Intelligently enabled menu choices based on online presence state in address book

• US 8,132,110 B1
• Filed: 08/05/2003
• Issued: 03/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/04/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AOL Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Appelman, Barry, Ben-Yoseph, Roy, Heikes, Brian, Kucharewski, Valerie
• Primary Examiner(s): Ke, Simon
• Application Number:
  US10/633,636
• Time in Patent Office: 3,136 Days
• Field of Search: 715/752, 715/758, 715/780, 715/710, 715/751
• US Class Current: 715/752
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2477 for selecting a function from a menu display H04M1/2474 takes precedence

Abstract

A computer implemented method for intelligently enabling menu choices includes rendering, on a client system, an address book user interface comprising information related to one or more contacts, selecting a contact from the address book user interface, determining an online presence state for the selected contact, enabling one or more menu options based upon the determined online presence state, with the menu options enabled for a first online presence state differing from the menu options enabled for a second online presence state, and presenting the enabled menu options to a user in a user interface.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for intelligently enabling menu choices for a first client system storing an instant messaging application, the method comprising:

rendering, on the first client system, an address book user interface comprising information related to one or more contacts;

providing, to an instant messaging host system in communication with the first client system via a communication link, an indication of a selection of a contact from the address book user interface, wherein an email address is associated with the selected contact;

rendering, on the first client system, a notification requesting additional information when the instant messaging host system is not capable of detecting the presence state of the selected contact;

receiving, based on a determination of the presence state of the selected contact made by the instant messaging host system, information indicating when the selected contact is in one of a plurality of presence states, the plurality of presence states including at least one of an online state or an offline state, the presence state being determined by stripping a domain name from the email address to reverse look-up the presence state of the selected contact, wherein the selected contact is in the online state when a second client device associated with the selected contact has established a persistent connection to the instant messaging host system, and the selected contact is in the offline state when the second client device has not established a persistent connection to the instant messaging host system;

enabling one or more menu options based upon the presence state of the selected contact determined by the instant messaging host system, wherein the enabled menu options are different among the plurality of presence states; and

presenting, on the first client system, the enabled menu options to a user in a user interface.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the menu options correspond to one or more available communications channels.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the available communications channels comprise at least one of e-mail, chat, and instant messaging.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising invoking a menu for the selected contact.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein enabling the menu options comprises enabling the menu options by retrieving a list of one or more pre-stored menu options based on whether the selected contact is determined to be in the online state, or the offline state.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein enabling the menu options comprises enabling the menu options on-the-fly.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein enabling the menu options comprises automatically determining the menu options with the first client system.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein enabling the menu options comprises automatically determining the menu options based on information from the instant messaging host system.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein enabling the menu options comprises adding a control.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein enabling the menu options comprises making a control unavailable.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein enabling the menu options comprises removing a control.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein enabling the menu options comprises changing a control.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein presenting the enabled menu options comprises presenting an indication of whether the selected contact is in the online state, or the offline state.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein presenting the enabled menu options comprises presenting the menu options in the address book user interface.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein presenting the enabled menu options comprises presenting only the enabled menu options in a user interface.

16. A computer program, stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium, the computer program comprising instructions, which when executed on a processor cause the processor the execute a method for:

providing, to a first client system storing an instant messaging application, instructions to render an address book user interface comprising information related to one or more contacts;

receiving, at an instant messaging host system in communication with the first client system via a communication link, an indication of a selection of a contact from the address book user interface, wherein an email address is associated with the selected contact;

providing, to the first client system, a notification requesting additional information when the instant messaging host system is not capable of detecting the presence state of the selected contact;

stripping a domain name from the email address to reverse look-up the presence state of the selected contact;

determining, at the instant messaging host system in response to at least receiving the indication of the selected contact, when the selected contact is in one of a plurality of presence states based on the reverse look-up, the plurality of presence states including at least one of an online state, an offline state, or a mobile device usage state, wherein the selected contact is in the online state when a second client device associated with the selected contact has established a persistent connection to the instant messaging host system, the selected contact is in the offline state when the second client device has not established a persistent connection to the instant messaging host system, and in the mobile device usage state when a mobile device associated with the selected contact has established a persistent connection to the instant messaging host system;

enabling menu options based upon the determined presence state of the selected contact, wherein the menu options being enabled are different among the plurality of presence states; and

providing, to the first client system, instructions to present the enabled menu options to a user in a user interface.

17. The computer program of claim 16 wherein the menu options correspond to one or more available communications channels.

18. The computer program of claim 17 wherein the available communications channels comprise at least one of e-mail, chat, and instant messaging.

19. The computer program of claim 16 further comprising instructions for invoking a menu for the selected contact.

20. The computer program of claim 16 wherein enabling the menu options comprises enabling the menu options by retrieving a list of one or more pre-stored menu options based on whether the selected contact is determined to be in the online state, the offline state, or the mobile device usage state.

21. The computer program of claim 16 wherein enabling the menu options comprises enabling the menu options on-the-fly.

22. The computer program of claim 16 wherein providing instructions to present the enabled menu options comprises providing instructions to present an indication of whether the selected contact is in the online state, the offline state, or the mobile device usage state.

23. The computer program of claim 16 wherein providing instructions to present the enabled menu options comprises providing instructions to present the menu options in the address book user interface.

24. The computer program of claim 16 wherein providing instructions to present the enabled menu options comprises providing instructions to present only the enabled menu options in a user interface.

25. A computer program, stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium, the computer program comprising instructions, which when executed on a processor cause the processor the execute a method for:

providing, to a first client system storing an instant messaging application, instructions to render an address book user interface comprising information related to one or more contacts;

receiving, at an instant messaging host system in communication with the first client system via a communication link, an indication of a selection of a contact from the address book user interface, wherein an email address is associated with the selected contact;

providing, to the first client system, a notification requesting additional information when the instant messaging host system is not capable of detecting the presence state of the selected contact;

stripping a domain name from the email address to reverse look-up the presence state of the selected contact;

determining, at the instant messaging host system in response to at least receiving the indication of the selected contact, when the selected contact is in one of a plurality of presence states based on the reverse look-up, the plurality of presence states including at least one of an online state or an offline state, wherein the selected contact is in the online state when a second client device associated with the selected contact has established a persistent connection to the instant messaging host system, and the selected contact is in the offline state when the second client device has not established a persistent connection to the instant messaging host system;

enabling menu options based upon the determined presence state of the selected contact, wherein the menu options being enabled are different among the plurality of presence states; and

providing, to the first client system, instructions to present the enabled menu options to a user in a user interface.

26. A first client system, that enables perception of enabled menu choices comprising:

a memory device storing instructions;

a display device; and

a processor executing the instructions to;

display, on the display device, an address book application user interface that enables perception of information for one or more contacts for an address book user;

provide, to an instant messaging host system, an indication of a selection of a contact from the address book user interface, wherein the indication is provided to the instant messaging host system to determine a presence state of the selected contact, wherein an email address is associated with the selected contact;

display, on the display device, a notification requesting additional information when the instant messaging host system is not capable of detecting the presence state of the selected contact;

receive, based on a determination of the presence state of the selected contact made by the instant messaging host system, information indicating when the selected contact is in one of a plurality of presence states, the plurality of presence states including at least one of an online state or an offline state, the presence state being determined by stripping a domain name from the email address to reverse look-up the presence state of the selected contact, wherein the selected contact is in the online state when a second client system associated with the selected contact has established a persistent connection to the instant messaging host system, and the selected contact is in the offline state when the second client system has not established a persistent connection to the instant messaging host system;

enable one or more menu options for a particular contact based upon receiving information from the instant messaging host system wherein the menu options being enabled are different among the plurality of presence states; and

present the enabled menu options on the display device.

27. The first client system of claim 26 wherein the menu options correspond to one or more available communications channels.

28. The first client system of claim 27 wherein the available communications channels comprise at least one of e-mail, chat, and instant messaging.

29. The first client system of claim 26 wherein the processor retrieves a list of one or more pre-stored menu options based on the presence state of the particular contact determined by the instant messaging host system to enable the menu option.

30. The first client system of claim 26 wherein the menu options are enabled automatically.

31. The first client system of claim 26 wherein the menu options are enabled automatically based on information from the instant messaging host system.

32. The first client system of claim 26 wherein the menu options are generated dynamically.

33. The first client system of claim 26 wherein the menu options include a control.

34. The first client system of claim 26 wherein enabling the menu options includes disabling a control.

35. The first client system of claim 26 wherein enabling the menu options includes removing a control.

36. The first client system of claim 26 wherein enabling the menu options includes changing a control.

37. The first client system of claim 26 wherein enabling the menu options includes presenting an indication of the presence state of the particular contact determined by the instant messaging host system.

38. The first client system of claim 26 wherein the enabled menu options are included in the address book application user interface.

39. The first client system of claim 26 wherein the enabled menu options are included in an interface separate from the address book application user interface.