System and method for identifying and establishing preferred modalities or channels for communications based on participants' preferences and contexts
First Claim
1. A system for facilitating communication between entities, comprising:
- one or more communication modalities that respectively provide for communication between at least two entities, and a communication manager that analyzes a first communication data set associated with a first entity and a second communication data set associated with a second entity, the communication manager identifying a subset of the one or more communication modalities based at least in part on analysis of the first and second communication data sets and the communication manager establishing a communication between the entities via at least one modality of the subset.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for identifying and establishing preferred modalities or channels for communications based on participants'"'"' preferences and capabilities is provided. In one approach, the system attempts to optimize the inferred or directly accessed preferences of a contactee given the accessed or inferred preferences, capabilities and goals of the contactor while keeping the rationale and context of the contactee private. Such optimization can be achieved using preferences and policies concerning handling the attempted contact based on a deterministic specification or through inferring context, content and task under uncertainty by employing decision-theoretic inferences to attempt to maximize the expected utility of the communication to the contactee. The methods may include a consideration of metadata within a standard schema that is transmitted along with a communication attempt, representing information about such attributes as the identity of the contactor, the task at hand, the overall context of the contactor, and the communication capabilities available to the contactor. The invocation of the communication service may be performed in a variety of ways, including single button invocations, and via a communication service that is more deeply integrated with other applications and functionalities. The service can also include automated rescheduling of communications based on a consideration of forecasts of availability of both the contactor and contactee.
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Citations
43 Claims
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1. A system for facilitating communication between entities, comprising:
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one or more communication modalities that respectively provide for communication between at least two entities, and a communication manager that analyzes a first communication data set associated with a first entity and a second communication data set associated with a second entity, the communication manager identifying a subset of the one or more communication modalities based at least in part on analysis of the first and second communication data sets and the communication manager establishing a communication between the entities via at least one modality of the subset. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A method for identifying and establishing one or more communications between one or more communicating parties, comprising:
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determining one or more expected utilities associated with a communication between the communicating parties based, at least in part, on contactor data, contactee data and communication modality data; and
establishing the communication. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 40, 41)
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38. A method for identifying an optimal communication between one or more communicating parties, comprising:
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determining one or more current expected utilities associated with a communication between the communicating parties based, at least in part, on current contactor data, current contactee data and current communication modality data, where the current contactee data comprises current state data and the current contactor data comprises current state data;
determining one or more predicted expected utilities associated with a communication between the communicating parties based, at least in part, on predicted contactor data, predicted contactee data and predicted communication modality data, where the predicted contactee data comprises predicted state data and the predicted contactor data comprises predicted state data;
comparing one or more current expected utilities to one or more predicted expected utilities; and
ranking the current expected utilities with the predicted expedited utilities, where the ranking of the predicted expected utilities is weighted by one or more costs associated with delaying the communication to a point in time associated with the predicted expected utility.
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39. A system for optimizing one or more contacts between one or more parties, comprising:
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means for determining one or more expected utilities associated with a contact between the parties based, at least in part, on data associated with one or more contactors, data associated with one or more contactees and data associated with one or more communication channels; and
means for establishing the communication.
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42. A computer readable medium storing computer executable components for a system that facilitates communication between entities, comprising:
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an identifying component that identifies a plurality of communication modalities that respectively provide for communication between at least two entities, and an analyzing component that analyzes a first communication data set associated with a first entity and a second communication data set associated with a second entity, the analyzing component identifying one or more communication modalities of the plurality of modalities based at least in part on analysis of the first and second communication data sets and the analyzing component establishing a communication between the entities.
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43. A computer readable medium containing computer executable instructions for performing a process for identifying and establishing one or more communications between one or more communicating parties, the process comprising:
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determining one or more expected utilities associated with a communication between the communicating parties based, at least in part, on contactor data, contactee data and communication modality data; and
establishing the communication.
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Specification