Aggregation and Visualization of Multiple Chat Room Information

• US 20130218987A1
• Filed: 02/21/2012
• Published: 08/22/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Chudge, Jarnail, Warren, Fred
• Granted Patent: US 9,489,657 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1813 for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms instant messaging H04L51/04; protocols for multimedia communication H04L65/1101; arrangements for multi-party communication H04L65/403; telephonic conference arrangements H04M3/56; television conference systems H04N7/15
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails

Abstract

The information made available in a series of chat windows which each represent a different chat room is summarized and displayed in a single chat window summary screen. In this way a user can monitor a single window in a single display rather than many windows occupying a series of displays. When one of the chat room summaries indicates something of interest to the user, the user may return to a view of the entire chat window for that chat room. In some implementations the user may designate one or more of the chat room summaries as an active window. The active window may include more information in its summary that the chat room summaries for the remaining chat room summaries which are not designated as active windows.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving over a communications network a plurality of chat messages from two or more different chat rooms;

analyzing the plurality of messages to extract a summary of activity taking place in the two or more chat rooms; and

causing the summary of activity to be presented on a display.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 in which the summary of activity includes a chat room summary to be presented on a distinct region of the display for each of the two or more chat rooms.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 in which the distinct region of a plurality of the chat room summaries each include a plurality of subregions, a first of the subregions including a title of its respective chat room and a second of the subregions including one or more icons indicating a number of participants currently in its respective chat room.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 wherein the icons in the second subregion each represent one chat room participant, said icons being configured to display an identifier of the respective chat room participants when a screen pointer is placed thereover.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 in which the distinct regions of the plurality of the chat room summaries includes a third subregion that presents one or more infographics reflecting a current amount of participant activity in its respective chat room.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 in which the one or more infographics includes a timeline representing an historical amount of participant activity over a prescribed period of time.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 in which one of the chat room summaries is designated by a user as an active chat room summary, said active chat room summary including a scrolling full-text display of an ongoing dialog by participants in the chat room.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 in which each non-active chat room summary extends along a horizontal row of the display and the scrolling full-text display of the active chat room summary extends in a vertical column alongside the non-active chat room summaries.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 in which analyzing the plurality of messages includes monitoring each of the chat messages to identify text that conforms to pre-defined rules and including in the summary of activity that is presented on the display highlighted text that conforms to the pre-defined rules.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 in which the one or more infographics further indicates whether participant activity in the chat room is increasing or decreasing over time.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 in which the prescribed period of time is user configurable.

12. A computing device, comprising:

a processor and associated memory being configured to execute user-interactive components; and

a chat room summary component executable by the processor and being configured to monitor and analyze a plurality of chat messages associated with two or more chat rooms to extract from each chat message information for incorporation into a summary of activity taking place in each of the two or more chat rooms.

13. The computing device of claim 12 in which the chat room summary component is further configured to aggregate the summary of activity taking place in each of the two or more chat rooms into a chat summary window for presentation on a display.

14. The computing device of claim 13 in which the chat room summary window includes a distinct region for the summary of activity taking place in each of the chat rooms, each distinct region being divided into a plurality of subregions, a first of the subregions including a title of its respective chat room and a second of the subregions including one or more icons indicating a number of participants currently in the respective chat room.

15. The computing device of claim 14 in which each of the distinct regions includes a third subregion that includes one or more infographics reflecting a current amount of participant activity in its respective chat room and representing an historical amount of participant activity over a prescribed period of time.

16. The computing device of claim 14 in which one of the chat rooms is designated by a user as an active chat room, the distinct region for the active chat room including a scrolling full-text display of an ongoing dialog by participants in the chat room.

17. The computing device of claim 16 in which the distinct region for each non-active chat room extends along a horizontal row of the chat room summary window and the scrolling full-text display of the active chat room summary extends in a vertical column alongside the non-active chat room summaries.

18. A computer readable storage medium storing executable instructions which, when executed using a processor, performs a method comprising:

receiving a plurality of chat room summaries, each of the chat room summaries representing activity transpiring in a different chat room in which a user participates;

arranging the plurality of chat room summaries into a chat summary window to be presented on a display; and

presenting the chat summary window on the display.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 18 in which at least one of the chat room summaries includes highlighted text that conforms to user-defined rules.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 18 in which the chat room summaries include one or more infographics indicating whether participant activity in the respective chat rooms is increasing or decreasing over time.