INTELLIGENTLY ENABLED MENU CHOICES BASED ON ONLINE PRESENCE STATE IN ADDRESS BOOK

• US 20120144310A1
• Filed: 02/14/2012
• Published: 06/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/04/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AOL Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Appelman, Barry, Ben-Yoseph, Roy, Heikes, Brian, Kucharewski, Valerie
• Granted Patent: US 9,360,996 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/739
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2477 for selecting a function from a menu display H04M1/2474 takes precedence

Abstract

A computer implemented method for intelligently enabling menu choices includes rendering, on a client system, an address book user interface comprising information related to one or more contacts, selecting a contact from the address book user interface, determining an online presence state for the selected contact, enabling one or more menu options based upon the determined online presence state, with the menu options enabled for a first online presence state differing from the menu options enabled for a second online presence state, and presenting the enabled menu options to a user in a user interface.

Claims

1-46. -46. (canceled)

47. A computer-implemented method for enabling menu choices for a first client system, the method comprising:

providing, to a host system in communication with the first client system via a communication link, an indication of a selection of a contact from an address book user interface, wherein an email address is associated with the selected contact;

receiving, based on a determination of a presence state of the selected contact made by the host system, information indicating when the selected contact is in one of a plurality of presence states, the plurality of presence states including at least one of an online state or an offline state, the presence state being determined based on using a domain name from the email address to reverse look-up the presence state of the selected contact, wherein the selected contact is in the online state when a second client device associated with the selected contact has established a persistent connection to the host system, and the selected contact is in the offline state when the second client device has not established a persistent connection to the host system;

enabling one or more menu options based upon the presence state of the selected contact determined by the host system, wherein the enabled menu options are different among the plurality of presence states; and

presenting, on the first client system, the enabled menu options to a user in a user interface.

48. The method of claim 47, further comprising rendering, on the first client system, the address book user interface comprising information related to one or more contacts including the selected contact.

49. The method of claim 47, further comprising rendering, on the first client system, a notification requesting additional information when the host system is not capable of detecting the presence state of the selected contact.

50. The method of claim 47, wherein the communication link includes at least one of an e-mail communication link, a voice communication link, and an instant messaging communication link.

51. The method of claim 47, further comprising invoking a menu for the selected contact, the invoked menu including the enabled menu options.

52. The method of claim 47, further comprising retrieving a list of one or more predetermined menu options based on whether the selected contact is determined to be in the online state or the offline state.

53. The method of claim 47, wherein enabling the menu options includes generating the menu options based on the presence state.

54. The method of claim 47, wherein enabling the menu options includes determining the menu options based on information received from the host system.

55. The method of claim 47, wherein enabling the menu options includes at least one of adding a control, making a control unavailable, removing a control, and changing a control.

56. The method of claim 47, wherein presenting the enabled menu options includes presenting an indication of whether the selected contact is in the online state or the offline state.

57. The method of claim 47, further comprising presenting the menu options in the address book user interface.

58. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions, which when executed on at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to perform a method for enabling menu choices, the method comprising:

providing, to a host system in communication with a first client system via a communication link, an indication of a selection of a contact from an address book user interface, wherein an email address is associated with the selected contact;

receiving, based on a determination of a presence state of the selected contact, information indicating when the selected contact is in one of a plurality of presence states, the plurality of presence states including at least one of an online state or an offline state, the presence state being determined based on using a domain name from the email address to reverse look-up the presence state of the selected contact, wherein the selected contact is in the online state when a second client device associated with the selected contact has established a persistent connection, and the selected contact is in the offline state when the second client device has not established a persistent connection;

enabling one or more menu options based upon the presence state of the selected contact, wherein the enabled menu options are different among the plurality of presence states; and

presenting the enabled menu options to a user in a user interface.

59. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 58, wherein the method performed by the at least one processor further comprises:

rendering the address book user interface comprising information related to one or more contacts including the selected contact; and

rendering a notification requesting additional information when the host system is not capable of detecting the presence state of the selected contact.

60. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 58, wherein the communication link includes at least one of an e-mail communication, a voice communication link, and an instant messaging communication link.

61. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 58, wherein the method performed by the at least one processor further comprises:

invoking a menu for the selected contact, the invoked menu including the enabled menu options; and

retrieving a list of one or more predetermined menu options based on whether the selected contact is determined to be in the online state or the offline state.

62. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 58, wherein enabling the menu options includes at least one of adding a control, making a control unavailable, removing a control, and changing a control.

63. An apparatus comprising:

a memory device storing instructions;

at least one processor executing the instructions to;

provide an indication of a selection of a contact from an address book user interface, wherein an email address is associated with the selected contact;

receive, based on a determination of a presence state of the selected contact, information indicating when the selected contact is in one of a plurality of presence states, the plurality of presence states including at least one of an online state or an offline state, the presence state being determined based on using a domain name from the email address to reverse look-up the presence state of the selected contact, wherein the selected contact is in the online state when a client device associated with the selected contact has established a persistent connection via communication link, and the selected contact is in the offline state when the client device has not established a persistent connection via the communication link; and

enable one or more menu options based upon the presence state of the selected contact, wherein the enabled menu options are different among the plurality of presence states; and

a display device for presenting the enabled menu options to a user in a user interface.

64. The apparatus of claim 63, wherein the communication link includes at least one of an e-mail communication link, a voice communication link, and an instant messaging communication link.

65. The apparatus of claim 63, wherein the one or more menu options are enabled based on a list of one or more predetermined menu options.

66. The apparatus of claim 63, wherein enabling the menu options includes at least one of adding a control, making a control unavailable, removing a control, and changing a control.