Automatic user session

• US 7,380,007 B1
• Filed: 04/26/2001
• Issued: 05/27/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AOL LLC (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: McCrystal, Daniel T., Bu, Zhaoxi
• Primary Examiner(s): Caldwell; Andrew
• Assistant Examiner(s): BLAIR, DOUGLAS B
• Application Number:
  US09/842,025
• Time in Patent Office: 2,588 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/206, 709/227, 709/228, 709/229, 709/250, 709/202, 709/207, 709/224, 709/232, 709/219, 707/3, 707/201, 707/205, 705/5, 705/25, 713/100, 713/201, 713/155, 345/733, 345/760, 345/780, 379/88, 379/202, 725/132, 370/328
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]

Abstract

Systems and techniques for retrieving electronic data by establishing a connection to the communications system using a first account of the user; initiating a first communication session over the connection associated with the first account of the user; and automatically initiating over the same connection one or more additional communication sessions associated with one or more additional accounts of the user.

Claims

1. A method of accessing electronic data from a communications system, the method comprising:

establishing a connection between a client system and a host system using a first account of a user, the first account of the user being maintained by the host system;

determining if one or more additional accounts maintained by the host system are associated with the user;

initiating a first communication session between the client system and the host system over the connection, the first communication session being associated with the first account of the user;

based on a determination that one or more additional accounts maintained by the host system are associated with the user, automatically initiating, over the same connection between the client system and the host system, one or more additional communication sessions between the client system and the host system, the one or more additional communication sessions being associated with the one or more additional accounts associated with the user;

transmitting, to the host system, additional account information for the one or more additional accounts maintained by the host system; and

after transmitting the additional account information for the one or more additional accounts to the host system, enabling, for each of the one or more additional accounts, a transfer of electronic data associated with each of the one or more additional accounts to a corresponding designated destination in response to automatically initiating the one or more additional communication sessions between the client system and the host system.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising accessing electronic data associated with the first account of the user.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein enabling the transfer of electronic data comprises retrieving e-mail.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein enabling the transfer of electronic data comprises sending e-mail.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein enabling the transfer of electronic data comprises downloading one or more files.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein enabling the transfer of electronic data comprises retrieving messages posted on a message board.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein enabling the transfer of electronic data comprises posting messages to a message board.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the first account and the one or more additional accounts comprise different screen names.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein automatically initiating one or more additional communication sessions comprises automatically switching between the different screen names.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising setting preferences for initiating the first communication session.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein setting preferences comprises scheduling a time to initiate the first communication session.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising setting preferences for initiating the one or more additional communication sessions.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein setting preferences comprises scheduling a time to automatically initiate the one or more additional communications session.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising setting different preferences for initiating the first communication session and for initiating the one or more additional communication sessions.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the first communication session is initiated automatically.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising running the first communication session and the one or more additional communication sessions in parallel.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the user comprises a single member of an online service.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the user comprises multiple members of the online service.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the multiple members are related.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein automatically initiating comprises automatically initiating, over the same connection to the host system, the one or more additional communication sessions associated with the one or more additional accounts in response to a preference set by the user prior to initiation of the one or more additional communication sessions.

21. The method of claim 1 wherein establishing the connection between a the client system and the host system and initiating a first communication session between the client system and the host system over the connection occur automatically and without user manipulation.

22. The method of claim 1 wherein automatically initiating, over the same connection between the client system and the host system, one or more additional communication sessions between the client system and the host system, occurs automatically and without user manipulation.

23. The method of claim 1 further comprising automatically synchronizing data related to the first account or the one or more additional accounts wherein, prior to synchronization, the data related to the first account or the one or more additional accounts was stored on only one of the client system or the host system.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein automatically synchronizing data comprises one or more of sending an e-mail message written using the client system when the client system was not connected to the host system, retrieving from the host system an unread e-mail message, posting a massage to a newsgroup or message board that was written using the client system when the client system was not connected to the host system, and retrieving from the host system a message to a newsgroup or message board.

25. The method of claim 23 wherein automatically synchronizing data comprises automatically synchronizing data related to each of several accounts associated with the user.

26. The method of claim 1 wherein;

the host system is a network access service provider that provides network access service to enable the user to access systems other than the host system,

the first account corresponds to a first e-mail account of the user provided by the host system, and

one of the one or more additional accounts corresponds to an additional e-mail account provided by the host system.

27. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the host system is a network access service provider that provides network access service to enable the user to access systems other than the host system,

the first account corresponds to a first screen name for an instant messaging service provided by the host system, and

one of the one or more additional accounts corresponds to an additional screen name for the instant messaging service provided by the host system.

28. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the host system is a network access service provider that provides network access service to enable the user to access systems other than the host system,

one of the first account or at least one of the one or more additional accounts corresponds to a screen name for an instant messaging service provided by the host system, and

other of the first account or the at least one of the one or more additional accounts correspond to an e-mail account provided by the host system.

29. The method of claim 1 wherein automatically initiating, over the same connection between the client system and the host system, one or more additional communication sessions between the client system and the host system comprises automatically initiating at least one of the one or more additional communication sessions when the user is not present at the client system.

30. The method of claim 1 wherein enabling, for each of the one or more additional accounts, a transfer of electronic data associated with each of the one or more additional accounts to a corresponding designated destination includes enabling, for each of the one or more additional accounts, a transfer of electronic data associated with each of the one or more additional accounts to a corresponding designated destination based on verification of the additional account information for each of the one or more additional accounts maintained by the host system.

31. A computer program product embodied in a tangible computer-readable storage medium, the computer program product including instructions that, when executed, cause a computer to:

establish a connection between a client system and a host system using a first account of a user, the first account of the user being maintained by the host system;

determine if one or more additional accounts maintained by the host system are associated with the user;

initiate a first communication session between the client system and the host system over the connection, the first communication session being associated with the first account of the user;

based on a determination that one or more additional accounts maintained by the host system are associated with the user, automatically initiate, over the same connection between the client system and to the host system, one or more additional communication sessions between the client system and the host system, the one or more additional communication sessions being associated with the one or more additional accounts associated with the user;

transmit, to the host system, additional account information for the one or more additional accounts maintained by the host system; and

for each of the one or more additional accounts, enable a transfer of electronic data associated with each of the one or more additional accounts to a corresponding designated destination in response to automatically initiating the one or more additional communication sessions between the client system and the host system and after transmitting additional account information for the one or more additional accounts to the host system.

32. The computer program product of claim 31 further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the computer to:

access e-mail data.

33. The computer program product of claim 31 further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the computer to:

download one or more files.

34. The computer program product of claim 31 wherein the first account and the one or more additional accounts comprise different screen names.

35. The computer program product of claim 31 wherein the instructions that, when executed, cause a computer to enable, for each of the one or more additional accounts, a transfer of electronic data associated with each of the one or more additional accounts to a corresponding designated destination include instructions that, when executed, cause a computer to enable, for each of the one or more additional accounts, a transfer of electronic data associated with each of the one or more additional accounts to a corresponding designated destination based on verification of the additional account information for each of the one or more additional accounts maintained by the host system.

36. A communications apparatus for accessing electronic data from a communications system, the apparatus being configured to:

establish a connection between a client system and a host system using a first account of a user, the first account of the user being maintained by the host system;

determine if one or more additional accounts maintained by the host system are associated with the user;

initiate a first communication session between the client system and the host system over the connection, the first communication session being associated with the first account of the user;

based on a determination that one or more additional accounts maintained by the host system are associated with the user, automatically initiate, over the same connection between the client system and the host system, one or more additional communication sessions between the client system and the host system, the one or more additional communication sessions being associated with the one or more additional accounts associated with the user; and

transmit, to the host system, additional account information for the one or more additional accounts maintained by the host system; and

for each of the one or more additional accounts, enable a transfer of electronic data associated with each of the one or more additional accounts to a designated destination in response to automatically initiating the one or more additional communication sessions between the client system and the host system and after transmitting additional account information for the one or more additional accounts to the host system.

37. The communications apparatus of claim 36 wherein the apparatus is configured to enable, for each of the one or more additional accounts, a transfer of electronic data associated with each of the one or more additional accounts to a designated destination based on verification of the additional account information for each of the one or more additional accounts maintained by the host system.