COMMUNICATIONS CONVERGENCE AND USER INTERFACE SYSTEMS, APPARATUSES, AND METHODS

• US 20100159994A1
• Filed: 12/19/2008
• Published: 06/24/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Data Services LLC (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Relyea, Donald H., Roberts, Brian F., Stallings, Heath
• Granted Patent: US 8,942,767 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/566
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/7243 with interactive means for internal management of messages
• 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 2250/60 logging of communication history, e.g. outgoing or incoming calls, missed calls, messages or URLs

Abstract

In an exemplary method, communications data representative of communication instances of distinct types is converged and a graphical user interface (“GUI”) including a set of listings representative of a grouping of the communication instances of distinct types is displayed. In certain embodiments, at least one of the communication instances represented in the set of listings includes a voice type communication instance. In certain embodiments, a user selection of one of the listings displayed in the GUI is detected, the selected listing associated with a contact, and another set of listings representative of another grouping of converged communication instances of distinct types is displayed in response to the user selection. In certain embodiments, each of the communication instances in the other grouping is associated with the contact. In certain embodiments, the other set of listings is displayed as a subset within the set of listings in the GUI.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

converging communications data representative of communication instances of distinct types; and

displaying a graphical user interface including a set of listings representative of a grouping of said communication instances of distinct types;

wherein at least one of said communication instances represented in said set of listings includes a voice type communication instance.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting a user selection of one of said listings displayed in said graphical user interface, said selected listing associated with a contact; and

displaying, in response to said user selection, another set of listings representative of another grouping of communication instances of distinct types, wherein each of said communication instances in said another grouping is associated with said contact.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said another set of listings is displayed as a subset within said set of listings in said graphical user interface.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said converging includes converging said communications data representative of said communication instances of said distinct types based on a contact associated with said communication instances such that each of said communication instances in said grouping is associated with said contact.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

displaying a graphical object representative of an active voice communication session with said contact;

detecting a user input command; and

performing said displaying said set of listings representative of said grouping of said communication instances of distinct types associated with said contact in response to said user input command and without interruption to said active voice communication session.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

displaying a profile card associated with said contact in said graphical user interface;

displaying a menu of selectable objects together with said profile card in said graphical user interface;

detecting a user selection of one of said selectable objects; and

performing said displaying said set of listings representative of said grouping of said communication instances of distinct types associated with said contact in response to said user selection.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a menu of selectable objects in said graphical user interface;

detecting a user selection of one of said selectable objects, said selected object associated with one of said distinct types of said communication instances; and

filtering said set of listings representative of said grouping of said communication instances of said distinct types based on said one of said distinct types associated with said selected object.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one other of said communication instances of distinct types represented in said set of listings includes at least one of a text message type communication instance, a media message type communication instance, an e-mail message type communication instance, a chat message type communication instance, and a subscriber feed type communication instance.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said displaying is performed on a display of a mobile phone device operating in an interactive lock state.

10. The method of claim 1, tangibly embodied as computer-executable instructions on at least one computer-readable medium.

11. A method comprising:

displaying a graphical user interface on a display, said graphical user interface including a set of listings representative of a grouping of communication instances of distinct types, said set of listings associated with a plurality of contacts;

detecting a user selection of one of said listings displayed in said graphical user interface, said selected listing corresponding to one of said contacts; and

displaying, in response to said user selection, another set of listings representative of another grouping of communication instances of distinct types, wherein each of said communication instances of distinct types in said another grouping is associated with said one of said contacts corresponding to said selected listing.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said another set of listings is displayed as a subset within said set of listings in said graphical user interface.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein said displaying said another set of listings includes:

expanding said selected listing within said set of listings; and

displaying said another set of listings within said expanded listing.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein said selected listing includes an expansion indicator and said user selection of said listing includes a user selection of said expansion indicator.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

converging communications data associated with a plurality of heterogeneous communication facilities and representative of said communication instances of distinct types, said converging including

generating said grouping of said communication instances of distinct types, and

generating said another grouping of said communication instances of distinct types based on said contact corresponding to said selected listing.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein said distinct types of communication instances comprise at least two of a voice communication type, a text message communication type, a media message communication type, an e-mail message communication type, a chat message communication type, and a subscriber feed communication type.

17. A method comprising:

displaying a graphical object on a display, said graphical object representative of an active voice communication session with a contact;

detecting a user input command; and

displaying a set of listings representative of a grouping of communication instances of distinct types in response to said user input command and without interruption to said active voice communication session;

wherein each of said communication instances of distinct types is associated with said contact.

18. A system comprising:

a communications convergence facility configured to converge communications data representative of a plurality of communication instances of distinct types; and

a user interface facility configured to provide a graphical user interface for display, said graphical user interface including a set of listings representative of a grouping of said communication instances of distinct types;

wherein at least one of said communication instances represented in said set of listings includes a voice type communication instance.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein said user interface facility is configured to

detect a user selection of one of said listings displayed in said graphical user interface, said selected listing associated with a contact, and

provide, in response to said user selection, another set of listings representative of another grouping of converged communication instances of distinct types for display in said graphical user interface, wherein each of said communication instances in said another grouping is associated with said contact.

20. The system of claim 18, further comprising a plurality of heterogeneous communication facilities, wherein said convergence includes retrieval of said communications data from said plurality of heterogeneous communication facilities.

21. The system of claim 18 implemented on a mobile phone device.