Selectively organizing a recipient list based on external group data

• US 8,566,319 B2
• Filed: 12/30/2010
• Issued: 10/22/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Abrams, Zachary W., Marum, Matthew G., Ross, Pamela S., Speicher, Steven K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoang, Son T
• Application Number:
  US12/981,620
• Publication Number:
  US 20120173526A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,027 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/737
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

An ungrouped list associated with a communication artifact can be identified. The information can be associated with a recipient, which can be a user registered within a computing system. Group data information associated with an external source can be received. The source can be a data source not associated with the artifact. The group data can include a group and/or a contact identifier. Recipient information from the recipient list can be associated with a group identifier if the recipient identifier is equivalent to the contact identifier within the group data. A grouped list can be generated from the associated data. A grouped list can be presented within an interface. The presenting can present recipient information within a logical grouping for at least a portion of the recipients of the ungrouped list. The grouping can be an organization of recipient information associated with the group identifier.

Claims

1. A method utilizing a computer processor to implement steps comprising:

identifying an ungrouped recipient list associated with a communication artifact for a user, wherein the ungrouped recipient list is comprised of recipient information associated with at least one recipient;

receiving group data from an external source, wherein the external source is a data source not associated with the communication artifact, wherein the received group data comprises information of contacts associated with the user and associated grouping information of the contacts;

mapping the recipient information for at least a portion of the recipients of the ungrouped recipient list to the received group data;

associating the mapped recipient information to a particular group contained in the group data based on the mapping;

generating a grouped recipient list based on the associating; and

presenting the ungrouped and grouped recipient lists simultaneously within an interface of the communication artifact to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the data source is a communication application.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the communication application is at least one of a calendaring application, a social networking application, a text exchange application, and an address book application.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the communication application is at least one of an IBM LOTUS SAMETIME application and an IBM LOTUS NOTES application.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication artifact is an email, a meeting invite, a calendar event, distribution list, and a text exchange.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the group data is manually selected by the user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the grouped recipient list is user customizable upon presentation.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting visually distinct recipient information within a logical grouping for all of the recipients of the ungrouped recipient list.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least a portion of the recipients of the ungrouped recipient list is associated with a logical grouping, wherein the logical grouping is an inverse grouping of recipients that are not listed in a contact list of a user.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the recipient information comprises a recipient name, a recipient identifier, or a recipient name and a recipient identifier associated with the at least one recipient.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the grouped recipient list comprises grouping the recipient information within a logical grouping for at least the portion of the recipients of the ungrouped list, wherein the grouping is an organization of the recipient information associated with the group identifier.

10. A system comprising:

a computer processor;

a computer memory, in communication with the computer processor, having program codes related to;

a grouping engine for;

transforming an ungrouped recipient list for a communication artifact associated with a user into a grouped recipient list,

wherein the ungrouped and grouped recipient lists comprises of recipient information, wherein each recipient within the ungrouped recipient list is associated with a group if the recipient is present within group data; and

presenting the ungrouped and grouped recipient lists simultaneously within an interface of the communication artifact to the user; and

a data store for persisting the group data from an external source, wherein the external source is a data source not associated with the communication artifact, wherein the group data comprises information of contacts associated with the user and associated grouping information of the contacts.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the grouped recipient list is persisted within the data store.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the data store is associated with a directory server.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the grouping engine is an IBM WEBSPHERE server.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the the external source is at least one of an IBM LOTUS SAMETIME application and an IBM LOTUS NOTES application.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the communication artifact is an email, a meeting invite, a calendar event, distribution list, and a text exchange.

16. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

an application manager able to export the group data associated with a communication from the external source;

a list handler configured to identify a recipient within the ungrouped recipient list and determine an equivalent contact within the exported group data.

17. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer usable program code which when executed by a computer causes the computer to:

identify an ungrouped recipient list associated with a communication artifact for a user, wherein the ungrouped recipient list is comprised of recipient information associated with at least one recipient;

receive group data from an external source, wherein the external source is a data source not associated with the communication artifact, wherein the received group data comprises information of contacts associated with the user and associated grouping information of the contacts;

map the recipient information for at least a portion of the recipients of the ungrouped recipient list to the received group data;

associate the mapped recipient information to a particular group contained in the group data based on the mapping;

generate a grouped recipient list based on the associating; and

present the ungrouped and grouped recipient lists simultaneously within an interface of the communication artifact to the user.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the communication artifact is an email, a meeting invite, a calendar event, distribution list, and a text exchange.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the external data source is associated with a directory service.