FACILITATING NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN USERS OF A COMPUTER NETWORK THROUGH MESSAGING COMMUNICATIONS ENABLING USER INTERACTION

• US 20070208865A1
• Filed: 05/07/2007
• Published: 09/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AOL LLC (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Morris, Harry, Watkins, Robert
• Granted Patent: US 7,415,500 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/228
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1818 Conference organisation arrangements, e.g. handling schedules, setting up parameters needed by nodes to attend a conference, booking network resources, notifying involved parties
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/24 Negotiation of communication capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

Interactions between users of a computer network may be facilitated by transmitting a first user'"'"'s proposal for a communications session to another user, the proposal comprising one or more parameters descriptive of the proposed communications session, receiving a response from the other user, the response comprising a counterproposal having one or more parameters descriptive of the proposed communications session, with at least one of the parameters of the counterproposal differing from a corresponding parameter of the proposal, and automatically engaging in the proposed communications session using the parameters included in the counterproposal upon acceptance of the counterproposal by the first user.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of facilitating interactions between users of a computer network wishing to play an online game, the method comprising:

presenting, at a client device of a first user, a proposal user interface generated by a second user, the proposal user interface including multiple fields configured to include parameters of an online game specified by the second user;

receiving, at the client device of the first user, instructions to modify the parameters within the proposal user interface;

in response to receiving the instructions to modify the parameters within the proposal user interface, presenting, at the client device of the first user, a counterproposal user interface that includes multiple fields enabling the first user to change the parameters of the online game;

receiving, within the multiple fields of the counterproposal users interface, at least one parameter that is different from the parameters included in the proposal user interface;

receiving, at the client device of the first user, instructions to transmit to the second user the counterproposal user interface that includes at least one parameter different from the parameters included in the proposal user interface; and

in response to receiving the instructions to transmit to the second user the counterproposal user interface, presenting, at a client device of the second user, the counterproposal user interface.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving, at the client device of the second user, instructions to engage in the online game based on the parameters included in the counterproposal user interface; and

in response to receiving the instructions to engage in the online game, engaging in the online game using the parameters included in the counterproposal user interface.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein presenting the proposal user interface includes presenting, at the client device of the first user, the proposal user interface generated by the second user, the proposal user interface including a field identifying an identity of the second user.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein presenting the proposal user interface includes presenting, at the client device of the first user, the proposal user interface generated by the second user, the proposal user interface including a field identifying the online game being proposed.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein presenting the proposal user interface includes presenting, at the client device of the first user, the proposal user interface generated by the second user, the proposal user interface including a field identifying participant being proposed to engage in the online game.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein presenting the proposal user interface includes presenting, at the client device of the first user, the proposal user interface generated by the second user, the proposal user interface including a field identifying a type of the online game being proposed.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein presenting the proposal user interface includes presenting, at the client device of the first user, the proposal user interface generated by the second user, the proposal user interface including a field identifying a difficulty level of the online game.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein presenting the proposal user interface includes presenting a proposal user interface that includes an icon for accepting the parameters of the online game specified by the second user.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein presenting the proposal user interface includes presenting a proposal user interface that includes an icon for rejecting the online game and the parameters associated therewith.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein presenting the proposal user interface includes presenting a proposal user interface that includes an icon for informing a host monitoring interactions between the first user and the second that the first user is offended by the online game specified by the second user.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein presenting the proposal user interface includes presenting a proposal user interface that includes an icon for modifying the parameters within the proposal user interface, such that activation of the icon enables the first user to modify the parameters within the proposal user interface.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein receiving the instructions to modify the parameters within the proposal user interface includes receiving an indication that one of the parameters within the multiple fields is changed.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein receiving the instructions to modify the parameters within the proposal user interface includes receiving an indication that a modification icon within the proposal user interface is activated.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein receiving instructions to modify the parameters includes receiving instructions to modify a type of online game being proposed.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein receiving instructions to modify the parameters includes receiving instructions to modify an identity of at least one of proposed participants in the online game.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein receiving instructions to modify the parameters includes receiving instructions to modify a level of difficult of the online game.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving, at the client device of the second user, instructions to modify the parameters within the counterproposal user interface; and

in response to receiving the instructions to modify the parameters within the proposal user interface, presenting, at the client device of the second user, a second counterproposal user interface that includes multiple fields enabling the second user to changed the parameters of the online game; and

receiving, within the multiple fields of the second counterproposal user interface, at least one parameter that is different from the parameters included in the second counterproposal user interface.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17 further comprising iteratively responding to further counterproposal until acceptance or rejection occurs.

19. A computer system for facilitating interactions between users of a computer network wishing to play an online game, the system comprising:

means for presenting, at a client device of a first user, a proposal user interface generated by a second user, the proposal user interface including multiple fields configured to include parameters of an online game specified by the second user;

means for receiving, at the client device of the first user, instructions to modify the parameters within the proposal user interface;

means for presenting, at the client device of the first user and in response to receiving the instructions to modify the parameters within the proposal user interface, a counterproposal user interface that includes multiple fields enabling the first user to change the parameters of the online game;

means for receiving, within the multiple fields of the counterproposal users interface, at least one parameter that is different from the parameters included in the proposal user interface;

means for receiving, at the client device of the first user, instructions to transmit to the second user the counterproposal user interface that includes at least one parameter different from the parameters included in the proposal user interface; and

means for presenting, at a client device of the second user and in response to receiving the instructions to transmit to the second user the counterproposal user interface, the counterproposal user interface.

20. A computer-implemented method of facilitating interactions between users of a computer network wishing to play an online game, the method comprising:

receiving, at a host and from a first user, instructions to modify parameters within multiple fields of a proposal user interface associated with an online game;

in response to receiving the instructions to modify the parameters within the proposal user interface, sending, from the host and to the first user, a counterproposal user interface that includes multiple fields enabling the first user to change the parameters of the online game;

receiving, at the host and within the multiple fields of the counterproposal user interface, at least one parameter that is different from the parameters included in the proposal user interface;

receiving, at the host, instructions to send to a second user the counterproposal user interface that includes the at least one parameters that is different from the parameters included in the proposal user interface;

sending the counterproposal user interface to the second user; and

receiving, at the host and from the second user, instructions to engage in the online game based on the parameters in the counterproposal user interface.