Patent ID: 7958453

Claim:
A multi-user system, associated with a first user and a plurality of non-first users each having respective client systems associated therewith and wherein each client system is connected to a server system through a computer network, the system providing multi-user interactive environments on web pages served by the server system, the multi-user system comprising: a user interface, the user interface being executed by a client system of the first user, the user interface being defined by a set of programs that are provided by the server system, and the set of programs providing bidirectional communications between the server system and the client system of the first user; the user interface comprising a rendered web content layer, the rendered web content layer being an area for displaying rendered web content served by the server system; the user interface further comprising an interaction space for multi-user actions, the interaction space being overlaid on top of the rendered web content layer; the user interface providing a coordinate system for the interaction space, the coordinate system enabling geometric measurements; the user interface embodying the first user in the interaction space as a first user graphical representation, the first user graphical representation being positioned within the interaction space according to first user coordinates; and the user interface being a real-time multi-user environment comprising: a control means allowing the first user to control presence of non-first users in the interaction space of the first user; an embodying means that embodies non-first users who are allowed membership into the interaction space of the first user as non-first user graphical representations, wherein each non-first user graphical representation is positioned within the interaction space of the first user according to their respective non-first user coordinates; a movement control means for first user movement control of the first user graphical representation in the interaction space, such that the movement action is replicated in the interaction spaces of all non-first users who are in the interaction space of the first user; a conversating means for conversating among first user and non-first users in the interaction space of the first user; and an editing means for at least one of multi-user simultaneous annotating and editing of the rendered web content layer, wherein the rendered web content layer of the first user and the rendered web content layer of at least one of the plurality of non-first users are displaying the same web page, and wherein one of the first user or one of the plurality of non-first users requests a region of content rendered on the displayed web page to be locked for editing before such one of the first user or one of the plurality of non-first users is allowed to edit or annotate the region of content.