Integration system providing conversation messages and social network posts by conversation message authors to client

• US 8,892,666 B1
• Filed: 08/26/2011
• Issued: 11/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Jackson, Todd Christopher, Ho, Edward Shichung, Knichel, Mark, Chang, Emily
• Primary Examiner(s): Lazaro, David
• Application Number:
  US13/218,724
• Time in Patent Office: 1,180 Days
• Field of Search: 709/205, 709/206, 709/207
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services

Abstract

A server system having one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs for execution by the one or more processors receives from a client device a request, the request comprising a request for message content from one or more email messages in a conversation thread. The server system responds to the request by identifying the message content, identifying candidate authors, and obtaining qualifying posts by the candidate authors, the qualifying posts satisfying predefined criteria. The server system furthermore selects a subset of the qualifying posts, and prepares the selected subset of the qualifying posts and the message content for concurrent display at the client device.

Claims

1. A method, performed by a server having one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs for execution by the one or more processors, comprising:

at the server;

receiving from a client device a request, the request comprising a request for message content from one or more email messages in a conversation thread; and

responding to the request by;

identifying the message content from the one or more email messages in the conversation thread;

identifying candidate authors in accordance with the request;

obtaining qualifying social network posts by the candidate authors, the qualifying social network posts satisfying predefined criteria, wherein the qualifying social network posts are distinct from the conversation thread and distinct from email messages;

selecting a subset of the qualifying social network posts, including social network posts by a plurality of distinct authors of the candidate authors; and

preparing the selected subset of the qualifying social network posts and the message content for concurrent display at the client device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the request received from the client device further comprises a request for information corresponding to one or more social network posts authored by one or more participants in the conversation thread.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the candidate authors comprises identifying two or more candidate authors specified by the received request.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the candidate authors comprises identifying two or more authors of messages in the conversation thread.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the candidate authors comprises identifying two or more participants in the conversation thread.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the predefined criteria includes that the qualifying social network posts are accessible by a user associated with the client device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the predefined criteria includes a recency criteria.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the predefined criteria includes that each qualifying social network post is a most recent social network post by a corresponding candidate author.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the candidate authors are participants in the conversation thread, and selecting the subset of the qualifying social network posts comprises identifying a maximum number of the qualifying social network posts to be selected in accordance with a number of participants in the conversation thread.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the candidate authors are participants in the conversation thread, and selecting the subset of the qualifying social network posts comprises identifying a maximum number of the qualifying social network posts to be selected in accordance with a number of distinct message authors in the conversation thread.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting the subset of the qualifying social network posts in accordance with a number of times one or more social network posts from a respective candidate author has been displayed at the client device.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein each qualifying social network post corresponds to a respective social network object for display at the client device, the method further comprising:

in response to receiving from the client device a selection of a respective affordance, wherein a respective affordance corresponds to a portion of a respective social network object, causing to be performed at the client device;

displaying a respective social network page of the candidate author corresponding to the respective social network object, or

adjusting a score of the social network post corresponding to the respective social network object.

13. A computer system, comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory storing one or more programs for execution by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including instructions for;

receiving from a client device a request, the request comprising a request for message content from one or more email messages in a conversation thread; and

responding to the request by;

identifying the message content from the one or more email messages in the conversation thread;

identifying candidate authors in accordance with the request;

obtaining qualifying social network posts by the candidate authors, the qualifying social network posts satisfying predefined criteria, wherein the qualifying social network posts are distinct from the conversation thread and distinct from email messages;

selecting a subset of the qualifying social network posts, including social network posts by a plurality of distinct authors of the candidate authors; and

preparing the selected subset of the qualifying social network posts and the message content for concurrent display at the client device.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the instructions for identifying the candidate authors include instructions for identifying two or more authors of messages in the conversation thread.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the instructions for identifying the candidate authors include instructions for identifying two or more participants in the conversation thread.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the predefined criteria includes that each qualifying social network post is a most recent social network post by a corresponding candidate author.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more programs include instructions for selecting the subset of the qualifying social network posts in accordance with a number of times one or more social network posts from a respective candidate author has been displayed at the client device.

18. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured for execution by one or more processors of a computer system, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:

receiving from a client device a request, the request comprising a request for message content from one or more email messages in a conversation thread; and

responding to the request by;

identifying the message content from the one or more email messages in the conversation thread;

identifying candidate authors in accordance with the request;

obtaining qualifying social network posts by the candidate authors, the qualifying social network posts satisfying predefined criteria, wherein the qualifying social network posts are distinct from the conversation thread and distinct from email messages;

selecting a subset of the qualifying social network posts, including social network posts by a plurality of distinct authors of the candidate authors; and

preparing the selected subset of the qualifying social network posts and the message content for concurrent display at the client device.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions for identifying the candidate authors include instructions for identifying two or more authors of messages in the conversation thread.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions for identifying the candidate authors include instructions for identifying two or more participants in the conversation thread.

21. The computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the one or more programs include instructions for selecting the subset of the qualifying social network posts in accordance with a number of times one or more social network posts from a respective candidate author has been displayed at the client device.