Patent ID: 7082430
Filing Date: 2006-07-25
Classification: G06F,Y10S

Abstract:
1. A method for providing collaboration planning in a collaborative work tool architecture comprising: (a) providing a client user interface including an activity data field for an activity, wherein the activity provides multi-directional communication among a plurality of participant users, the activity being a brainstorming tool, a discussion tool, a categorization tool, a voting tool, or an action list tool; (b) receiving synchronous activity data from a facilitator user prior to an activity, wherein the activity data includes an activity description, a start time for the activity, and a duration of the activity; (c) automatically researching the activity data prior to an activity, wherein automatically researching includes automatically obtaining the activity description when the start time is within a predetermined period, parsing and pattern matching the activity description to identify searchable components of the activity description, querying a plurality of sources across a network to obtain the researched activity data, and receiving the researched activity data in response to querying the plurality of sources, (d) storing the received activity data and the researched activity data on a server via the network; (e) allowing the plurality of participant users access to the stored activity data and the researched activity data prior to an activity via the network, such that the stored activity data operates to invite the plurality of participant users to participate in the activity; and (f) archiving stored session materials including activity data, researched activity data and session reports via the network, such that the session materials are accessible for future reference.