Identifier technique for communication interchange

• US 20080140651A1
• Filed: 09/07/2006
• Published: 06/12/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T Play Holdings LLC (FIG LLC (d/b/a Fortress Investment Group LLC))
• Original Assignee: Searete LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Cohen, Alexander J., Mangione-Smith, William Henry, Tegreene, Clarence T., Lord, Robert W., Jung, Edward K.Y., Levien, Royce A., Malamud, Mark A., Rinaldo, John D.
• Granted Patent: US 9,219,815 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/6
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1822 Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1066 Session management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1093 by adding participants; by removing participants
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72469 for operating the device by selecting functions from two or more displayed items, e.g. menus or icons
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42059 Making use of the calling party identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4931 Directory assistance systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/563 User guidance or feature selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0036 where the data service is an information service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/186 Processing of subscriber group data

Abstract

A method and a communication interchange enhancement system for implementing an enhanced user interface for a communication interchange includes but is not limited to a method including to providing an identifier associated with a third-party participant related to the communication interchange; matching the identifier with the third-party participant in a database storing one or more lists of possible third-party participants; obtaining context data associated with the identifier regarding a group-type characteristic of the third-party participant for purposes of communication interchange with at least another participant; and enabling a user interface to display the group-type characteristic.

Claims

1. A method for implementing an enhanced user interface for a communication interchange, the method comprising:

providing an identifier associated with a third-party participant related to the communication interchange;

matching the identifier with the third-party participant in a database storing one or more lists of possible third-party participants;

obtaining context data associated with the identifier regarding a group-type characteristic of the third-party participant for purposes of communication interchange with at least another participant; and

enabling a user interface to display the group-type characteristic.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing an identifier associated with a third-party participant related to the communication interchange includes:

providing the identifier in a data packet over a communications network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing an identifier associated with a third-party participant related to the communication interchange includes:

providing the identifier over a communications network during one or more of a real-time voice conversation, a conference call, a voice mail access, an instant messaging session, an internet chat session, a voice mail transfer, a voice mail interchange, a conversion of a voice mail to a text message, and/or a conversion of a text message to a voice message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing an identifier associated with a third-party participant related to the communication interchange includes:

providing the identifier as a caller identifier (CID) over a communications network.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the matching the identifier with the third-party participant in a database storing one or more lists of possible third-party participants includes:

conveying an alphanumeric matching of the identifier including statistical probabilities for a match from the database storing the one or more lists of possible third-party participants.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining context data associated with the identifier regarding a group-type characteristic of the third-party participant for purposes of communication interchange with at least another participant includes:

generating the context data by extracting from the database one or more groups of which the third party participant is a member.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the generating the context data by extracting from the database one or more groups of which the third party participant is a member includes:

extracting from the database the one or more groups of which the third party participant is a member wherein the third party participant is a sole member of a given group in the one or more groups and/or the third party participant is one of a plurality of members of a given group of the one or more groups.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining context data associated with the identifier regarding a group-type characteristic of the third-party participant for purposes of communication interchange with at least another participant includes:

generating the group-type characteristic of the third-party participant by searching one or more of the database storing one or more lists of possible third-party participants, a computing device coupled to one or more participants of the communication interchange, and/or a server coupled to the communications network.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining context data associated with the identifier regarding a group-type characteristic of the third-party participant for purposes of communication interchange with at least another participant includes:

displaying the context data associated with the identifier regarding the group-type characteristic of the third-party participant during a message composition.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining context data associated with the identifier regarding a group-type characteristic of the third-party participant for purposes of communication interchange with at least another participant includes:

providing an option to allow display of the context data to the at least another participant of the communication interchange.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the providing an option to allow display of the context data to the at least another participant of the communication interchange includes:

providing the option to allow display of the context data during one or more of a conference call, an internet chat, and/or a conversation over a mobile communication network.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining context data associated with the identifier regarding a group-type characteristic of the third-party participant for purposes of communication interchange with at least another participant includes:

generating the context data by extracting from the database one or more group-type characteristics shared by the third-party participant and the at least another participant.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the generating the context data by extracting from the database one or more group-type characteristics shared by the third-party participant and the at least another participant includes:

extracting the one or more group-type characteristics shared by the third-party participant and the at least another participant including an indication of one or more of a familial relationship, a work relationship, an educational relationship, a contact relationship, a sales relationship, a network relationship, an environmental relationship, a proximity relationship, a contrary relationship, a religious relationship, a fiduciary relationship, and/or a political relationship.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the enabling a user interface to display the group-type characteristic includes:

instantiating the user interface as a pop-up display during the communication interchange.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the enabling a user interface to display the group-type characteristic includes:

enabling display of the group-type characteristic to the at least another participant when the at least another participant is a recipient in the communication interchange.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the enabling a user interface to display the group-type characteristic includes:

displaying the group-type characteristic to two or more participants of the communication interchange.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the enabling a user interface to display the group-type characteristic includes:

providing an interactive option to the user interface to enable adding and/or commenting on the group-type characteristic.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the enabling a user interface to display the group-type characteristic includes:

enabling the user interface to allow selectively generating the group-type characteristic from the context data.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the enabling a user interface to display the group-type characteristic includes:

enabling the user interface to allow input of context data to the database before and/or during and/or after the communication interchange.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the enabling a user interface to display the group-type characteristic includes:

enabling the user interface to selectively generate the group-type characteristic from the context data.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the enabling the user interface to selectively generate the group-type characteristic from the context data includes:

enabling the user interface to selectively generate the group-type characteristic from the context data before and/or during and/or after the communication interchange.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the enabling a user interface to display the group-type characteristic includes:

enabling the user interface to optionally display peripheral data concerning the group-type characteristic.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the enabling the user interface to optionally display peripheral data concerning the group-type characteristic includes:

enabling the user interface to display data concerning members of each group of which the third party participant is a member.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the enabling the user interface to display data concerning members of each group of which the third party participant is a member includes:

transmitting one or more of the data concerning members of each group of which the third party participant is a member and/or a pointer to a location on a device holding the data concerning the members of each group of which the third party participant is a member.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein the enabling the user interface to optionally display peripheral data concerning the group-type characteristic includes:

enabling the user interface to display data concerning a number of accesses to the group-type characteristic of the third-party participant.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the enabling the user interface to display data concerning a number of accesses to the group-type characteristic of the third-party participant includes:

recording the number of accesses to the group-type characteristic over a period of time.

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40. A computer program product comprising:

a signal bearing medium bearing at least one of;

one or more instructions for providing an identifier associated with a third-party participant related to the communication interchange;

one or more instructions for matching the identifier with the third-party participant in a database storing one or more lists of possible third-party participants;

identifier regarding a group-type characteristic of the third-party participant for purposes of communication interchange with at least another participant; and

one or more instructions for enabling a user interface to display the group-type characteristic.

41. The computer program product of claim 40 wherein the signal bearing medium comprises:

a recordable medium.

42. The computer program product of claim 40 wherein the signal bearing medium comprises:

a transmission medium.

43. The computer program product of claim 40 wherein the one or more instructions for providing an identifier associated with a third-party participant related to the communication interchange includes:

one or more instructions for providing the identifier in a data packet over a communications network.

44. The computer program product of claim 40 wherein the one or more instructions for providing an identifier associated with a third-party participant related to the communication interchange includes:

one or more instructions for providing the identifier over a communications network during one or more of a real-time voice conversation, a conference call, a voice mail access, an instant messaging session, an internet chat session, a voice mail transfer, a voice mail interchange, a conversion of a voice mail to a text message, and/or a conversion of a text message to a voice message.

45. The computer program product of claim 40 wherein the one or more instructions for providing an identifier associated with a third-party participant related to the communication interchange includes:

one or more instructions for providing the identifier as a caller identifier (CID) over a communications network.

46. The computer program product of claim 40 wherein the one or more instructions for matching the identifier with the third-party participant in a database storing one or more lists of possible third-party participants includes:

one or more instructions for conveying an alphanumeric matching of the identifier including statistical probabilities for a match from the database storing the one or more lists of possible third-party participants.

47. The computer program product of claim 40 wherein the one or more instructions for obtaining context data associated with the identifier regarding a group-type characteristic of the third-party participant for purposes of communication interchange with at least another participant includes:

one or more instructions for generating the context data by extracting from the database one or more groups of which the third party participant is a member.

48. The computer program product of claim 47, wherein the one or more instructions for generating the context data by extracting from the database one or more groups of which the third party participant is a member includes:

one or more instructions for extracting from the database the one or more groups of which the third party participant is a member wherein the third party participant is a sole member of a given group in the one or more groups and/or the third party participant is one of a plurality of members of a given group of the one or more groups.

49. The computer program product of claim 40 wherein the one or more instructions for obtaining context data associated with the identifier regarding a group-type characteristic of the third-party participant for purposes of communication interchange with at least another participant includes:

one or more instructions for generating the group-type characteristic of the third-party participant by searching one or more of the database storing one or more lists of possible third-party participants, a computing device coupled to one or more participants of the communication interchange, and/or a server coupled to the communications network.

50. The computer program product of claim 40 wherein the one or more instructions for obtaining context data associated with the identifier regarding a group-type characteristic of the third-party participant for purposes of communication interchange with at least another participant includes:

one or more instructions for displaying the context data associated with the identifier regarding the group-type characteristic of the third-party participant during a message composition.

51. The computer program product of claim 40 wherein the one or more instructions for obtaining context data associated with the identifier regarding a group-type characteristic of the third-party participant for purposes of communication interchange with at least another participant includes:

one or more instructions for providing an option to allow display of the context data to the at least another participant of the communication interchange.

52. The computer program product of claim 51 wherein the one or more instructions for providing an option to allow display of the context data to the at least another participant of the communication interchange includes:

one or more instructions for providing the option to allow display of the context data during one or more of a conference call, an internet chat, and/or a conversation over a mobile communication network.

53. The computer program product of claim 40 wherein the one or more instructions for obtaining context data associated with the identifier regarding a group-type characteristic of the third-party participant for purposes of communication interchange with at least another participant includes:

one or more instructions for generating the context data by extracting from the database one or more group-type characteristics shared by the third-party participant and the at least another participant.

54. The computer program product of claim 53 wherein the one or more instructions for generating the context data by extracting from the database one or more group-type characteristics shared by the third-party participant and the at least another participant includes:

one or more instructions for extracting the one or more group-type characteristics shared by the third-party participant and the at least another participant including an indication of one or more of a familial relationship, a work relationship, an educational relationship, a contact relationship, a sales relationship, a network relationship, an environmental relationship, a proximity relationship, a contrary relationship, a religious relationship, a fiduciary relationship, and/or a political relationship.

55. The computer program product of claim 40, wherein the one or more instructions for enabling a user interface to display the group-type characteristic includes:

one or more instructions for instantiating the user interface as a pop-up display during the communication interchange.

56. The computer program product of claim 40, wherein the one or more instructions for enabling a user interface to display the group-type characteristic includes:

one or more instructions for enabling display of the group-type characteristic to the at least another participant when the at least another participant is a recipient in the communication interchange.

57. The computer program product of claim 40, wherein the one or more instructions for enabling a user interface to display the group-type characteristic includes:

one or more instructions for displaying the group-type characteristic to two or more participants of the communication interchange.

58. The computer program product of claim 40, wherein the one or more instructions for enabling a user interface to display the group-type characteristic includes:

one or more instructions for providing an interactive option to the user interface to enable adding and/or commenting on the group-type characteristic.

59. The computer program product of claim 40, wherein the one or more instructions for enabling a user interface to display the group-type characteristic includes:

one or more instructions for enabling the user interface to allow selectively generating the group-type characteristic from the context data.

60. The computer program product of claim 40, wherein the one or more instructions for enabling a user interface to display the group-type characteristic includes:

one or more instructions for enabling the user interface to allow input of context data to the database before and/or during and/or after the communication interchange.

61. The computer program product of claim 40, wherein the one or more instructions for enabling a user interface to display the group-type characteristic includes:

one or more instructions for enabling the user interface to selectively generate the group-type characteristic from the context data.

62. The computer program product of claim 61, wherein the one or more instructions for enabling the user interface to selectively generate the group-type characteristic from the context data includes:

one or more instructions for enabling the user interface to selectively generate the group-type characteristic from the context data before and/or during and/or after the communication interchange.

63. The computer program product of claim 40, wherein the one or more instructions for enabling a user interface to display the group-type characteristic includes:

one or more instructions for enabling the user interface to optionally display peripheral data concerning the group-type characteristic.

64. The computer program product of claim 63, wherein the one or more instructions for enabling the user interface to optionally display peripheral data concerning the group-type characteristic includes:

one or more instructions for enabling the user interface to display data concerning members of each group of which the third party participant is a member.

65. The computer program product of claim 64, wherein the one or more instructions for enabling the user interface to display data concerning members of each group of which the third party participant is a member includes:

one or more instructions for transmitting one or more of the data concerning members of each group of which the third party participant is a member and/or a pointer to a location on a device holding the data concerning the members of each group of which the third party participant is a member.

66. The computer program product of claim 63, wherein the one or more instructions for enabling the user interface to optionally display peripheral data concerning the group-type characteristic includes:

one or more instructions for enabling the user interface to display data concerning a number of accesses to the group-type characteristic of the third-party participant.

67. The computer program product of claim 66, wherein the one or more instructions for enabling the user interface to display data concerning a number of accesses to the group-type characteristic of the third-party participant includes:

one or more instructions for recording the number of accesses to the group-type characteristic over a period of time.

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83. A communication interchange enhancement system comprising:

a processor;

a memory coupled to the processor;

a database coupled to the processor, the database configured to store one or more associations and/or one or more types of associations and/or one or more lists of possible third-party participants of a communication interchange;

a matching module coupled to the processor and the database, the matching module configured to match a received identifier with the one or more associations and/or the one or more types of associations, and/or the one or more lists of third party participants in the database; and

an organizational module coupled to the processor, the organizational module configured to organize the one or more associations according to one or more group-type characteristics and/or types of associations in the database to enable a user interface to provide supplemental information concerning a caller associated with the received identifier.