System creating chat network based on a time of each chat access request

• US 6,425,012 B1
• Filed: 12/28/1998
• Issued: 07/23/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Trovato, Karen I., Ramsey, Carolyn, Rankin, Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Luu, Le Hien
• Application Number:
  US09/221,947
• Time in Patent Office: 1,303 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/206, 709/227, 709/203, 709/228, 709/229, 709/226, 709/225, 709/238, 709/239, 709/207, 705/10, 345/747
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1818 Conference organisation arrangements, e.g. handling schedules, setting up parameters needed by nodes to attend a conference, booking network resources, notifying involved parties
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/252 Processing of multiple end-users' preferences to derive collaborative data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25841 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; arrangements for identifying locations of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/51; location of the user terminal in data switching networks H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25883 being end-user demographical data, e.g. age, family status or address arrangements for identifying locations of users in broadcast systems H04H60/52
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44213 Monitoring of end-user related data arrangements for monitoring the users' behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

When a person requests access to a chat session, the time of the request is used to determine which chat room the person is placed. Other parameters are used to determine the surrounding factors, or context, within which the person initiated the request, such as the particular television program that the person was watching at the time of the request. By forming chat rooms based on the time of entry and the context in which the request is made, the chat rooms are likely to contain people with a common topic to discuss, such as the television news story being broadcast at that time. These time-of-entry chat rooms can also be structured to be of limited duration, obviating the overhead burden of deleting topic-specific chat rooms when the topic ceases to be of interest.

Claims

1. A chat server comprising:

an access request processor configured to receive a plurality of access requests and to associate an access time parameter to each access request of the plurality of access requests based on a time at which each said access request is received, each said access request being associated with each user of a plurality of users,

a network former configured to partition the plurality of users into a plurality of subsets based upon the access time parameter associated with each said access request, and

a plurality of chat networks each chat network configured to provide a communications path among each subset of the plurality of subsets.

2. The chat server of claim 1, further comprising

a plurality of user profiles, each user profile of the plurality of user profiles being associated with said each user, and

wherein the network former creates each said subset in further dependence upon each said user profile.

3. The chat server of claim 2, wherein

each said user profile includes at least one of an age parameter, a gender parameter, an education parameter, a locale parameter, and at least one interest parameter.

4. The chat server of claim 2, wherein

each said access request includes a context profile, and

the network former creates each said subset in further dependence upon the context profile of each said access request.

5. The chat server of claim 4, wherein

the context profile includes at least one of a locale parameter, a monitor parameter, and at least one character parameter.

6. The chat server of claim 1, wherein

each said access request includes a context profile, and

the network former creates each said subset in further dependence upon the context profile associated with each said access request.

7. The chat server of claim 6, wherein

the context profile includes at least one of a locale parameter, a monitor parameter, and at least one character parameter.

8. The chat server of claim 7, wherein

the monitor parameter includes an identification of a broadcast program associated with each said access request.

9. The chat server of claim 1, wherein

the network former is further configured to modify the plurality of subsets based upon a level of activity on the communication path of each said subset.

10. A communications device comprising:

a user interface device configured to receive a user input and to produce therefrom a chat access request,

a context evaluator configured to produce a context profile based on at least one of a locale parameter, a monitor parameter, and at least one character parameter at a time associated with the chat access request based on a time of said request, and

a chat access device, operably coupled to the user interface device and the context evaluator, configured to communicate the chat access request and the context profile to a chat server to facilitate a creation of a chat network based upon the time associated with the chat access request.

11. The communications device of claim 10, wherein

the monitor parameter of the context profile includes an identification of a broadcast program associated with the chat access request.

12. The communications device of claim 10, wherein

the user interface device includes at least one means for communicating via the chat network.

13. The communications device of claim 10, wherein

the chat access device is one of:

a computer, a laptop, a palmtop, a set-top box, a television, and a telephone.

14. The communications device of claim 10, wherein the chat access device communicates the chat access request to facilitate the creation of the chat network via an Internet connection.

15. A method for creating a chat network, comprising the steps of:

receiving a plurality of access requests, each access request of the plurality of access requests being associated with each user of a plurality of users,

assigning an access time parameter to each access request based on a time of said request, and

establishing a first communication path among a first subset of the plurality of users based upon the access time parameter assigned to each said access request.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of

accessing a plurality of user profiles, each user profile of the plurality of user profiles being associated with said each user, and

wherein the step of establishing the first communication path is. further based upon each said user profile.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein

each said user profile includes at least one of an age parameter, a gender parameter, an education parameter, a locale parameter, and at least one interest parameter.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein

each said access request includes a context profile and

wherein the step of establishing the first communication path is further based upon the context profile associated with each said access request.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein

the context profile includes at least one of a locale parameter, a monitor parameter, and at least one character parameter.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein

the monitor parameter includes an identification of a broadcast program associated with each said access request.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein

each said access request includes a context profile, and

wherein the step of establishing the first communication path is further based upon the context profile associated with each said access request.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein

the context profile includes at least one of a locale parameter, a monitor parameter, and at least one character parameter.

23. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of

terminating the first communication path among the first subset of the plurality of users based on at least one of:

a level of activity on the first communication path, a predetermined time period, and a context dependent time period.

24. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of

establishing a second communication path among a second subset of the plurality of users based upon each said access time parameter.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising the step of

establishing a third communication path among a third subset of the plurality of users based upon the first subset, the second subset, and a level of activity on at least one of:

the first communication path and the second communication path.

26. A method of accessing a chat network comprising the steps of:

receiving a user input and producing therefrom a chat access request,

producing a context profile based on at least one of a locale parameter, a monitor parameter, and at least one character parameter at a time associated with the chat access request based on a time of said request, and

communicating the chat access request and the context profile to a chat server to facilitate a creation of the chat network based upon the time associated with the chat access request.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the step of producing the context profile includes the step of

identifying a broadcast program associated with the chat access request.

28. The method of claim 26, further including the step of communicating via the chat network.