Patent ID: 7206811

Claim:
An apparatus for facilitating real-time collaboration, comprising: a web server configured to receive connections from clients of collaboration attendees; one or more communication modules configured to disseminate collaboration data to the clients; an organizer configured to manage the collaboration, the organizer comprising: a communication layer configured to communicate with the clients through the communication modules; a roster configured to identify permissions assigned to the clients; for each mode of the collaboration, each control unit configured to manage the each mode, wherein the each control unit includes a queue, wherein the each control unit is capable of collapsing the queue for a slow client, and wherein collapsing the queue involves: creating a virtual screen that includes data from the queue which the slow client has not received, sending the virtual screen to the slow client instead of trying to send the slow client every separate set of data in the queue, and discarding data that is no longer needed by the clients; and a filter configured to direct collaboration data received from the clients to an appropriate control unit, wherein the slow client is a client that accepts or requests collaboration data at a notably slower rate than other clients in the same mode, and collapsing the queue prevents the slow client from affecting the rate at which other clients receive data.