Promoting communicant interactions in a network communications environment

• US 8,930,472 B2
• Filed: 08/15/2011
• Issued: 01/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sococo, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Social Communications Company
• Inventors: Leacock, Matthew, Van Wie, David, Brody, Paul J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Srivastava, Vivek
• Assistant Examiner(s): Abedin, Normin
• Application Number:
  US13/209,812
• Publication Number:
  US 20110302509A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,240 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/206, 709/223, 709/224, 709/225, 709/226
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/043 using or handling presence information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms

Abstract

In a network communication environment in which communicants operating from respective client network nodes connect to different server applications, communicants who are related to a target communicant are ascertained, statuses of the related communicants with respect to the different server applications are determined, and indications of the related communicants and the determined statuses of the related communicants are transmitted to the target communicant. Graphical representations of the related communicants and graphical indications of the statuses of the related communicants with respect to connections to the different server applications may be displayed on a display. A contact list including a respective graphical representation of each of one or more of the communicants also may be displayed in association with visual cues representing the ascertained types of current interaction activities respectively engaged in by the one or more communicants. A single universal user identifier may be used to identify each communicant.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

in a network communication environment in which communicants operating respective client network nodes connect to different server applications that are hosted by one or more server network nodes, wherein each server application supports realtime communications between co-present communicants in a respective virtual area comprising zones,

ascertaining ones of the communicants who are related to a target one of the communicants,

determining statuses of the ascertained communicants with respect to the different server applications,

generating a contact list comprising a linear sorted listing of the ascertained communicants, wherein the contact list groups the ascertained communicants into respective application groups according to their respective memberships in the virtual areas, and within each application group the contact list further groups ones of the ascertained communicants who are co-present in respective zones of the respective virtual area into respective zones of co-presence and prioritizes the listing of co-present ones of the communicants in the zones of co-presence ahead of non-co-present ones of the ascertained communicants who are present in respective ones of the zones of the respective virtual area in which fewer than two communicants are present,

to the client network node of the target communicant, transmitting the contact list, the determined statuses of the ascertained communicants, and indications of realtime activity states of respective ones of the ascertained communicants to display the contact list as a linear array of the application groups containing graphical representations of respective ones of the ascertained communicants in association with respective indications of the determined statuses and realtime activity states of the ascertained communicants, wherein the graphical representations of the co-present ones of the ascertained communicants are grouped together in the respective zones of co-presence to show that ongoing communications between the co-present communicants are occurring, and the graphical representations of the non-co-present ones of the ascertained communicants are shown segregated from the zones of co-presence.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein multiple of the different server applications respectively enable synchronous conferencing between respective ones of the communicants.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the contact list comprises a respective visual demarcation of each application group and, within each application group, a respective visual demarcation of each zone of co-presence within the application group.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating comprises for each server application with respect to which the target communicant is present, listing the target communicant'"'"'s current zone of presence ahead of all other zones groups in the corresponding application group.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining comprises, for each of the related communicants, determining each of the server applications of which the related communicant has a membership, and the transmitting comprises transmitting indications of the determined memberships of the related communicants.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the ascertaining comprises identifying ones of the communicants with whom the target communicant has interacted in association with respective ones of the server applications as respective ones of the related communicants.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the identifying comprises identifying ones of the communicants with whom the target communicant has communicated through realtime communication facilities provided in association with respective ones of the server applications as respective ones of the related communicants.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the realtime communication facilities comprise at least one of an audio communications facility, a video communications facility, a realtime text chat communications facility, and a file sharing communications facility.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the ascertaining comprises identifying ones of the communicants who the target communicant has claimed as a contact as respective ones of the related communicants.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting indications of ones of the related communicants who currently are connected to the network communication environment and respective indications of ones of the related communicants who currently are unconnected to the network communication environment.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the determining comprises, for each of the related communicants, determining each of the server applications with which the related communicant has a presence; and

the transmitting comprises transmitting indications of which of the server applications the related communicants respectively have presence.

12. The method of claim 11,

further comprising, for each of the related communicants, determining each of zones of the server applications with which the related communicant has a presence;

and

wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting indications of which of the zones of the server applications the related communicants respectively have presence.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating comprises, within each application group, grouping respective ones of the communicants who are members of the respective server application and currently are not present in the respective server application into a separate group.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating comprises, within each application group, sorting respective ones of the related communicants by frequency of interaction with the target communicant in the network communication environment.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating comprises, within each application group, listing the respective zones of co-presence based on the respective numbers of communicants currently present in the corresponding zones.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating comprises, with respect to each of the server applications in which the target communicant currently is present, sorting the listing of other zones in the corresponding application group in the contact list behind the zone of the server application in which the target communicant is present.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating comprises sorting the related communicants in the contact list according to their respective connection statuses with respective ones of the server applications.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the sorting comprises in the contact list grouping together ones of the related communicants who are unconnected to all of the server applications.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining realtime communication activities of respective ones of the related communicants.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the realtime communication activities comprise at least one of an audio communications activity, a video communications activity, a realtime text chat activity, and a file sharing activity.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining communication channels available for communicating with respective ones of the related communicants in association with respective ones of the server applications, and wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting indications of the determined communication channels in association with the respective ones of the related communicants and the respective ones of the server applications.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the determining comprises comparing realtime communication capabilities of respective ones of the related communicants and realtime communication facilities enabled by respective ones of the server applications.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the realtime communication channels comprise at least one of an audio communications channel, a video communications channel, a realtime text chat channel, and a file sharing channel.

24. Apparatus operational in a network communication environment in which communicants operating respective client network nodes connect to different server applications that are hosted by one or more server network nodes, wherein each server application supports realtime communications between co-present communicants in a respective virtual area comprising zones, the apparatus comprising:

a computer-readable memory storing computer-readable instructions; and

a data processor coupled to the memory, operable to execute the instructions, and based at least in part on the execution of the instructions operable to perform operations comprising

ascertaining ones of the communicants who are related to a target one of the communicants,

determining statuses of the ascertained communicants with respect to the different server applications,

generating a contact list comprising a linear sorted listing of the ascertained communicants, wherein the contact list groups the ascertained communicants into respective application groups according to their respective memberships in the virtual areas, and within each application group the contact list further groups ones of the ascertained communicants who are co-present in respective zones of the respective virtual area into respective zones of co-presence and prioritizes the listing of co-present ones of the communicants in the zones of co-presence ahead of non-co-present ones of the ascertained communicants who are resent in respective ones of the zones of the respective virtual area in which fewer than two communicants are present,

to the client network node of the target communicant, transmitting the contact list, the determined statuses of the ascertained communicants, and indications of realtime activity states of respective ones of the ascertained communicants to display the contact list as a linear array of the application groups containing graphical representations of respective ones of the ascertained communicants in association with respective indications of the determined statuses and realtime activity states of the ascertained communicants, wherein the graphical representations of the co-present ones of the ascertained communicants are grouped together in the respective zones of co-presence to show that ongoing communications between the co-present communicants are occurring, and the graphical representations of the non-co-present ones of the ascertained communicants are shown segregated from the zones of co-presence.

25. At least one non-transitory computer-readable memory having computer-readable program code embodied therein, wherein when executed by a computer in a network communication environment in which communicants operating respective client network nodes connect to different server applications that are hosted by one or more server network nodes, wherein each server application supports realtime communications between co-present communicants in a respective virtual area comprising zones, the computer-readable program code causes the computer to perform operations comprising:

ascertaining ones of the communicants who are related to a target one of the communicants,

determining statuses of the ascertained communicants with respect to the different server applications,

generating a contact list comprising a linear sorted listing of the ascertained communicants, wherein the contact list groups the ascertained communicants into respective application groups according to their respective memberships in the virtual areas, and within each application group the contact list further groups ones of the ascertained communicants who are co-present in respective zones of the respective virtual area into respective zones of co-presence and prioritizes the listing of co-present ones of the communicants in the zones of co-presence ahead of non-co-present ones of the ascertained communicants who are present in respective ones of the zones of the respective virtual area in which fewer than two communicants are present,

to the client network node of the target communicant, transmitting the contact list, the determined statuses of the ascertained communicants, and indications of realtime activity states of respective ones of the ascertained communicants to display the contact list as a linear array of the application groups containing graphical representations of respective ones of the ascertained communicants in association with respective indications of the determined statuses and realtime activity states of the ascertained communicants, wherein the graphical representations of the co-present ones of the ascertained communicants are grouped together in the respective zones of co-presence to show that ongoing communications between the co-present communicants are occurring, and the graphical representations of the non-co-present ones of the ascertained communicants are shown segregated from the zones of co-presence.

26. A method, comprising:

in a network communication environment in which communicants operating respective client network nodes connect to different server applications that are hosted by one or more server network nodes, wherein each server application supports realtime communications between co-present communicants in a respective virtual area comprising zones,

by a given one of the client network nodes from which a given one of the communicants is operating,

connecting to a target one of the server applications,

receiving indications of ones of the communicants who are related to the given communicant and statuses of the related communicants with respect to associations with the different server applications, wherein the receiving comprises receiving a contact list comprising a linear sorted listing of the related communicants, wherein the contact list groups the related communicants into respective application groups according to their respective memberships in the virtual areas, and within each application group the contact list further groups ones of the related communicants who are co-present in respective zones of the respective virtual area into respective zones of co-presence and prioritizes the listing of co-present ones of the communicants in the zones of co-presence ahead of non-co-present ones of the ascertained communicants who are present in respective ones of the zones of the respective virtual area in which fewer than two communicants are present, and

on a display displaying graphical representations of the related communicants, graphical indications of the statuses of the related communicants with respect to connections to the different server applications, and indications of realtime activity states of respective ones of the related communicants, wherein the displaying comprises displaying the contact list as a linear array of the application groups containing graphical representations of the related communicants associated with respective indications of the determined statuses and realtime activity states of the related communicants, wherein the graphical representations of the co-present ones of the ascertained communicants are grouped together in the respective zones of co-presence to show that ongoing communications between the co-present communicants are occurring, and the graphical representations of the non-co-present ones of the ascertained communicants are shown segregated from the zones of co-presence.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein

the displaying comprises displaying a respective visual demarcation of each application group and, within each application group, a respective visual demarcation of each zone of co-presence within the application group.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the displaying comprises, for each virtual area in which the given communicant is present, displaying the given communicant'"'"'s current zone of presence ahead of all other zones in the corresponding application group.

29. The method of claim 26, wherein the displaying comprises, within each application group, displaying the graphical representations of the respective ones of the related communicants sorted by status of connection to the respective server applications.

30. The method of claim 26, wherein the displaying comprises, within each application group, displaying the graphical representations of the respective ones of the related communicants sorted by frequency of interaction with the given communicant in the network communication environment.

31. The method of claim 26, wherein the displaying comprises within each application group displaying the respective zones of co-presence sorted based on the respective numbers of communicants currently present in the corresponding zones.

32. The method of claim 26, wherein the displaying comprises displaying the zone of presence of the given communicant at the top of the contact list.

33. The method of claim 26, wherein the displaying comprises displaying the graphical representations of the related communicants grouped according to their respective connection statuses with respective ones of the server applications.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the displaying comprises displaying grouped together the graphical representations of ones of the related communicants who are unconnected to all of the server applications.

35. The method of claim 26, wherein the realtime communication activities comprise at least one of an audio communications activity, a video communications activity, a realtime text chat activity, and a file sharing activity.

36. The method of claim 26, wherein:

the received indications comprise indications of communication channels available for communicating with respective ones of the related communicants in association with respective ones of the server applications; and

the displaying comprises displaying graphical indications of the communication channels in association with the graphical representations of the respective ones of the related communicants.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the realtime communication channels comprise at least one of an audio communications channel, a video communications channel, a realtime text chat channel, and a file sharing channel.

38. The method of claim 26, wherein:

the received indications comprise indications of ones of the related communicants who are connected to the network communication environment and indications of ones of the related communicants who are unconnected to the network communication environment; and

the displaying comprises displaying an online connection status indicator in association with the graphical representations of ones of the related communicants who are connected to the network communication environment, and displaying an offline connection status indicator in association with the graphical representations of ones of the related communicants who are unconnected to the network communication environment.

39. Apparatus operational in a network communication environment in which communicants operating respective client network nodes connect to different server applications that are hosted by one or more server network nodes, wherein each server application supports realtime communications between co-present communicants in a respective virtual area comprising zones, the apparatus comprising:

a computer-readable memory storing computer-readable instructions; and

a data processor coupled to the memory, operable to execute the instructions, and based at least in part on the execution of the instructions operable to perform operations comprising

connecting to a target one of the server applications,

receiving indications of ones of the communicants who are related to the given communicant and statuses of the related communicants with respect to associations with the different server applications, wherein the receiving comprises receiving a contact list comprising a linear sorted listing of the related communicants, wherein the contact list groups the related communicants into respective application groups according to their respective memberships in the virtual areas, and within each application group the contact list further groups ones of the related communicants who are co-present in respective zones of the respective virtual area into respective zones of co-presence and prioritizes the listing of co-present ones of the communicants in the zones of co-presence ahead of non-co-present ones of the ascertained communicants who are present in respective ones of the zones of the respective virtual area in which fewer than two communicants are present, and

on a display displaying graphical representations of the related communicants, graphical indications of the statuses of the related communicants with respect to connections to the different server applications, and indications of realtime activity states of respective ones of the related communicants, wherein the displaying comprises displaying the contact list as a linear array of the application groups containing graphical representations of the related communicants associated with respective indications of the determined statuses and realtime activity states of the related communicants, wherein the graphical representations of the co-present ones of the ascertained communicants are grouped together in the respective zones of co-presence to show that ongoing communications between the co-present communicants are occurring, and the graphical representations of the non-co-present ones of the ascertained communicants are shown segregated from the zones of co-presence.

40. At least one non-transitory computer-readable memory having computer-readable program code embodied therein, wherein when executed by a computer in a network communication environment in which communicants operating respective client network nodes connect to different server applications that are hosted by one or more server network nodes, wherein each server application supports realtime communications between co-present communicants in a respective virtual area comprising respective zones, the computer-readable program code causes the computer perform operations comprising:

connecting to a target one of the server applications,

receiving indications of ones of the communicants who are related to the given communicant and statuses of the related communicants with respect to associations with the different server applications, wherein the receiving comprises receiving a contact list comprising a linear sorted listing of the related communicants, wherein the contact list groups the related communicants into respective application groups according to their respective memberships in the virtual areas, and within each application group the contact list further groups ones of the related communicants who are co-present in respective zones of the respective virtual area into respective zones of co-presence and prioritizes the listing of co-present ones of the communicants in the zones of co-presence ahead of non-co-present ones of the ascertained communicants who are present in respective ones of the zones of the respective virtual area in which fewer than two communicants are present, and

on a display displaying graphical representations of the related communicants, graphical indications of the statuses of the related communicants with respect to connections to the different server applications, and indications of realtime activity states of respective ones of the related communicants, wherein the displaying comprises displaying the contact list as a linear array of the application groups containing graphical representations of the related communicants associated with respective indications of the determined statuses and realtime activity states of the related communicants, wherein the graphical representations of the co-present ones of the ascertained communicants are grouped together in the respective zones of co-presence to show that ongoing communications between the co-present communicants are occurring, and the graphical representations of the non-co-present ones of the ascertained communicants are shown segregated from the zones of co-presence.

41. A method, comprising:

in a network communication environment in which communicants operating respective client network nodes connect to a virtual area that has multiple zones with respect to each of which respective ones of the communicants are able to be associated,

ascertaining ones of the communicants who are related to a target one of the communicants,

identifying each of one or more zones of co-presence corresponding to the zones in which at least one of the related communicants is co-present with at least one other communicant,

generating a contact list comprising a linear listing of the related communicants sorted into respective groups according to the related communicants'"'"' respective presences in the corresponding zones of the virtual area, wherein the generating comprises prioritizing the listing of communicants in groups corresponding to the identified zones of co-presence ahead of communicants who are not co-present with at least one other communicant in a respective one of the zones of the virtual area, and

to the client network node of the target communicant, transmitting the contact list, statuses of the related communicants, and indications of realtime activity states of respective ones of the related communicants to display the contact list as a linear array of graphical representations of the related communicants in association with respective indications of the determined statuses and realtime activity states of the related communicants, wherein the graphical representations of the co-present ones of the ascertained communicants are grouped together in the respective zones of co-presence to show that ongoing communications between the co-present communicants are occurring, and the graphical representations of the non-co-present ones of the ascertained communicants are shown segregated from the zones of co-presence.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein the virtual area is a visual area associated with a spatial visualization and the zones correspond to respective sections of the spatial visualization.

43. The method of claim 41, wherein the virtual area represents a software application and the zones correspond to respective sections of the software application.

44. The method of claim 41, wherein the virtual area represents a computer data file and the zones correspond to respective sections of the computer data file.

45. A method, comprising:

in a network communication environment in which communicants operating respective client network nodes connect to a server application that is hosted by one or more server network nodes and supports realtime communications between co-present communicants,

ascertaining ones of the communicants who are members of the server application,

determining presence statuses of the ascertained communicants with respect to the target server application,

based on the determined presence statuses, identifying each group of two or more of the ascertained communicants who are co-present with one another in the target server application and identifying non-co-present ones of the ascertained communicants who are not co-present with at least one other one of the ascertained communicants in the target server application,

generating a contact list comprising a linear sorted listing of the ascertained communicants, wherein the contact list lists each identified group of co-present communicants in a separate zone of co-presence lists the identified non-co-present communicants outside the zones of co-presence, and prioritizes the listing of each zone of co-presence ahead of the listing of the ones of the ascertained communicants in the target server application who are not co-present with at least one other communicant in the target server application,

to the client network node of the target communicant, transmitting the contact list, the determined statuses of the ascertained communicants, and indications of realtime activity states of respective ones of the ascertained communicants to display in the contact list graphical representations of the ascertained communicants in association with respective indications of the determined statuses and realtime activity states of the ascertained communicants, wherein the graphical representations of the co-present ones of the ascertained communicants are grouped together in the respective zones of co-presence to show that ongoing communications between the co-present communicants are occurring, and the graphical representations of the non-co-present ones of the ascertained communicants are shown segregated from the zones of co-presence.

46. The method of claim 45, wherein the contact list comprises a respective graphical zone boundary visually demarcating each zone of co-presence.

47. The method of claim 45, wherein the generating comprises listing the ascertained communicants in the contact list in respective groupings based on the respective numbers of communicants currently present in the corresponding zones.

48. The method of claim 45, wherein the generating comprises listing the target communicant'"'"'s current zone of co-presence ahead of all other zones of co-presence in the contact list.

49. The method of claim 45, wherein the generating comprises listing the graphical representation of the target communicant at the top of the contact list.