54
The CloudBoard Research Platform:
an interactive whiteboard for corporate users
John Barrus, Edward L. Schwartz
!
Ricoh Innovations Inc., 2882 Sand Hill Road, Suite 115, Menlo Park, CA USA, 94025-7057
ABSTRACT
Over one million interactive whiteboards (IWBs) are sold annually worldwide, predominantly for classroom use with
few sales for corporate use. Unmet needs for IWB corporate use were investigated and the CloudBoard Research
Platform (CBRP) was developed to investigate and test technology for meeting these needs. The CBRP supports audio
conferencing with shared remote drawing activity, casual capture of whiteboard activity for long-term storage and
retrieval, use of standard formats such as PDF for easy import of documents via the web and email and easy export of
documents. Company RFID badges and key fobs provide secure access to documents at the board and automatic logout
occurs after a period of inactivity. Users manage their documents with a web browser. Analytics and remote device
management is provided for administrators. The IWB hardware consists of off-the-shelf components (a Hitachi UST
Projector, SMART Technologies, Inc. IWB hardware, Mac Mini, Polycom speakerphone, etc.) and a custom occupancy
sensor. The three back-end servers provide the web interface, document storage, stroke and audio streaming. Ease of
use, security, and robustness sufficient for internal adoption was achieved. Five of the 10 boards installed at various
Ricoh sites have been in daily or weekly use for the past year and total system downtime was less than an hour in
2012. Since CBRP was installed, 65 registered users, 9 of whom use the system regularly, have created over 2600
documents.
Keywords: whiteboard, cloud, collaboration, teleconference, pen interface, touch interface, sharing
1. INTRODUCTION
Interactive Whiteboards (IWBs) have been widely adopted in schools. Even though a majority of the estimated 12.5
million conference rooms worldwide
1
contain whiteboards, IWBs have not gained significant adoption in business
settings. Of the approximately 1 million IWBs sold annually
2
, 94% go to the educational market and only 5% and 1% of
annual sales are to corporate and government settings, respectively. Since there are more business locations for
whiteboard use than classrooms, we infer that existing IWBs do not meet the needs of business users.
This paper summarizes unmet needs for IWBs in corporate settings identified through market analysis and customer
research, including trials and interviews. It also describes the CloudBoard Research Platform (CBRP). A primary goal of
the CBRP system was to create an interactive whiteboard that takes full advantage of the cloud in a way that addresses
needs of corporate users. The CBRP includes hardware and software that was deployed at multiple internal Ricoh sites in
order to study the usability of various technologies and systems. The CBRP system pictured in Figure 1 includes user
and administrator web interfaces and is based on commercially available hardware along with custom software and web
services.
1.1. Work by others
The CloudBoard Research Platform is a combination of an interactive whiteboard with cloud storage and a shared-
strokes, audio-conferencing system. Research into video-conferencing with shared strokes goes back more than 25 years,
but CBRP is most closely related to shared-stroke IWB systems.
In the early 1990’s, Ishii published a number of papers about his projector- and mirror-based videoconferencing system
called ClearBoard
3
. ClearBoard allowed users to maintain eye contact while talking face-to-face from remote locations.
Users could share images by drawing on a half-silvered mirror through which the image of the remote user was
!
Email addresses: lastname@rii.ricoh.com
John Barrus and Edward L. Schwartz, "The CloudBoard Research Platform: an interactive whiteboard for corporate users", Qian Lin; Jan P. Allebach;
Zhigang Fan; Jerry Liu, Editors, Proc. SPIE 8664, Imaging and Printing in a Web 2.0 World IV, 866405 (March 21, 2013).
Copyright 2013 SPIE and IS&T. One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic reproduction and distribution,
duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modification of the content of the paper are prohibited.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.2010964
39
displayed. The glass operated as a traditional whiteboard in that there were no electronic operations – just drawing and
erasing with fluorescent color paint markers. Whatever was drawn on the board was captured and shared via video signal
with the remote user. ClearBoard supported two simultaneous users. In the early 1990s, there were also activities related
to shared strokes at Xerox PARC, including the VideoDraw
4
, Commune
5
and VideoWhiteboard
6
systems.
Figure 1. The CBRP IWB hardware (left) and a user marking up a document (right).
Recent work in this area is ongoing by Robinson, et. al. at HP
7
which uses laser projectors and notch color filters to
separate the drawing image from the projected video.
An experimental IWB system developed at Xerox PARC around the same time as ClearBoard consisted of Liveboard
8
hardware and Tivoli
9
software. It used a 46” x 32” monochrome rear projection display and (conventional mouse
compatible) three-button, battery powered, IR emitting wireless pens. It supported both traditional whiteboard drawing
and erasing (whole strokes) and advanced manipulation such as selecting and moving strokes and vertical scrolling. It
supported import by scanning paper and loading files, export by printing and saving to named files and sharing with
remote systems. Access to advanced functionality used both pen gestures (e.g. “tear”, “pig tail”) and UI Control panels
along bottom and left edges with several dozen controls.
Currently, the two leading manufacturers of IWBs are SMART Technologies, Inc. (Canada) and Promethean, Ltd. (UK),
but there are technologies available from a number of other vendors, including the eBeam Edge stroke capture hardware
from Luidia, Inc. (US) and interactive projectors from Seiko Epson Corp (Japan). SMART Technologies provides a
commercial conferencing system called Bridgit that works with their IWBs as well as popular tablets like the iPad.
Bridgit provides a way to share strokes, as well as audio and video, but does not enable cloud storage of the resulting
documents. Luidia recently began offering the eBeam Connect service (http://ebeamconnect.com) which keeps
documents in the cloud and allows a registered user to import PowerPoint and image files and collaborate in real-time
with other users. The eBeam software allows users to connect to a server hosted by Luidia for shared-stroke sessions.
Many videoconferencing system vendors like Polycom, Inc (US) are partnering with IWB companies to offer systems
for sharing strokes.
Google Drive (http://drive.google.com) has a number of web-browser-based applications (or document types) like
Presentation and Drawing which allow simultaneous document editing using strokes. The stroke sharing is robust and the
documents are stored in the cloud, but the interaction is unlike working on a whiteboard. It is possible to use Google
Drive apps on an Interactive Whiteboard, but they are optimized for mouse and keyboard interactions.
45
1.2. Motivation
The CBRP vision is to create a device similar in size and functionality to a whiteboard that supports local and remote
group collaboration and takes full advantage of the cloud. The CBRP web service provides secure access to documents.
The system can be used to create shared documents during meetings and allow those documents to be reused in other
meetings or later distributed as notes in printed or electronic form. While documents are frequently created from scratch,
existing documents and presentations can be marked-up, providing an alternative to printed meeting handouts. A user’s
documents are available from any CBRP client hardware and accessible on the web.
We surveyed a number of Ricoh customers, many of whom expressed a strong desire to be able to collaborate while
using a whiteboard. Shared strokes for remote meetings was rated highest of desired features by respondents, with 70%
indicating a desire to have the resulting documents available in an enterprise content management system or on the web.
One CEO we interviewed has engineering groups in Taiwan and Silicon Valley and felt that the ability to share drawings
remotely during a meeting would overcome language barriers and significantly reduce the need for travel.
Previous IWB software and hardware targets the education market where the device is set up in a classroom occupied
and managed by an individual teacher. A corporate setting is different in that multiple people utilize the IWB and the
computer connected to it. For example, a teacher can keep classroom lessons on the IWB computer and lock the door
when the day is over. Corporate management cannot leave sensitive presentation and meeting documents on a computer
in a shared or open location.
1.3. Corporate user needs
Key user needs identified through user studies, surveys, interviews and market studies in a corporate setting include:
instant on, ease of use, security, remote management, document management, collaboration and integration.
Instant on
In conference rooms where both an IWB and a whiteboard are available, we found that few people will wait the 30-40
seconds it takes for the projector to warm up to use the IWB. If the IWB is not ready to go, they will just pick up the pen
and move right to the regular whiteboard. Experience shows that the delay causes an interruption in the thought process
that was frequently detrimental to the discussion at hand. A particular challenge for the makers of IWBs using projectors
is to create an “instant on” experience where the projector and software are ready to use at a moments notice.
The “occupancy sensor” custom hardware described in this paper supports an “instant on” experience.
Ease of Use
A large part of the cost of adopting new technology is the time invested in learning how to use it. In contrast to teachers
who use an IWB for hours every day, corporate users are reluctant to spend time learning a new technology unless the
benefits for adoption are clear. Devices used infrequently must have a simple interface and one that is easy to remember
even if only used occasionally.
The “walk up and use” mode described in this paper supports use of the board by people with no training.
Security
Sensitive information left on a whiteboard in a common space can lead to serious problems within a company and may
even violate the law. One of Ricoh’s major customers (40,000 employees in 300 locations) posts stickers on all of their
corporate whiteboards reminding users to erase content after meetings in order to avoid accidental disclosure of
corporate secrets. Banks must insure that social security numbers are never written on a whiteboard. Hospitals in the US
must comply with HIPAA requirements and avoid disclosures of personal information in public spaces.
On traditional whiteboards it is impossible to enforce a requirement to erase boards. Even on IWBs, special effort is
required to ensure that data stored on the controller is also erased. Existing IWB software typically stores content on
local hard drives or storage attached to the network. For corporate use, IWBs must support several features, including
erasing boards after meetings and preventing sensitive information from getting into the hands of unauthorized viewers.
CRBP uses IT controlled, cloud-based storage that combines conventional web-based document management with novel
ways to access and share documents from an IWB.
45
Remote Management
Since IWBs cost thousands of dollars they are likely to be in shared spaces and conference rooms where no specific
individual owns or is responsible for the device. Electronic hardware requires maintenance, including replacement of
failed components and firmware upgrades. Usually the IT department is responsible for managing IWBs in a corporation.
A system that provides centralized device management—a corporate IWB dashboard—could save the IT department
significant amounts of time and money.
One Ricoh customer in the US installed 27 IWBs in their corporate headquarters. When we interviewed them, they had
no idea if the boards were being used or even if they were functional.
The CBRP provides usage information, maintenance information such as projector bulb life and allows near real-time
notification of IWB problems.
Collaboration
One consistent request from interviewees was to provide a whiteboard that could be used for collaboration. Video and
audio conferencing could be significantly improved with the ability to share drawings. Interviews have shown that the
ability to collaborate remotely by drawing was more important than sharing video for most users.
With CBRP, setting up an audio conference with whiteboard sharing just requires opening the same document on
multiple boards.
Document Management
Whiteboards are one of the few devices in a corporate setting where information is created and organized, but not
regularly captured and stored. Previous IWB software stores documents in proprietary file formats on the local hard drive
or network drive mounted on the local computer. Since the file format is proprietary, it is impossible to search the
filesystem by anything other than filename or creation and modification date. A preferred method of searching would be
by thumbnail image, author, location of meeting or other information available to the IWB, but not to the filesystem.
Corporate IWB users need a easy method to search, sort and share IWB documents. In the survey mentioned previously,
remote access to IWB content on the web was ranked as the second most important feature of an IWB, a feature not
offered by previous IWB software or systems.
CBRP has simple document management functionality through a web interface and on the device.
Integration
Not only do users want to access documents on the web, but they want to be able to share the content with other users
and easily move documents from one system to another using standard file formats. Proprietary IWB files make
collaboration difficult. Successful IWB systems must include tools for translating to and from standard formats and
provide an API for importing and exporting IWB files and images to and from Enterprise Content Management systems.
The CBRP web interface allows importing and exporting documents in standard formats such as Adobe PDF and popular
image formats. CBRP documents can also be created via email.
1.4. Many small things done correctly
A great product and a great user experience is not the result of a single insight or feature, but many small things done
correctly. The challenge in creating the CloudBoard Research Platform was not in meeting specific unmet needs in
isolation or any single technical part of the platform (although there were many difficult technical pieces). The goal was
to create a cohesive environment and system that was easy to learn and use and provided the right affordances and tools
to meet the needs of corporate IWB users.
2. SYSTEM OVERVIEW
The CBRP requires a complex architecture because it supports document storage, access to documents using a web U/I,
as well as stroke and audio streaming to multiple remote boards simultaneously. The platform must preserve security for
the users so that they can use CBRP for sensitive or private discussions without fear that other users or administrators
can see their information. Design for high availability is also essential. If a system is not available when people need to
use it, it will not be adopted. We designed the system so that we would know immediately if it became unavailable so
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39
that we could implement repairs promptly. CBRP integrates with Nagios
10
monitoring software. Servers are actively
monitored to quickly detect and isolate problems. IWBs (clients) typically report status every 10 minutes for passive
monitoring.
Figure 2. High-level architecture (left) and software architecture (right).
2.1. Server software architecture design
We chose 3 servers as shown in Figure 2 (left): Apache (http://httpd.apache.org/) + ZEND (http://www.zend.com/) for
document storage and a web user interface, ActiveMQ (http://projects.apache.org/projects/activemq.html) for real-time
stroke sharing and SylkServer (http://sylkserver.com/) for multi-point VOIP audio conferencing. The CBRP client (the
software for the IWB) directly uploads and downloads documents from the CBRP server using HTTP, including
document files and image files. The CBRP client communicates with the ActiveMQ server for sharing strokes. The pjsua
VOIP client (http://www.pjsip.org/pjsua.htm) was integrated into the CBRP client to manage audio communication. We
used MySQL to store and query the CBRP database. A Python program acted as an email client to upload documents
using HTTP. See Figure 2 (right).
2.2. CBRP Hardware Platform
Selection of the best hardware for implementation of the CBRP was an iterative process. The most common final
hardware configuration is described here and shown in Figure 3. Most of the hardware is commercially available.
A SMART Technologies, Inc. 16:10 aspect ratio SBX885 board acts as a 6x4 foot screen for a color projector. The board
comes with 3 passive styluses, two pens and an eraser. SMART’s DViT sensors
11
have 4 cameras and retro-reflective
tape around the edge of the board to track two variable size pointers on the board simultaneously. The sensors can
differentiate between an eraser, a pen, a finger and a fist touching the board.
A Hitachi CP-AW250N 2500 lumen projector is the system’s display. It includes HDMI input and can be controlled by
software over the network. The 1280x800 resolution matches the 16:10 aspect ratio for the 885ix series board. We found
this to be sufficient resolution to display a full page of normal text for marking up PDF documents. The Hitachi projector
has image warping technology that simplifies the final alignment of the projector to the board by matching the 4 corners
and 4 edges of the projected display within 1/2 pixel to the corners and edges of the board.
A custom occupancy sensor to detect people near the board was fashioned using Zilog ZEPIR0AAS02MODG
ZMOTION Detection Modules and FTDI TTL-232RG-VREG3V3-WE USB to serial cables. A custom enclosure for
mounting the sensor on the top or bottom of the SBX885 board was fabricated using a 3D printer. A Python program
running on the controller receives sensor inputs, controls the projector and communicates status information as a
localhost-only web service. This communication includes information provided by the projector such as bulb life.
The controller chosen to run the client software is a Mac Mini running OS X 10.6 and above. OS X has drivers for the
SMART Board hardware, supports networking and connection of the various peripherals, and has good development
tools for the GUI software. It is low power, small, and quiet enough to be mounted on the wall near the board. The Mac
is connected to the LAN using the ethernet port or WiFi. A USB hub with ethernet was used to create a second private
ethernet connection to the projector.
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15
A pcProx RDR-6081AKU RFID reader is used for reading employee key fobs for IWB login. Additional ProxKey II
Keyfob 1346LSSMN key fobs were distributed to users who did not already have a corporate key fob.
A Polycom CX100 Speakerphone is used for audio conferencing. This connects to the controller by USB and provides
echo cancellation.
Installations used wall-mounting hardware for the projector, Mac mini and other peripherals. Appropriate length cables
(e.g. a separately purchased 25 foot power cord for the projector) were secured with cable ties to achieve a tidy look.
Figure 3. CBRP hardware diagram.
3. CBRP CLIENT SOFTWARE
The client software was developed using the XCode IDE in Objective C on the Apple Mac platform. It can be used on
the IWB setup or as a standalone client on any Mac computer.
3.1. Typical Scenario
When a user enters a conference room containing the CBRP, the occupancy sensor turns the projector on. The Hitachi
projector takes about 40 seconds to warm up until it is ready to use. The image projected onto the IWB is a dark screen
with the CBRP logo in the center. This image was chosen to minimize distraction when the CBRP is not needed but to
indicate that it is ready to use.
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If someone touches the CBRP screen, immediately a white screen is shown, along with a series of icons along the bottom
of the screen, including pens, an eraser and a pop-up menu icon. This provides an “instant-on” experience for the user
because there is no wait required for the projector bulb to warm up
Once the white screen is shown, the user can select a pen and start drawing. If desired, the user can login to the board
and the drawing will be saved to their account. The users photo appears in the upper right corner of the screen. Multiple
pages can be created, lines drawn and erased, strokes selected, copied and pasted, rotated or resized. Pen color and line
width are selectable.
Previously created documents are easily retrieved for review or modification. If two users have the same document open
simultaneously, the boards are connected with audio and stroke sharing.
When finished, the user can logout using the pop-up menu. However, if no one is in the room and the CBRP system
detects that there is no local or remote activity for a preset length of time, the document is saved, the user logged out and
the projector is automatically turned off, reducing energy consumption and noise and preserving bulb life.
If the user chooses not to log in, documents are not saved and the users photo does not appear in the corner.
3.2. Logging in/out
Anyone can use the board without an account, but nothing is saved unless the user logs in.
When a user’s CBRP account is created, a RFID key fob and a password are associated with the account. In most cases,
an employee’s existing key fob is used. To login, a user presents his or her key fob or card to the RFID reader on the side
of the board as shown in Figure 4 (left). If the login is successful the anonymous user icon is replaced with the user’s
picture in the upper right as shown in Figure 4 (right).
A user can manually log out using a menu item. At log out, the CBRP is cleared and the anonymous user icon appears in
the upper right corner again.
Figure 4. RFID reader and key fob (left). Display with undo slider, menu, page thumbnails, icons for “walk up and use”
mode and picture for logged-in user (right).
3.3. CBRP documents
A CRBP user works on a single document at a time. Each document has one or more pages. A page-oriented approach
was taken, as opposed to a zoomable interface, to simplify the conversion to and from printable documents. The CBRP
always displays a single page that fills the display. There are no affordances for zooming or scrolling the document.
Documents are saved automatically to the user’s account on the CBRP web server every time a page is changed or after a
period of inactivity.
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3.4. “Walk up and use” mode and “natural interaction” mode
When the icons appear on the bottom of the screen, the user can select an icon in order to perform an action. Icons were
chosen which are easy to understand at a quick glance. In “walk up and use” mode, the software operates identically
whether a pen or finger is used to touch the screen. The user can select a colored pen (black, red, green, or blue as
shown) or can choose the eraser icon to erase lines that are already drawn on the board.
The Menu icon pops up a menu (shown in Figure 5) in the center of the board and the finger icon switches to a selection
tool. The menu allows the user to change the color or width of new strokes, to cut, copy or paste strokes or to interact
with stored documents.
The SMART Board can distinguish between a finger, a pen, and a large object like a palm, fist, or eraser pressing on the
board. If the CBRP user hides the “walk up and use” icons, the board will enter “natural interaction” mode where it will
switch tools automatically based on whatever is touching the board.
Touching the board with a finger causes the software to automatically switch to the select tool. When a pen is used, “ink”
will appear on the surface of the board. The eraser also works as expected. A user’s fist or palm can also be used to
erase—something people do naturally on a whiteboard or chalkboard. A double tap brings up the menu at that location.
Speed is the key advantage of the “natural interaction” mode for experienced users because they are not required to keep
reaching down to the bottom of the board to switch tools.
Figure 5. “Walk up and use” mode icons, pop-up menu and UI for selected strokes.
3.5. Manipulating strokes: drawing, eraser and selection tools
Lines act as objects when they are selected, move, rotated or scaled. However, the erase tool erases lines on a per-pixel
basis, dividing single lines into multiple lines as needed. This combination of the pen and pixel-based eraser tools allows
the interactive whiteboard to be used like a regular whiteboard.
The selection tool provides a new experience to the whiteboard user. Tapping on a stroke selects the whole stroke.
Dragging over a region selects all of the region’s strokes. After selecting strokes, it is possible to modify them by
moving them, making them larger or smaller, rotating them or deleting the entire selection. The strokes can also be
copied and pasted. Figure 5 shows a group of selected strokes with UI for resizing, rotation, delete and duplicate.
Most whiteboard users have experienced the situation where the whiteboard is completely full, yet they need to add more
information. Since CBRP strokes are objects, it’s possible to select all of them and shrink them slightly to make room for
more information on the board.
To make neat text, some users create large text on the board in a location that is comfortable based on their height, and
then shrink the text to hide imperfections in handwriting and move it to the desired location. CRBP users making lists
would sometimes reorder list items or shrink part of a list to make room to add an additional item. Some users drew
symbols and then copied and pasted them multiple times to create technical drawings.
3.6. Multiple pages
The CBRP supports multi-page whiteboard documents. Although there are arrow icons for changing pages, the client
also supports a swipe gesture familiar to tablet and smartphone users for page changes.
When the menu is showing, thumbnails of the current document pages are drawn in the lower portion of the board (as
shown in Figure 4 right). The current page is outlined in a red box. Tapping a thumbnail changes the display to that page
and clicking on a cyan bar between thumbnails adds a new blank page at that location.
46
3.7. Accessing documents
After logging in, selecting “Docs” from the menu causes the CBRP to
show thumbnails of documents stored on the web which are associated
with the users account. If the user opens a stored document the old
document is saved and the newly opened document appears in its place.
The “New Doc” menu item works as expected, creating a single page
document without strokes after saving the currently open document.
3.8. Undo
All operations on a document are time-stamped, including drawing,
erasing and manipulating strokes. The user can roll back a page to its
original state at anytime. There is no redo.
3.9. Sharing documents at a single CBRP
When one user is logged into the CBRP and a second user presents their RFID key fob to the board, either the open
document is shared (Share) or the first user is logged out and the document closed and the second user is logged in
(Switch). The user makes a choice using the dialog shown in Figure 6. Document sharing can also be initiated using the
web interface.
3.10. Working Together Remotely on Two CBRPs
Using CBRP, many people can work on the same document simultaneously at different locations. Each user, at different
boards, can open a shared document. When more than one CBRP has the same document open, a stroke sharing channel
and an audio sharing channel is created. Each board includes a wall-mounted speakerphone for audio. All strokes made
on one board are sent to all of the other boards in the session. The sharing system has been tested with as many as four
boards at once.
During a shared stroke session, users are free to change to any page, draw strokes or transform existing strokes. Other
users see those changes in real time if they are looking at the same page.
Documents in our system are shared but there is no server that maintains the current state of an actively shared
document. Since there is no official “host” of the meeting – all clients are the same – the system designates a host that
manages a synchronization process to make sure that all late-joining boards are up-to-date.
Users at remote boards sometimes simultaneously select and transform the same stroke. It’s usually obvious when such
transformations conflict and it has been observed that typically one of the users stops while the other user finishes the
move or rotate. CBRP is robust to simultaneous transformations.
Erasing causes a difficult race condition. If two people are erasing different parts of the same stroke at the same time, it’s
possible for the system to create new partial strokes that overlap in such a way that it appears nothing was erased. To
avoid this situation, only one board can erase at a time during a collaboration session.
4. CBRP WEB AND EMAIL INTERFACE FOR USERS
An important part of the CBRP system is the web-based document storage and user interface. Using a web browser,
users and administrators can log in to the CBRP document server and access documents created on the client. New
documents can be created by uploading images or PDF files using the interface shown in Figure 8 (left). Administrators
can access analytics about how the boards are being used, create new accounts and monitor the clients and servers.
As shown on the left in Figure 7, the main web page contains a grid of thumbnails of recent documents and has links for
creating a new document, converting PDF files and various administrative actions. Clicking on a thumbnail for a
document opens a lightbox-style page viewer. Figure 7, right, shows a detail view of one thumbnail. Links under each
thumbnail allow access to a document information page as well as earlier versions of the document. Each document’s
information page contains a link to download the document as a PDF file, displays individual page images and has a UI
for setting document permissions (Figure 8), title and notes. CBRP provides access control list (ACL) document sharing
on the web server. Any user can share access to a document they own with any other user on the system. A document
Figure 6. "Share or switch" dialog.
15
owner can grant view (read only), edit (read and write but not delete or share) or own (read, write, delete, share)
permissions to other users.
Figure 7. Web page with document thumbnails (left) and close up of one document thumbnail (right).
Users can also create CBRP documents by sending emails with attached PDF or image files to the CBRP server email
address. For instance, the RII “Whiteboard Share” and “Scan Pages” iPhone apps can deliver content directly to the
CBRP web server for conversion. Documents created on the Ricoh eQuill tablet can also be converted to CBRP
documents. CBRP APIs can be used to integrate with other web services or even private corporate document
management systems built on commercial content management systems.
Figure 8. Web interface for uploading a PDF file (left) and “document permissions” interface (right).
5. CBRP WEB INTERFACE FOR ADMINISTRATORS
The CBRP web interface for administrators provides several pages for monitoring and managing user accounts and
devices. CBRPs are listed by name and geographic location. A separate monitoring web service indicates the current
status and history of all of the boards and servers and can send out notifications over email and SMS when there is a
failure or imminent problem. The web UI can be used to create user accounts, obtain a list of emails for all users, reset
passwords, upload user images, etc. Detailed board usage statistics can be inspected or downloaded.
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