Retrieval of Stored Transmissions

• US 20130046830A1
• Filed: 08/15/2011
• Published: 02/21/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/15/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Skype S.Ã R.L. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: MacDonald, Derek
• Granted Patent: US 9,043,410 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads

Abstract

An instant messaging client application is executed on a first terminal, to participate in threads of instant messaging between user terminals over a packet-based network, each thread comprising exchanging text-based messages between the user terminals of a selected group of contacts comprising the first user and at least one second user. A digital record of the messages is maintained in a data storage medium. A further text-based message is received from one of the second terminals over the packet-based network, comprising a citation of a cited one of the text-based messages previously transmitted over the packet-based communication network and stored in the storage medium. The further message is processed at the first terminal so as, by reference to the storage medium, to recover a context of the cited message in relation to others of the text-based messages in the respective thread.

Claims

1. A method of operating a first user terminal of a first user, comprising:

executing an instant messaging client application on the first terminal so as to participate in one or more threads of instant messaging between user terminals over a packet-based communication network, each thread comprising exchanging a respective plurality of text-based messages between the user terminals of a selected group of contacts comprising the first user and at least one second user, wherein a digital record of the text-based messages is maintained in a data storage medium;

receiving a further one or more of said text-based messages from one of the second terminals over the packet-based communication network, the one or more further messages each comprising a citation of a cited one of said text-based messages previously transmitted over the packet-based communication network and stored in the storage medium; and

processing the one or more further messages at the first terminal so as, by reference to the storage medium, to recover a context of the cited message in relation to others of the text-based messages in the respective thread.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the further message comprises a human-readable citation of the cited message and a computer-readable token identifying the cited message; and

said processing comprises processing the computer-readable token at the first terminal so as, by reference to the storage medium, to recover the context of the cited message in relation to others of the text-based messages in the respective thread.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said recovery of the context comprises retrieving said others of the text-based messages from the storage medium for output to a user of the first terminal.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said recovery of the context comprises generating a user-operable link and, when the link is actuated by the user, outputting said other text-based messages to the user and outputting the cited message to the user in context of those other messages.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first terminal is used to participate in a plurality of said threads, and said further message is part of a different thread than the cited message, the link when actuated automatically operating the first terminal to switch between the threads.

6. The method of claim 5, comprising performing an authorization procedure at the first terminal to ensure said switching is conditional upon the user having been a legitimate participant of the thread of the cited message.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein said further message is part of a same thread as the cited message, the link when actuated automatically operating the first terminal to scroll up through a message window to the cited message.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said recovery of the context comprises generating an indicator directing a user of the first terminal toward a user control enabling retrieval of said others of the text-based messages and output of the cited message in context of said other text-based messages.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the storage medium is located at the first terminal and the method comprises maintaining the record at the first terminal.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the storage medium is located at a server.

11. The method of claim 1, comprising auto-detecting the thread of one of said text-based messages when it is composed by the first user at the first terminal.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the auto-detection is based on at least one of:

one or more keywords in the text-based message; and

a linguistic analysis of the text-based message.

13. The method of claim 1, comprising receiving a further one or more of said text-based messages from one of the second terminals over the packet-based communication network, the one or more further messages each comprising a respective citation of a cited one of said text-based messages previously transmitted over the packet-based communication network and stored in the storage medium, each of the one or more citations comprising a human-readable citation of the respective cited message and a computer-readable token identifying the respective cited message;

processing the one or more further messages at the first terminal based on the machine-readable tokens so as, by reference to the storage medium, to recover a context of the respective cited message in relation to others of the text-based messages in the respective thread; and

generating a visual map of linked threads based on said machine-readable tokens.

14. A method of operating a second user terminal, comprising:

executing an instant messaging client application on the second terminal so as to participate in one or more threads of instant messaging between user terminals over a packet-based communication network, each thread comprising exchanging a respective plurality of text-based messages between the user terminals of a selected group of contacts comprising the second user and at least one first user of a first user terminal, wherein a digital record of the text-based messages is maintained in a data storage medium;

generating a further one of said text-based message comprising a human readable citation of a cited one of said text-based messages that has been previously transmitted over the packet-based communication network and stored in the storage medium; and

inserting a computer-readable token into the further message, the computer-readable token identifying the cited message; and

transmitting the further message from the second terminals to one of the first terminals over the packet-based communication network;

such that the first terminal is enabled, by processing the computer-readable token with reference to the storage medium, to recover a context of the cited message in relation to others of the text-based messages in the respective thread.

15. A first user terminal of a first user, comprising:

a transceiver for connecting to a packet-based network

an instant messaging client application; and

a processing apparatus arranged to execute the instant messaging client application so as to participate in one or more threads of instant messaging between user terminals over the packet-based communication network, each thread comprising exchanging a respective plurality of text-based messages between the user terminals of a selected group of contacts comprising the first user and at least one second user, wherein a digital record of the text-based messages is maintained in a data storage medium;

wherein the transceiver is arranged to receive a further one or more of said text-based messages from one of the second terminals over the packet-based communication network, the one or more further messages each comprising a citation of a cited one of said text-based messages previously transmitted over the packet-based communication network and stored in the storage medium; and

the instant messaging client application is configured, so as when executed on the processing apparatus, to process the one or more further messages at the first terminal so as, by reference to the storage medium, to recover a context of the cited message in relation to others of the text-based messages in the respective thread.

16. The first user terminal of claim 15, wherein:

the further message comprises a human-readable citation of the cited message and a computer-readable token identifying the cited message; and

the instant messaging client application is configured so as, when executed on the processing apparatus, to process the computer-readable token at the first terminal such that, by reference to the storage medium, the context of the cited message is recovered in relation to others of the text-based messages in the respective thread.

17. The first terminal of claim 15, wherein the instant messaging client application is configured such that said recovery of the context comprises retrieving said others of the text-based messages from the storage medium for output to a user of the first terminal.

18. The first terminal of claim 17, wherein the instant messaging client application is configured so as, when executed on the processing apparatus, to recover said context by generating a user-operable link and, when the link is actuated by the user, to output said other text-based messages to the user and output the cited message to the user in context of those other messages.

19. The first terminal of claim 18, wherein the instant messaging client application is configured so as, when executed on the processing apparatus, to participate in a plurality of said threads, and said further message is part of a different thread than the cited message, the link when actuated automatically operating the instant messaging client application to switch between the threads.

20. The first terminal of claim 19, comprising performing an authorization procedure at the first terminal to ensure said switching is conditional upon the user having been a legitimate participant of the thread of the cited message.

21. The first terminal of claim 18, wherein said further message is part of a same thread as the cited message, the link when actuated automatically operating the instant messaging client application to scroll up through a message window to the cited message.

22. The first terminal of claim 15, wherein said recovery of the context comprises generating an indicator directing a user of the first terminal toward a user control enabling retrieval of said others of the text-based messages and output of the cited message in context of said other text-based messages.

23. The first terminal of claim 15, wherein the storage medium is located at the first terminal and the client application is configured so as when executed to maintain the record at the first terminal.

24. The first terminal of claim 15, wherein the storage medium is located at a server and the client application is configured so as when executed to access the record at the server.

25. The first terminal of claim 15, wherein the instant messaging client application is configured so as when executed to auto-detect the thread of one of said text-based messages when it is composed by the first user at the first terminal.

26. The first terminal of claim 25, wherein the instant messaging client application is configured so as when executed to perform the auto-detection based on at least one of:

one or more keywords in the text-based message; and

a linguistic analysis of the text-based message.

27. The first terminal of claim 15, comprising receiving a further one or more of said text-based messages from one of the second terminals over the packet-based communication network, the one or more further messages each comprising a respective citation of a cited one of said text-based messages previously transmitted over the packet-based communication network and stored in the storage medium, each of the one or more citations comprising a human-readable citation of the respective cited message and a computer-readable token identifying the respective cited message;

processing the one or more further messages at the first terminal based on the machine-readable tokens so as, by reference to the storage medium, to recover a context of the respective cited message in relation to others of the text-based messages in the respective thread; and

generating a visual map of linked threads based on said machine-readable tokens.

28. A second user terminal, comprising:

a transceiver for connecting to a packet-based network;

an instant messaging client application; and

a processing apparatus arranged to execute the an instant messaging client application on the second terminal so as to participate in one or more threads of instant messaging between user terminals over the packet-based communication network, each thread comprising exchanging a respective plurality of text-based messages between the user terminals of a selected group of contacts comprising the second user and at least one first user of a first user terminal, wherein a digital record of the text-based messages is maintained in a data storage medium;

wherein the instant messaging client application is configured so as when executed on the processing apparatus to;

generate a further one of said text-based message comprising a human readable citation of a cited one of said text-based messages that has been previously transmitted over the packet-based communication network and stored in the storage medium;

insert a computer-readable token into the further message, the computer-readable token identifying the cited message; and

transmit the further message from the second terminals to one of the first terminals over the packet-based communication network;

such that the first terminal is enabled, by processing the computer-readable token with reference to the storage medium, to recover a context of the cited message in relation to others of the text-based messages in the respective thread.

29. An instant messaging client application embodied on a non-transitory computer-readable medium and comprising code configured so as when executed on a first terminal to:

participate in one or more threads of instant messaging between user terminals over a packet-based communication network, each thread comprising exchanging a respective plurality of text-based messages between the user terminals of a selected group of contacts comprising the first user and at least one second user, wherein a digital record of the text-based messages is maintained in a data storage medium;

receive a further one or more of said text-based messages from one of the second terminals over the packet-based communication network, the one or more further messages each comprising a citation of a cited one of said text-based messages previously transmitted over the packet-based communication network and stored in the storage medium; and

process the one or more further messages at the first terminal so as, by reference to the storage medium, to recover a context of the cited message in relation to others of the text-based messages in the respective thread.

30. The instant messaging client application of claim 29, wherein:

the further message comprises a human-readable citation of the cited message and a computer-readable token identifying the cited message; and

the instant messaging client application is configured such that said processing comprises processing the computer-readable token at the first terminal so as, by reference to the storage medium, to recover the context of the cited message in relation to others of the text-based messages in the respective thread.

31. The instant messaging client application of claim 30, wherein the instant messaging client application is configured such that said recovery of the context comprises retrieving said others of the text-based messages from the storage medium for output to a user of the first terminal.

32. The instant messaging client application of claim 31, wherein the instant messaging client application is configured such that said recovery of the context comprises generating a user-operable link and, when the link is actuated by the user, outputting said other text-based messages to the user and outputting the cited message to the user in context of those other messages.

33. The instant messaging client application of claim 32, wherein the instant messaging client application is configured to participate in a plurality of said threads, and said further message is part of a different thread than the cited message, the link when actuated automatically operating the first terminal to switch between the threads.

34. The instant messaging client application of claim 33, comprising performing an authorization procedure at the first terminal to ensure said switching is conditional upon the user having been a legitimate participant of the thread of the cited message.

35. An instant messaging client application embodied on a non-transient computer-readable medium and comprising code configured so as when executed on a second terminal to:

participate in one or more threads of instant messaging between user terminals over a packet-based communication network, each thread comprising exchanging a respective plurality of text-based messages between the user terminals of a selected group of contacts comprising the second user and at least one first user of a first user terminal, wherein a digital record of the text-based messages is maintained in a data storage medium;

generate a further one of said text-based message comprising a human readable citation of a cited one of said text-based messages that has been previously transmitted over the packet-based communication network and stored in the storage medium; and

insert a computer-readable token into the further message, the computer-readable token identifying the cited message; and

transmit the further message from the second terminals to one of the first terminals over the packet-based communication network;

such that the first terminal is enabled, by processing the computer-readable token with reference to the storage medium, to recover a context of the cited message in relation to others of the text-based messages in the respective thread.