System and method for sorting instant messages

• US 7,895,273 B1
• Filed: 01/23/2003
• Issued: 02/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Haldar, Debashis
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, THUONG
• Application Number:
  US10/349,644
• Time in Patent Office: 2,952 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 709/223, 709/227, 370/229, 370/230, 370/232, 370/235
• US Class Current: 709/206
• 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 51/226 Delivery according to priorities

Abstract

An instant message delivery system includes a network interface for sending and receiving instant messages and a message queue. The system sorts instant messages by determining a priority weight for received messages. The priority weight of a message is determined by considering such characteristics as the size of the message, whether the sender is in a “buddy list” of the recipient, whether the recipient is in a “buddy list” of the sender, and/or whether the message has been marked as “urgent” by the sender. The received messages are then inserted into the queue at a position determined by their respective priority weights and are sent by the system in the order determined by their positions in the queue.

Claims

1. A method of sorting instant messages for delivery, comprising:

receiving a first instant message and a second instant message, the first and second messages being addressed to different recipients;

determining a first priority weight of the first instant message and a second priority weight of the second instant message;

selecting one of the first instant message and the second instant message having a priority weight higher than the other of the first instant message and the second instant message;

sending the selected one of the first instant message and the second instant message before sending the other of the first instant message and the second instant message.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting a network congestion condition, the step of determining a first priority weight of the first instant message and a second priority weight of the second instant message being performed only after a network congestion condition is detected.

3. A method of sorting instant messages for delivery, comprising:

receiving a first instant message and a second instant message, the first and second messages being addressed to different recipients;

determining a first priority weight of the first instant message and a second priority weight of the second instant message;

inserting the first instant message in a message queue; and

inserting the second instant message in the message queue, wherein the second instant message is inserted in front of the first instant message in the message queue if the second priority weight is higher than the first priority weight.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising detecting a network congestion condition, the step of determining a priority weight being performed only after a network congestion condition is detected.

5. A method of sorting instant messages for delivery, comprising:

receiving a first instant message at a server having an instant message queue, wherein the first instant message has a first recipient identifier and a second instant message in the queue has a priority weight and a second recipient identifier different from the first recipient identifier;

selecting, from a user data storage, a message characteristic associated with the first recipient identifier, wherein the message characteristic is selected from the group consisting of (a) having a sender of the message listed in a buddy list of the recipient, (b) having an urgent flag of the message set, (c) having a preselected message length, and (d) including a preselected search term;

testing the first instant message to determine whether the first instant message has the selected message characteristic;

determining a priority weight of the first instant message, the determined priority weight depending at least in part on whether the first instant message has the selected message characteristic; and

inserting the first instant message in the instant message queue at a position determined by the priority weight of the first instant message, such that the first instant message is inserted in front of the second instant message if the priority weight of the first instant message is greater than the priority weight of the second instant message.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising detecting a network congestion condition, the step of determining a priority weight being performed only after a network congestion condition is detected.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the priority weight of the first instant message is based at least in part on whether the first instant message has one or more of a plurality of message characteristics.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the selected message characteristic is having a sender of the message listed in a buddy list of the recipient.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the selected message characteristic is having an urgent flag of the message set.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein the selected message characteristic is having a preselected message length, and wherein a greater priority weight is assigned to messages having a message length greater than a threshold length.

11. A method of sorting instant messages for delivery, comprising:

receiving a plurality of instant messages at a server having an instant message queue, wherein the queue includes two or more messages addressed to different recipients;

determining a priority weight of one or more of the received instant messages, wherein the priority weight is determined at least in part by whether a sender of the received instant message is in a buddy list of the recipient of the received message;

sorting the message queue according to the priority weights of the received instant messages; and

sending the received instant messages from the message queue in the order of the position of the received instant messages in the queue.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising detecting a network congestion condition, the step of determining a priority weight being performed only after a network congestion condition is detected.

13. A method of sorting instant messages for delivery, comprising:

receiving a plurality of instant messages at a server having an instant message queue, wherein the queue includes two or more instant messages addressed to different recipients, each instant message has a priority weight, and each instant message includes an urgent flag;

determining a priority weight of one or more of the received instant messages, wherein the priority weight is determined at least in part by whether an urgent flag of the instant message is set; and

inserting each received instant message in the instant message queue at a position determined by the priority weight of each respective received instant message, such that received instant messages inserted toward the front of the queue have a higher priority than instant messages inserted toward the back of the queue.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising testing for a network congestion condition, the step of determining a priority weight being performed only after a network congestion condition is detected.

15. A method of sorting instant messages for delivery, comprising:

receiving an instant message at a server having an instant message queue, wherein two or more queued messages addressed to different recipients are stored in the message queue, each queued message having a priority weight;

detecting whether a network congestion condition exists;

after detecting that a network congestion condition exists, determining a priority weight of the received instant message, wherein the determined priority weight depends at least in part on whether the received instant message has one or more selected message characteristics; and

inserting the received instant message in the instant message queue at a position determined by the priority weight of the received instant message such that the received instant message is inserted between one or more queued messages having a higher priority weight than the received message and one or more queued messages having a lower priority weight than the received message.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein one of the selected message characteristics is having a sender of the message listed in a buddy list of the recipient.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein one of the selected message characteristics is having an urgent flag of the message set.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein one of the selected message characteristics is having a preselected message length, and wherein a greater priority weight is assigned to messages having a message length greater than a threshold length.

19. A system for sorting instant messages for delivery, comprising:

a network interface for receiving a plurality of instant messages, each instant message having a recipient and a sender;

a message queue for storing instant messages, wherein two or more queued messages addressed to different recipients are stored in the message queue, and wherein one or more of the queued messages has a priority weight;

priority weight logic operative to determining a priority weight of a selected one or more of the received instant messages, wherein the priority weight is determined at least in part by whether the sender of a selected instant message is in a buddy list associated with the recipient of the selected instant message; and

queue insertion logic operative to insert the selected instant messages in the instant message queue at a position determined by the priority weight of the respective selected instant message, such that the selected one or more received instant messages are inserted in front of one or more queued messages having a lower priority weight than the selected one or more received instant messages.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising congestion detection logic, the priority weight logic being operative to determine a priority weight of received instant messages only after the congestion detection logic detects a network congestion condition.

21. A system for sorting instant messages for delivery, comprising:

a network interface for receiving a plurality of instant messages, each instant message having an urgent flag;

a message queue for storing queued instant messages, wherein two or more queued messages addressed to different recipients are stored in the message queue, each queued message having a priority weight;

priority weight logic operative to determine a priority weight of a selected one or more of the received instant messages, wherein the priority weight of each selected message is determined at least in part by whether the urgent flag of the selected instant message is set;

queue insertion logic operative to insert the selected instant messages in the message queue at a position determined by the priority weight of the respective selected instant message, such that the selected one or more instant messages are inserted in the message queue in front of one or more queued messages having a lower priority weight.

22. The system of claim 21, further comprising congestion detection logic, the priority weight logic being operative to determine a priority weight of instant messages only after the congestion detection logic detects a network congestion condition.

23. A system for sorting instant messages for delivery, comprising:

a network interface operative to receive an instant message, the instant message having a recipient;

a message queue for storing queued instant messages, wherein two or more queued messages are addressed to different recipients, and wherein one or more of the queued messages has a priority weight;

a user data storage including data identifying a message characteristic associated with the recipient;

priority weight logic operative to test the received instant message to determine whether the received instant message has the message characteristic and to determine a priority weight of the received instant massage, the determined priority weight depending at least in part on whether the received instant message has the message characteristic; and

queue insertion logic operative to insert the received instant messages in the instant message queue at a position determined by the priority weight of the received instant message, such that the received instant message is inserted in the message queue in front of one or more queued messages having a lower priority weight than the received instant messages.

24. The system of claim 23, further comprising congestion detection logic, the priority weight logic being operative to determine a priority weight of received instant messages only after the congestion detection logic detects a network congestion condition.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein the message characteristic is having a sender of the message listed in a buddy list of the recipient.

26. The system of claim 23, wherein the message characteristic is having an urgent flag of the message set.

27. The system of claim 23, wherein the message characteristic is having a preselected message length, and wherein a greater priority weight is assigned to messages having a message length greater than a threshold length.

28. A system for sorting instant messages for delivery, comprising:

a network interface operative to receive an instant message, the received instant message having a recipient;

a message queue for storing queued instant messages, wherein one or more of the queued message has a priority weight and wherein the queue includes instant messages addressed to different recipients;

congestion detection logic operative to detect whether a network congestion condition exists;

priority weight logic operative to test the instant message after detection of a network congestion condition to determine whether the received instant message has at least one message characteristic and to determine a priority weight of the received instant message, the determined priority weight depending at least in part on whether the received instant message has the at least one selected message characteristic, the message characteristic being selected from the group consisting of (a) having a sender of the message listed in a buddy list of the recipient, (b) having an urgent flag of the message set, (c) having a preselected message length, and (d) including a preselected search term; and

queue insertion logic for inserting the received instant message in the instant message queue at a position determined by the priority weight of the instant message, such that the received instant message is inserted in the message queue in front of one or more queued messages having a lower priority weight than the received instant message.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the message characteristic is having a sender of the message listed in a buddy list of the recipient.

30. The system of claim 28, wherein the message characteristic is having an urgent flag of the message set.

31. The system of claim 28, wherein the message characteristic is having a preselected message length, and wherein a greater priority weight is assigned to messages having a message length greater than a threshold length.

32. A system for sorting instant messages for delivery, comprising:

a network interface operative to receive an instant message, the received instant message having a recipient;

a message queue for storing queued instant messages addressed to different recipients and for storing a priority weight associated with queued instant messages;

a processor;

a user data storage including data identifying message characteristics associated with the recipient;

a computer memory for storing machine language instructions executable by the processor to i) select, from the user data storage, at least one message characteristic associated with the recipient, the message characteristic being selected from the group consisting of (a) having a sender of the message listed in a buddy list of the recipient, (b) having an urgent flag of the message set, (c) having a preselected message length and (d) including a preselected search term, ii) test the received instant message to determine whether the received instant message has the selected message characteristic, iii) determine a priority weight of the received instant message, the determined priority weight depending at least in part on whether the received instant message has the selected message characteristic, and iv) insert the received instant message in the instant message queue at a position determined by the priority weight of the received instant message, such that the received instant message is inserted in the message queue in front of one or more queued messages having a lower priority weight than the received instant message;

the network interface further being operative to send instant messages from the queue in the order the instant messages are arranged in the queue.