Interactive web collaboration systems and methods

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.

1 - 35 . (canceled) 
     
     
         36 . A method for providing interaction with an object implemented on one or more computers, the method comprising:
 instantiating an object in a folder stored in the one or more computers;   causing the object to inherit, by referencing or copying into the object, a first set of scripts from the folder that define a behavior of the object, wherein each script in the first set of scripts includes an event pattern and an action pattern;   receiving, at the object, a message in a language defined by one or more human language grammars;   parsing the message to identify content of the message; and   in response to determining that a first script in the first set of scripts includes an event pattern that corresponds to a portion of the content,
 identifying the action pattern of the first script; and 
 causing the object to execute an action defined by the action pattern to respond to the message. 
   
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 36 , further comprising causing the object to inherit a second set of scripts from a second folder, wherein the second set of scripts expands the behavior of the object. 
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein the portion of the content of the message includes one or more event patterns that corresponds to the event pattern of the first script. 
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 38 , wherein the message includes a whenever statement. 
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 38 , wherein the action pattern of the first script includes running the first script in the first set of scripts, and running the first one script causes the object to interpret the content of the message. 
     
     
         41 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein the message received at the object is generated by a different object or a human. 
     
     
         42 . The method of  claim 41 , wherein the message is a chat message, and when the message is generated by a human, the message is received in a chat room. 
     
     
         43 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein the first script configures the object to set up meetings with a plurality of remote users by calling each remote user in the plurality of remote users to participate in a conference. 
     
     
         44 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein the first script is a glossarizer that:
 provides contributions to a folder, by monitoring contents of the folder; and   identifies important words and phrases and links the identified words and phrases to glossary pages in the folder.   
     
     
         45 . The method of  claim 36 , further comprising using the behavior to speak or listen to a different object or a human using the one or more human language grammars. 
     
     
         46 . A system for providing interaction with an object implemented on one or more computers, the one or more computers comprising at least one processor configured to:
 instantiate an object in a folder stored in the one or more computers;   cause the object to inherit, by referencing or copying into the object, a first set of scripts from the folder that define a behavior of the object, wherein each script in the first set of scripts includes an event pattern and an action pattern;   receive, at the object, a message in a language defined by one or more human language grammars;   parse the message to identify content of the message; and   in response to determining that a first script in the first set of scripts includes an event pattern that corresponds to a portion of the content,
 identify the action pattern of the first script; and 
 causing the object to execute an action defined by the action pattern to respond to the message. 
   
     
     
         47 . The system of  claim 46 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the object to inherit a second set of scripts from a second folder, wherein the second set of scripts expands the behavior of the object. 
     
     
         48 . The system of  claim 46 , wherein the portion of the content of the message includes one or more event patterns that corresponds to the event pattern of the first script. 
     
     
         49 . The system of  claim 48 , wherein the message includes a whenever statement. 
     
     
         50 . The system of  claim 48 , wherein the action pattern of the first script includes running the at least one script in the first set of scripts, and running the at least one script causes the object to interpret the content of the message. 
     
     
         51 . The system of  claim 46 , wherein the message received at the object is generated by a different object or a human. 
     
     
         52 . The system of  claim 51 , wherein the message is a chat message, and when the message is generated by a human, the message is received in a chat room. 
     
     
         53 . The system of  claim 46 , wherein the first script configures the object to set up meetings with a plurality of remote users by calling each remote user in the plurality of remote users to participate in a conference. 
     
     
         54 . The system of  claim 46 , wherein the first script is a glossarizer that:
 provides contributions to a folder, by monitoring contents of the folder; and   identifies important words and phrases and links the identified words and phrases to glossary pages in the folder.   
     
     
         55 . The system of  claim 46 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to use the behavior to speak or listen to a different object or a human using the one or more human language grammars.