TRAVERSING BETWEEN ELECTRONIC MAIL AND REAL TIME COMMUNICATIONS

• US 20100312836A1
• Filed: 06/03/2009
• Published: 12/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Serr, Robert W., Huddleston, Scott, Misro, Santhosh, McClelland, Mark, Gupta, Amit
• Granted Patent: US 8,438,225 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management

Abstract

Users are enabled to traverse seamlessly between electronic mail and real time communications such as text messaging, group chats, and similar forms. A context of communications such as a history of the email exchange, attached or related documents, links, trail of exchanged text messages, and comparable information is used to automatically determine addressees for the communication form after the traverse and to provide context information.

Claims

1. A method to be executed at least in part in a computing device for enabling traversal between an email exchange and a real time conversation, the method comprising:

while facilitating a first email exchange, receiving a request for activating a first real time conversation based on an email of the first email exchange;

determining participants of the first real time conversation based on at least one of the recipients of the email and a context of the first email exchange; and

activating the first real time conversation, wherein a context for the first real time conversation is provided based on the context of the email.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

while facilitating a second real time conversation, receiving a request for activating a second email exchange based on the second real time conversation;

determining recipients for the second email exchange based on at least one of the participants of the second real time conversation and a context of the second real time conversation; and

preparing an email for the second email exchange, wherein the email is populated with information based on the context of the second real time conversation.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the context of the first and second email exchanges and the context of the first and second real time conversations include an exchanged content, exchanged links, and exchanged documents.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the real time conversation includes one of a text message exchange and a group chat session.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the real time conversation further includes at least one from a set of:

audio communication, video communication, application sharing, data sharing, and whiteboard sharing.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

filtering at least one of the participants of the first real time conversation, recipients of the second email exchange, a content of the first real time conversation, and the content of the email based on one of;

a security rule, a privacy rule, and a user defined rule.

7. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

providing a conversion notification message to desired participants of the first real time conversation, wherein the conversion notification message includes at least one of an option to join the first real time conversation and an option to receive an email digest of exchanged messages within the first real time conversation.

8. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

optimizing the context of the first real time conversation and a content of the email for the second email exchange by removing duplicated information.

9. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

formatting a content of the first real time conversation and the content of the email for the second email exchange based on at least one of;

an application default format and a user defined format.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the context of the email includes an attribute of the email comprising at least one from a set of:

a status category of the email, an action category of the email, and an addressee status of the recipients of the email.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the email is part of an email conversation, and wherein the context for the first real time conversation is further provided based on an attribute of the email conversation.

12. A computing device capable of executing a multimodal communication application, comprising:

a memory;

a data store;

a processor coupled to the memory and the data store, the processor being arranged to execute the multimodal communication application, wherein the multimodal application is configured to;

while facilitating a email exchange, receive a request for activating a chat session based on the email exchange, the chat session including at least one from a set of;

text message exchange, audio communication, video communication, application sharing, data sharing, and whiteboard sharing;

determine participants of the chat session based on at least one of the participants of the email exchange and a context of the email exchange;

activate the chat session, wherein a context for the chat session is provided based on the context of the email exchange;

while facilitating another chat session, receive a request for preparing an email based on another chat session;

determine recipients for the email based on at least one of the participants and a context of the other chat session; and

populate the email with context information based on the context of the other chat session.

13. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the processor is further arranged to:

provide a user interface for the multimodal communication application that includes at least one from a set of;

a communication mode change element for switching between a chat session and an email exchange, a graphical element for initiating a chat session from an email, and a graphical element for initiating an email from a chat session.

14. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the processor is further arranged to:

provide one of;

an email user interface capable of initiating a chat session from an email, a chat session user interface capable of initiating an email from a chat session, and a combined user interface capable of switching between a chat session and an email exchange.

15. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the multimodal communication application is further configured to:

include at least one of a link, a document, and a non-textual file within the email as one of;

an attachment and as part of a content of the email based on a context of the chat session.

16. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the participants of the chat session and recipients of the email are further determined from a contacts list based on at least one from a set of:

a user preference, an organizational default rule, and attributes of contacts list entries.

17. A computer-readable storage medium with instructions stored thereon for enabling users to traverse between an email exchange and a real time conversation, the instructions comprising:

receiving a request for initiating a chat session based on an email exchange, the chat session including at least one from a set of;

text message exchange, audio communication, video communication, application sharing, data sharing, and whiteboard sharing;

automatically determining participants of the chat session based on at least one of the participants of the email exchange and a context of the email exchange, wherein the participants of the chat session are filtered based on one of;

a security rule, a privacy rule, and a user defined rule;

initiating the chat session, wherein a context for the chat session is provided based on the context of the email exchange;

receiving a request for preparing an email based on another chat session;

automatically determining recipients for the email based on at least one of the participants and a context of the other chat session, wherein the recipients of the email are filtered based on one of;

a security rule, a privacy rule, and a user defined rule; and

populating the email with context information based on the context of the other chat session as one of;

an attachment and as part of a content of the email.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the context for the chat session is provided as at least one from a list of:

a link, a document, and a reference within a chat room associated with the chat session.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the instructions further comprise:

filtering the context of the chat session and the content of the email based on one of;

a security rule, a privacy rule, a user defined rule, and a duplication of data.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the instructions further comprise:

enabling a user to modify the automatically determined participants of the chat session and recipients of the email.