Method and apparatus for managing communications with selective subsets of conference participants
First Claim
1. A computer system for use as a communication end-point, the computer system comprising:
- a) an execution unit for executing programs; and
b) a storage unit storing a first communication manager to be executed by the execution unit during operation, the first communication manager being equipped withb.1.1) logic for maintaining a first plurality of communication distribution lists, each of the first communication distribution lists being uniquely identifiable and having at least one list member, each list member being a remote recipient of communications or a distribution list identifier, the first communication manager having sharability constraints to ensure sharability of the first plurality of communication distribution lists among a plurality of communication applications, andb.1.2) logic for performing physical layer services for communicating with other communication end-point computer systems including logic for sending a communication to all remote recipients who are unnested or nested members of one of the first communication distribution lists, on behalf of an application being executed by the execution unit, upon so instructed with instructions which, for recipient information, merely supply the unique identification information of a particular one of the first communication distribution lists.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A first communication manager (CM) equipped with the ability to dynamically maintain a first multiple of communication recipient distribution lists is provided to a computer system. The first CM is also provided with operational logic capable of being instructed to send a particular piece of communication to all members of a particularized one of the distribution lists by naming only the distribution list. In one embodiment, a second CM is further provided. The second CM is equipped with the ability to dynamically maintain a second multiple of communication recipient distribution lists, the second distribution lists being a superset of the first distribution lists. The second CM is further equipped to track whether a corresponding distribution list is maintained by the first CM for each of its distribution lists, and their usage counts by executing applications. Lastly, the second CM is further equipped to dynamically adjust its manner of instructing the first CM on recipients of communications.
36 Citations
31 Claims
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1. A computer system for use as a communication end-point, the computer system comprising:
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a) an execution unit for executing programs; and b) a storage unit storing a first communication manager to be executed by the execution unit during operation, the first communication manager being equipped with b.1.1) logic for maintaining a first plurality of communication distribution lists, each of the first communication distribution lists being uniquely identifiable and having at least one list member, each list member being a remote recipient of communications or a distribution list identifier, the first communication manager having sharability constraints to ensure sharability of the first plurality of communication distribution lists among a plurality of communication applications, and b.1.2) logic for performing physical layer services for communicating with other communication end-point computer systems including logic for sending a communication to all remote recipients who are unnested or nested members of one of the first communication distribution lists, on behalf of an application being executed by the execution unit, upon so instructed with instructions which, for recipient information, merely supply the unique identification information of a particular one of the first communication distribution lists. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. In a network of communication end-point computer systems comprising a plurality of applications executing on the computer systems communicating with one another, an automated method implemented in at least one of said computer systems for selectively distributing communications to the other computer systems, the method comprising the steps of:
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a) maintaining a first plurality of communication distribution lists by a first communication manager on the communication end-point computer system, the first communication manager having sharability constraints to ensure the sharability of the first plurality of communication distribution lists among the plurality of applications, each of the communication distribution lists being uniquely identifiable and having at least one list member, each list member being a remote recipient of communication on the other communication end-point computer systems or a distribution list identifier, and b) performing physical layer services by the first communication manager for communicating with remote recipients on the other communication end-point computer systems by nested members of one of the first communication distribution lists, one behalf of an application executing on the communication end-point computer system, upon so instructed with instruction which, for recipient information, merely supply the unique identification information of a particular one of the first communication distribution lists. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A communication end-point conferencing system, the conferencing system comprising:
a) a first communication manager equipped with a.1) logic for maintaining a first plurality of conference communication distribution lists being uniquely identifiable and having at least one list member, each list member being a remote recipient of conference communications or a distribution list identifier, the logic including sharability constraints to ensure the sharability of the first plurality of conference communication distribution lists among a plurality of communication applications executable by the communication end-points, and a.2) logic for performing physical layer services for communicating with other communication end-point conferencing systems including logic for sending a conference communication to all remote recipients who are unnested or nested members of one of the conference communication distribution lists, on behalf of a user-initiated conferencing application, upon so instructed with instructions which, for recipient information merely supply the unique identification information of a particular one of the first conference communication distribution lists. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
Specification