Providing access to a conversation in a hosted conversation system

• US 8,639,762 B2
• Filed: 03/22/2010
• Issued: 01/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Rasmussen, Jens Eilstrup, Rasmussen, Lars Eilstrup
• Primary Examiner(s): Backer, Firmin
• Assistant Examiner(s): BUI, JONATHAN A
• Application Number:
  US12/729,095
• Publication Number:
  US 20100241718A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,408 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/205, 709/206
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• 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 12/1822 Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1831 Tracking arrangements for later retrieval, e.g. recording contents, participants activities or behavior, network status
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/043 using or handling presence information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/046 Interoperability with other network applications or services

Abstract

A server system hosts a plurality of conversations, each having an identified set of participants. For a respective conversation, the server provides content of the conversation to the participants of the conversation. The server receives content from each of a plurality of participants of the conversation and transmits the received content to the other participants of the plurality of participants. Upon an additional participant being added to the conversation, the server provides content of the conversation to the additional participant that includes all content provided to the identified set of participants, and adds the additional participant to the identified set of participants.

Claims

1. A method of hosting electronic conversations, comprising:

at a computer system having one or more processors and memory storing programs for execution by the one or more processors, hosting a plurality of conversations, each having an identified set of participants, the hosting including, for a respective conversation;

providing content of the conversation to the identified set of participants of the conversation, including;

receiving content representing a portion of the conversation from one or more participants of the identified set of participants of the conversation; and

transmitting the received content to the other participants of the identified set of participants;

while a first participant of the identified set of participants is providing or editing a portion of the content of the conversation;

enabling a second participant of the identified set of participants to edit the portion of the content; and

after the conversation between the first participant and the second participant has begun for a time period;

adding an additional participant to the conversation by;

providing content of the conversation to the additional participant that includes all content provided to the identified set of participants;

adding the additional participant to the identified set of participants; and

enabling the additional participant to edit the content of the conversation, including content added to the conversation before the additional participant was added to the identified set of participants;

wherein the plurality of conversations including the conversation are instant messaging conversations, and participants in the conversation are instant messaging participants.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

maintaining, for a respective user of the computer system, a full list of conversations in which the user is a participant;

updating a status of each respective conversation in the full list of conversations when a state of the respective conversation changes; and

sending to the user a first list that comprises at least a portion of the full list of conversations in which the user is a participant, the first list sent to the user including status information for the listed conversations.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising:

maintaining, for a subscriber of the computer system, a full list of conversations in which the subscriber is a participant;

updating a status of a respective conversation in the full list of conversations when a state of the respective conversation changes; and

sending to the subscriber a first list that comprises at least a portion of the full list of conversations in which the subscriber is a participant, the first list sent to the subscriber including status information for the listed conversations.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the content of the conversation includes:

providing presence information, the presence information including online presence of the one or more participants from whom content is received.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising, for a respective conversation of the plurality of conversations:

maintaining, for a respective participant of the respective conversation, a state of the respective conversation in regard to the respective participant; and

providing, to the respective participant, the state of the respective conversation in regard to the respective participant.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein providing the state of the respective conversation in regard to the respective participant includes:

providing read status of content of the respective conversation in regard to the respective participant.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein providing the state of the respective conversation in regard to the respective participant includes:

providing labels, if any, specified by the respective participant for the respective conversation.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein providing the state of the respective conversation in regard to the respective participant includes:

providing information indicating that the respective participant has chosen not to be notified of an update to content of the respective conversation.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein providing the state of the respective conversation in regard to the respective participant includes:

providing formatting information corresponding to the state of the respective conversation, for displaying the respective conversation or a portion thereof.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the content of the conversation includes:

formatting content of the conversation to be compatible with one or more content types that a client device associated with a respective participant of the identified set of participants has been configured to receive; and

transmitting the formatted content to the client device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein formatting content of the conversation includes at least one of:

compressing multimedia data associated with the formatted content, providing a subset of multimedia data associated with the formatted content, and

removing multimedia data associated with the formatted content.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the computer system, a search request from a participant of the conversation; and

providing, to the participant, a search result, including content from at least one conversation of the plurality of conversations, in response to the search request.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the computer system, a search request from a participant of the conversation; and

in response to receiving the search request;

providing, to the participant, a search result identifying one or more conversations that match the search request.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing, at the computer system, for a respective participant of the identified set of participants, a contact list associated with the respective participant.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the conversation includes a plurality of content units;

the method further comprising;

prior to providing a content to a participant of the conversation,

verifying that the participant is authorized to receive the content.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified set of participants of the conversation includes:

one or more subscribers of the computer system, and

an email participant identified by an email address.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified set of participants of the conversation includes:

one or more subscribers of the computer system, and

a web log on which content of the conversation is posted.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the first participant and the second participant modify the same instance of the portion of the content of the conversation.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the content of the conversation includes:

a message entered by a participant of the identified set of participants; and

one or more responses to the message entered by another participant of the identified set of participants.

18. A hosted conversation system, comprising:

a computer system, the computer system including;

one or more processors;

memory; and

one or more programs, stored in the memory, for execution by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including;

instructions for hosting a plurality of conversations, each having an identified set of participants, the instructions for hosting including, for a respective conversation;

instructions for providing content of a conversation to the identified set of participants of the conversation, including;

instructions for receiving content representing a portion of the conversation from one or more participants of the identified set of participants of the conversation; and

instructions for transmitting the received content to the other participants of the identified set of participants;

instructions for, while a first participant of the identified set of participants is providing or editing a portion of the content of the conversation;

enabling a second participant of the identified set of participants to edit the portion of the content; and

instructions for, after the conversation between the first participant and the second participant has begun for a time period;

adding an additional participant to the conversation by;

providing content of the conversation to the additional participant that includes all content provided to the identified set of participants;

adding the additional participant to the identified set of participants; and

enabling the additional participant to edit the content of the conversation, including content added to the conversation before the additional participant was added to the identified set of participants;

wherein the plurality of conversations including the conversation are instant messaging conversations, and participants in the conversation are instant messaging participants.

19. The hosted conversation system of claim 18,

wherein the computer system is one of a set of computer systems that host electronic conversations,

wherein a respective computer system of the set of computer systems is associated with a different subset of users, and

the respective computer system includes instructions for hosting, at the respective computer system, conversations initiated by a subset of users associated with the respective computer system.

20. The hosted conversation system of claim 18, wherein the instructions for providing content of the conversation to the identified set of participants includes include:

instructions for providing a uniform view of the conversation to a plurality of participants of the identified set of participants.

21. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored therein instructions, which when executed by one or more processors in a computer system, cause the computer system to:

host a plurality of conversations, each having an identified set of participants, by;

providing content of a conversation in the plurality of conversations to the identified set of participants associated with the conversation, including;

receiving content from one or more participants of the identified set of participants; and

transmitting the received content to the other participants of the identified set of participants;

while a first participant of the identified set of participants is providing or editing a portion of the content of the conversation;

enabling a second participant of the identified set of participants to edit the portion of the content; and

after the conversation between the first participant and the second participant has begun for a time period;

adding an additional participant to the conversation by;

providing content of the conversation to the additional participant that includes all content provided to the identified set of participants;

adding the additional participant to the identified set of participants; and

enabling the additional participant to edit the content of the conversation, including content added to the conversation before the additional participant was added to the identified set of participants;

wherein the plurality of conversations including the conversation are instant messaging conversations, and participants in the conversation are instant messaging participants.