Avoiding message conflict

• US 10,616,152 B2
• Filed: 01/18/2019
• Issued: 04/07/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Novastone Media Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Novastone Media Ltd.
• Inventors: Orr, Douglas
• Primary Examiner(s): Jean, Frantz B
• Application Number:
  US16/252,297
• Publication Number:
  US 20190245814A1
• Time in Patent Office: 445 Days
• Field of Search: 709206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

A communication system for communicating instant messages between a plurality of user accounts, each instant message forming part of a logical conversation stream comprising one or more such messages, the system comprising: a plurality of communication terminals, each communication terminal being configured to service a respective user account by simultaneously supporting multiple instant messaging clients, each client being (i) associated with a respective user interface different from that of the other instant messaging clients supported on the terminal, (ii) capable of transmitting and receiving instant messages to and from user accounts serviced on others of the communication terminals and (iii) configured to attribute to each instant message generated through that client an identifier corresponding to the client; a database storing a user profile for each of the user accounts, each user profile indicating which clients are supported by the communication terminal for the respective user account; and a server entity for supporting communication of the instant messages, the server having access to the database and being configured to direct instant messages received from one of the communication terminals to a specific instant messaging client on another communication terminal servicing an account of an intended recipient, the specific client being selected by the server entity in dependence on the identifier attributed to the message received from the said one of the terminals and the user profile of the account of the intended recipient.

Claims

1. A communication terminal configured to service a user account by transmitting and receiving instant messages to and from a plurality of user accounts on remote devices, each message forming part of a logical conversation stream;

wherein the communication terminal is configured to simultaneously support multiple instant messaging clients, each client being associated with a respective user interface different from that of other instant messaging clients supported on the communication terminal and configured to;

transmit and receive instant messages to and from user accounts serviced on other instances of the communication terminal;

attribute, to each instant message generated through that client, an identifier corresponding to the client; and

filter instant messages received from another communication terminal using the identifier corresponding to said client so as to display received instant messages having attributed thereto an identifier matching the identifier corresponding to said client and to not display received messages with an attributed identifier that does not match the identifier corresponding to said client but that matches an identifier corresponding to one of other clients supported on the communication terminal.

2. A communication terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein each client is configured to display received messages with an attributed identifier that does not match the identifier corresponding to said client if said client is pre-designated as a default client.

3. A communication terminal as claimed in claim 2, wherein the communication terminal is configured so that only one client of the multiple supported clients is pre-designated as a default client.

4. A communication terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein each client is configured to determine identifiers corresponding to the other clients supported on the communication terminal using a URL scheme.

5. A communication terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein the communication terminal is configured to communicate an indication of the clients supported on the communication terminal for that account to a server.

6. A communication terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the instant messaging clients is provided by a respective application stored in non-transient form in memory on the communication terminal.

7. A communication terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the instant messaging clients supported on the communication terminal is provided by a common application stored in non-transient form in memory on the communication terminal which provides each client by means of a respective user interface.

8. A communication terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein the communication terminal is one of:

a smartphone, a tablet, a personal computer, a laptop, an audio player, an e-reader.

9. A computer-readable non-transitory medium having stored thereon code for an instant messaging client that, when executed at a communication terminal simultaneously supporting multiple instant messaging clients, each client being associated with a respective user interface different from that of other instant messaging clients supported on the communication terminal, the communication terminal being configured to service a user account by transmitting and receiving instant messages to and from a plurality of user accounts on remote devices, each message forming part of a logical conversation stream, causes the communication terminal to:

transmit and receive instant messages to and from user accounts serviced on others of the communication terminals;

attribute, to each instant message generated through that client, an identifier corresponding to the client; and

filter instant messages received from another communication terminal using the identifier corresponding to said client so as to display received instant messages having attributed thereto an identifier matching the identifier corresponding to said client and to not display received messages with an attributed identifier that does not match the identifier corresponding to said client but that matches an identifier corresponding to one of other clients supported on the communication terminal.

10. A method of servicing a user account at a communication terminal configured to simultaneously support multiple instant messaging clients, each client being associated with a respective user interface different from that of other instant messaging clients supported on the communication terminal, the method comprising:

transmitting and receiving instant messages to and from user accounts serviced on other instances of the communication terminal;

attributing, to each instant message generated through that client, an identifier corresponding to the client; and

filtering instant messages received from another communication terminal using the identifier corresponding to said client to display received instant messages having attributed thereto an identifier matching the identifier corresponding to said client and to not display received messages with an attributed identifier that does not match the identifier corresponding to said client but that matches an identifier corresponding to one of other clients supported on the communication terminal.