SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR STANDARDIZED VISUAL INDICATORS IN ELECTRONIC MEDIA

• US 20100205545A1
• Filed: 02/12/2009
• Published: 08/12/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hamilton, Rick A. II, Seaman, James W., Lyle, Ruthie D., DAWSON, Christopher J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,434,010 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/758
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/134 Hyperlinking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/043 using or handling presence information

Abstract

Methods and systems for associating a standardized electronic icon with a user and displaying the icon with electronic communications of the user are disclosed. A computer implemented method includes: determining one or more icons to associate with an individual when the individual creates an electronic message; and at least one of selectively and automatically appending at least one of the one or more icons that are associated with the individual to the electronic message. The at least one of the one or more icons is subsequently displayed with the electronic message to a recipient to provide information about the individual to the recipient.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for displaying standardized icons in electronic media, comprising:

determining one or more icons to associate with an individual when the individual creates an electronic message;

authenticating that the individual is approved to use at least one of the one or more icons; and

at least one of selectively and automatically appending the at least one of the one or more icons that are associated with the individual to the electronic message,

wherein the at least one of the one or more icons is subsequently displayed with the electronic message to a recipient to provide information about the individual to the recipient,

a shape of the one or more icons signifies a first information,

indicia associated with the shape signifies a second information different from the first information, and

color of at least one of the shape and the indicia signifies a third information different from the first information and the second information.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying additional information about the individual when a user places a mouse pointer over the one or more icons.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the additional information contains at least one hyperlink.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining comprises at least one of:

looking up the one or more icons in a database entry associated with the individual, and

looking up the one or more icons in an electronic profile of the individual.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the selectively appending comprises:

presenting the one or more icons to the individual in a drop-down menu; and

receiving from the individual a selection of the at least one of the one or more icons.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the automatically appending is based on one of:

type of communication medium, and

one or more icons associated with the recipient.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic message is one of:

an email,

a chat session message,

a blog post, and

a forum post.

8. The method of claim 1, where a user filters content of electronic communications based on at least one of the one or more icons.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein a service provider at least one of creates, maintains, deploys and supports the computing infrastructure.

10. The method of claim 1, at least one of the steps of claim 1 is provided by a service provider under a subscription and/or fee agreement and/or based on advertising content to one or more third parties.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is implemented in a computer infrastructure having computer executable code tangibly embodied on a computer readable storage medium having programming instructions operable to perform the steps of claim 1

12. A computer program product for displaying informational icons in electronic media, the computer program product comprising program code stored on a tangible storage medium, which, when executed on a computing device, causes the computing device to:

determine, for each respective participant of a chat session, at least one icon associated with the respective participant;

display, for each respective participant, the at least one icon and an identity of the respective participant in a list of participants; and

display, for each message by a respective participant, the at least one icon, the identity of the participant, and the message in a message area.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein:

a shape of the at least one icon signifies a first information,

indicia associated with the shape signifies a second information, and

color of at least one of the shape and the indicia signifies a third information.

14. The computer program product of claim 12, further comprising displaying additional information about a respective participant when a user places a mouse pointer over the at least one icon.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the additional information contains at least one hyperlink.

16. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein each respective participant is permitted to select the at least one icon from a menu of approved icons associated with that respective participant.

17. A system for displaying standardized icons in electronic media, comprising:

a computing infrastructure comprising a combination of hardware and software configured to;

determine a plurality of icons associated with participants of an electronic collaboration session;

present to each one of the participants a list of the plurality of icons;

receive from at least one of the participants a selection of filtering icons selected from the list; and

for each respective one of the participants that selected filtering icons, modify the viewable display of that respective one of the participants based on the filtering icons selected.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the modifying the viewable display comprises showing messages from ones of the participants who are associated with the filtering icons selected, while suppressing message from other ones of the participants not associated with the filtering icons selected.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the modifying the viewable display comprises suppressing messages from ones of the participants who are associated with the filtering icons selected, while showing message from other ones of the participants not associated with the filtering icons selected.

20. A method for displaying standardized icons in electronic media, comprising:

providing a computing infrastructure including a combination of hardware and software that is configured to;

determine one or more icons to associate with an individual when the individual creates an electronic message; and

at least one of selectively and automatically append at least one of the one or more icons that are associated with the individual to the electronic message,

wherein the at least one of the one or more icons is subsequently displayed with the electronic message to a recipient to provide information about the individual to the recipient,

a shape of the one or more icons signifies a first information,

indicia associated with the shape signifies a second information different from the first information, and

color of at least one of the shape and the indicia signifies a third information different from both the first and second information.

21. The method of claim 20, comprising both automatically appending and selectively appending, wherein:

the selectively appending comprises;

presenting the one or more icons to the individual in a drop-down menu; and

receiving from the individual a selection of the at least one of the one or more icons, and

the automatically appending is based on one of;

type of communication medium, and

one or more icons associated with the recipient.

22. The method of claim 20, the computing infrastructure is provided by a service provider under a subscription and/or fee agreement and/or based on advertising content to one or more third parties.