COLLABORATIVE GROUP AND CONTENT MANAGEMENT UTILIZING USER ACTIVATED COLLABORATION THREADS

• US 20140280602A1
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Published: 09/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Quatrano, Stephen
• Granted Patent: US 9,794,760 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3329 Natural language query formulation or dialogue systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management

Abstract

Systems and techniques facilitate capturing, via a server, a communication between a plurality of participants via computing devices of the participants and utilizing a communication tool associated with the computing devices. The server links the communication to a collaboration thread that is accessible by each participant via a computing device of each participant, where the collaboration thread includes a container object that provides access to stored content associated with each communication linked to the collaboration thread. The server further notifies each participant of the collaboration thread including an indication that the collaboration thread has been revised based upon the linking of the communication to the collaboration thread.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

capturing, via a server, a communication between a plurality of participants via computing devices of the participants and utilizing a communication tool associated with the computing devices;

linking, via the server, the communication to a collaboration thread that is accessible by each participant via a computing device of each participant, wherein the collaboration thread comprises a container object that provides access to stored content associated with each communication linked to the collaboration thread; and

notifying, via the server, each participant of the collaboration thread including an indication that the collaboration thread has been revised based upon the linking of the communication to the collaboration thread.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the communication is linked by the server to an existing collaboration thread in response to a participant of the communication providing to the server an association of the communication with the existing collaboration thread, and the existing collaboration thread includes other communications linked with the existing collaboration thread; and

the communication is automatically linked by the server to a new collaboration thread when no participant of the communication provides any association to the server of the communication with any other existing collaboration thread.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the communication is linked to an existing collaboration thread or a new collaboration thread by at least one of:

utilizing meta-data of the communication that references the collaboration thread, utilizing other data provided within content of the communication that references the collaboration thread, and utilizing an independent context that is distinct from the communication and that links an identity of the communication with an identity of the collaborative thread.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the collaboration thread includes access to different types of communications via different communication tools, and content associated with each type of communication is accessible via the collaboration thread.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the different communication tools facilitate different communications comprising at least one of email, file sharing, peer-to-peer instant messaging, multi-user chat messaging, voice over IP communications, and online video conferencing sessions.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the stored content comprises at least one of participant contact information, content exchanged by participants within each communication, meta-data from a plurality of communications of different types from a plurality of participants and from a plurality of devices of different types, and links to synchronous media resources comprising at least one of audio resources and video resources.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the participants of each communication linked with the existing collaboration thread have access to content associated with links to all communications within the existing collaboration thread.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a collaboration thread user interface at the computing device of a participant of the collaboration thread wherein the collaboration thread user interface facilitates access to and selection from a plurality of different, existing collaboration threads associated with the participant.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the notifying each participant of the collaboration thread including an indication that the collaboration thread has been revised comprises:

including the collaboration thread in a list of a plurality of collaboration threads within the collaboration thread user interface that ranks the collaboration threads by at least one criteria selected from the group consisting of time at which a collaboration thread has been revised, number of participants associated with a thread, and number of communications associated with a collaboration thread.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

facilitating searching for collaboration threads associated with the participant within the collaboration thread user interface utilizing search criteria input by the participant within the collaboration thread user interface.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to a participant of the collaboration thread defining an association of the collaboration thread with a second collaboration thread, merging the collaboration thread with the second collaboration thread to define a single collaboration thread including links to all communications and participants from the collaboration thread and the second collaboration thread within the single collaboration thread.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

extracting and indexing content, via the server, from the communication to facilitate searching and retrieving of the content, wherein the extracted and indexed content comprises at least one of contact information for participants associated with the communication and other content associated with the communication.

13. An apparatus comprising:

a memory configured to store instructions including one or more applications that support communications between the apparatus and other computing devices over a network;

a network interface device configured to enable communications over the network; and

a processor coupled to the network interface device and the memory, and configured to execute and control operations of the one or more applications so as to;

capture a communication between a plurality of participants via computing devices of the participants and utilizing a communication tool associated with the computing devices;

linking the communication to a collaboration thread that is accessible by each participant via a computing device of each participant, wherein the collaboration thread comprises a container object that provides access to stored content associated with each communication linked to the collaboration thread; and

notify each participant of the collaboration thread including an indication that the collaboration thread has been revised based upon the linking of the communication to the collaboration thread.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured to:

link the communication to an existing collaboration thread in response to a participant of the communication providing an association of the communication with the existing collaboration thread, and the existing collaboration thread includes other communications linked with the existing collaboration thread; and

link the communication to a new collaboration thread when no participant of the communication provides any association of the communication with any other existing collaboration thread.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to link the communication to an existing collaboration thread or a new collaboration thread by at least one of:

utilizing meta-data of the communication that references the collaboration thread, utilizing other data provided within content of the communication that references the collaboration thread, and utilizing an independent context that is distinct from the communication and that links an identity of the communication with an identity of the collaborative thread.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the collaboration thread includes access to different types of communications via different communication tools, content associated with each type of communication is accessible via the collaboration thread, and the different communication tools facilitate different communications comprising at least one of email, file sharing, peer-to-peer instant messaging, multi-user chat messaging, voice over IP communications, and online video conferencing sessions.

17. One or more tangible computer readable storage media encoded with software comprising computer executable instructions and when the software is executed operable to:

capture a communication between a plurality of participants via computing devices of the participants and utilizing a communication tool associated with the computing devices;

link the communication to a collaboration thread that is accessible by each participant via a computing device of each participant, wherein the collaboration thread comprises a container object that provides access to stored content associated with each communication linked to the collaboration thread; and

notify each participant of the collaboration thread including an indication that the collaboration thread has been revised based upon the linking of the communication to the collaboration thread.

18. The computer readable storage media of claim 17, wherein the instructions are operable to:

link the communication to an existing collaboration thread in response to a participant of the communication providing an association of the communication with the existing collaboration thread, and the existing collaboration thread includes other communications linked with the existing collaboration thread; and

link the communication to a new collaboration thread when no participant of the communication provides any association to the server of the communication with any other existing collaboration thread.

19. The computer readable storage media of claim 18, wherein the instructions are operable to link the communication to an existing collaboration thread or a new collaboration thread by at least one of:

utilizing meta-data of the communication that references the collaboration thread, utilizing other data provided within content of the communication that references the collaboration thread, and utilizing an independent context that is distinct from the communication and that links an identity of the communication with an identity of the collaborative thread.

20. The computer readable storage media of claim 17, wherein the instructions are operable to facilitate access, via the collaboration thread, to different types of communications via different communication tools, and to further facilitate access to content associated with each type of communication via the collaboration thread.

21. The computer readable storage media of claim 20, wherein the instructions are operable to facilitate access to different types of communications comprising at least one of email, file sharing, peer-to-peer instant messaging, multi-user chat messaging, voice over IP communications, and online video conferencing sessions.

22. The computer readable storage media of claim 17, wherein the instructions are operable to facilitate access to stored content via the collaboration thread that comprises at least one of participant contact information, content exchanged by participants within each communication, meta-data from a plurality of communications of different types from a plurality of participants and from a plurality of devices of different types, and links to synchronous media resources comprising at least one of audio resources and video resources.

23. The computer readable storage media of claim 18, wherein the instructions are operable to provide access to participants of each communication linked with the existing collaboration thread to content associated with links to all communications within the existing collaboration thread.

24. The computer readable storage media of claim 17, wherein the instructions are further operable to:

provide a collaboration thread user interface at the computing device of a participant of the collaboration thread wherein the collaboration thread user interface facilitates access to and selection from a plurality of different, existing collaboration threads associated with the participant.

25. The computer readable storage media of claim 24, wherein the instructions are operable to notify each participant of the collaboration thread including an indication that the collaboration thread has been revised by:

including the collaboration thread in a list of a plurality of collaboration threads within the collaboration thread user interface that ranks the collaboration threads by at least one criteria selected from the group consisting of time at which a collaboration thread has been revised, number of participants associated with a thread, and number of communications associated with a collaboration thread.

26. The computer readable storage media of claim 24, wherein the instructions are further operable to:

facilitate searching for collaboration threads associated with the participant within the collaboration thread user interface utilizing search criteria input by the participant within the collaboration thread user interface.

27. The computer readable storage media of claim 17, wherein the instructions are further operable to:

in response to a participant of the collaboration thread defining an association of the collaboration thread with a second collaboration thread, merge the collaboration thread with the second collaboration thread to define a single collaboration thread including links to all communications and participants from the collaboration thread and the second collaboration thread within the single collaboration thread.

28. The computer readable storage media of claim 17, wherein the instructions are further operable to:

extract and index content from the communication to facilitate searching and retrieving of the content, wherein the extracted and indexed content comprises at least one of contact information for participants associated with the communication and other content associated with the communication.