Patent ID: 7454760

Claim:
A method for collaboration over a computer network, comprising: intercepting data regarding one or more application level events that occur within a first instance of a stand-alone application operable to create and edit documents in response to user actions, and wherein said one or more application level events reflect user actions that result in changes to a native document file generated by said first instance of stand-alone application, wherein a session manager acts as a distribution point between said first instance and one or more other instances of said stand-alone application and is operable to resolve conflicts between said one or more application level events that occur within said first instance and said one or more other instances by using a sequence number assigned to each of said one or more application level events to determine which of said one or more application level events to discard and which of said one or more other instances of said stand-alone application receive notification; transmitting, by said session manager, data comprising said native document file and said data regarding one or more application level events over said computer network, automatically and in real time, to said one or more other instances of said stand-alone application; and causing said one or more other instances of said stand-alone application: to display a local copy of a document corresponding to a local copy of said native document file, to receive and use said data comprising data regarding one or more application level events to replicate said events that occurred within said first instance, to mirror said user actions performed in said first instance without user intervention by performing an equivalent action on said local copy of said native document file and thereby make corresponding changes to said local copy of said native document file, and to display said changes to said local copy of said document.