A Platform Independent Shared Web Browser

Abstract

The current popular browsers such as Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Communicator allow only an individual to freely navigate on the Web. Our shared Web browser enables multi-users in physically different sites to simultaneously navigate the Web-based virtual world together. Using the shared browser, a group of users share not only a Web document but also operations on the browser and Web documents. To be platform independent, he shared Web browser is implemented using Java language under a server-client model. The server programs are Java applications and the client program is a Java applet. As a gateway, the proxy server plays an important role in the shared browser system for loading Web documents in remote hosts on behalf of a client so as to overcome Java applet security restrictions. In this article, we present the shared Web browser in details and show its application in a multimedia collaboration system - VCR (Virtual Collaboration Room) as an object. The shared Web browser has potential applications in many other systems, such as tele-lecturing, tele-conferencing, shopping together in e-commerce, and group virtual tour.