Instant Message User Management
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method of managing user information in an instant messaging (“
- IM”
) system, comprising;
determining, for an IM client that is operably connected to the IM system, whether any of a plurality of users remembered for the IM client should be treated as expired; and
for each one of the plurality of users for whom the determining determines that the user is to be treated as expired, omitting this user when performing presence management functions of the IM system by automatically remembering that this user is to be treated as expired but not deleting this user from the plurality of users remembered for the IM client.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Techniques are disclosed for improving management of user information in instant messaging systems. Expiration criteria are defined, whereby one or more users or user groups may be considered as having “expired” from consideration by instant messaging functions such as presence determination. In particular, instant messaging activity is preferably used as an expiration criterion. Absence of inbound or outbound messages for a specified amount of time (or since a particular date/time) can therefore be used as a trigger for treating a user or group of users as expired. As a result, efficiency of an instant messaging system is improved by omitting the expired users and groups from subsequent management operations. Optionally, an expired user or group may be revived upon occurrence of certain events (such as a newly-arriving instant message from, or a change in presence status of, the user or group). “On-demand” expiration and revival are preferably provided as well.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method of managing user information in an instant messaging (“
- IM”
) system, comprising;determining, for an IM client that is operably connected to the IM system, whether any of a plurality of users remembered for the IM client should be treated as expired; and for each one of the plurality of users for whom the determining determines that the user is to be treated as expired, omitting this user when performing presence management functions of the IM system by automatically remembering that this user is to be treated as expired but not deleting this user from the plurality of users remembered for the IM client. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
- IM”
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14. A method of managing user information in an instant messaging (“
- IM”
) system, comprising;evaluating, for an IM client that is operably connected to the IM system, which of a plurality of users remembered for the IM client are to be treated as expired but not deleted from the plurality of remembered users; performing IM presence management for the IM client, further comprising; omitting each of the remembered users that are to be treated as expired but not deleted from the plurality of remembered users; and including all others of the plurality of users remembered for the IM client; and providing, for the IM client, a visual indication for each of the plurality of remembered users, where each one of the plurality of remembered users that are to be treated as expired but not deleted from the plurality of remembered users is visually indicated differently from the all other ones of the plurality of users remembered for the IM client. - View Dependent Claims (15)
- IM”
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16. A computer-implemented method of managing user information in an instant messaging (“
- IM”
) system, comprising;using a data structure to record IM activity on behalf of a particular user of the IM system, wherein; the data structure comprises a plurality of entries, each of the entries corresponding to a selected one of a plurality of other IM users remembered, by the IM system, on behalf of an IM client of the particular user; and each of the entries comprises;
an identifier of the selected one of the plurality of remembered IM users to which the entry corresponds;
a first date indicating when the particular user last sent an instant message to the selected one;
a first time period indicating a first inactivity period allowed before the particular one wants the selected one to be treated as expired, the first inactivity period corresponding to inactivity on outbound instant messages sent from the particular one to the selected one; and
a current expiration status of the selected one;upon sending an instant message from the particular one to any of the plurality of remembered IM users, automatically updating the first date in the entry corresponding to that remembered IM user to a current date and setting the current expiration status in the entry to indicate that the corresponding one of the remembered users is not yet expired; periodically evaluating the entries in the data structure to determine, for the IM client of the particular user, whether any of the plurality of remembered users should be treated as expired, further comprising, for each of the entries for which the current expiration status indicates that the corresponding one of the remembered users is not yet expired; adding the first time period from the entry to the first date from the entry, thereby computing an outbound inactivity comparison date; and setting the current expiration status in the entry to indicate that the corresponding one of the remembered users is to be treated as expired if the outbound inactivity comparison date is prior to the current date; and for each one of the plurality of remembered users for whom the current expiration status of the corresponding entry in the data structure indicates that that one of the remembered users is to be treated as expired, omitting this user when performing IM presence management functions of the IM system but not deleting this one of the remembered users from the plurality of users remembered by the IM system on behalf of the IM client. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18)
- IM”
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19. A computer-implemented method of managing user information in an instant messaging (“
- IM”
) system, comprising;using a data structure to record IM activity on behalf of a particular user of the IM system, wherein; the data structure comprises a plurality of entries, each of the entries corresponding to a selected one of a plurality of other IM users remembered, by the IM system, on behalf of an IM client of the particular user; and each of the entries comprises;
an identifier of the selected one of the plurality of remembered IM users to which the entry corresponds;
a first date indicating when the particular user last received an instant message from the selected one;
a first time period indicating a first inactivity period allowed before the particular one wants the selected one to be treated as expired, the first inactivity period corresponding to inactivity on inbound instant messages received by the particular one from the selected one; and
a current expiration status of the selected one;upon receiving an instant message by the particular one from any of the plurality of remembered IM users, automatically updating the first date in the entry corresponding to that remembered IM user to the current date and setting the current expiration status in the entry to indicate that the corresponding one of the remembered users is not yet expired; periodically evaluating the entries in the data structure to determine, for the IM client of the particular user, whether any of the plurality of remembered users should be treated as expired, further comprising, for each of the entries for which the current expiration status indicates that the corresponding one of the remembered users is not yet expired; adding the first time period from the entry to the first date from the entry, thereby computing an inbound inactivity comparison date; and setting the current expiration status in the entry to indicate that the corresponding one of the remembered users is to be treated as expired if the inbound inactivity comparison date is prior to the current date; and for each one of the plurality of remembered users for whom the current expiration status of the corresponding entry in the data structure indicates that that one of the remembered users is to be treated as expired, omitting this user when performing IM presence management functions of the IM system but not deleting this one of the remembered users from the plurality of users remembered by the IM system on behalf of the IM client. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21)
- IM”
Specification