System and method for automatic population of instant messenger lists
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method of managing an instant messenger list, said method comprising:
- selecting, by a user, one or more calendar entries from an electronic calendar that corresponds to the user, wherein the selected one or more calendar entries appear highlighted;
retrieving, from the selected one or more calendar entries, calendar data that includes contact data for a plurality of contacts corresponding to the selected one or more calendar entries;
adding the retrieved contact data to the instant messenger list associated with an instant messaging computer application used by the user;
selecting one of the contacts added to the user'"'"'s instant messenger list;
establishing an instant messaging session with the selected contact;
creating one or more buddy groups within the user'"'"'s instant messenger list by automatically adding the contacts to the one or more buddy groups, wherein the created one or more buddy groups corresponds to the selected one or more calendar entries;
storing the retrieved contact data in the one or more buddy groups, wherein the contact data retrieved includes the contacts'"'"' information;
identifying that at least one of the contacts added to the user'"'"'s instant messenger list is a temporary contact;
storing an expiration date corresponding to each of the temporary contacts;
periodically comparing a current date to the expiration dates stored for the temporary contacts; and
in response to the comparison, removing the contact data corresponding to the temporary contacts when the expiration date has occurred.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method that automatically adds contacts to a user'"'"'s instant messaging buddy list is provided. The contacts are added based upon existing database (i.e., directory) information as well as meeting information extracted from the user'"'"'s calendar. The list of calendar contacts is included with the user'"'"'s calendar. This list is used to automatically populate the user'"'"'s buddy list. In one embodiment, a buddy list “group” is initialized for calendar entries. Contacts are also added to a user'"'"'s buddy list through database queries. The group of contacts resulting from the query are then added to the user'"'"'s buddy list. Contacts added to the user'"'"'s buddy list through the user'"'"'s calendar or through database queries can be made permanent or temporary. Temporary contacts are automatically removed after a specified period of time.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method of managing an instant messenger list, said method comprising:
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selecting, by a user, one or more calendar entries from an electronic calendar that corresponds to the user, wherein the selected one or more calendar entries appear highlighted; retrieving, from the selected one or more calendar entries, calendar data that includes contact data for a plurality of contacts corresponding to the selected one or more calendar entries; adding the retrieved contact data to the instant messenger list associated with an instant messaging computer application used by the user; selecting one of the contacts added to the user'"'"'s instant messenger list; establishing an instant messaging session with the selected contact; creating one or more buddy groups within the user'"'"'s instant messenger list by automatically adding the contacts to the one or more buddy groups, wherein the created one or more buddy groups corresponds to the selected one or more calendar entries; storing the retrieved contact data in the one or more buddy groups, wherein the contact data retrieved includes the contacts'"'"' information; identifying that at least one of the contacts added to the user'"'"'s instant messenger list is a temporary contact; storing an expiration date corresponding to each of the temporary contacts; periodically comparing a current date to the expiration dates stored for the temporary contacts; and in response to the comparison, removing the contact data corresponding to the temporary contacts when the expiration date has occurred. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. An information handling system comprising:
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one or more processors; a memory accessible by at least one of the processors; a network interface connecting the information handling system to a computer network; a software tool for managing an instant messenger list, the software tool including software stored in the memory, when executed by the processor, effective to; select, by a user of the information handling system, one or more calendar entries from a user'"'"'s electronic calendar, wherein the selected one or more calendar entries appear highlighted; retrieve, from the selected one or more calendar entries, calendar data that includes contact data corresponding to a plurality of contacts of the selected one or more calendar entries; add the retrieved contact data to the instant messenger list associated with a user'"'"'s instant messaging computer application used by the user; select, by the user, one of the contacts added to the user'"'"'s instant messenger list; establish an instant messaging session with the selected one of the contacts; create one or more buddy groups within the user'"'"'s instant messenger list by automatically adding the contacts to the one or more buddy groups, wherein the created one or more buddy groups corresponds to the selected one or more calendar entries; store the retrieved contact data in the one or more buddy groups, wherein the contact data retrieved includes the contacts'"'"' information; periodically compare a current date to expiration dates stored for temporary contacts; and in response to the comparison, remove the contact data corresponding to the temporary contacts when the expiration date associated with the contact data has occurred. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A computer program product stored on a computer operable storage media for managing instant messenger list, said computer program product comprising software that, when executed by a data processing system, causes the data processing system to perform actions that include:
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selecting, by a user, one or more calendar entries from an electronic calendar that corresponds to the user, wherein the selected one or more calendar entries appear highlighted; retrieving, from the selected one or more calendar entries, calendar data that includes contact data corresponding to a plurality of contacts of the selected one or more calendar entries; adding the retrieved contact data to an instant messenger list associated with an instant messaging computer application used by the user; selecting one of the contacts added to the user'"'"'s instant messenger list; establishing an instant messaging session with the selected contact; creating one or more buddy groups within the user'"'"'s instant messenger list by automatically adding the contacts to the one or more buddy groups, wherein the created one or more buddy groups corresponds to the selected one or more calendar entries; storing the retrieved contact data in the one or more buddy groups, wherein the contact data retrieved includes the contacts'"'"' information; identifying that at least one of the contacts added to the user'"'"'s instant messenger list is a temporary contact; storing an expiration date corresponding to each of the temporary contacts; periodically comparing a current date to the expiration dates stored for the temporary contacts; and in response to the comparison, removing the contact data corresponding the temporary contacts when the expiration date associated with the contact data has occurred. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A computer-implemented method of managing instant messenger list, said method comprising:
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selecting, by a user, one or more calendar entries from an electronic calendar that corresponds to the user, wherein the selected one or more calendar entries appear highlighted; retrieving, from the selected one or more calendar entries, calendar data that includes contact data for a plurality of contacts corresponding to selected one or more calendar entries; creating one or more buddy groups within the user'"'"'s buddy list by automatically adding the contacts to the one or more buddy groups, wherein the created one or more buddy groups corresponds to the one or more selected calendar entries from the electronic calendar corresponding to the user, and wherein the user'"'"'s buddy list is associated with an instant messaging computer application; identifying an expiration date of the buddy group, the expiration date derived from a date of the selected one or more calendar entries; retrieving, from the selected one or more calendar entries, calendar data that includes contact data for participants of the selected one or more calendar entries; storing the retrieved contact data in the one or more buddy groups, wherein the contact data retrieved includes participant information; periodically comparing a current date to an expiration date corresponding to the one or more buddy groups; and removing the one or more buddy groups, including the contact data added to the one or more buddy groups, in response to the comparison.
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20. An information handling system comprising:
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one or more processors; a memory accessible by at least one of the processors; a network interface connecting the information handling system to a computer network; a software tool for managing an instant messenger list, the software tool including software effective to; select, by a user, one or more calendar entries from an electronic calendar that corresponds to the user, wherein the selected one or more calendar entries appear highlighted; retrieve, from the selected one or more calendar entries, calendar data that includes contact data for a plurality of contacts of the selected one or more calendar entries; create one or more buddy groups within a user'"'"'s buddy list by automatically adding the contacts to the one or more buddy groups, wherein the created one or more buddy groups corresponds to the selected one or more calendar entries from the electronic calendar corresponding to the user, and wherein the user'"'"'s buddy list is associated with an instant messaging computer application; identify an expiration date of each of the one or more buddy groups, the expiration date derived from a date of the selected one or more calendar entries; retrieve, from the selected one or more calendar entries, calendar data that includes contact data for participants of the selected one or more calendar entries; store the retrieved contact data in the one or more buddy groups, wherein the contact data retrieved includes the participant information; periodically compare a current date to the expiration date corresponding to each of the one or more buddy groups; and remove the one or more buddy groups, including the contact data added to the one or more buddy groups, in response to the comparison.
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21. A computer program product stored on a computer operable storage media for managing instant messenger lists, said computer program product comprising software that, when executed by a data processing system, causes the data processing system to perform actions that include:
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selecting, by a user, one or more calendar entries from an electronic calendar that corresponds to the user, wherein the selected one or more calendar entries appear highlighted; in response to the selecting, retrieving, from the selected one or more calendar entries, calendar data that includes contact data for a plurality of contacts of the selected one or more calendar entries; creating one or more buddy groups within the user'"'"'s buddy list by automatically adding the contacts to the one or more buddy groups, wherein the created one or more buddy groups corresponds to the one or more selected calendar entries from the electronic calendar corresponding to the user, and wherein the user'"'"'s buddy list is associated with an instant messaging computer application; identifying an expiration date of each of the one or more buddy groups, the expiration date derived from a date of the selected one or more calendar entries; retrieving, from the selected one or more calendar entries, calendar data that includes contact data for participants of the selected one or more calendar entries; storing the retrieved contact data in the one or more buddy groups, wherein the contact data retrieved includes participant information; periodically comparing a current date to the expiration date corresponding to each of the buddy groups; and removing each of the buddy groups, including the contact data added to the buddy groups, in response to the comparison.
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Specification