Identifying users sharing common characteristics
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method of displaying electronic information in an instant-messaging application, the method comprising:
- maintaining, on behalf of an instant messaging user, a set of identifiers of users of an instant messaging application;
maintaining, on behalf of at least two of the users for whom identifiers are included within the set of identifiers of users of the instant messaging application, electronic messages that are designated as being reflective of the present status of the users to whom they correspond and that presently are set to be sent as automatic responses to incoming instant messages intended for the users to whom they correspond;
identifying, from among the set of identifiers of users of the instant messaging application, at least two users as users for whom electronic messages that are designated as being reflective of the present status of the at least two users and that presently are set to be sent as automatic responses to incoming instant messages intended for the at least two users have been changed recently, including;
a first user for whom a first electronic message that is designated as being reflective of the present status of the first user and that presently is set to be sent as an automatic response to incoming instant messages intended for the first user has been changed recently, anda second user for whom a second electronic message that is designated as being reflective of the present status of the second user and that presently is set to be sent as an automatic response to incoming instant messages intended for the second user has been changed recently;
in response to identifying the at least two users as users for whom electronic messages that are designated as being reflective of the present status of the at least two users and that presently are set to be sent as automatic responses to incoming instant messages intended for the at least two users have been changed recently, accessing electronic messages that are designated as being reflective of the present status of users and that presently are set to be sent as automatic responses to incoming instant messages intended for the users that correspond to at least some of the identified users including;
accessing the first electronic message that is designated as being reflective of the present status of the first user and that presently is set to be sent as an automatic response to incoming instant messages intended for the first user, andaccessing the second electronic message that is designated as being reflective of the present status of the second user and that presently is set to be sent as an automatic response to incoming instant messages intended for the second user;
analyzing content contained within the first and second electronic messages to determine that at least a portion of the content is common to both the first and second electronic messages; and
based upon the content analysis, indicating to a user that the first and second users have a common characteristic.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Displaying electronic information in an instant-messaging application includes accessing a first electronic message providing information describing a first user that has an identifier included in a set of identifiers of users of an instant messaging application. A second electronic message providing information describing a second user that has an identifier included in the set of identifiers of users of an instant messaging application is accessed. Content contained within the first and second messages is analyzed to determine that at least a portion of content is common to the first and second electronic messages. Based upon the content analysis, an indication that the first and second messages include common content is provided to the user. Alternatively or additionally, an indication that two users are in physical proximity to a geographic location may be provided in response to detecting that the two users are within a threshold distance from the geographic location.
308 Citations
30 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method of displaying electronic information in an instant-messaging application, the method comprising:
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maintaining, on behalf of an instant messaging user, a set of identifiers of users of an instant messaging application; maintaining, on behalf of at least two of the users for whom identifiers are included within the set of identifiers of users of the instant messaging application, electronic messages that are designated as being reflective of the present status of the users to whom they correspond and that presently are set to be sent as automatic responses to incoming instant messages intended for the users to whom they correspond; identifying, from among the set of identifiers of users of the instant messaging application, at least two users as users for whom electronic messages that are designated as being reflective of the present status of the at least two users and that presently are set to be sent as automatic responses to incoming instant messages intended for the at least two users have been changed recently, including; a first user for whom a first electronic message that is designated as being reflective of the present status of the first user and that presently is set to be sent as an automatic response to incoming instant messages intended for the first user has been changed recently, and a second user for whom a second electronic message that is designated as being reflective of the present status of the second user and that presently is set to be sent as an automatic response to incoming instant messages intended for the second user has been changed recently; in response to identifying the at least two users as users for whom electronic messages that are designated as being reflective of the present status of the at least two users and that presently are set to be sent as automatic responses to incoming instant messages intended for the at least two users have been changed recently, accessing electronic messages that are designated as being reflective of the present status of users and that presently are set to be sent as automatic responses to incoming instant messages intended for the users that correspond to at least some of the identified users including; accessing the first electronic message that is designated as being reflective of the present status of the first user and that presently is set to be sent as an automatic response to incoming instant messages intended for the first user, and accessing the second electronic message that is designated as being reflective of the present status of the second user and that presently is set to be sent as an automatic response to incoming instant messages intended for the second user; analyzing content contained within the first and second electronic messages to determine that at least a portion of the content is common to both the first and second electronic messages; and based upon the content analysis, indicating to a user that the first and second users have a common characteristic. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29)
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25. A tangible computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause a computer to:
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maintain, on behalf of an instant messaging user, a set of identifiers of users of an instant messaging application; maintain, on behalf of at least two of the users for whom identifiers are included within the set of identifiers of users of the instant messaging application, electronic messages that are designated as being reflective of the present status of the users to whom they correspond and that presently are set to be sent as automatic responses to incoming instant messages intended for the users to whom they correspond; identify, from among the set of identifiers of users of the instant messaging application, at least two users as users for whom electronic messages that are designated as being reflective of the present status of the at least two users and that presently are set to be sent as automatic responses to incoming instant messages intended for the at least two users have been changed recently, including; a first user for whom a first electronic message that is designated as being reflective of the present status of the first user and that presently is set to be sent as an automatic response to incoming instant messages intended for the first user has been changed recently, and a second user for whom a second electronic message that is designated as being reflective of the present status of the second user and that presently is set to be sent as an automatic response to incoming instant messages intended for the second user has been changed recently; in response to identifying the at least two users as users for whom electronic messages that are designated as being reflective of the present status of the at least two users and that presently are set to be sent as automatic responses to incoming instant messages intended for the at least two users have been changed recently, access electronic messages that are designated as being reflective of the present status of users and that presently are set to be sent as automatic responses to incoming instant messages intended for the users that correspond to at least some of the identified users including; access the first electronic message that is designated as being reflective of the present status of the first user and that presently is set to be sent as an automatic response to incoming instant messages intended for the first user, and access the second electronic message that is designated as being reflective of the present status of the second user and that presently is set to be sent as an automatic response to incoming instant messages intended for the second user; analyze content contained within the first and second electronic messages to determine that at least a portion of the content is common to both the first and second electronic messages; and based upon the content analysis, indicate to a user that the first and second users have a common characteristic.
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26. A system comprising:
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means for maintaining, on behalf of an instant messaging user, a set of identifiers of users of an instant messaging application; means for maintaining, on behalf of at least two of the users for whom identifiers are included within the set of identifiers of users of the instant messaging application, electronic messages that are designated as being reflective of the present status of the users to whom they correspond and that presently are set to be sent as automatic responses to incoming instant messages intended for the users to whom they correspond; means for identifying, from among the set of identifiers of users of the instant messaging application, at least two users as users for whom electronic messages that are designated as being reflective of the present status of the at least two users and that presently are set to be sent as automatic responses to incoming instant messages intended for the at least two users have been changed recently, including; a first user for whom a first electronic message that is designated as being reflective of the present status of the first user and that presently is set to be sent as an automatic response to incoming instant messages intended for the first user has been changed recently, and a second user for whom a second electronic message that is designated as being reflective of the present status of the second user and that presently is set to be sent as an automatic response to incoming instant messages intended for the second user has been changed recently; means for accessing, in response to identifying the at least two users as users for whom electronic messages that are designated as being reflective of the present status of the at least two users and that presently are set to be sent as automatic responses to incoming instant messages intended for the at least two users have been changed recently, electronic messages that are designated as being reflective of the present status of users and that presently are set to be sent as automatic responses to incoming instant messages intended for the users that correspond to at least some of the identified users including; means for accessing the first electronic message that is designated as being reflective of the present status of the first user and that presently is set to be sent as an automatic response to incoming instant messages intended for the first user, and means for accessing the second electronic message that is designated as being reflective of the present status of the second user and that presently is set to be sent as an automatic response to incoming instant messages intended for the second user; means for analyzing content contained within the first and second electronic messages to determine that at least a portion of the content is common to both the first and second electronic messages; and means for indicating to a user that the first and second users have a common characteristic based upon the content analysis.
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30. A computer-implemented method of displaying electronic information in an instant-messaging application, the method comprising:
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maintaining, on behalf of an instant messaging user, a set of identifiers of users of an instant messaging application; maintaining, on behalf of a first user for whom an identifier is included within the set of identifiers of users of the instant messaging application, a first electronic message that is designated as being reflective of the present status of the first user and that presently is configured to be sent as an automatic response to incoming instant messages intended for the first user; maintaining, on behalf of a second user for whom an identifier is included within the set of identifiers of users of the instant messaging application, a second electronic message that is designated as being reflective of the present status of the second user and that presently is configured to be sent as an automatic response to incoming instant messages intended for the second user; detecting a change to the first electronic message that is designated as being reflective of the present status of the first user and that presently is configured to be sent as an automatic response to incoming instant messages intended for the first user; detecting a change to the second electronic message that is designated as being reflective of the present status of the second user and that presently is configured to be sent as an automatic response to incoming instant messages intended for the second user; as a consequence of having detected the change to the first electronic message that is designated as being reflective of the present status of the first user and that presently is configured to be sent as an automatic response to incoming instant messages intended for the first user and having detected the change to the second electronic message that is designated as being reflective of the present status of the second user and that presently is configured to be sent as an automatic response to incoming instant messages intended for the second user; accessing the first electronic message that is designated as being reflective of the present status of the first user and that presently is set to be sent as an automatic response to incoming instant messages intended for the first user, accessing the second electronic message that is designated as being reflective of the present status of the second user and that presently is set to be sent as an automatic response to incoming instant messages intended for the second user, and comparing at least a portion of the accessed first electronic message that is designated as being reflective of the present status of the first user and that presently is set to be sent as an automatic response to incoming instant messages intended for the first user to at least a portion of the accessed second electronic message that is designated as being reflective of the present status of the second user and that presently is set to be sent as an automatic response to incoming instant messages intended for the second user; based on results of comparing the portions of the accessed first and second electronic messages, determining that the accessed first and second electronic messages include common content; and as a consequence of determining that the accessed first and second electronic messages include common content, indicating to the instant messaging user that the first and second users have a common characteristic.
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Specification