Reference notification method and apparatus

• US 9,419,924 B2
• Filed: 10/14/2014
• Issued: 08/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/27/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
• Inventors: Ye, Jun
• Primary Examiner(s): Lim, Krisna
• Application Number:
  US14/513,465
• Publication Number:
  US 20150100654A1
• Time in Patent Office: 672 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1813 for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms instant messaging H04L51/04; protocols for multimedia communication H04L65/1101; arrangements for multi-party communication H04L65/403; telephonic conference arrangements H04M3/56; television conference systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/043 using or handling presence information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services

Abstract

A method and an apparatus of reference notification comprises obtaining an instant message that is sent from a sending user. A contact is selected that satisfies a predetermined criterion from contacts of the sending user. For the selected contact, content is determined that is of interest to the selected contact, and content is found that is of interest and is included in the obtained instant message based on the determined content of interest. Based on the found content of interest, a reference notification message is sent to a contact corresponding to the found content of interest, for notifying the contact that the content of interest is referenced. By using the technical scheme of the present disclosure, the problems of existing technologies that a user cannot accurately and quickly determine whether an instant message references content with which he/she is concerned are solved.

Claims

1. A method implemented by one or more computing devices, the method comprising:

selecting a contact from multiple contacts of a user associated with an instant message;

finding, in the instant message, content that is determined to be of interest to the selected contact; and

sending a reference notification message to the selected contact, the reference notification message referencing the content that is determined to be of interest to the selected contact.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the selecting the contact from the multiple contacts of the user associated with the instant message comprises:

determining a target receiving user who receives the instant message; and

rendering the target receiving user as the contact.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the content that is determined to be of interest comprises at least one of:

a user identifier of the selected contact;

a user identifier of a user of interest to the selected contact;

or

a keyword of interest to the selected contact.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein finding the content that is determined to be of interest to the selected contact comprises:

determining, for the selected contact, content that is of interest to the selected contact;

matching information content of the instant message with at least a portion of the content that is determined to be of interest to the selected contact; and

rendering the matched information content as the content that is determined to be of interest to the selected contact.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein prior to the sending the reference notification message to the selected contact, the method further comprises:

determining that the selected contact is not a receiving user of the instant message; and

determining that the instant message includes a predetermined character adjacent to at least a portion of the content that is determined to be of interest.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the sending the reference notification message to the selected contact comprises:

determining that the selected contact is currently offline; and

storing the reference notification message in an instant messaging server.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the sending the reference notification message to the selected contact comprises:

determining that the selected contact is currently offline;

storing the reference notification message in an instant messaging server; and

sending the reference notification message to the selected contact in response to detecting that a status of the selected contact changes from offline to online.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the sending the reference notification message to the selected contact in response to detecting that the status of the contact changes from offline to online comprises:

in response to detecting that the status of the contact changes from offline to online, determining, from stored reference notification messages, reference notification messages to be sent to the selected contact;

combining the reference notification messages to generate a combined reference notification message; and

sending the combined reference notification message to the selected contact.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the reference notification message comprises at least one of:

content information of the instant message, or attribute information of the instant message.

10. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein the content information of the instant message comprises at least one of:

an entire text of the instant message, or an abstract of the instant message.

11. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein the attribute information of the instant message comprises at least one of:

the content that is determined to be of interest;

a user identifier of the user;

an information identifier of the instant message;

a sending time of the instant message;

or

a messaging identifier corresponding to the instant message.

12. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein if the instant message is a chat instant message for an instant chat, the messaging identifier corresponding to the instant message is a chat identifier of the instant chat, and if the instant message is a group instant message for a messaging group, the message identifier corresponding to the instant message is a group identifier of the messaging group.

13. A reference notification apparatus comprising:

one or more processors;

memory communicatively coupled to the one or more processors;

a selection unit stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors that is configured to select a contact from contacts of a user associated with an instant message;

a searching unit stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors that is configured to find, in the instant message, content that is determined to be of interest to the selected contact; and

a sending unit stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors that is configured to send a reference notification message referencing the content that is determined to be of interest to the selected contact.

14. The apparatus as recited in claim 13, wherein the selection unit configured to select the contact from the multiple contacts of the user associated with the instant message comprises:

a first determination sub-unit configured to determine a target receiving user who receives the instant message; and

a second determination sub-unit configured to render the target receiving user as the contact.

15. The apparatus as recited in claim 13, wherein the searching unit configured to find the content that is determined to be of interest to the selected contact comprises:

a matching sub-unit configured to match information content of the instant message with at least a portion of the content that is determined to be of interest to the selected contact; and

a third determination sub-unit configured to render the matched information content as the content that is determined to be of interest to the selected contact.

16. The apparatus as recited in claim 13, further comprising:

a judging unit configured to determine that the selected contact is a target receiving user of the instant message; and

a determination unit configured to determine that the instant message includes a predetermined character that is adjacent to at least a portion of the content that is determined to be of interest.

17. The apparatus as recited in claim 13, wherein the sending unit configured to send the reference notification message to the selected contact comprises:

a first judging sub-unit configured to determine whether the selected contact is currently online;

a first sending sub-unit configured to send the reference notification message to the selected contact if a determination result of the first judging sub-unit is affirmative; and

a first storage sub-unit configured to store the reference notification message in an instant messaging server if the determination result of the first judging sub-unit is negative.

18. The apparatus as recited in claim 13, wherein the sending unit comprises:

a second judging sub-unit configured to determine whether the selected contact is currently online;

a second sending sub-unit configured to send the reference notification message to the contact if a determination result of the second judging sub-unit is affirmative;

a second storage sub-unit configured to store the reference notification message in an instant messaging server if the determination result of the second judging sub-unit is negative;

a detection sub-unit configured to detect a status of the selected contact if the determination result of the second judging sub-unit is negative; and

a third sending sub-unit configured to send the reference notification message that is stored by the storage sub-unit to the selected contact when the detection sub-unit detects that the status of the selected contact changes from offline to online.

19. The apparatus as recited in claim 18, wherein the third sending sub-unit comprises:

a determination module configured to determine reference notification messages to be sent to the selected contact when the detection sub-unit detects that the status of the selected contact changes from online to offline;

a combination module configured to generate a combined reference notification message by combining together the reference notification messages that are determined by the determination module; and

a sending module configured to send, to the selected contact, the combined reference notification message generated by the combination module.

20. One or more computer-readable media configured with computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, configure the one or more processors to perform acts comprising:

selecting a contact from multiple contacts of a user associated with an instant message;

finding, in the instant message, content that is determined to be of interest to the selected contact; and

sending a reference notification message to the selected contact, the reference notification message referencing the content that is determined to be of interest to the selected contact.