Community network navigation

• US 20080148156A1
• Filed: 12/18/2006
• Published: 06/19/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Flake, Gary W., Brewer, Brett David
• Granted Patent: US 7,930,730 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/738
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users

Abstract

Methods and computer-readable media are provided for navigating a community network environment and viewing various network attributes at various network zoom levels. A user interface is displayed that includes a representation of each community network participant, with each representation including a community network attribute. A request is received to zoom the user interface to view the community network at various zoom levels. In response to the request, the user interface is fluidly zoomed and additional community network attributes are displayed corresponding to each community network participant at each of the zoom levels.

Claims

1. A method for implementing a user interface for browsing a community network, comprising:

displaying the user interface including a representation of each of a plurality of community network participants, each representation comprising a community network attribute;

receiving a request to zoom the user interface to view the community network at a plurality of zoom levels; and

in response to the request, displaying one or more additional community network attributes corresponding to each community network participant visible at each of the plurality of zoom levels.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the community network attribute comprises an online status indicator and a graphical representation of a relationship between at least two community network participants.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the community network attribute comprises a public conversation indicator.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more additional community network attributes corresponding to each community network participant visible at each of the plurality of zoom levels comprises an avatar.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional community network attributes corresponding to each community network participant visible at each of the plurality of zoom levels comprises an indication that a conversation between a plurality of community network participants is public.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising dynamically updating the representation of one or more community network attributes in real-time as the one or more community network attributes change.

7. A method for enabling traversal of a community network, comprising:

displaying a community network graph that includes representations of all of the participants in the community network and relationships between participants;

receiving a request to zoom in to view a portion of the community network graph; and

in response to receiving the request, fluidly zooming into the requested portion of the community network graph and displaying a plurality of community network attributes corresponding to each community network participant shown in the requested portion of the community network graph.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein displaying the community network graph comprises displaying each participant as a node on the community network graph with lines connecting participants that are preferred contacts of one another.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein each node and each connecting line are color coded to represent a community network attribute.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein one community network attribute of the plurality of community network attributes displayed in response to zooming in comprises an identification of other participants with which each participant is engaged in a conversation.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein one community network attribute of the plurality of community network attributes displayed in response to zooming in comprises an indication as to whether each conversation is public or private.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein one community network attribute of the plurality of community network attributes displayed in response to zooming in comprises an indication that files are being shared between a plurality of participants.

13. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a request to display a subset of the participants in the community network; and

displaying the requested subset of community network participants in response to receiving the request to display the subset of the participants.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the requested subset of community network participants comprises only the participants with which a participant requesting the subset has had a predefined number of prior conversations.

15. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

receive a request to display a community network graph showing a subset of participants in a community network;

in response to receiving the request, display representations of the requested subset of participants on the community network graph with representations of relationships between the participants within the subset;

receive a request to zoom into a higher zoom level within the community network graph; and

in response to receiving the request to zoom, fluidly zoom into the higher zoom level and display a community network attribute corresponding to each community network participant shown in the higher zoom level of the community network graph.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the subset of participants in the community network comprises participants engaged in public conversations.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, further comprising computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to dynamically update the representation of the community network attributes in real-time as the attributes change.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the community network attribute corresponding to each community network participant shown in the higher zoom level of the community network graph comprises a participant identifier and an identification of other participants with which the participant is engaged in a conversation.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, further comprising computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to dynamically update the representations of relationships between the participants within the subset to indicate when a conversation between a plurality of the participants commences.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, further comprising computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to:

receive a request to initiate a conversation with a participant of the subset of participants in the community network;

in response to receiving the request, display a user interface for receiving an indication as to whether the conversation should be public or private, a topic for a public conversation, and an identity of at least one target conversation participant;

receiving via the user interface an indication as to whether the conversation should be public or private;

receiving via the user interface the topic of the public conversation;

receiving via the user interface an identifier corresponding to the at least one target conversation participant; and

providing the public conversation request and corresponding public conversation topic to the at least one target conversation participant.