Techniques for alerting a user of unchecked messages before communication with a contact

• US 9,021,027 B2
• Filed: 04/20/2006
• Issued: 04/28/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Patel, Labhesh, Kumar, Sanjeev, Jain, Mukul, Khouri, Joseph, Shaffer, Shmuel
• Primary Examiner(s): LEE, BRYAN Y
• Application Number:
  US11/408,696
• Publication Number:
  US 20070250581A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,295 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages

Abstract

In one embodiment, techniques for alerting a user of unchecked messages correlated to a contact before communicating with the contact are provided. The check for unchecked messages may be performed across a plurality of communication modalities. If one or more unchecked messages are found, then the user is alerted that there may be unchecked messages. The user may then have the option to check the unchecked messages before contacting the contact.

Claims

1. A method for alerting a user of unchecked messages by an intended recipient contact, the method comprising:

intercepting, at a client associated with the user, a communication attempt from the user to the intended recipient contact;

receiving, at a computing device, a request from the client associated with the user, the request received before the communication attempt yields a communication between the user and the intended recipient contact, the intended recipient contact being different from the computing device;

determining, at the computing device, the existence of at least one message correlated to the intended recipient contact in an unchecked state for messages in a plurality of communication modalities by;

receiving an identifier for the intended recipient contact in a first modality, and

correlating the identifier for the intended recipient contact to a second identifier for the intended recipient contact in a second modality to determine if there are unchecked messages in the second modality for the intended recipient contact,

wherein at least one of the plurality of communication modalities is a voice modality, and the communication attempt is in one of the plurality of communication modalities;

sending, from the computing device, an alert to the client indicating the existence of at least one unchecked message from the intended recipient contact;

providing an interface to the client, the interface including an option to check the at least one unchecked messages prior to completing the communication attempt;

receiving a request from the client interface for accessing an unchecked message that is associated with a particular topic in the one or more messages;

determining an existence of the unchecked message that is associated with the particular topic; and

based on determining the existence of the unchecked message that is associated with the particular topic, providing the unchecked message that is associated with the particular topic to the client in a first communications modality in the plurality of communications modalities based on the client, wherein, if the unchecked message that is associated with the particular topic is in a second communications modality in the plurality of communications modalities, the unchecked message that is associated with the particular topic is converted to the first communications modality before being provided to the client.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of communication modalities comprises two or more selected from an email modality, an instant messaging modality, a voice modality, and a facsimile modality.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the existence of at least one message correlated to the intended recipient contact comprises correlating a topic for a first message being sent to the intended recipient contact to a substantially similar topic of a second message correlated to the intended recipient contact.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the second message is associated with a second contact different from the intended recipient contact.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the existence of at least one message comprises checking non-enterprise accounts for the user for unchecked messages.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the unchecked state comprises an unheard or unread state.

7. A method for alerting a user of unchecked messages by an intended recipient contact, the method comprising:

intercepting a signal for a communication attempt from an end device to a intended recipient contact at an unchecked message client, the end device being associated with the user;

sending, from the unchecked message client, a request, the request being sent before the communication attempt yields a communication between the user and the intended recipient contact, the intended recipient contact being different from the unchecked message client;

receiving a response indicating the existence of at least one message correlated to the intended recipient contact in the unchecked state, for messages in a plurality of communication modalities wherein the existence of the at least one message is based on the sending device receiving an identifier for the intended recipient contact in a first modality, and correlating the identifier for the intended recipient contact to a second identifier for the intended recipient contact in a second modality to determine if there are unchecked messages in the second modality for the intended recipient contact,

wherein at least one of the plurality of communication modalities is a, wherein at least one of the plurality of communication modalities is a voice modality, and the communication attempt is in one of the plurality of communication modalities; and

outputting an alert to the end device to indicate the existence of at least one unchecked messages; and

providing an interface to the end device, the interface including an option to check the at least one unchecked messages prior to completing the communication attempt;

receiving a request from the client interface for accessing an unchecked message that is associated with a particular topic in the one or more unchecked messages;

determining an existence of the unchecked message that is associated with the particular topic; and

based on determining the existence of the unchecked message that is associated with the particular topic, providing the unchecked message that is associated with the particular topic to the client in a first communications modality in the plurality of communications modalities based on the client, wherein, if the unchecked message that is associated with the particular topic is in a second communications modality in the plurality of communications modalities, the unchecked message that is associated with the particular topic is converted to the first communications modality before being provided to the client.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving an indication that the communication attempt should proceed; and

allowing the communication attempt to the intended recipient contact to proceed.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the plurality of modalities comprise two or more selected from a group of an email modality, instant messaging modality, voice modality, and facsimile modality.

10. A device with a non-transitory computer readable medium configured to alert a user of unchecked messages by an intended recipient contact, the device comprising:

a receiver configured to receive a request from a client associated with the user, the request received before the communication attempt yields a communication between the user and the intended recipient contact, the intended recipient contact being different from the computing device;

an unchecked message determiner configured to determine the existence of at least one message correlated to the intended recipient contact in the unchecked state, for messages in a plurality of communication modalities, the unchecked message determiner including;

logic that upon receiving an identifier for the intended recipient contact in a first modality, correlates the identifier for the intended recipient contact to a second identifier for the intended recipient contact in a second modality to determine if there are unchecked messages in the second modality for the intended recipient contact,

wherein at least one of the plurality of communication modalities is a voice modality, and the communication attempt is in one of the plurality of communication modalities; and

an alert module configured to send an alert to the user that there exists at least one unchecked message, wherein the alert is in a first communications modality in the plurality of communications modalities based on an end device of the user, the alert module being further configured to provide an interface to the user, wherein the interface includes an option to check the at least one unchecked messages prior to completing the communication attempt;

logic configured to receive a request from the client interface for accessing an unchecked message that is associated with a particular topic in the one or more unchecked messages;

logic configured to determine an existence of the unchecked message that is associated with the particular topic; and

logic configured to provide, based on determining the existence of the unchecked message that is associated with the particular topic, the unchecked message that is associated with the particular topic to the user in the first communications modality, wherein, if the unchecked message that is associated with the particular topic is in a second communications modality in the plurality of communications modalities, the unchecked message that is associated with the particular topic is converted to the first communications modality before being provided to the user.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein the plurality of modalities comprise two or more selected from an email modality, instant messaging modality, voice modality, and facsimile modality.

12. The device of claim 10, further comprising:

logic configured to receive an identifier for the intended recipient contact in a first modality; and

a correlator configured to correlating the identifier for the intended recipient contact to a second identifier for the contact in a second modality to determine if there are unchecked messages in the second modality for the intended recipient contact.

13. The device of claim 10, further comprising:

logic to determine a topic for a message being sent to the intended recipient contact; and

a correlator configured to correlate a topic for a first message being sent to the intended recipient contact to a substantially similar topic of a second message correlated to the intended recipient contact.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the second message is associated with a second contact different from the intended recipient contact.

15. The device of claim 10, wherein the unchecked message determiner is configured to check non-enterprise accounts for the user for unchecked messages.

16. The device of claim 10, wherein the unchecked state comprises an unheard or unread state.

17. A device with a non-transitory computer readable medium configured to alert a user of unchecked messages by an intended recipient contact, the device comprising:

logic configured to intercept a signal for a communication attempt from an end device to the intended recipient contact at an unchecked message client, the end device being associated with the user;

logic configured to send, from the unchecked message client, a request, the request being sent before the communication attempt yields a communication between the user and the intended recipient contact, the intended recipient contact being different from the unchecked message client;

logic configured to receive a response indicating the existence of at least one message correlated to the intended recipient contact in the unchecked state for messages in a plurality of communication modalities, wherein the existence of the at least one message is based on the sending device receiving an identifier for the intended recipient contact in a first modality, and correlating the identifier for the intended recipient contact to a second identifier for the intended recipient contact in a second modality to determine if there are unchecked messages in the second modality for the intended recipient contact, and at least one of the plurality of communication modalities is a voice modality, and the communication attempt is in one of the plurality of communication modalities;

logic configured to output an alert that there exists at least one unchecked message from the intended recipient, and logic configured to output an interface, wherein the interface includes an option to check the at least one unchecked messages prior to completing the communication attempt;

logic configured to receive a request from the client interface for accessing an unchecked message that is associated with a particular topic in the one or more unchecked messages;

logic configured to determine an existence of the unchecked message that is associated with the particular topic; and

logic configured to provide, based on determining the existence of the unchecked message that is associated with the particular topic, the unchecked message that is associated with the particular topic to the user in the first communications modality, wherein, if the unchecked message that is associated with the particular topic is in a second communications modality in the plurality of communications modalities, the unchecked message that is associated with the particular topic is converted to the first communications modality before being provided to the user.

18. The device of claim 17, further comprising:

logic configured to receive an indication that the communication attempt should proceed; and

logic configured to allow the communication attempt to the intended recipient contact to proceed.

19. The device of claim 17, wherein the plurality of modalities comprise two or more selected from a group of an email modality, an instant messaging modality, a voice modality, and a facsimile modality.

20. A system with a non-transitory computer readable medium configured to alert a user of unchecked messages by an intended recipient contact, the system comprising:

an unchecked message client, comprising;

logic configured to intercept a signal for a communication attempt from an end device to the intended recipient contact, the end device being associated with the user; and

logic configured to send, from the unchecked message client, a request, the request being sent before the communication attempt yields a communication between the user and the intended recipient contact, the intended recipient contact being different from the unchecked message client; and

an unchecked message module, comprising;

a receiver configured to receive the request from the unchecked message client for the determination the existence of at least one messages correlated to the intended recipient contact for the user in an unchecked state;

an unchecked message determiner configured to determine if there are any message correlated to the intended recipient contact that include the unchecked state for messages in a plurality of communication modalities, wherein at least one of the plurality of communication modalities is a voice modality, and the communication attempt is in one of the plurality of communication modalities;

an alert module configured to send an alert to the unchecked message client that there exists at least one unchecked message, wherein the unchecked message client is configured to output the alert, the alert module further configured to output an interface, wherein the interface includes an option to check the at least one unchecked messages prior to completing the communication attempt;

logic configured to receive a request from the client interface for accessing an unchecked message that is associated with a particular topic in the one or more unchecked messages;

logic configured to determine an existence of the unchecked message that is associated with the particular topic; and

logic configured to provide, based on determining the existence of the unchecked message that is associated with the particular topic, the unchecked message that is associated with the particular topic to the user in the first communications modality, wherein, if the unchecked message that is associated with the particular topic is in a second communications modality in the plurality of communications modalities, the unchecked message that is associated with the particular topic is converted to the first communications modality before being provided to the user.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the unchecked message client is located on a network device remote from the end device.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the unchecked message client is located on the end device.

23. The system of claim 20, wherein the end device comprises at least one of a telephonic device, an email application, and an instant message application.

24. The system of claim 20, further comprising storage including unchecked messages from two or more of the plurality of communication modalities.