Social messaging user interface

• US 9,405,343 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2011
• Issued: 08/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Nesladek, Christopher D., Hamilton, Jeffrey W., Sharkey, Jeffrey A., Phukan, Prasenjit
• Primary Examiner(s): Pillai, Namitha
• Application Number:
  US13/250,438
• Publication Number:
  US 20120023417A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,768 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/265 constructional aspects of navigation devices, e.g. housings, mountings, displays G01C21/3688 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3608 using speech input, e.g. using speech recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/362 received from an external device or application, e.g. PDA, mobile phone or calendar application
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3661 Guidance output on an external device, e.g. car radio
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/367 Details, e.g. road map scale, orientation, zooming, illumination, level of detail, scrolling of road map or positioning of current position marker
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1632 External expansion units, e.g. docking stations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/266 Arrangements to supply power to external peripherals either directly from the computer or under computer control, e.g. supply of power through the communication port, computer controlled power-strips
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3265 Power saving in display device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/329 by task scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/444 Spatial browsing, e.g. 2D maps, 3D or virtual spaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/638 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1614 Image rotation following screen orientation, e.g. switching from landscape to portrait mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/04 Supports for telephone transmitters or receivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72415 for remote control of appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72454 according to context-related or environment-related conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/74 : with voice recognition means
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 : Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

Hubs for social interaction via electronic devices are described. In one aspect, a data processing device includes a display screen displaying a social interaction hub, the social interaction hub including a collection of records. Each record includes a counterparty identifier identifying a counterparty of a past social interaction event, a mode indicium identifying a mode by which the past social interaction event with the counterparty occurred, and a collection of mode indicia each identifying a mode by which a future, outgoing social interaction event with the counterparty can occur. The counterparty identifier, the mode indicium, and the collection of mode indicia are associated with one another in the records of the social interaction hub.

Claims

1. A data processing device comprising:

a display screen for displaying a social interaction hub, the social interaction hub including a collection of records, wherein particular ones of the records are generated from textual posts created by acquaintances of a user of the data processing device to a first social network and are displayed on the display screen in chronological order with particular ones of the records generated from textual posts that are created by other acquaintances of the user of the data processing device to at least one social network, wherein the first social network includes services that receive textual posts from posting members and provide content of the posts to other members who have a relationship with the posting members, the data processing device having access to;

an initial sender identifier that identifies on a display of the data processing device an initial sender who created a past social interaction event,

a mode indicium that identifies a mode by which the past social interaction event with the initial sender occurred, the mode selected from a plurality of modes of communication that include textual posts to a social network that are broadcast to members of the social network, and

a collection of mode indicia that each identify a mode by which a future, outgoing social interaction event with the initial sender can occur, wherein the collection of mode indicia is based on a current user status of the initial sender regarding modes of interaction by which a user of the data processing device is determined to be currently capable of communicating with the initial sender independent of the mode by which the past social interaction event occurred, the collection determined by selecting a subset of modes from all possible modes of communication available to the data processing device by way of the social interaction hub and which include communication through the first social network,

wherein the counterparty identifier, the mode indicium, and the collection of mode indicia are associated with one another in the records of the social interaction hub.

2. The data processing device of claim 1, wherein the first social network is operated by a different entity than is a second social network that receives the textual posts that are created by the other acquaintances of the user of the data processing device, so that the social interaction hub simultaneously displays posts from two separate social networks.

3. The data processing device of claim 1, wherein the data processing device further having access to an availability indicator labeling a first mode indicium in the collection of mode indicia, the availability indicator indicating that the initial sender is presently available for social interaction via the mode identified by the first mode indicium.

4. The data processing device of claim 3, wherein the first mode indicium identifies an electronic messaging mode.

5. The data processing device of claim 1, wherein the data processing device further having access to an interactive graphical element that triggers display of the collection of mode indicia in response to user interaction.

6. The data processing device of claim 1, wherein the data processing device having further access to a description of a subject of the past social interaction event.

7. The data processing device of claim 6, wherein:

a first description of the subject of a first past social interaction event comprises a subject line of an electronic mail or text message; and

a second description of the subject of a second past social interaction event comprises an excerpt of a posting on a social network.

8. The data processing device of claim 1, wherein the social interaction hub further comprises:

information describing a disposition of the currently displayed social interaction records within a larger collection of social interaction records; and

an interactive graphical element that triggers display of additional social interaction records within the larger collection in response to user interaction.

9. A user-portable device comprising:

a display screen;

one or more data communication interfaces;

a data storage device configured to store a message log; and

a data processing system programmed to perform activities in accordance with the logic of one or more sets of machine-readable instructions to execute;

one or more server interface modules for interfacing with a social network server that receives textual posts from posting members of the social network and provides content of the posts to other members who have a relationship with the posting members,

a data aggregation module for aggregating data received from the message log and data received from the one or more server interface modules, and

a user interface module for presenting aggregated data in a collection of records on the display screen, wherein particular ones of the records generated from textual posts by a first user to a first social network and shared by the social network with users identified by the social network as being acquainted with the first user, are displayed on the display screen in chronological order with particular ones of the records generated from other posts, the data processing system having access to;

an initial sender identifier that identifies on a display of the data processing device an initial sender who created a past social interaction event, and

a collection of mode indicia that each identify a mode by which a future, outgoing social interaction event with the initial sender can occur, wherein the collection of mode indicia is based on a user status of the initial sender regarding modes of interaction by which a user of the data process system is currently capable of communicating with the initial sender independent of the mode by which the past social interaction event occurred, the collection determined by selecting a subset of modes from all possible modes of communication available to the data processing device by way of the social interaction hub and which include communication through the first social network,

wherein the data processing system further has access to information received from the message log and information received from one or more server interface modules.

10. The user-portable device of claim 9, wherein the user-portable device further has access to an interactive graphical element that triggers display of the collection of mode indicia in response to user interaction.

11. The user-portable device of claim 9, wherein the user-portable device further has access to a description of a subject of the past social interaction event.

12. The user-portable device of claim 9, wherein:

information received from one or more server interface modules comprises an availability indicator indicating that a second user is presently available for social interaction via a particular mode; and

the data received from the message log comprises a time when a past telephone call occurred.

13. The user-portable device of claim 9, wherein the user-portable device further has access to a social status record characterizing a status of a second user.

14. The user-portable device of claim 9, further comprising a contact information data store storing contact information,

wherein the data aggregation module also aggregates data received from the contact information data store with the data received from the message log and the data received from the one or more server interface modules.

15. The user-portable device of claim 14, wherein the data received from the contact information data store comprises a photo of a second user.

16. The user-portable device of claim 9, wherein:

records in the collection each characterize a past social interaction event; and

the data aggregation module further filters past social interaction events to limit the past social interaction events characterized in the collection.

17. The user-portable device of claim 16, wherein the data aggregation module filters past social interaction events to limit the past social interaction events characterized in the collection based on counterparties involved in the past social interaction events.

18. The user-portable device of claim 9, wherein the data aggregation module further resolves conflicts between data received from the message log and data received from the one or more server interface modules.