METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR ENABLING SHARED WEB-BASED INTERACTION IN STATEFUL SERVERS

摘要

A method of interactively sharing information between at least two devices i n a computer network, each device having a respective browser associated therewi th for handling the information, includes retrieving information from an informatio n source in the network for storage in response to receipt of a retrieval request from a fir st browser associated with a first device. The method further includes sending the stor ed information to at least a second browser of at least a second device in response to receipt of a similar -- request therefrom, the second device receiving the request from the first device, such that the devices can share the information retrieved from the information source in response to the single request made to the source. Preferably, a surrogate is establishe d in at least the first device for informing the second device of the request made such that t he browser of the second device can make the similar request. Also, the information available from the information source in the computer network may include dynamically changing (i.e., stateful) content.