Claims
- 1. A data retrieval system comprising:
- a data server for retrieving at least one of a plurality of data objects from a data repository;
- a co-presence server; and
- at least two co-presence data-retrieval clients for communicating at least with said data server and with said co-presence server;
- said co-presence server comprising:
- community means for at least maintaining a list of co-presence data retrieval clients associated with a community; and
- at least one virtual place having a list of co-presence data-retrieval clients from said community at said virtual place at least for enabling communication among said co-presence data-retrieval clients associated therewith,
- each of said co-presence data retrieval clients comprising:
- object association means for associating a data object received from said data server with one of said at least one virtual places in said co-presence server; and
- co-presence means, associated with said one virtual place, for associating said client with said community and for enabling communication among said co-presence data-retrieval clients associated with said one virtual place.
- 2. A data retrieval system according to claim 1 and wherein said community means also comprises finding means for providing a first co-presence data retrieval client of a first virtual place with a second virtual place with which a second co-presence data retrieval client is associated and communication means for providing a communication channel between said first and second virtual places to enable communication between said first and second co-presence data retrieval clients.
- 3. A data retrieval system according to claim 1 and wherein said co-presence server comprises a changing plurality of place processes, one for each virtual place, and a managing process for providing communication from said co-presence data retrieval clients to said place processes.
- 4. A data retrieval system according to claim 1 and wherein said object association means comprises means for moving to a new virtual place.
Parent Case Info
This application is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. Ser. No. 08/236,293, filed May 2, 1994 now abandoned, which has been continued as U.S. Ser. No. 08/827,845, filed Apr. 11, 1997, pending.
US Referenced Citations (5)
Non-Patent Literature Citations (3)
Entry |
Masinter and Ostrom, "Collaborative Information Retrieval: Gopher from MOO", Proc. INER '93, pp. DFA-1--DFA-9. |
M. Clarkson, "Welcome to my fantasy--a personal tour through shared consensual hallucinations on the Internet"pp. 36-39, Computer Gaming World, V123, Oct. 1994. |
"Frequently Asked Questions", Basic Information about Muds and Mudding, Jun. 14, 1993. |
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
827845 |
Apr 1997 |
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Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
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236293 |
May 1994 |
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