Collaborative project management

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10048841-B2
Application number	US-201514738603-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 12, 2015
Priority date	Jun 13, 2014
Publication date	Aug 14, 2018
Grant date	Aug 14, 2018

Abstract

An apparatus, method, and program product are disclosed for collaborative project management. One apparatus includes a selection module that receives a selection by a local user of an information handling device to display an application screen of a remote user of multiple remote users. The application screen of the remote user displays a project used by the multiple remote users in a collaborative environment. The apparatus includes a display module that displays on the information handling device the application screen of the remote user. The application screen of the remote user is updated immediately as modifications to the project are made.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a display module that displays on an information handling device a project tree, wherein the project tree comprises a diagram illustrating a plurality of portions of a project used by a plurality of remote users in a collaborative environment and indicating which remote users are currently working on each portion of the plurality of portions;
a selection module that:
receives a selection by a local user of the information handling device of a selected portion of the plurality of portions of the project in the diagram illustrated in the project tree;
in response to receiving the selected portion, identifies one or more remote users currently working on the selected portion;

the display module further configured to, in response to identifying the one or more remote users, displays on the information handling device one or more application screens of the one or more identified remote users, wherein the application screens of the identified remote users are updated immediately as modifications to the project are made;
an application module that enables the local user to modify the project within a local application screen, wherein the display module displays each application screen of each identified remote user and the local application screen concurrently, and a displayed location of the application screen of each identified remote user is distinct from a displayed location of the local application screen, and
wherein at least a portion of the selection module and the display module comprise one or more of hardware and one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media, the one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media storing executable code.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the remote user does not provide direct approval for their application screen to be displayed on the information handling device.

3. A method comprising:
displaying on an information handling device a project tree, wherein the project tree comprises a diagram illustrating a plurality of portions of a project used by a plurality of remote users in a collaborative environment and indicating which remote users are currently working on each portion of the plurality of portions;
receiving a selection, by a local user of the information handling device, of a selected portion of the plurality of portions of the project in the diagram illustrated in the project tree;
in response to receiving the selected portion, identifying one or more remote users currently working on the selected portion;
in response to identifying the one or more remote users, displaying on the information handling device one or more application screens of the one or more identified remote users, wherein the application screens of the identified remote users are updated immediately as modifications to the project are made;
displaying a local application screen that displays the project together with the application screen of each identified remote user; and
enabling the local user to modify the project within the local application screen, wherein each application screen of each identified remote user and the local application screen are displayed concurrently, and a displayed location of each application screen of each identified remote user is distinct from a displayed location of the local application screen.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the remote user of the plurality of remote users receives no notification that their application screen is being displayed on the information handling device.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the remote user of the plurality of remote users does not provide direct approval for their application screen to be displayed on the information handling device.

6. The method of claim 3 , comprising receiving a selection, by the local user of the information handling device, to display an application screen of a second remote user of the plurality of remote users.

7. The method of claim 3 , comprising displaying the application screen of the remote user within a managing application screen.

8. The method of claim 3 , comprising immediately providing modifications to the project made by the local user to the plurality of remote users, wherein an application screen of each of the remote users immediately updates to show the modifications.

9. The method of claim 3 , wherein the project comprises one or more of a document, a spreadsheet, a drawing, code, a simulation, a model, a presentation, a form, an animation, and an architecture.

10. The method of claim 3 , wherein the project comprises a computer-aided design (“CAD”) model.

11. The method of claim 3 , wherein the project tree indicates a cumulative time spent by the users working on each portion of the plurality of portions of the project.

12. The method of claim 3 , comprising displaying a collaboration tool that enables users to collaboratively provide graphical feedback regarding the project and to produce a collaborative output.

13. The method of claim 12 , comprising attaching the collaborative output from the collaboration tool to a corresponding portion of the project to provide documentation regarding the corresponding portion of the project.

14. A computer program product for collaborative project management, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to:
display on an information handling device a project tree, wherein the project tree comprises a diagram illustrating a plurality of portions of a project used by a plurality of remote users in a collaborative environment and indicating which remote users are currently working on each portion of the plurality of portions;
receive a selection, by a local user of the information handling device, of a selected portion of the plurality of portions of the project in the diagram illustrated in the project tree;
in response to receiving the selected portion, identify one or more remote users currently working on the selected portion;
in response to identifying the one or more remote users, display on the information handling device one or more application screens of the one or more identified remote users, wherein the application screens of the identified remote users are updated immediately as modifications to the project are made;
display a local application screen that displays the project together with the application screen of each identified remote user; and
enable the local user to modify the project within the local application screen, wherein each application screen of each identified remote user and the local application screen are displayed concurrently, and a displayed location of each application screen of each identified remote user is distinct from a displayed location of the local application screen.

15. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the program instructions executable by the processor further cause the processor to display the application screen of the remote user within a managing application screen.

Assignees

• Univ Brigham Young

Inventors

• Stone Brett
• Cox Philip
• French David
• Hepworth Ammon
• Jensen Charles Gregory
• Red Walter Edward

Classifications

• G06Q10/101

  Collaborative creation, e.g. joint development of products or services · CPC title

• G06F3/04842 Primary

  Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements (G06F3/0482 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F3/0482

  Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus · CPC title

• G06F3/048 Primary

  Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI] · CPC title