Methods and apparatus for obtaining a state of a browser

Abstract

Mechanisms and techniques provide the system that allows the server computer system to capture the complete state of the browser process performing on a client computer system in a remote manner. The capture of such state information by a server computer system is useful, for example, to allow participants to a shared collaborative communications session to join such a session prior to initiation of such a session, or at any point in time during the lifetime of the collaboration session. In operation, the system of the invention can be initiated by browser process performing to the client computer system which obtains the capture process, for instance, as an applet. The capture process can extract from the browser process state information associated with the browser containing document contained within the browser. The capture process can store such state information in a content object on the client computer system and can format and transmit the content object from the capture process on the client computer system to a server computer system in order to maintain a state of the browser in the server computer system. By capturing the state of the browser on the client computer system via the capture process on the client computer system, the complete image of the state information of the browser, including any user supplied information, can be obtained and returns to the server computer system, thus allowing the server computer system, for example, to have participants to a collaboration session join the collaboration session prior to its existence or at any point during the lifetime of the collaboration session without having to navigate through the entire collaboration session.