in a chat room.
server, and the chat room is talk). The chat room is displayed.
When a topic room member creates a recording, it will be
FIG. 7 shows an illustrative chat room window 8000.
created in a directory selected by the member. This directory 25
2. Make sure that Verbal co=ands are shown. (fo check
ifVerbol co=ands are shown, click menu and then options
is specified as part of a MySharer mapping. The MySharer
software will therefore upload the recording file to a selected
on the chat room window. The options dialog is displayed.
Ibook folder. When the MySharer software has uploaded the
Make sure the show Verbal commands check box is checked.)
3. Each time the MySharer software uploads the voice
file, a message may be displayed in the Ibook chat window.
This message may be selected by the member to link to the file 30 message files, see, in the chat room window, a "My Sharer has
in the chat window, and the file will play.
updated" message against the name of a user. Below it, there
will be a link to the voice message. The user may click the link
To use voice chat:
1. Create a MySharer mapping-This enables the
to play back the voice message.
My Sharer software to upload the wave file of your recording
To start a recording, a user may:
to an Ibook site (e.g., free.familysystems.org).
35
1. Record his or her voice message. This may be done with
an external microphone connected to the client computer's
2. Start !book chat-This enables the user to see that the
MySharer software has carried out the upload request, and to
sound card.
click on a link to the wave file to play it back.
2. Start the standalone audiorecorder (e.g., build 27) by for
3. Create a recording using audiorecorder-Record your
example clicking
Start>Programs>Audio
Recorder
voice input, using for example an external mike attached to 40 V.l.0.27>Standalone Audio Recorder. FIG. 8 shows an illusyour PC's sound card.
trative audiorecorder window 9000.
A user needs to create the mapping between the directory
3. Choose the directory where he or she wants to store the
on his or her client computer in which the audio recordings
voice messages. The default illustrated in FIG. 8 is C:\My
are saved, and a MySharer directory on an Ibook site (e.g.,
Recordings, but any suitable directory may be selected.
free.familysystems.org) If an appropriate mapping already 45
4. Using his or her microphone to record your message,
exists, then this is not necessary.
click the record button to start recording and click stop to
To create a mapping, a user may:
finish it. The recording will be saved in the chosen directory
1. Start the MySharer software (e.g., build 138, which is
and the MySharer software will copy the file to the chosen
part of build 144 of the !book controller).
lbook folder, and send a message to !book chat.
2. Click MySharer/Options-the MySharer options dialog 50
Topic Room Properties
Every topic room page may have its own set of rights and
is displayed.
3. Click the Add to create a new mapping. A "Nominated
privileges, which may be determined by some of the stateDir Properties" window may be displayed. FIG. 6 shows an
ments in its Verbal script. Every Ibook site member may have
illustrative "Nominated Dir Properties" window 7000.
his or her own rights and privileges, which are specified in that
4. In the field local directory, enter the name of directory 55 member's identity. Many roles carry with them certain rights,
from which the voice messages will be uploaded. This may be
privileges, and constraints, which are specified in the role.
performed by using the browse button to select the directory,
The final rights, privileges, and constraints of a participant
or if a standalone audiorecorder is running, highlight the path
in a chat room are determined by a well-defined composition
(such as C:\My Recordings) in the recordings directory field
of the rights, privileges, and constraints specified in the topic
in the Audio Recorder window, and press the keys Ctrl+C to 60 room folder, the participant's identity lbook folder, and the
copy this value to the Windows clipboard, then press Ctrl+V
participant's current Persona, if any.
to paste it into the Local Directory field.
Verbal
5. In the field Web Address, enter the full web address of his
A. Behavior oflbook Objects
or her !book folder. The user should make sure, for example,
The behavior of an lbook folder is the composition of the
that he or she has enrolled on free.familysystems.org- 65 behavior of that Ibook folder's pages. The behavior of an
the user should then have an identity !book folder in their
Ibook page is defined by the Verbal script in the vspace of the
name. The user may open his or her !book folder, and click
page's itag.

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objects; b) passing messages between Verbol objects; and c)
B. The Verbol Architecture
mapping Verbol names to specific Verbol objects, and for
The Verbol architecture is an architecture for creating,
locating those objects.
sustaining, and supporting communication between indepenThe Verbol minimum operating enviromnent is a non-Verdent, distributed, self-regulating, cooperating objects. An
object designed to exhibit some interesting or useful behavior 5 bol object. Like all non-Verbol objects, it can be given a
Verbol wrapper. One embodiment of the Verbol minimum
within the Verbol architecture is called a Verbol object. Verbol
operating enviromnent for Ibook folders is implemented in
objects exhibit their behavior when they are activated within
Java.
a virtoal computing enviromnent called the Verbol minimum
E. The Verbol Standard Ibook Language
operating enviromnent. The behavior of Verbol objects is
There are two types of statements in the Verbol standard
specified in Verbol scripts associated with those objects. Ver- 10
Ibook language: "listening statements" and "action statebol objects have two types of behavior: they exchange mesments" (sometimes referred to as "imperative statements").
sages with other Verbol objects, and they control non-Verbol
There are two common listening statements: the "whenever"
objects.
statement and the "for'' statement.
Within the Verbol minimum operating enviromnent, VerThe whenever statement, as discussed above, has the folbol objects may communicate with each other using any 15
lowing form: Whenever <event pattern> <action pattern>.
language they like. Obviously, objects that don't understand
When an !book page is loaded, the Ibook controller may
the same language can't communicate effectively, so useful
execute all of the whenever statements in the page's vspace.
interaction between Verbol objects only occurs when the
Each whenever statement represents a condition for which the
objects that are trying to communicate employ the same language. Colloquially, it may be said that Verbol objects "speak 2° controller is to "listen", and an action to be taken if that
condition is found. The actions are Verbol action statements.
a Verbol language," but two perfectly legitimate Verbol
When an action is to be taken, the corresponding Verbol
objects may understand completely different languages, and
action statement is executed.
be utterly unable to communicate. On the other hand, the
The for statement has the following form: For <action
behavior of a single Verbol object, as found in the Verbol
script for that object, could be specified in a language that 25 pattern> <vspace designator>. Whenever a Verbol object
receives a command (a Verbol action statement), it may
only that object understood.
search for either a whenever statement whose event pattern
A Verbol object may use a Verbol interpreter to analyze and
matches the Verbol action, or a for statement whose action
process its scripts and any Verbol messages it receives. The
pattern matches the Verbol action. If a matching for statement
Verbol interpreter, in turn, may make use of a Verbol grammar
to parse the messages and scripts, and a Verbol processor to 30 is found, the Verbol script in the designated vspace is scanned
to "resolve" the action to be taken to execute the action
process the parsed messages and scripts. The language that a
statement being processed. The vspace designator may be an
Verbol object understands may be completely determined by
expression that typically resolves to another Ibook page.
the Verbol interpreter and the Verbol grammar that it uses to
Commonly used Verbol action statements may include for
analyze and process its scripts and messages.
35 example: a) copy [in/to] <ibook>/own book; b) play
Therefore, two Verbol objects can communicate reliably if
<audiopage istamp>; and c) create <new page name> [based
and only if they use the same, or compatible, Verbol interpreton] <template specifier>.
ers and grammars.
Computer Program Listing Appendix
Topic rooms, !book folders and pages, istamps, the !book
The computer program listing appendix submitted on two
controller, and the Verbol chat controller are all Verbol 40 copies (i.e., copy 1 and copy 2) of a compact disc includes
objects. They are called Verbol !book objects.
build instructions in java source code for partial embodiments
The !book controller may contain a Verbol minimum operof the methods described above.
ating environment. The !book controller places each Verbol
The foregoing is merely illustrative ofthe principles of this
!book object it holds into its Verbol minimum operating enviinvention and various modifications can be made by those
ronment, thereby activating the object and endowing it with 45 skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of
the behavior specified by its script.
the invention.
What is claimed is:
Verbol !book objects may all speak a language referred to
1. A method for using chat messages, comprising:
as the Verbol standard !book language. Verbol !book objects
enabling a software object associated with a web browser
may use the Verbol standard !book language both for the
operated by a first user on a computer to generate and
messages they send and receive, and for the scripts that define so
pass chat messages understandable by a human being as
their behavior.
though sent by the first user from the first user to one or
Verbol !book objects may all speak the same language
more users when the first user changes a location of the
because they all use the same Verbol interpreter and grammar.
first user's web browser, wherein each message from the
The Verbol interpreter they use is called the Verbol standard
first user contains the location of the first user's web
!book interpreter, and the grammar is called the Verbol stan- 55
browser;
dard !book grammar.
enabling a software object associated with a web browser
C. Verbol Architecture Design Principles
operated by a second user on a computer to generate and
Verbol objects may control all their own behavior (includpass chat messages understandable by a human being as
ing all copies). Verbol objects may inherit all contributed 60
though sent by the second user from the second user to
behavior. Verbol objects are called by their name. Each Verbol
one or more users when the second user changes a locaobject may be its own class. A Verbol wrapper can be created
tion of the second user's web browser, wherein each
for any non-Verbol object.
message from the second user contains the location of
D. The Verbol Minimum Operating Enviromnent
the second user's web browser;
Every object may inherit the ability to interpret Verbol. The 65
enabling a given software object associated with a browser
Verbol minimum operating enviromnent may be responsible
operated by a user, on a computer that receives and
displays the chat messages from the first user and the
for a) creating, maintaining, running, and terminating Verbol

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3. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising
second user, to also receive the chat messages from the
enabling software objects to send chat messages describing
first user and the second user;
their actions.
enabling the user to follow the first user by causing the
4. The method defined in claim 1, wherein a message is
given software object to use the messages to change a
passed each time the first user changes the location of the web
location of the user's web browser to the locations conbrowser and wherein each message contains the current locatained in the messages received from the first user, and
tion of the first user's web browser.
then subsequently follow the second user by causing the
S. The method defined in claim 1, wherein enabling the
given software object to use the messages to change a
user to follow the first user by causing the given software
location of the user's web browser to the locations con- 10 object to use the messages to change a location of the user's
web browser to the locations contained in the messages comtained in the messages received from the second user,
prises enabling the user to input a whenever statement and an
wherein multiple messages are received from the first
associated script.
user or the second user and used to successively change
6. The method defined in claim 1, wherein the messages
the location of the user's web browser to the locations
15 from the software object associated with the first user to the
contained in each of the messages received from the first
one or more users are passed through a chat room.
user or the second user;
7. The method defined in claim 1, further comprising:
and enabling the given software object to receive the mesenabling the user to cause the given software object to
sages from the first user or the second user and not
change the location of the user's web browser to a locachange the location of the user's web browser when the 20
tion of the first user's web browser or the second user's
user does not follow the first user or the second user or
web browser using information from a message previafter the user stops following the first user or the second
ously received from the first user or the second user.
8. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising
user, whereby the messages are received by the given
enabling the user to follow the first user and the second user
software object and the location of the user's web
browser is not changed to the locations contained in the 25 by causing the given software object to use the messages to
change the location of the user's web browser to the locations
messages.
contained in the messages from the first user and the second
2. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising allowuser.
ing software objects to listen to the chat messages and take
scripted actions in response.
* * * * *