Facilitating communications between computer users across a network

• US 8,156,443 B2
• Filed: 08/26/2008
• Issued: 04/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AOL Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Quillen, Scott A., Rosenblatt, Ira
• Primary Examiner(s): SAX, STEVEN PAUL
• Application Number:
  US12/198,633
• Publication Number:
  US 20090019376A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,323 Days
• Field of Search: 715/847, 715/846, 715/742, 715/752, 715/758, 715748-749, 715/805, 715835-839, 715/745, 715/747, 715/811, 370/352, 370/395.54, 709/206, 709/224, 455/902, 713/150, 713/155, 713/168
• US Class Current: 715/758
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04812 Interaction techniques based on cursor appearance or behaviour, e.g. being affected by the presence of displayed objects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1813 for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms instant messaging H04L51/04; protocols for multimedia communication H04L65/1101; arrangements for multi-party communication H04L65/403; telephonic conference arrangements H04M3/56; television conference systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A stand-alone icon (i.e., an icon that is not part of an application interface) is provided to facilitate communications across a network between users of at least one communications program. The icon represents a contact or a set of contacts. Status information regarding the contact or set of contacts is received and displayed using the icon or in response to an operation performed on the icon. The icon additionally may provide an interface for performing actions related to the contact or set of contacts. The actions may generally include, for example, retrieving profile information about the contact, setting an alert to indicate that the contact'"'"'s network/login status (e.g., login, logout, or idle) has changed, or performing communications with the contact.

Claims

1. A method of facilitating communications across a network between users of at least one communications program including an instant messaging program, the method comprising:

providing a file that represents one or more contacts of a user in the instant messaging program, wherein an operating system represents the file as a stand-alone graphical object, that is configured to allow the user to perform an action otherwise available through an interface of the instant messaging program, regardless of whether the instant messaging program is running when an operation corresponding to the action is performed;

receiving status information regarding the one or more contacts from the instant messaging program; and

updating, regardless of whether the instant messaging program is running, a visual representation of the stand-alone graphical object in response to the received status information, such that the visual representation of the graphical object conveys the status information of the one or more contacts.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the status information comprises any of:

whether the one or more contacts is online, how long the one or more contacts has been online, whether the one or more contacts is away or busy, whether the one or more contacts is using a mobile device, what types of connections the one or more contacts can accept, what capabilities are provided by the one or more contacts'"'"' connection, or what capabilities are provided by the instant messaging program.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

detecting that a graphical object representing information to be transmitted to the one or more contacts has been dropped on the stand-alone graphical object, and

automatically transmitting the information represented by the dropped graphical object to the one or more contacts in response to the graphical object representing information to be transmitted being dropped on the stand-alone graphical object representing the one or more contacts.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the information to be transmitted comprises a file, such that the file is automatically transmitted to the one or more contacts in response to the graphical object representing the file being dropped on the stand-alone graphical object representing the one or more contacts.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the information to be transmitted comprises a textual message such that the textual message is automatically transmitted to the one or more contacts in response to the graphical object representing the textual message being dropped on the stand-alone graphical object representing the one or more contacts.

6. A tangible non-transitory computer-usable storage medium storing a computer program for facilitating communications across a network between users of at least one communications program including an instant messaging program, the computer program comprising instructions for causing a computer to:

provide a file that represents one or more contacts of a user in the instant messaging program, wherein an operating system represents the file as a stand-alone graphical object, that is configured to allow the user to perform an action otherwise available through an interface of the instant messaging program, regardless of whether the instant messaging program is running when an operation corresponding to the action is performed;

receive status information regarding the one or more contacts from the instant messaging program; and

update, regardless of whether the instant messaging program is running, a visual representation of the stand-alone graphical object in response to the received status information, such that the visual representation of the graphical object conveys the status information of the one or more contacts.

7. The tangible computer-usable storage medium of claim 6 wherein the status information comprises any of:

whether the one or more contacts is online, how long the one or more contacts has been online, whether the one or more contacts is away or busy, whether the one or more contacts is using a mobile device, what types of connections the one or more contacts can accept, what capabilities are provided by the one or more contacts'"'"' connection, or what capabilities are provided by the instant messaging program.

8. The tangible computer-usable storage medium of claim 6 further comprising:

detecting that a graphical object representing information to be transmitted to the one or more contacts has been dropped on the stand-alone graphical object, and

automatically transmitting the information represented by the dropped graphical object to the one or more contacts in response to the graphical object representing information to be transmitted being dropped on the stand-alone graphical object representing the one or more contacts.

9. The tangible computer-usable storage medium of claim 8 wherein the information to be transmitted comprises a file, such that the file is automatically transmitted to the one or more contacts in response to the stand-alone graphical object representing the file being dropped on the stand-alone graphical object representing the one or more contacts.

10. The tangible computer-usable storage medium of claim 8 wherein the information to be transmitted comprises a textual message such that the textual message is automatically transmitted to the one or more contacts in response to the graphical object representing the textual message being dropped on the stand-alone graphical object representing the one or more contacts.

11. A system for facilitating communications across a network between users of at least one communications program including an instant messenger, the system comprising:

means for providing a file that represents one or more contacts of a user in the instant messaging program, wherein an operating system represents the file as a stand-alone graphical object, that is configured to allow the user to perform an action otherwise available through an interface of the instant messaging program, regardless of whether the instant messaging program is running when an operation corresponding to the action is performed;

means for receiving status information regarding the one or more contacts from the instant messaging program; and

means for updating, regardless of whether the instant messaging program is running, a visual representation of the stand-alone graphical object in response to the received status information, such that the visual representation of the graphical object conveys the status information of the one or more contacts.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the status information comprises any of:

whether the one or more contacts is online, how long the one or more contacts has been online, whether the one or more contacts is away or busy, whether the one or more contacts is using a mobile device, what types of connections the one or more contacts can accept, what capabilities are provided by the one or more contacts'"'"' connection, or what capabilities are provided by the instant messaging program.

13. The system of claim 11 further comprising:

means for detecting that a graphical object representing information to be transmitted to the one or more contacts has been dropped on the stand-alone graphical object, and

means for automatically transmitting the information represented by the dropped graphical object to the one or more contacts in response to the graphical object representing information to be transmitted being dropped on the stand-alone graphical object representing the one or more contacts.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the information to be transmitted comprises a file, such that the file is automatically transmitted to the one or more contacts in response to the stand-alone graphical object representing the file being dropped on the stand-alone graphical object representing the one or more contacts.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein the information to be transmitted comprises a textual message such that the textual message is automatically transmitted to the one or more contacts in response to the graphical object representing the textual message being dropped on the stand-alone graphical object representing the one or more contacts.