Adding co-users to user definable co-user lists
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- maintaining, in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, a list of co-users of a communications system, wherein the list of co-users;
is associated with a user of the communications system; and
is provided to the user with indications of whether one or more co-users on the list of co-users are logged into the communications system;
receiving one or more search criteria for locating another user of the communications system;
searching, using the at least one processor, a directory of users using the one or more search criteria; and
adding an additional user found searching the directory to the list of co-users.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A real time notification system that tracks, for each user, the logon status of selected co-users of an on-line or network system and displays that information in real time to the tracking user in a unique graphical interface. The invention provides user definable on-line co-user lists, or “buddy lists”, that track specific co-users in real-time automatically. A user can create many separate buddy lists of co-users, either with intersecting or disjoint lists of users, and label these buddy lists according to the user'"'"'s preference. The user can update a buddy list or create new buddy lists whenever necessary. When a user to logs on to a system, the user'"'"'s set of buddy lists is presented to the buddy list system. The buddy list system attempts to match co-users currently logged into the system with the entries on the user'"'"'s buddy list. Any matches are displayed to the user. As co-users logon and logoff, a user'"'"'s buddy list is updated to reflect these changes. An indication can also be added to show that a co-user just logged on or just left the system.
59 Citations
48 Claims
-
1. A method comprising:
-
maintaining, in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, a list of co-users of a communications system, wherein the list of co-users; is associated with a user of the communications system; and is provided to the user with indications of whether one or more co-users on the list of co-users are logged into the communications system; receiving one or more search criteria for locating another user of the communications system; searching, using the at least one processor, a directory of users using the one or more search criteria; and adding an additional user found searching the directory to the list of co-users. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including a set of instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to perform steps comprising:
-
maintaining a list of co-users of a communications system, wherein the list of co-users; is associated with a user of the communications system, and is provided to the user with indications of whether one or more co-users on the list of co-users are logged into the communications system; receiving one or more search criteria for locating another user of the communications system; searching a directory of users using the one or more search criteria; and adding to the list of co-users, an additional user found searching the directory. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
-
-
25. A method comprising:
-
maintaining, in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, a list of co-users of a communications system, wherein the list of co-users; is associated with a user of the communications system; and is provided to the user with indications of whether one or more co-users on the list of co-users are logged into the communications system; providing, to the user, a status on the communications system of one or more co-users on the list of co-users; receiving one or more search criteria for locating another user of the communications system; searching, using a processor, a directory of users of the communications system using the one or more search criteria; and enabling the user to send an electronic message to an additional user found searching the directory of users of the communications system. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
-
-
37. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including a set of instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to perform steps comprising:
-
maintaining a list of co-users of a communications system, wherein the list of co-users; is associated with a user of the communications system; and is provided to the user with indications of whether one or more co-users on the list of co-users are logged into the communications system; providing, to the user, a status on the communications system of one or more co-users on the list of co-users; receiving one or more search criteria for locating another user of the communications system; searching a directory of users of the communications system using the one or more search criteria; and enabling the user to send an electronic message to an additional user found searching the directory of users of the communications system. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
-
Specification