Indicating status using a standalone icon
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- providing a graphical object independent of an interface of a communications program that represents a component of the communications program, the component comprising one or more of;
a contact of a user of the communications program, one or more files of the user for transferring to one or more contacts of the user, or one or more files of contacts of the user for transferring to the user, wherein;
the communications program facilitates exchanges of communications between users across a network, andthe graphical object allows the user to perform an action otherwise available through the interface of communications program regardless of whether the interface of the communications program is running when an operation corresponding to the action is performed;
determining, by at least one processor, a status of the component of the communications program; and
updating, regardless of whether the interface of the communications program is running, a visual representation of the graphical object to convey the status of the component of the communications program.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A stand-alone icon (i.e., an icon that is not part of an application interface) is provided to facilitate communications across a network between users of at least one communications program. The icon represents a contact or a set of contacts. Status information regarding the contact or set of contacts is received and displayed using the icon or in response to an operation performed on the icon. The icon additionally may provide an interface for performing actions related to the contact or set of contacts. The actions may generally include, for example, retrieving profile information about the contact, setting an alert to indicate that the contact'"'"'s network/login status (e.g., login, logout, or idle) has changed, or performing communications with the contact.
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Citations
40 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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providing a graphical object independent of an interface of a communications program that represents a component of the communications program, the component comprising one or more of;
a contact of a user of the communications program, one or more files of the user for transferring to one or more contacts of the user, or one or more files of contacts of the user for transferring to the user, wherein;the communications program facilitates exchanges of communications between users across a network, and the graphical object allows the user to perform an action otherwise available through the interface of communications program regardless of whether the interface of the communications program is running when an operation corresponding to the action is performed; determining, by at least one processor, a status of the component of the communications program; and updating, regardless of whether the interface of the communications program is running, a visual representation of the graphical object to convey the status of the component of the communications program. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including a set of computer-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a computer system, cause the computer system to:
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provide a graphical object independent of an interface of a communications program that represents a component of the communications program, the component comprising one or more of;
a contact of a user of the communications program, one or more files of the user for transferring to one or more contacts of the user, or one or more files of contacts of the user for transferring to the user, wherein;the communications program facilitates exchanges of communications between users across a network; and the graphical object allows the user to perform an action otherwise available through the interface of the communications program regardless of whether the interface of the communications program is running when an operation corresponding to the action is performed; determine a status of the component of the communications program; and update, regardless of whether the interface of the communications program is running, a visual representation of the graphical object to convey the status of the component of the communications program. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A method comprising:
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determining, by at least one processor, a status of an entity associated with a user of a communications program, wherein; the entity comprises one or more of;
a contact of the user of the communications program, one or more files of the user for transferring to one or more contacts of the user, or one or more files of contacts of the user for transferring to the user; andthe communications program facilitates exchanges of communications between users across a network; if the entity has a first status, providing independent of an interface of a communications program and regardless of whether the interface of the communications program is running, a graphical object that represents the entity in a first visual configuration to indicate the first status, wherein the graphical object allows the user to perform an action otherwise available through an interface of the one or more files or a contact of the communications program regardless of whether the interface of the communications program is running when an operation corresponding to the action is performed; if the entity has a second status, providing independent of the interface of a communications program and regardless of whether the interface of the communications program is running, the graphical object that represents the entity in a second visual configuration to indicate the second status. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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Specification