Method, apparatus and computer program product for constructing topic structure in instance message meeting

• US 8,645,469 B2
• Filed: 02/02/2008
• Issued: 02/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AirBNB Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Chi, Chang Yan, Wang, Tian Shu, Xiao, Wen Peng
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, THU HA T
• Application Number:
  US12/025,020
• Publication Number:
  US 20080189375A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,194 Days
• Field of Search: 709/332, 709204-207, 707/513, 715/530, 715/733, 345/1.1
• US Class Current: 709/205
• 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 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes

Abstract

An instant messaging communication method, computer program product and apparatus. The instant messaging communication apparatus includes input means for inputting an instant message and a semantic tag for the instant message; a network module for transmitting the input instant message and semantic tag and receiving an instant message with a semantic tag; construction means for constructing a visual topic structural diagram of the transmitted and received instant messages according to the semantic tag; and display means for displaying the visual topic structural diagram. An embodiment of the communication apparatus provides structured guidance to the user'"'"'s discussion, directs the user to make pertinent announcement and enables the user to easily sum up the main points of the discussion from the log through a visualized topic structural diagram.

Claims

1. An instant messaging communication method, comprising:

inputting a first instant message and a first semantic tag of said instant message;

encoding the first semantic tag in one of a header and a tail of the first instant message;

transmitting the first instant message with the encoded first semantic tag;

receiving a second instant message with a second semantic tag encoded in one of a header and a tail of the second instant message;

constructing a visual topic structural diagram of the transmitted and received first and second instant messages according to the first and second semantic tags; and

displaying the visual topic structural diagram.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

storing the transmitted and received first and second instant messages in a log;

selecting a selected semantic tag in a visual topic structural diagram; and

filtering from the log instant messages associated with the selected semantic tag.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

displaying said filtered instant messages in a separate display region.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein inputting the semantic tag of the instant message further comprises:

designating the first semantic tag for the first instant message by an instant messaging user.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of inputting the semantic tag of the instant message further comprises:

recommending to an instant messaging user possible semantic tags of the first instant message according to classification and study of the first instant message'"'"'s text contents, the instant messaging user selecting the first semantic tag therefrom.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the semantic tag is one of a basic Issue Based Information System (IBIS) tag and a user self-defined semantic tag.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the visual topic structural diagram is one of an Issue Based Information System (IBIS) chart, a mind map and a tree map.

19. The method according to claim 1, further comprising selecting the first semantic tag from a plurality of displayed icons representing different semantic tags.

20. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first semantic tag indicates the semantic meaning content of the first instant message.

21. The method according to claim 1, wherein the visual topic structural diagram is displayed in a visual topic structural region of a user interface, the user interface including a user input region to input instant messages and semantic tags of the instant messages, a flow type log region to display a message log arranged in time, a focus log region to display the instant message log filtered according to the semantic logs, and a visual topic structural region to display the visual topic structural diagram.

8. An instant messaging communication apparatus, comprising:

a central processing unit;

an input unit for inputting a first instant message and a first semantic tag for the instant message;

a network module for transmitting the first input instant message with the first semantic tag encoded in one of a header and a tail of the first instant message, and receiving a second instant message with a second semantic tag encoded in one of a header and a tail of the second instant message;

a construction unit for constructing a visual topic structural diagram of the transmitted and received first and second instant messages according to the first and second semantic tags; and

a display unit for displaying the visual topic structural diagram.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising:

a storage unit for storing the transmitted and received first and second instant messages with semantic tags in a message log;

the input unit further for selecting a semantic tag in a visual topic structural diagram; and

a filter unit for filtering from the message log the instant message(s) associated with the selected semantic tag.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, said display unit further displays said filtered instant messages in a separate display region.

11. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the input unit is further configured to designate the first semantic tag of said first instant message.

12. The apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising:

recommendation unit for recommending to an instant messaging user possible semantic tags of the first instant message according to classification and study of the first instant message'"'"'s text contents, instant messaging the user selecting the first semantic tag therefrom.

13. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the semantic tag is one of a basic Issue Based Information System (IBIS) tag and a user self-defined semantic tag.

14. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the visual topic structural diagram is one of an Issue Based Information System (IBIS) chart, a mind map and a tree map.

15. An instant messaging communication apparatus, comprising:

a central processing unit;

an input unit for inputting a first instant message and a first semantic tag for the instant message;

a network module for transmitting the input first instant message with the first semantic tag encoded in one of a header and a tail of the first instant message, and receiving a second instant message with a second semantic tag encoded in one of a header and a tail of the second instant message; and

a display for displaying a user-interactive user interface, the display being divided into a user input region, a log region and a visual topic structural region;

the user input region configured to input the first instant message and the first semantic tag of the first instant message;

the log region configured to display an instant message log; and

the visual topic structural region configured to display a visual topic structural diagram of the first and second instant messages in the instant message log as constructed according to the first and second semantic tags.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the display displays in the log region, after the user selects the first semantic tag in the visual topic structural diagram, instant messages filtered from the instant message log that are associated with the selected first semantic tag.

17. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the display is further provided with a focus log region, after the user selects the first semantic tag in the visual topic structural diagram, the display displays, in the focus log region, the instant messages filtered from the message log that are associated with the selected first semantic tag.

18. A computer program product embodied in non-transitory computer readable memory comprising:

computer readable program codes coupled to the computer readable memory for communicating instant messages, the computer readable program codes configured to cause the program to;

input a first instant message and a first semantic tag of said instant message;

encode the first semantic tag in one of a header and a tail of the first instant message;

transmit the first instant message with the encoded first semantic tag;

receive a second instant message with a second semantic tag encoded in one of a header and a tail of the second instant message;

construct a visual topic structural diagram of the transmitted and received first and second instant messages according to the first and second semantic tags; and

display the visual topic structural diagram.