Method and system for managing destination addresses

• US 8,880,730 B2
• Filed: 02/16/2006
• Issued: 11/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Synchronica PLC (Myriad Group AG)
• Original Assignee: Synchronica PLC (Myriad Group AG)
• Inventors: Regnier, Jean, Vachon, Gaetan, Zender, Joerg Christof, Hebert, Patrice, Laflamme, Manuel
• Primary Examiner(s): Dalencourt, Yves
• Application Number:
  US11/356,462
• Publication Number:
  US 20070055742A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,183 Days
• Field of Search: 709/214, 709/245
• US Class Current: 709/245
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/043 using or handling presence information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2757 by data transmission, e.g. downloading

Abstract

A method for downloading destination addresses associated with a given client device from a server to the client device is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of determining a resource limitation of the client device, sorting the addresses, and transmitting a subset of the sorted addresses from the server to the device, wherein the transmitted sorted address subset is determined by the resource limitation.

There is also provided a system and server for supporting Instant Messaging (IM). The system comprises a telecommunications network interconnecting a plurality of IM clients and an IM server, the plurality of IM clients configured to exchange instant messages with one another via the telecommunications network and the IM server, each of the IM clients having an associated IM address, the IM server comprising a memory for storing a plurality of IM addresses, a set of the IM addresses corresponding to each of the IM clients and wherein a given set comprises at least one IM address other than an IM address of the IM client to which the given set corresponds, wherein on occurrence of a triggering event associated with a particular IM client the IM server selects a subset of the IM addresses from the set of addresses corresponding to the particular IM client based on a resource limitation of the particular IM client and transmits the selected IM address subset to the particular IM client.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

retrieving a contact list for a client device using one or more servers, the contact list comprising a plurality of addresses for a corresponding plurality of contacts corresponding to a plurality of users, and wherein each address has a corresponding presence attribute indicating a current status of the corresponding contact;

determining a resource limitation of the client device by the one or more servers;

sorting, at least in part, the addresses for a plurality of users according to their corresponding presence attributes, by the one or more servers;

transmitting, at least in part, a subset of the sorted addresses to the client device by the one or more servers, wherein the transmitted subset is determined based on the resource limitation; and

wherein the sorting the addresses further comprises prioritizing the addresses for a plurality of users according to their corresponding presence attributes, and

the transmitting a subset further comprises transmitting a subset of prioritized addresses for a corresponding plurality of users from the one or more servers to the client device in order of their priority.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the current status of a contact may be an online status, and the transmitted subset comprises addresses that have an online presence attribute.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the current status of a contact may be one of a plurality of different statuses selected from the group consisting of online, busy, away and offline, and the sorting of the addresses comprises, at least in part, a prioritizing of addresses having an online presence attribute as highest, addresses having a busy presence attribute as second highest, addresses having an away presence attribute as third highest and addresses having an offline presence attribute as lower.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the client device and the one or more servers are interconnected via at least one wireless communications transport and the resource limitation is a speed of the wireless communications transport.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the client device comprises a memory allocated for storing a received message, and the resource limitation is a number of messages configured to be stored in the memory.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the client device comprises a memory allocated for storing the transmitted subset, and the resource limitation is a number of addresses configured to be stored in the memory.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

updating the transmitted subset when the corresponding presence attribute of at least one of the addresses changes.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating, at least in part, of the transmitted subset periodically.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein:

the updating further comprises sorting the addresses according to their corresponding presence attributes and transmitting a subset of the sorted addresses from the one or more servers to the client device, and the transmitted sorted subset is determined by the resource limitation.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the sorted addresses of the transmitted subset have a common corresponding presence attribute.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the resource limitation is that each address of the transmitted subset has the same corresponding presence attribute.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a plurality of predefined client device types prior to determining the resource limitation, each of the predefined client device types comprising at least one predetermined resource limitation, wherein determining the resource limitation comprises identifying a type of the client device and correlating the identified type with one of the predefined client device types.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

logging in of the client device into the one or more servers prior to determining the resource limitation, wherein the at least one resource limitation is provided by the client device to the one or more servers during the logging in.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

providing a plurality of predefined client device types, each of the predefined client device types comprising at least one predetermined resource limitation, wherein;

the logging in comprises the client device providing a client device type to the one or more servers, and the determining the resource limitation comprises correlating the provided client device type with one of the predefined client device types.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein a number of addresses in the transmitted subset of prioritized addresses is determined based on the resource limitation.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the client device and the one or more servers are interconnected via at least one wireless communications transport and the resource limitation is a speed of the wireless communications transport.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the client device comprises a memory allocated for storing a received message, and the resource limitation is a number of messages configured to be stored in the memory.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the client device comprises a memory allocated for storing the transmitted subset, and the resource limitation is a number of addresses configured to be stored in the memory.

19. A server computer, comprising:

a memory for storing a contact list for a client device, the contact list comprising a plurality of addresses for a corresponding plurality of contacts corresponding to a plurality of users, and wherein each address has a corresponding presence attribute indicating a current status of the corresponding contact;

a transmitter for transmitting at least a portion of the plurality of addresses to the client device;

a processor coupled with said memory and with said transmitter, for determining a resource limitation of the client device, sorting the addresses of a plurality of users according to their corresponding presence attributes, and causing said transmitter to transmit a subset of the sorted addresses to the client device, wherein the transmitted subset is determined based on the resource limitation; and

wherein said processor sorts the addresses by prioritizing the addresses for a plurality of users according to their corresponding presence attributes, and wherein said processor causes said transmitter to transmit a subset of prioritized addresses for a corresponding plurality of users to the client device in order of their priority.

20. The server computer of claim 19, wherein the current status of a contact may be an online status, and wherein the transmitted subset comprises addresses that have an online presence attribute.

21. The server computer of claim 19, wherein the current status of a contact may be one of a plurality of different statuses selected from the group consisting of online, busy, away and offline, and wherein said processor sorts the addresses by prioritizing addresses having an online presence attribute as highest, addresses having a busy presence attribute as second highest, addresses having an away presence attribute as third highest and addresses having an offline presence attribute as lower.

22. The server computer of claim 19, wherein the client device is connected to the server computer via at least one wireless communications transport, and wherein the resource limitation is a speed of the wireless communications transport.

23. The server computer of claim 19, wherein the client device includes a memory for storing received messages, and wherein the resource limitation is a number of messages configured to be stored in the client memory.

24. The server computer of claim 19, wherein the client device includes a memory for storing the transmitted subset, and the resource limitation is a number of addresses configured to be stored in the memory.

25. The server computer of claim 19 wherein said processor updates the transmitted subset when the corresponding presence attribute of at least one of the addresses changes.

26. The server computer of claim 25, wherein said processor updates the transmitted subset by sorting the addresses according to their corresponding presence attributes, wherein said processor causes said transmitter to transmit a subset of the sorted addresses to the client device, and wherein the transmitted sorted subset is determined by the resource limitation.

27. The server computer of claim 19, wherein said processor periodically updates the transmitted subset.

28. The server computer of claim 19, wherein the sorted addresses of the transmitted subset have a common corresponding presence attribute.

29. The server computer of claim 19, wherein the resource limitation is that each address of the transmitted subset has the same corresponding presence attribute.

30. The server computer of claim 19, wherein said memory stores a plurality of predefined client device types, each of the predefined client device types comprising at least one predetermined resource limitation, and wherein said processor determines the resource limitation by identifying a type of the client device and correlating the identified type with one of the predefined client device types.

31. The server computer of claim 19, wherein said processor causes a logging in of the client device to the server computer prior to determining the resource limitation, and wherein the at least one resource limitation is provided by the client device to the server computer during the logging in.

32. The server computer of claim 31, wherein said memory stores a plurality of predefined client device types, each of the predefined client device types comprising at least one predetermined resource limitation, wherein the client device provides a client device type to the server computer after logging in thereto, and wherein said processor determines the resource limitation by correlating the provided client device type with one of the predefined client device types.

33. The server computer of claim 19, wherein a number of addresses in the transmitted subset of prioritized addresses is determined based on the resource limitation.

34. The server computer of claim 33, wherein the client device is connected to the server computer via at least one wireless communications transport, and wherein the resource limitation is a speed of the wireless communications transport.

35. The server computer of claim 33, wherein the client device includes a memory for storing received messages, and wherein the resource limitation is a number of messages configured to be stored in the client memory.

36. The server computer of claim 33, wherein the client device includes a memory for storing the transmitted subset, and the resource limitation is a number of addresses configured to be stored in the memory.