ENABLING DISPLAY OF A RECIPIENT LIST FOR A GROUP TEXT MESSAGE

• US 20080120410A1
• Filed: 11/22/2006
• Published: 05/22/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ott, E. Stanley, Trevor, Jonathan James, Ho, Edward, Quoc, Michael, Fukuda, Matthew, Wascovich, Dan
• Granted Patent: US 8,200,763 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/225
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

A device, system, and method are directed towards providing a recipient list for a message to be communicated within a group associated with an event. A recipient list for the message is defined based on identities of a plurality of members in the group. Ordering information for the recipient list is determined based on at least one characteristic of the event. Additional ordering information may also be determined based on other characteristics of other events. The recipient list is ordered based on the determined ordering information(s). The ordered recipient list is truncated if a length of the recipient list exceeds a first threshold. A selectable option to retrieve the (truncated) recipient list is provided with the message, if a length of the message plus a length if the (truncated) recipient list exceeds a second threshold. Otherwise, the (truncated) recipient list is provided with the message.

Claims

1. A method of managing a communication over a network, comprising:

receiving a message to be communicated within a plurality of members associated with an event;

defining a recipient list for the message based on identities of the plurality of members;

determining ordering information for the recipient list based on at least one characteristic of the event;

ordering the recipient list based on the determined ordering information; and

providing with the message, access to the ordered recipient list.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining additional ordering information for the recipient list based on other characteristics of other events, wherein the other events include at least one of the plurality of members, and wherein ordering the recipient list is further based on the additional ordering information.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the additional ordering information is based at least on one of:

an aggregate amount of messages sent by each of the plurality of members, for each of the other events, or

a number of matched characteristics between the at least one characteristic and the other characteristics.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

truncating the recipient list at a threshold number of recipients if a length of the recipient list exceeds the threshold, and wherein the information configured to provide the ordered recipient list is based on the truncated recipient list.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein providing with the message, access to the ordered recipient list further comprises:

providing with the message, a selectable option to retrieve the ordered recipient list, if a length of the message plus a length of the recipient list is equal to or greater than a threshold; and

providing with the message, the ordered recipient list, if a length of the message plus a length of the recipient list is less than the threshold.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein providing with the message comprises:

sending the message and the information to a mobile device associated with one of the plurality of members.

7. A network device of managing a communication over a network, comprising:

a transceiver to send and receive data over the network; and

a processor that is operable to perform actions, comprising;

receiving a message to be communicated within a group associated with an event;

defining a recipient list for the message based on the group;

truncating the recipient list if a length of the recipient list exceeds a threshold; and

providing the message and information configured to provide the truncated recipient list, to a plurality of client devices, wherein each device of the plurality of client devices are associated with a different one of a plurality of members of the group.

8. The network device of claim 7, further comprising:

ordering the truncated recipient list based on characteristics of other events, wherein every one of the other events includes at least one of the plurality of members, wherein the other events includes at least one of a past event occurring before the event, a present event occurring concurrently with the event, or a future event scheduled to occur after the event, and

wherein the information configured to provide the truncated recipient list is based on the ordered and truncated recipient list.

9. The network device of claim 7, wherein the information configured to provide the ordered recipient list includes a portion of a Short Message Service (SMS) message, a portion of an Instant Message (IM) message, or a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) link to enable retrieving the recipient list.

10. A system for managing a communication over a network, comprising:

an event manager operable to perform actions comprising;

determining event characteristics for a plurality of events, wherein the plurality of events includes a current event;

providing at least one of the event characteristics to a recipient list manager;

a message server operable to perform actions comprising;

receiving a message to be communicated within a group associated with the current event;

receiving from the recipient list manager, access to the recipient list; and

providing with the message, the access to the recipient list.

the recipient list manager operable to perform actions comprising;

defining the recipient list for the message based on a plurality of members in the group;

sending to the message server, the access to the recipient list.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

a mobile device associated with at least one of the plurality of members and operable to perform actions comprising;

receiving the message from the message server; and

retrieving the recipient list based on a selectable option.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the recipient list manager is further operable to perform actions, comprising:

truncating the recipient list, before sending to the message server, if a length of the recipient list exceeds a threshold.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the recipient list manager is further operable to perform actions, comprising:

ordering the recipient list based on a characteristic of the group, wherein the characteristic comprises at least one of a time a member is added to the group, or an amount of communication.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the message includes an IM message, an email message, or an SMS message.

15. A processor readable medium having processor executable instructions for managing a communication over a network, the processor executable instructions configured to enable a processor to perform actions, comprising:

receiving a message to be communicated within a group associated with an event;

defining a recipient list for the message based identities of a plurality of members in the group; and

adding information configured to provide the recipient list to the message.

16. The process readable medium of claim 15, wherein the information configured to provide the ordered recipient list comprises at least one of a selectable option to retrieve the ordered recipient list if a length of the message plus the recipient list exceeds a threshold, or the recipient list.

17. The process readable medium of claim 15, further comprising:

determining ordering information for the recipient list based on at least one characteristic of the event; and

ordering the recipient list based on the determined ordering information, before adding information configured to provide the recipient list to the message.

18. The process readable medium of claim 15, wherein the actions further comprises:

providing the message with a truncated version of the recipient list if a length of the recipient list exceeds a threshold.

19. A mobile device for managing a communication over a network, comprising:

a transceiver to send and receive data over the network; and

a processor that is operable to perform actions, comprising;

sending a request to add a member to a group associated with an event, wherein the member is a user of the mobile device;

receiving a message communicated within the group, wherein the message includes information configured to provide a recipient list for the message, and wherein the recipient list includes at least one other member of the group; and

retrieving the recipient list based on the information.

20. The mobile device of claim 19, wherein the message is an SMS message.