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• US 7,730,134 B2
• Filed: 10/06/2008
• Issued: 06/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/10/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Workman Nydegger PC
• Inventors: Otnes, Kevin M., Schofield, Mark, Van Dok, Cornelius K., Oreizy, Peyman, Deeds, Roman L., Anthony, Colin R., Araman, Christopher J., Kabir, Ahsan S., Blagsvedt, Sean O.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dalencourt; Yves
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lai; Michael C
• Application Number:
  US12/246,362
• Publication Number:
  US 20090030998A1
• Time in Patent Office: 603 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/206, 709/248, 715733-759
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/234 for tracking messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1083 In-session procedures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer program products for tracking real-time communication data within a single contact tracking application for diverse communication providers and applications. A global data store is synchronized with real-time communication data, such as presence, status, unread messages, and unread notifications, from each application/provider. Real-time communication data for contacts dynamically determined to be recent contacts is retrieved from the data store, based on properties such as a most recent communication time, a communication count, and the like. Real-time communication data corresponding to contacts identified as pinned contacts for which display of real-time communication data is preferred, also may be retrieved. A user interface is generated for displaying the one or more recent and/or pinned contacts, which may vary in size based on the number of contacts identified as pinned contacts, from which a contact may be selected for real-time conversation or e-mail.

Claims

1. In a system that engages in real-time communication with one or more contacts at one or more other systems, a method of tracking real-time communication data, within a single contact tracking application that tracks real-time communication data for real-time communication using any of a plurality of diverse real-time communication providers and applications, the method comprising acts of:

querying a global real-time communication data store for synchronized real-time communication data and e-mail communication data which has been received by the global real-time communication data store from diverse communication providers and that correspond to one or more contacts that are dynamically determined at the global real-time communication data store to be one or more recent contacts of a user and based on one or more properties associated with the real-time or e-mail communication data, wherein each of the one or more recent contacts is a contact with whom the user has had a recent communication; and

displaying the one or more recent contacts on a user interface in a listing that is generated by a contact tracking application, wherein a plurality of numbers is displayed next to at least one of the one or more recent contacts within the user interface, the plurality of numbers comprising quantities of unread e-mail messages and unread real-time communication notifications, respectively, that have been received from the corresponding contact, wherein the listing of the recent contacts has an ordering that is based on at least one of a most recent communication time, a communication count, or a weighted combination of the most recent communication time and the communication count, and wherein the listing of recent contacts is displayed separately from a listing of pinned contacts that the user has explicitly indicated to appear on the user interface.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more properties comprise a most recent communication time for the one or more contacts, and wherein display of the one or more recent contacts is ordered on the user interface by most recent communication time.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising acts of:

querying the global real-time communication data store for real-time and e-mail communication data corresponding to one or more contacts identified as pinned contacts for which display of the corresponding real-time and e-mail communication data is preferred; and

displaying at least one of the one or more pinned contacts on the user interface generated by the contact tracking application.

4. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein the user interface generated by the contact tracking application comprises separate pinned contact and recent contact portions.

5. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein the pinned contact user interface portion varies in size based on the number of one or more contacts identified as a pinned contact.

6. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein the real-time communication data corresponding to the one or more pinned contacts comprises presence.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the real-time communication data corresponding to the one or more contacts dynamically determined to be one or more recent contacts comprises status.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising an act of displaying a link on the user interface for adding a new contact.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the user interface displays a plurality of contacts from diverse service providers, the method further comprising acts of:

receiving user input to select a specific contact;

selecting the specific contact;

receiving user input to begin a new real-time conversation with the specific contact; and

sending a request for a new real-time conversation to the specific contact.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the ordering of the listed recent contacts is based on the communication count.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the ordering of the listed recent contacts is based on the combination of the most recent communication time and the communication count.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the contacts included in the listing of pinned contacts are ordered differently than the ordering of the listed recent contacts.

13. The method recited in claim 12, wherein the contacts in the listing of pinned contacts are ordered alphabetically.

14. The method recited in claim 1, wherein at least one of the listed contacts is a group contact that corresponds to a plurality of different contacts.

15. A computer program product comprising one or more computer readable storage media having stored computer executable instructions that implement a method of tracking real-time communication data, the method comprising acts of:

querying a global real-time communication data store for real-time communication data and e-mail communication data that the global real-time communication data store has received from diverse communication providers and that correspond to one or more contacts that are dynamically determined at the global real-time communication data store to be one or more recent contacts of a user and based on one or more properties associated with the real-time or e-mail communication data, wherein each of the one or more recent contacts is a contact with whom the user has had a recent communication; and

displaying the one or more recent contacts on a user interface in a listing that is generated by a contact tracking application, wherein a plurality of numbers is displayed next to at least one of the one or more recent contacts within the user interface, the plurality of numbers comprising quantities of unread e-mail messages and unread real-time communication notifications, respectively, that have been received from the corresponding contact, wherein the listing of the recent contacts has an ordering that is based on at least one of a most recent communication time, a communication count, or a weighted combination of the most recent communication time and the communication count, and wherein the listing of recent contacts is displayed separately from a listing of pinned contacts that the user has explicitly indicated to appear on the user interface.

16. The computer program product as recited in claim 15, wherein the one or more properties comprise a communication count for the one or more contacts, and wherein display of the one or more recent contacts is ordered on the user interface by communication count.

17. The computer program product as recited in claim 15, the method further comprising acts of:

querying the global real-time communication data store for real-time and e-mail communication data corresponding to one or more contacts identified as pinned contacts for which display of the corresponding real-time or e-mail communication data is preferred; and

displaying at least one of the one or more pinned contacts on the user interface generated by the contact tracking application.

18. The computer program product as recited in claim 17, wherein the user interface generated by the contact tracking application comprises separate pinned contact and recent contact portions.

19. The computer program product as recited in claim 18, wherein the recent contact user interface portion varies in size based the number of one or more contacts identified as a pinned contact.

20. The computer program product as recited in claim 17, wherein the real-time communication data corresponding to the one or more pinned contacts comprises status.

21. The computer program product as recited in claim 15, wherein the real-time and e-mail communication data corresponding to the one or more contacts dynamically determined to be one or more recent contacts comprises unread messages.

22. The computer program product as recited in claim 15, the method further comprising an act of displaying a text entry box on the user interface for searching for a contact.

23. The computer program product as recited in claim 15, the method further comprising an act of periodically requesting real-time communication data from at least one of the plurality of diverse real-time communication applications.

24. The computer program product as recited in claim 15, wherein the global real-time communication data store automatically receives real-time communication data from at least one of the plurality of diverse real-time communication applications, without having to make a request.

25. The computer program product as recited in claim 15, wherein the user interface displays a plurality of contacts from diverse service providers, the method further comprising acts of:

receiving user input to select a specific contact;

selecting the specific contact;

receiving user input to begin a new e-mail message for the specific contact; and

opening a new e-mail message for the specific contact.

26. The computer program product as recited in claim 15, wherein a particular contact is displayed on the user interface as a pinned contact, the method further comprising acts of:

receiving an indication at the global real-time communication data store that the particular contact is no longer a pinned contact; and

updating the user interface to remove the particular contact as a pinned contact.

27. The computer program product as recited in claim 15, the method further comprising acts of:

receiving user input to display all contacts; and

displaying a separate fly out user interface for displaying all contacts.

28. In a system comprising a global real-time communication data store, a method of tracking real-time communication data received from a plurality of diverse real-time communication providers, the method comprising acts of:

the global real-time communication data store synchronizing real-time communication data received from each of a plurality of diverse real-time communication applications corresponding to a plurality of diverse real-time communication providers and e-mail communication data received from each of a plurality of diverse e-mail communication providers; and

the global real-time communication data store providing, at request, information comprising real-time communication data and e-mail communication data corresponding to one or more contacts that are dynamically determined at the global real-time communication data store to be one or more recent contacts of a user and based on one or more properties associated with the real-time or e-mail communication data, wherein each of the one or more recent contacts is a contact with whom the user has had a recent communication, and wherein the information is used to display the one or more recent contacts on a user interface in a listing that is generated by a contact tracking application, wherein a plurality of numbers is displayed next to at least one of the one or more recent contacts within the user interface, the plurality of numbers comprising quantities of unread e-mail messages and unread real-time communication notifications, respectively, that have been received from the corresponding contact, wherein the listing of the recent contacts has an ordering that is based on at least one of a most recent communication time, a communication count, or a weighted combination of the most recent communication time and the communication count, and wherein the listing of recent contacts is displayed separately from a listing of pinned contacts that the user has explicitly indicated to appear on the user interface.