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A system for knowledge transfer in a group setting comprises a plurality of participant work areas and a moderator work area. Each of the plurality of participant work areas has at least one corresponding participant input-device, and each of the participant input-devices is adapted to define participant images that are then included on the corresponding participant work area. The moderator work area comprises at least one moderator input-device. The at least one moderator input-device is adapted to define moderator images that are then included on the moderator work area and to select moderator images that are then simultaneously included on each of plurality of participant work areas. The moderator input-device is further adapted to select participant images from any of the plurality of participant work areas that are then included on the moderator work area.

Inventor: David Berque
Primary Examiner: Ba Huynh
Secondary Examiner: Steven Theriault
Attorney: William F. Bahret
Current U.S. Classification: 715/753; 715/751

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Referenced by

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Claims

1. A system for knowledge transfer in a group setting, the system comprising:

a plurality of participant workstations, each adapted to provide a participant work area having a plurality of panels, each participant workstation having at least one corresponding participant input-device and participant display, and each of the participant input-devices being adapted to define participant images that are then included on the corresponding participant work area; and

a moderator workstation comprising at least one moderator input-device and adapted to provide a moderator work area having a plurality of panels, the at least one moderator input-device being adapted to define moderator images that are then included on the moderator work area and to select moderator images that are then simultaneously included on each of the participant work areas;

wherein the moderator input-device is further adapted to select participant images from any of the plurality of participant work areas that are then included on the moderator work area;

wherein the moderator workstation is adapted to identify a panel not currently displayed in a selected participant work area and to transmit a request message to the corresponding participant workstation for the identified panel; and
wherein the corresponding participant workstation is adapted to transmit the identified panel to the moderator workstation in response to the request message.

2. The system of claim 1,

wherein the moderator workstation is adapted to identify more than one panel to acquire from a selected participant work area and to transmit a request message to the corresponding participant workstation for the identified panels; and

wherein the corresponding participant workstation is adapted to transmit the identified panels to the moderator workstation in response to the request message.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of display elements adapted to display the moderator work area and the plurality of participant work areas.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the plurality of display elements are substantially located to permit a user to simultaneously view one of the display elements and hear substantially every other user that is viewing another of the display elements.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the user hears substantially every other user through a form of audio transmission.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein the work areas are permitted to have a size exceeding that which can be displayed on the display elements.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the work areas each comprise at least one scroll.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein each scroll comprises a set of scrollable panels.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the work areas can be stored as a single computer file, and wherein previously-saved files can be imported into a work area.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the input-devices are adapted to define the images by creating text objects and draw objects corresponding to the images.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the input-devices are further adapted to define the images by creating erase objects.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the input-devices are further adapted to define the images by creating bitmap objects.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein additional participant work areas can be created and added to the system while the system is in operation.

14. The system of claim 1, further comprising collision-correction functionality.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the collision-correction functionality comprises functionality permitting toggling between a plurality of view modes.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the collision-correction functionality comprises functionality permitting relocation of images on the participant work area.

17. A network of computers programmed for knowledge transfer in a group setting, the network comprising:

a plurality of participant workstations, each programmed to provide a participant work area and having at least one corresponding participant input-device, and each of the participant input-devices being adapted to create data structures defining participant images that are then included in the participant work area; and

a moderator workstation programmed to provide a moderator work area and comprising at least one moderator input-device, the at least one moderator input-device being adapted to:
create data structures defining moderator images that are then included in the moderator work area, and
to select moderator images that are then simultaneously included in each of plurality of participant work areas;
wherein the moderator input-device is further adapted to select participant images from any of the plurality of participant work areas that are then included in the moderator work area;
further comprising collision-correction functionality permitting relocation of images in the participant work area;
wherein the relocation of images occurs automatically when a collision occurs.

18. A system for knowledge transfer in a group setting, the system comprising:

a plurality of participant workstations each adapted to provide a participant work area and having at least one corresponding participant input-device and participant display, each of the participant input-devices being adapted to define participant images that are then included in the corresponding participant work area;

a moderator workstation comprising a moderator input-device and moderator display, said moderator workstation adapted to provide a moderator work area including a shared work area where images may be placed by the moderator and participants, the moderator input-device being adapted to define moderator images that are then included in the shared work area and in each of the participant work areas, the moderator images generally displayed superimposed on participant images in the participant work area; and

collision-avoidance functionality permitting a participant to place a first image in the shared work area visible to the moderator, the first image having a corresponding image in the participant work area that is not visible to the moderator.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the moderator work area comprises the shared work area and a moderator private work area, and each participant work area comprises a participant public work area and a private work area.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein each participant's work station displays images placed on the shared work area superimposed on images placed in that participant's public work area.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the system can be used in a group mode and a standalone mode.

22. The system of claim 18, wherein the workstations are located such that a first user positioned to use a workstation and a second user positioned to use a different workstation can hear each other speak.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein every user positioned to use a workstation can hear every other user positioned to use any other workstation.

24. The system of claim 18, wherein no user positioned to use a workstation can hear any other user positioned to use a different workstation.

25. The system of claim 18, wherein images are organized in notebook data structures comprising at least one panel.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the images are stored as at least one object in a single panel.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the images are stored as at least one record in a relational database.

28. The system of claim 25, wherein the images are stored as at least one record in an indexed database.

29. The system of claim 18, wherein images placed on a participant's work area at a participant workstation may be viewed only at that workstation unless that participant decides to permit them to be viewed from another workstation.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein a participant can implement a decision to permit an image placed on a participant work area to be viewed at another workstation by setting a flag.

31. The system of claim 29, wherein a participant can implement a decision to permit an image placed on a participant work area to be viewed at another workstation by actively causing information corresponding to the image to be transmitted to another workstation.

32. The system of claim 18, wherein the collision-avoidance functionality comprises a margin that does not have a corresponding location of the shared work area.

33. A network of computers programmed for knowledge transfer in a group setting, the network comprising:

a plurality of participant workstations, each programmed to provide a participant work area and having at least one corresponding participant input-device, and each of the participant input-devices being adapted to create data structures defining participant images that are then included in the participant work area; and

a moderator workstation, programmed to provide a moderator work area and comprising at least one moderator input-device, the moderator work area including a shared work area, the at least one moderator input-device being adapted to:
create data structures defining moderator images that are then included in the moderator work area, and
to select moderator images that are then simultaneously included on each of plurality of participant work areas;
wherein the moderator input-device is further adapted to select participant images from any of the plurality of participant work areas that are then included on the moderator work area;
further comprising collision-avoidance functionality that permits the participant to place footnote images on the participant work area that provide a link between the footnote images and corresponding images placed on a portion of the participant work area that is not superimposed on the shared work area.

34. A network of computers programmed for knowledge transfer in a group setting, the network comprising:

a plurality of participant workstations, each programmed to provide a participant work area and having at least one corresponding participant input-device, and each of the participant input-devices being adapted to create data structures defining participant images that are then included in the participant work area; and

a moderator workstation, programmed to provide a moderator work area and comprising at least one moderator input-device, the at least one moderator input-device being adapted to:
create data structures defining moderator images that are then included in the moderator work area, and
to select moderator images that are then simultaneously included on each of plurality of participant work areas;
wherein the moderator input-device is further adapted to select participant images from any of the plurality of participant work areas that are then included on the moderator work area;
further comprising collision-avoidance functionality that permits the participant to place footnote images in the participant work area, the footnote images providing a link to corresponding images located elsewhere.

35. The network of claim 34, wherein the participant work area comprises a participant public work area and a private work area, wherein the moderator work area includes a shared work area, and wherein images placed on the participant's public work area are generally displayed superimposed on images on the shared work area.

36. The network of claim 35, wherein the corresponding images are placed on the participant's private work area.

37. The network of claim 34, wherein the footnote images are implemented as hyperlinks which include functionality that causes the participant's workstation to display the corresponding images.

38. A network of computers programmed for knowledge transfer in a group setting, the network comprising:

a plurality of participant workstations, each programmed to provide a participant work area and having at least one corresponding participant input-device, and each of the participant input-devices being adapted to create data structures defining participant images that are then included on the participant work area;

a moderator workstation, programmed to provide a moderator work area and comprising at least one moderator input-device, the at least one moderator input-device being adapted to:
create data structures defining moderator images that are then included on the moderator work area, and
select moderator images that are then simultaneously included on each of plurality of participant work areas;
wherein the moderator work area comprises a moderator public scroll and a moderator private scroll, and each participant work area comprises a participant public scroll and a participant private scroll;
wherein each participant workstation displays images placed on the participant's public scroll by the moderator superimposed on images placed on the participant's public scroll by the participant, and
wherein the moderator input-device is further adapted to select participant images from any of the plurality of participant work areas that are then included on the moderator work area;
further comprising collision-avoidance functionality that permits the participant to place footnote images on the participant work area that provide a link between the footnote images and corresponding images that are not typically superimposed on a shared work area.

39. A network of computers programmed for knowledge transfer in a group setting, the network comprising:

a plurality of participant workstations, each programmed to provide a participant work area and having at least one corresponding participant input-device, and each of the participant input-devices being adapted to create data structures defining participant images that are then included on the participant work area; and

a moderator workstation, programmed to provide a moderator work area and comprising at least one moderator input-device, the at least one moderator input-device being adapted to:
create data structures defining moderator images that are then included on the moderator work area, and
select moderator images that are then simultaneously included on each of plurality of participant work areas;
wherein the moderator work area comprises a moderator public-scroll and a moderator private scroll, and each participant work area comprises a participant public scroll and a participant private scroll;
wherein each participant workstation displays images placed on the participant's public scroll by the moderator superimposed on images placed on the participant's public scroll by the participant;
wherein the moderator input-device is further adapted to select participant images from any of the plurality of participant work areas that are then included on the moderator work area;
wherein the participant work area comprises a participant public work area and a participant private work area; and
wherein images placed on the participant public work area are generally displayed superimposed over images on the public scroll;
further comprising collision-avoidance functionality that permits the participant to place footnote images in the participant public work area, the footnote images providing a link to corresponding images located in the participant's private work area.

40. The network of claim 39, wherein the footnote images are implemented as hyperlinks which include functionality that causes the participant's work station to display the corresponding images.

41. A system for knowledge transfer in a group setting, the system comprising:

a plurality of participant work stations, each comprising:
at least one participant display device;
at least one input device;
a participant public scroll; and
a participant private scroll;
the at least one participant input device being adapted to permit the participant to create data structures on the participant public scroll and participant private scroll defining images that are displayed on the at least one participant display device; and
a moderator work station, comprising:
at least one moderator display device;
at least one moderator input-device; and
a moderator public scroll;
the at least one moderator input device being adapted to create data structures on the moderator public scroll and each of the participant public scrolls defining images that are displayed on the at least one moderator display device and on each of the at least one participant display devices;
wherein the scrolls each comprise a plurality of panels, each panel comprising a plurality of objects created in a sequence; and
wherein at least one of said workstations is adapted to replay the creation sequence of objects on a given panel in object-by-object fashion.

42. The system of claim 41, wherein the objects are organized as linked-lists on each panel.

43. The system of claim 42, wherein objects placed on a scroll can be replayed by displaying corresponding images as the objects are added to the display one object at a time.

44. The system of claim 43, wherein the objects are added to the display in the order they were added to the scroll.

45. The system of claim 43, wherein the objects are added to the display in the order they were added to a given panel.

46. The system of claim 43, wherein data structures included on the moderator public scroll are automatically placed on each of the participant public scrolls, and wherein a moderator input device can be used to permit a data structure created by a participant input device to be placed on other participant's scrolls by selecting it to be included on the moderator public scroll.

47. The system of claim 43, wherein a moderator input device can be used to permit a data structure created by a participant input device to be included on other participant public scrolls by causing the participant work station at which that participant input device is located to become the moderator workstation.

48. The system of claim 47, wherein a moderator input device can cause a participant workstation to become the moderator input device by passing a security token.

49. The system of claim 41, wherein each of the participant input devices can only create data structures that are placed on the participant's scrolls unless a moderator input device is used to permit otherwise.

50. A system for knowledge transfer in a group setting, the system comprising:

a plurality of participant workstations, each adapted to provide a participant work area and having at least one corresponding participant input-device and participant display, each of the participant input-devices being adapted to define participant images that are then included in the corresponding participant work area; and

a moderator workstation comprising a moderator input-device and moderator display and adapted to provide a moderator work area, the moderator input-device being adapted to define moderator images that are then included in the moderator work area and to transmit moderator images to participant workstations, said moderator images including objects drawn by the moderator using the moderator input-device, wherein the moderator workstation is further adapted to transmit an object drawn by the moderator to participant workstations when the object is complete.

51. An interactive learning method, comprising:

providing a participant work area on each of a plurality of participant workstations each having at least one corresponding participant input-device and participant display, each of the participant input-devices being adapted to define participant images that are then included in the corresponding participant work area;

providing a moderator work area on a moderator workstation comprising a moderator input-device and moderator display, the moderator input-device being adapted to define moderator images that are then included in the moderator work area and to transmit moderator images to participant workstations, said moderator images including objects drawn in the moderator work area using the moderator input-device; and

transmitting an object drawn in the moderator work area to participant workstations when the object is complete.

52. An interactive learning method, comprising:

providing on each of a plurality of participant workstations a participant work area having a plurality of panels, each participant workstation having at least one corresponding participant input-device and participant display, each of the participant input-devices being adapted to define participant images that are then included in the corresponding participant work area;

providing a moderator work area having a plurality of panels on a moderator workstation comprising at least one moderator input-device, the at least one moderator input-device being adapted to define moderator images that are then included in the moderator work area and to select moderator images that are then simultaneously included in each of the participant work areas;

using the moderator workstation to identify a panel not currently displayed in a selected participant work area;

transmitting a request message from the moderator workstation to the corresponding participant workstation for the identified panel; and
transmitting the identified panel from the corresponding participant workstation to the moderator workstation in response to the request message.

53. The method of claim 52, wherein images placed on a participant work area at a participant workstation may be viewed only at that workstation unless a participant decides to permit them to be viewed from another workstation.

54. The method of claim 53, wherein a participant can implement a decision to permit an image placed on a participant work area to be viewed at another workstation by setting a flag.

55. The method of claim 53, wherein a participant can implement a decision to permit an image placed on a participant work area to be viewed at another workstation by actively causing information corresponding to the image to be transmitted to another workstation.

56. An interactive learning method, comprising:

providing a participant work area on each of a plurality of participant workstations having at least one corresponding participant input-device and participant display, each of the participant input-devices being adapted to define participant images that are then included in the corresponding participant work area;

providing a moderator work area on a moderator workstation comprising a moderator input-device and moderator display, said moderator work area including a shared work area where images may be placed by the moderator and participants, the moderator input-device being adapted to define moderator images that are then included in the shared work area and in each of the participant work areas, the moderator images generally displayed superimposed on participant images in the participant work areas; and

avoiding collisions by permitting a participant to place a first image in the shared work area visible to the moderator, the first image having a corresponding image in the participant work area that is not visible to the moderator.

57. The method of claim 56, wherein a participant can implement a decision to permit an image placed on a participant work area to be viewed at another workstation by setting a flag.

58. The method of claim 56, wherein a participant can implement a decision to permit an image placed on a participant work area to be viewed at another workstation by actively causing information corresponding to the image to be transmitted to another workstation.

59. The method of claim 56, wherein the participant work area comprises a participant public work area and a private work area, wherein images placed on the participant public work area are generally displayed superimposed over images on the shared work area.

60. The method of claim 59, wherein a participant can place footnote images in the participant's public work area that are superimposed on the shared work area, the footnote images providing a link to corresponding images located elsewhere.

61. The method of claim 60, wherein the footnote images are implemented as hyperlinks which include functionality that causes the participant's workstation to display the corresponding images.

62. The method of claim 60, wherein the corresponding images located elsewhere comprise images placed on the participant's private work area.

63. An interactive learning method, comprising:

providing a plurality of participant work stations, each comprising:
at least one participant display device;
at least one input device;
a participant public scroll; and
a participant private scroll;
the at least one participant input device being adapted to permit the participant to create data structures on the participant public scroll and participant private scroll defining images that are displayed on the at least one participant display device;
providing a moderator work station, comprising:
at least one moderator display device;
at least one moderator input-device; and
a moderator public scroll;
the at least one moderator input device being adapted to create data structures on the moderator public scroll and each of the participant public scrolls defining images that are displayed on the at least one moderator display device and on each of the at least one participant display devices,
wherein the scrolls each comprise a plurality of panels, each panel comprising a plurality of objects created in a sequence; and
wherein the creation sequence of objects on a given panel of at least one of said scrolls is replayed in object-by-object fashion.

Drawings