System and method for managing and displaying data messages

• US 8,656,289 B1
• Filed: 06/18/2012
• Issued: 02/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/03/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TweetDeck, Inc. (X Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: TweetDeck, Inc. (X Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Dodsworth, Iain Gregory
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Cao Kevin
• Application Number:
  US13/525,758
• Time in Patent Office: 610 Days
• Field of Search: 715/751, 715/805, 715763-765, 715851-853, 715/809, 715/753, 715792-793
• US Class Current: 715/751
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/134 Hyperlinking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 7/06 Arrangements for sorting, selecting, merging, or comparing data on individual record carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• 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 51/52 for supporting social networking services

Abstract

A system and method for managing and displaying data messages includes a computing device configured to receive stream data, assign data messages of the stream data to one or more display columns of a graphical user interface, and display the data messages in the assigned columns. The stream data may be embodied as short data messages such as text messages having predetermined maximum character length. The data messages may be assigned to the display columns based on meta-data associated with the data messages such as the author of the data message, the source of the data message, and/or the type of the data message.

Claims

1. A method for displaying messages, comprising:

receiving, by a computing device, a plurality of broadcast messages;

displaying, on a display screen, an indication of each of the plurality of broadcast messages in a first column of a plurality of columns;

identifying, by the computing device, a subset of the plurality of broadcast messages each associated with an explicit mention of a user;

assigning, based on the explicit mention of the user and by the computing device, each of the subset of the plurality of broadcast messages to a second column of the plurality of columns; and

displaying, on the display screen, an indication of each of the subset of the plurality of broadcast messages in the second column.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a plurality of short text messages among the plurality of broadcast messages; and

identifying, in meta-data associated with the plurality of short text messages, a predefined maximum number of characters of the plurality of short text messages, wherein displaying the indication of each of the plurality of broadcast messages is based on the maximum number of characters.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining meta-data associated with each of the plurality of broadcast messages; and

assigning, based at least on the meta-data, a second subset of the plurality of broadcast messages to a third column of the plurality of columns.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the meta-data identifies an author of each of the plurality of broadcast messages, and wherein the method further comprises:

displaying, in the graphical user interface, a name of the author of each of the plurality of broadcast messages in its assigned column.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from a user, a selection of filter data associated with a column of the plurality of columns; and

filtering, based on the selection, a subset of the plurality of broadcast messages displayed in the column.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a timestamp of each of the plurality of broadcast messages, wherein the indications of the plurality of broadcast messages are displayed vertically in chronological order of the timestamps.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein each broadcast message of the subset comprises the explicit mention within message text of the broadcast message.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein identifying the subset of the plurality of broadcast messages comprises:

searching message text of the plurality of broadcast messages to identify the explicit mention.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the first column and the second column are displayed simultaneously in a graphical user interface on the display screen.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, in the meta-data, a source of each of the plurality of broadcast messages, wherein assigning the second subset of the plurality of broadcast messages to the third column of the plurality of columns is based on the source.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the source is a communication service provider, and wherein the meta-data comprises a uniform resource locator (URL) of the communication service provider.

7. A system for processing messages, comprising:

a computer processor; and

an application executing on the computer processor and configured to;

receive a plurality of broadcast messages;

assign the plurality of broadcast messages to a first column of a plurality of columns, wherein an indication of each of the plurality of broadcast messages is displayed in the first column;

identify a subset of the plurality of broadcast messages each associated with an explicit mention of a user;

assign, based on the explicit mention of the user, each of the subset of the plurality of broadcast messages to a second column of the plurality of columns; and

transmit each of the subset of the plurality of broadcast messages for display, wherein an indication of each of the subset of the plurality of broadcast messages is displayed in the second column.

8. The system of claim 7, the application further configured to:

identify a plurality of short text messages among the plurality of broadcast messages; and

identify, in meta-data associated with the plurality of short text messages, a predefined maximum number of characters of the plurality of short text messages, wherein the indication of each of the plurality of broadcast messages is displayed based on the maximum number of characters.

9. The system of claim 7, the application further configured to:

obtain meta-data associated with each of the plurality of broadcast messages; and

assign, based at least on the meta-data, a second subset of the plurality of broadcast messages to a third column of the plurality of columns.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the meta-data identifies an author of each of the plurality of broadcast messages, and wherein the application is further configured to:

transmit a name of the author of each of the plurality of broadcast messages for display with its assigned column.

11. The system of claim 7, the application further configured to:

receive a selection of filter data associated with a column of the plurality of columns; and

filter, based on the selection, a different subset of the plurality of broadcast messages displayed in the column.

12. The system of claim 7, the application further configured to:

identify a timestamp of each of the plurality of broadcast messages, wherein the indications of the plurality of broadcast messages are displayed vertically in chronological order of the timestamps.

13. The system of claim 7, wherein the plurality of broadcast messages are transmitted to a client computing device, and wherein the client computing device displays the plurality of columns in a graphical user interface.

14. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising a plurality of instructions for processing messages, the plurality of instructions comprising functionality to:

receive a plurality of broadcast messages;

display an indication of each of the plurality of broadcast messages in a first column of a plurality of columns;

identify a subset of the plurality of broadcast messages each associated with an explicit mention of a user;

assign, based on the explicit mention of the user, each of the subset of the plurality of broadcast messages to a second column of the plurality of columns; and

display an indication of each of the subset of the plurality of broadcast messages in the second column.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14, the plurality of instructions further comprising functionality to:

identify a plurality of short text messages among the plurality of broadcast messages; and

identify, in meta-data associated with the plurality of short text messages, a predefined maximum number of characters of the plurality of short text messages, wherein displaying the indication of each of the plurality of broadcast messages is based on the maximum number of characters.