Display of Communication System Usage Statistics

• US 20090031244A1
• Filed: 07/25/2008
• Published: 01/29/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Xobni Corp. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Smith, Adam, Brezina, Matthew
• Granted Patent: US 9,716,764 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/781
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/38 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/14 Tree-structured documents parsing G06F40/205; validation G06F40/226
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/046 Interoperability with other network applications or services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/08 Annexed information, e.g. attachments
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/56 Unified messaging, e.g. interactions between e-mail, instant messaging or converged IP messaging [CPM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/00 Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/43 Billing software details
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/44 Augmented, consolidated or itemized billing statement or bill presentation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/58 : based on statistics of usage or network monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/745 : Customizing according to wishes of subscriber, e.g. friends or family
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0104 : Augmented, consolidated or itemised billing statement, e.g. additional billing information, bill presentation, layout, format, e-mail, fax, printout, itemised bill per service or per account, cumulative billing, consolidated billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0108 : Customization according to wishes of subscriber, e.g. customer preferences, friends and family, selecting services or billing options, Personal Communication Systems [PCS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0188 : Network monitoring; statistics on usage on called/calling number
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 : Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic

Abstract

Among other disclosures, a method may include collecting historical communication data, personal data and usage statistics relating to a portion of a plurality of communications, a sender of one or more of the communications or one or more recipients of the communications. The method may include depositing the collected data into a repository. The method may include presenting the usage statistics in response to user behavior.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

collecting historical communication data and personal data relating to a portion of a plurality of communications, a sender of one or more of the communications or one or more recipients of the communications;

depositing the collected data into a repository;

generating usage statistics based on the historical communication and personal data;

updating the usage statistics over time; and

presenting usage statistics in response to user behavior.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the user behavior is selected from the group comprising opening a communication, viewing a communication, reading a communication, writing a communication, performing a search, selecting a person'"'"'s name, selecting a communication summary, and selecting an attribute associated with the one or more items.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein collecting historical communication data and personal data further comprises querying one or more sources of information to derive the historical communication data, the personal data and the usage statistics.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the sources are selected from the group comprising e-mail body text, e-mail meta data, e-mail header information, e-mail attachments, web search engines, people search engines, social networks, e-mail clients, instant messages, personal web pages, telephone directories, scanned business card data, text messages, picture sharing websites, video sharing websites, profile pages, telephone communications, customer relationship management systems, airline flight data, on-line retailer data, news feeds, and stock quotes.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein collecting historical communication data and personal data further comprises directly requesting information from a sender of a communication or one or more recipients of the communication.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein presenting usage statistics further comprises displaying the usage statistics in an additional panel within an e-mail client, web browser, or instant message window.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, where the panel is a sidebar.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein presenting usage statistics further comprises displaying the usage statistics in a pop-up window.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein presenting usage statistics further comprises displaying the usage statistics integrated with a body of a communication using one or more display methods selected from the group comprising highlighting, underlining, adding hyper links, adding text, adding images, adding video, and adding attachments.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein presenting usage statistics further comprises presenting the usage statistics along with one or more items from the repository, the one or more items being selected from the group comprising contact information, communication summaries, conversation threads, attachments to communications, communication statistics, related contacts, travel information, weather information, and information related to on-line retail purchases.

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

tracking mouse movements, mouse locations, keyboard strokes, mouse clicks, or active windows in order to determine if the user has made an implicit request to view the usage statistics.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the historical communication data includes information selected from the group comprising times of communications, lengths of communications, subject matters of communications, titles of communications, participants in communications, sources of communications, response times of communications, types of communications and volume of communications.

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

sharing some or all of the usage statistics among a network of participants.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein sharing further comprises sharing different amounts of data with each participant based on preference settings.

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

allowing a user to select one or more of the one or more presented items;

automatically generating a communication in response to the user selection; and

automatically presenting the usage statistics in the communication.

16. A computer-implemented method for comparing communication statistics, the method comprising:

collecting individual or group communication usage statistics related to communications made over a communication network;

storing the collected usage statistics in a repository;

comparing usage statistics between users; and

displaying comparative results.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein the communication usage statistics are selected from the group comprising reading time, writing time, response time, time of day when communications are sent, number of unread communications, and communication volume.