Patent ID: 8126964

Claim:
A method for a first user to obtain technical assistance by displaying data provided by a server process in a server of an industrial control system to a thin client process running on a first machine of the first user to at least one other user, the method comprising: connecting the first machine of the first user to the server, thereby starting a session, displaying on said first machine said data provided by the server to the first machine, identifying by the first user the at least one other user with which data will be shared or to which data will be distributed, wherein the at least one other user is identified from a list of other users having the technical assistance, designating by the first user privileges of the at least one other user, retrieving an address for at least one other machine of the at least one other user, sending a request by the first user to share with or distribute the data to the at least one other user, opening at the initiation of the first user a channel between the server and said at least one other machine, thereby initiating a shared session, determining whether the at least one other machine will accept the shared session, if the at least one other machine accepts the shared session providing said data from said thin client process running on said first machine to another thin client running on said at least one other machine in accordance with the privileges at least one other user and displaying the data on said at least one other machine utilizing the other thin client, and logging by the server the session with the first machine and said data sent to said first machine, wherein the data is stored in a database of the server, and wherein the data provided to a thin client running on the at least one other machine is provided based on the log and the specified privileges wherein the data is formatted for the thin client of the first user and the thin client of the at least one other user.