Notifying co-recipients of others currently replying to communications

• US 7,818,373 B2
• Filed: 04/08/2008
• Issued: 10/19/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/08/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: LinkedIn Corporation (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Eggers, Robert J. Jr., Girouard, Janice M., Janakiraman, Janani, Best, Steven F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Najjar; Saleh
• Assistant Examiner(s): KOROBOV, VITALI A
• Application Number:
  US12/099,214
• Publication Number:
  US 20090254620A1
• Time in Patent Office: 924 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 455/466
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

A mechanism for notifying co-recipients of a communication that other recipients are currently composing a reply to the received communication is provided. The notification may be provided regardless of which type of communication application is being used to reply to the communication. With this mechanism, attribute information for a communication currently being composed on a client communication device using one of a plurality of different communication types is obtained. The attribute information may include an identifier of a communication type currently being used to compose the communication. A previously distributed communication related to the communication currently being composed is identified and one or more recipients of the previously distributed communication are identified. A notification message is sent to one or more communication devices associated with the one or more recipients of the previously distributed communication. The notification message may identify a communication type currently being used to compose the communication.

Claims

1. A method, in a data processing system, for providing a notification of a recipient of a previously distributed communication responding to the previously distributed communication, comprising:

receiving, by a unified communication monitoring engine in a server, an indication from a monitoring agent on a client communication device of a communication currently being composed by the recipient on the client communication device using one of a plurality of different communication types;

identifying, by the unified communication monitoring engine, the previously distributed communication related to the communication currently being composed, wherein the previously distributed communication is of a different communication type than that of the communication currently being composed, wherein identifying, by the unified communication monitoring engine, the previously distributed communication related to the communication currently being composed comprises;

extracting, by the unified communication monitoring engine, attributes of the communication currently being composed;

comparing, by the unified communication monitoring engine, the extracted attributes to attributes of previously distributed communications logged in a communication log data structure; and

selecting, by the unified communication monitoring engine, a previously distributed communication as being related to the communication currently being composed based on results of the comparison;

identifying, by the unified communication monitoring engine, other recipients of the previously distributed communication; and

sending, by the unified communication monitoring engine, a notification message to other communication devices associated with the other recipients of the previously distributed communication, wherein the one or more communication devices output a notification output identifying that a communication is currently being composed by one of the other recipients in response to the previously distributed communication.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication of the communication currently being composed comprises attribute information for the communication currently being composed, the attribute information including an identifier of a communication type currently being used to compose the communication, wherein the notification message identifies a communication type being used to compose the communication currently being composed, and wherein the notification output identifies the communication type being used to compose the communication currently being composed.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the extracted attributes include user identifiers for at least one of target recipients of the communication currently being composed or a sender of the communication currently being composed.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein identifying, by the unified communication monitoring engine, the previously distributed communication related to the communication currently being composed further comprises:

performing, by the unified communication monitoring engine, a lookup operation in a user database in the server for each of the user identifiers to identify one or more related user identifiers, wherein the comparison of the extracted attributes to attributes of previously distributed communications comprises performing, by the unified communication monitoring engine, a comparison of all of the extracted user identifiers, and their related user identifiers obtained from the lookup operation, against user identifiers associated with the previously distributed communications.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the extracted attributes comprise at least one of a subject text associated with the communication currently being composed or keywords extracted from a body of the communication currently being composed.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein extracting attributes of the communication currently being composed is performed dynamically on a continuous or periodic basis as the communication is being composed.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting, by the unified communication monitoring engine, the previously distributed communication as being related to the communication currently being composed based on results of the comparison comprises:

generating, by the unified communication monitoring engine, a score for each entry in the communication log data structure based on results of the comparison;

comparing, by the unified communication monitoring engine, each score for each entry against a minimum score required to identify a related previously distributed communication; and

selecting, by the unified communication monitoring engine, a previously distributed communication corresponding to a highest scoring entry whose score is above the minimum score required to identify a related previously distributed communication.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification message comprises an identity of the related previously distributed communication, an identity of a user composing the communication currently being composed, and a type of communication client application being used to compose the communication currently being composed.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification output is a notification generated via an existing graphical user interface associated with a communication client application being used by the one or more communication devices which is augmented to include the notification.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein the notification output is selectable and, in response to selection of the notification output, a communication application corresponding to the communication type identified in the notification output is made immediately accessible to a user of the one or more communication devices.

11. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more communication devices further output a user interface, separate from user interfaces of communication applications for composing communications existing on the one or more communication devices, through which users of the one or more communication devices may immediately access the communication applications on the one or more communication devices corresponding to the identified communication type being used to compose the communication.

12. The method of claim 2, wherein the communication type of the previously distributed communication is one of electronic mail, short message service (SMS), instant messaging, or voice messaging and wherein the communication type of the communication currently being composed is a different one of electronic mail, short message service (SMS), instant messaging, or voice messaging.

13. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer recordable medium having a computer readable program recorded thereon, wherein the computer readable program, when executed on a computing device, causes the computing device to:

receive an indication from a monitoring agent on a client communication device of a communication currently being composed by a recipient on the client communication device using one of a plurality of different communication types;

identify a previously distributed communication related to the communication currently being composed, wherein the previously distributed communication is of a different communication type than that of the communication currently being composed, wherein the computer readable program causes the computing device to identify the previously distributed communication related to the communication currently being composed by;

extracting attributes of the communication currently being composed;

comparing the extracted attributes to attributes of previously distributed communications logged in a communication log data structure; and

selecting a previously distributed communication as being related to the communication currently being composed based on results of the comparison;

identify other recipients of the previously distributed communication; and

send a notification message to other communication devices associated with the other recipients of the previously distributed communication, wherein the one or more communication devices output a notification output identifying that a communication is currently being composed by one of the other recipients in response to the previously distributed communication.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the indication of the communication currently being composed comprises attribute information for the communication currently being composed, the attribute information including an identifier of a communication type currently being used to compose the communication, wherein the notification message identifies a communication type being used to compose the communication currently being composed, and wherein the notification output identifies the communication type being used to compose the communication currently being composed.

15. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the extracted attributes include user identifiers for at least one of target recipients of the communication currently being composed or a sender of the communication currently being composed.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the computer readable program further causes the computing device to identify the previously distributed communication related to the communication currently being composed by:

performing a lookup operation in a user database for each of the user identifiers to identify one or more related user identifiers, wherein the comparison of the extracted attributes to attributes of previously distributed communications comprises performing a comparison of all of the extracted user identifiers, and their related user identifiers obtained from the lookup operation, against user identifiers associated with the previously distributed communications.

17. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the extracted attributes comprise at least one of a subject text associated with the communication currently being composed or keywords extracted from a body of the communication currently being composed.

18. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the computer readable program causes the computing device to select the previously distributed communication as being related to the communication currently being composed based on results of the comparison by:

generating a score for each entry in the communication log data structure based on results of the comparison;

comparing each score for each entry against a minimum score required to identify a related previously distributed communication; and

selecting a previously distributed communication corresponding to a highest scoring entry whose score is above the minimum score required to identify a related previously distributed communication.

19. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the notification message comprises an identity of the related previously distributed communication, an identity of a user composing the communication currently being composed, and a type of communication client application being used to compose the communication currently being composed.

20. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the notification output is a notification generated via an existing graphical user interface associated with a communication client application being used by the one or more communication devices which is augmented to include the notification.

21. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the notification output is selectable and, in response to selection of the notification output, a communication application corresponding to the communication type identified in the notification output is made immediately accessible to a user of the one or more communication devices.

22. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the one or more communication devices further output a user interface, separate from user interfaces of communication applications for composing communications existing on the one or more communication devices, through which users of the one or more communication devices may immediately access the communication applications on the one or more communication devices corresponding to the identified communication type being used to compose the communication.

23. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory comprises instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

receive an indication from a monitoring agent on a client communication device of a communication currently being composed by a recipient on the client communication device using one of a plurality of different communication types;

identify a previously distributed communication related to the communication currently being composed, wherein the previously distributed communication is of a different communication type than that of the communication currently being composed, wherein the instructions cause the processor to identify the previously distributed communication related to the communication currently being composed by;

extracting attributes of the communication currently being composed;

comparing the extracted attributes to attributes of previously distributed communications logged in a communication log data structure; and

selecting a previously distributed communication as being related to the communication currently being composed based on results of the comparison;

identify other recipients of the previously distributed communication; and

send a notification message to other communication devices associated with the other recipients of the previously distributed communication, wherein the one or more communication devices output a notification output identifying that a communication is currently being composed by one of the other recipients in response to the previously distributed communication.