System and methods for automatically distributing a particular shared

Abstract

A computer system having a facility for concurrently sharing objects or resources is described. The system includes a publish-and-subscribe facility or 'Object Exchange,' for facilitating sharing among workgroups. When a data object is 'published' by a user ('publisher'), the object is sent from that user's computer to other computer users specified by the publisher. Those interested in the published data object (published pages) may elect to receive or 'subscribe' to that data. From that point on, the publisher can choose to update the data, such as whenever the published version changes. The 'subscribers' of the published pages automatically get updates. Subscribers of a spreadsheet notebook, for instance, would automatically receive pages as they are published. The Object Manager effects actions by posting messages or 'forms' to either the local Object Exchange (assuming one is the publisher) or the Object Exchange of others (subscribers). Connectivity for the system is provided by the various Object Exchange engines negotiating forms. Each Object Exchange posts and retrieves forms at polling intervals (which may be set to continuous polling). By exploiting the connectivity of existing transport media (e.g., LANs), the present invention delivers workgroup computing benefits to users, but without imposing a rigid structure which restricts when and how they work.