Relationship-Centric Portals for Communication Sessions

• US 20090031027A1
• Filed: 07/23/2007
• Published: 01/29/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Craig, Ronald E., ABERNETHY, MICHAEL N. JR., Cohen, Gabriel A., Grigsby, Travis M.
• Granted Patent: US 9,477,940 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2455 Query execution
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/046 Interoperability with other network applications or services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1089 by adding media; by removing media

Abstract

Relationship-centric resources are provided to users during a communication session. After establishing a communication session between a first communication device and a second communication device, content that meets a content descriptor is retrieved. This content descriptor describes a nature of a relationship between users of the first and second communication devices. The retrieved content, which meets the content descriptor, is then simultaneously displaying on both the first communication device and the second communication device.

Claims

1. A method for providing relationship-centric resources to users during a communication session, the method comprising:

establishing a communication session between a first communication device and a second communication device;

retrieving content that meets a content descriptor, wherein the content descriptor describes a nature of a relationship between users of the first and second communication devices; and

displaying, at the first communication device, retrieved content that meets the content descriptor.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein locations for accessing the retrieved content are stored in a lookup table.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the locations are defined by Universal Resource Locators (URLs).

4. The method of claim 2, wherein a display format for the received content is predefined by a user of the first communication device, and wherein the display format is stored in the lookup table.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication session is an instant messaging session between the first and second communication devices.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the retrieved content is simultaneously displayed with a chat box on a Graphical User Interface (GUI) at each of the first and second communication devices.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the retrieved content is a portal.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the retrieved content is data from a database.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first communication device is a phone, and wherein the second communication device is a service provider'"'"'s server.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting multiple retrieved content to the user;

receiving a selection input from the user, wherein the selection input indicates which of the multiple retrieved content are to be displayed as selected content on the first and second communication devices; and

displaying the selected content on the first and second communication devices.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

simultaneously displaying the retrieved content at the first and second communication devices.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the content descriptor is statically defined.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the content descriptor is dynamically generated in response to changes to the nature of the relationship between users of the first and second communication devices.

14. An apparatus for providing relationship-centric resources to users during a communication session, the apparatus comprising:

means for establishing a communication session between a phone and a call center;

means for retrieving content that meets a content descriptor, wherein the content descriptor describes a nature of a relationship between a user of the phone and the call center; and

means for displaying retrieved content, which meets the content descriptor, on a display of a computer that is authorized to be used by the user of the phone.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising:

means for, in response to the communication session ending, removing the retrieved content from the display of the computer of the user.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the content descriptor is based on a telephone number for the phone of the user, and wherein the retrieved content is specific for the user.

17. A computer-readable medium encoded with a computer program, the computer program comprising computer executable instructions configured for:

establishing a communication session between a first communication device and a second communication device;

retrieving content that meets a content descriptor, wherein the content descriptor describes a nature of a relationship between users of the first and second communication devices; and

simultaneously displaying retrieved content at both the first communication device and the second communication device.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein locations for accessing the retrieved content are stored in a lookup table.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the communication session is an instant messaging session, and wherein the retrieved content is simultaneously displayed with a chat box on a Graphical User Interface (GUI) at each of the first and second communication devices during the instant messaging session.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the retrieved content is a portal.