Systems and methods for automatically saving a state of a communication session

• US 9,549,028 B2
• Filed: 02/18/2014
• Issued: 01/17/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/18/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Sundaresan, Neelakantan
• Primary Examiner(s): WANG, LIANG CHE A
• Application Number:
  US14/183,106
• Publication Number:
  US 20150237147A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,064 Days
• Field of Search: 709/200, 709/203, 709/26, 709/228, 709/245, 709/226
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits

Abstract

A system comprising a computer-readable storage medium storing at least one program and a computer-implemented method for automatically saving and presenting a state of a communication session are presented. The communication session may be established between a client device of a user and an application server of a content publisher. In some embodiments, the method may include determining that the communication session includes a typical process flow of the user, and identifying an operation that is likely to be repeated during the communication session based on the typical process flow. Session data representative of a state of the communication session may then be stored in response to identifying the operation that is likely to be repeated. The method may further include generating and presenting an interface that includes a visual representation of the session data, and allows a user to return to the saved state of the communication session.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a processor of a machine;

a non-transitory machine-readable medium;

an analysis module to;

access, from a network storage device, historical session data, the analysis module further to determine a typical process flow of a subject user based on an analysis of the historical session data, the typical process flow being a sequence of operations regularly performed by the subject user to achieve a particular result;

identify an inefficiency in the typical process flow of the subject user by identifying a particular operation that is repeatedly performed during the sequence of operations of the typical process flow of the subject user;

determine, using the processor of the machine, that a client device of the subject user is engaged in the typical process flow as part of a communication session; and

select, based on the identified inefficiency in the typical process flow of the subject user, a state of the communication session to be stored for subsequent recall, the state of the communication session resulting from performance of the particular operation;

a state module to store session data representative of the state of the communication session in the non-transitory machine-readable medium; and

a user interface module to automatically generate a user interface element representing the session data, the user interface element operable to recall the state of the communication session in response to manipulation of the user interface element, the user interface module further to cause presentation of the user interface element on the client device in conjunction with content related to the communication session.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface module is further to provide instructions to the client device that cause the client device to recall the state of the communication session in response to manipulation of the user interface element.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the particular result includes a selection from the group consisting of:

completing a web-based form, completing a web-based search, completing a transaction for an item, and listing an item for sale.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface element includes an image associated with the state of the communication session.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the session data stored by the state module includes information regarding a series of actions performed by the subject user during the communication session using a mobile application executing on the client device.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the particular result is completion of a web-based form.

7. A method comprising:

accessing, from a network storage device, historical session data;

analyzing the historical session data to determine a typical process flow of a subject user, the typical process flow including a sequence of operations regularly performed by the subject user to achieve a particular result;

identifying an inefficiency in the typical process flow of the subject user by identifying a particular operation that is repeatedly performed during the sequence of operations of the typical process flow of the subject user;

establishing a communication session with a client device operated by the subject user;

determining the communication session involves the typical process flow of the subject user;

automatically selecting, based on the identified inefficiency in the typical process flow of the subject user, a state of the communication session to be stored for subsequent recall, the state of the communication session resulting from performance of the particular operation;

storing session data representative of the state of the communication session;

generating a user interface element representing the session data, the user interface element operable to recall the state of the communication session in response to manipulation of the user interface element; and

causing presentation of the user interface element on the client device in conjunction with content related to the communication session.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising providing instructions to the client device that cause the client device to recall the state of the communication session in response to manipulation of the user interface element.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the user interface element is presented in conjunction with a plurality of additional user interface elements representative of other states of the communication session.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein each of the additional user interface elements are presented in one of multiple groups according to operations performed leading to the other states.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the storing session data representative of the state of the communication session is performed without any further action by a user of the client device.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the particular result includes a selection from the group consisting of:

completing a web-based form, completing a web-based search, completing a transaction for an item, and listing an item for sale.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein the user interface element includes an image associated with the state of the communication session.

14. The method of claim 7, further comprising grouping the user interface element with one or more additional user interface elements representing additional session data representative of an additional state of the communication session.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the grouping is based on at least one of:

one or more similar attributes of the saved states of the communication session, contextual information included in the session data, or similar operations performed that resulted in the states.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising automatically determining a label for the grouping of the user interface element with the one or more additional user interface elements.

17. The method of claim 7, further comprising storing additional session data representative of an additional state of the communication session based on the subject user having saved a state of a previous communication session, wherein the state of the previous communication session resulted from performance of the particular operation.

18. The method of claim 7, further comprising assigning a name to the state of the communication session based on information contained in the session data.

19. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium embodying instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

accessing, from a network storage device, historical session data;

analyzing the historical session data of a subject user to determine a typical process flow of the subject user, the typical process flow being a sequence of operations regularly performed by the subject user to achieve a particular result;

identifying an inefficiency in the typical process flow of the subject user by identifying a particular operation that is repeatedly performed during the sequence of operations of the typical process flow of the subject user;

establishing a communication session with a client device operated by the subject user;

determining the communication session involves the typical process flow of the subject user;

selecting, based on the identified inefficiency in the typical process flow of the subject user, a state of the communication session to be stored for subsequent recall, the state of the communication session resulting from performance of the particular operation;

storing session data representative of the state of the communication session;

automatically generating a user interface element representing the session data, the user interface element operable to recall the state of the communication session in response to manipulation of the user interface element; and

causing presentation of the user interface element on the client device in conjunction with content related to the communication session.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 19, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the machine, cause the machine to perform additional operations comprising:

establishing a communication session with an additional client device of the subject user; and

causing the second client device to recall the state of the communication session.