Automated participant account determination for a communication session

• US 9,641,480 B2
• Filed: 05/04/2012
• Issued: 05/02/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Guzman Suarez, Angela J., Westen, Peter T., Bernardo, Jason A., Filippis, Pierre de, Coffman, Patrick L.
• Primary Examiner(s): PYO, MONICA M
• Application Number:
  US13/464,801
• Publication Number:
  US 20130204947A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,824 Days
• Field of Search: 707706, 707713, 709224, 709227, 709223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90344 by using string matching techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/56 Unified messaging, e.g. interactions between e-mail, instant messaging or converged IP messaging [CPM]

Abstract

A unified communication application can allow a user to communicate with contacts across multiple electronic communication services. When the user desires to send a message, the communication application can identify a set of candidate account addresses associated with several electronic communication services in response to receiving a partial identifier of an intended recipient. The communication application can present a list including the set of candidate account addresses to the user. In response to receiving a user selection of one of the candidate account addresses, the communication application can determine a sender account from which to send the message.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

within a single communication application running on a computer, wherein the single communication application is configured to communicate using a plurality of different types of electronic communications services;

receiving, at the computer, user input including a partial identifier for an intended recipient of a message to be sent by a user;

determining based at least in part on the partial identifier, a list of candidate account addresses each associated with a respective electronic communication service of the plurality of different types of electronic communication services;

presenting, by the computer, the list of candidate account addresses;

receiving, by the computer, an additional user input selecting one of the candidate account addresses as a selected account address of the intended recipient for the message, wherein the selected account address is associated with a particular type of electronic communication service of the plurality of different types of electronic communication services;

determining, by the computer without human intervention, based on the selected account address, a respective user account address from a plurality of user account addresses associated with the user, wherein the user account address is determined in accordance with a criteria that the user account address is also associated with the particular type of electronic communication service, and the plurality of user account addresses include one or more user account addresses associated with a type of communication service other than the particular type of communication service; and

sending, from the computer via the particular type of communication service, the message to the selected account address from the respective user account address.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

facilitating communications with the recipient from the computer via a different type of communication service of the plurality of different types of electronic communication services; and

presenting, by the computer, the message and the communications together in chronological order.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of different types of electronic communication services includes at least one of e-mail, instant messaging (IM), Short Message Service (SMS), or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the user account address includes:

determining, by the computer, if there are multiple user account addresses associated with the particular type of communication service;

upon determining that there are multiple user account addresses associated with the particular type of communication service, presenting the user with an option to select between the multiple user account addresses that are associated with the particular type of communication service; and

receiving, by the computer, the user account address as selected by the user for sending the message.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, by the computer, a first type of the plurality of different types of electronic communication services as being associated with the selected account address;

receiving another user input including another partial identifier for another intended recipient of the message;

searching, a database of recipient contacts to identify an additional list of candidate account addresses; and

determining a subset of the additional list of candidate account addresses, each candidate account address in the subset being associated with the first type of electronic communication service; and

presenting, by the computer, the subset of candidate account addresses from which the user can select another intended recipient for the message.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the list of candidate account addresses includes:

determining whether the partial identifier matches at least one of a first name, a last name, or an account address of one or more contacts in a database of recipient contacts,

wherein the list is presented in response to determining that the partial identifier matches at least one of the first name, the last name, or the account address, and

wherein the list includes the determined matches.

7. A method comprising:

within a single communication application running on a computer, wherein the single communication application is configured to communicate using a set of different types of electronic communications services;

receiving, at the computer, user input including a sequence of characters for a particular recipient of a communication to be sent by a user;

searching, based at least in part on the sequence of characters, a database of recipient contacts to identify a first set of candidate recipient accounts;

identifying, by the computer, the set of different types of electronic communication services to which the computer is connected;

searching, based at least in part on the sequence of characters, one or more service-specific contacts lists of the user, each service-specific contacts list being associated with one type of the electronic communication services in the set of different types of electronic communication services, to identify a second set of candidate recipient accounts;

presenting, by the computer, the first and second sets of candidate recipient accounts to the user; and

receiving, by the computer, a user input selecting a particular candidate recipient account from the first and second sets of candidate recipient accounts to send the communication, wherein the particular candidate recipient account is associated with a particular type of electronic communication service of the set of different types of electronic communication services; and

determining, by the computer without human intervention, based on the particular candidate recipient account, a respective user account address from a plurality of user account addresses associated with the user, wherein the user account address is determined in accordance with a criteria that the user account address is also associated with the particular type of electronic communication service, and the plurality of user account addresses include one or more user account addresses associated with a type of communication service other than the particular type of communication service; and

sending, from the computer via the particular type of communication service, the communication to the particular candidate recipient account from the respective user account address.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein searching, the database of recipient contacts includes searching for a match between the sequence of characters and at least a portion of a first name, a last name, or an account address for each contact in the database of recipient contacts.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the set of different types of electronic communication services includes an instant messaging service.

10. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium encoded with program instructions that, when executed, cause a processor in a computing device to execute a method for facilitating a communication session, the method comprising:

within a single communication application running on the computing device, wherein the single communication application is configured to communicate using a plurality of different types of electronic communications services;

receiving, at the computing device, a user input including a partial identifier for an intended recipient of a message to be sent by a user;

searching, based at least in part on the partial identifier, a database of recipient contacts to identify a set of candidate account addresses for a set of candidate recipients, the set of candidate account addresses each associated with a respective electronic communication service of the plurality of different types of electronic communication services;

presenting, at the computing device, the set of candidate account addresses;

receiving, at the computing device, a user selection of a particular account addresses of the set of candidate account addresses as a selected account address of the intended recipient for the message, where the particular account address is associated with a particular type of electronic communication service of the plurality of different types of electronic communication services;

determining, at the computing device without human intervention, based at least in part on the particular type of electronic communication service associated with the selected account address, a user account address associated with the user, wherein the user account address is determined in accordance with a criteria that the user account address is also associated with the particular electronic communication service, and the plurality of user account addresses include one or more user account addresses associated with a type of communication service other than the particular type of communication service; and

sending, from the computer via the particular type of communication service, the message to the selected account address from the respective user account address.

11. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein determining the user account address associated with the user includes:

determining the particular type of electronic communication service associated with the selected account address;

determining a set of user account addresses associated with the particular type of electronic communication service; and

selecting the user account address from the set of user account addresses by identifying a particular user account address in the set of user account addresses that communicates most frequently with the candidate account address.

12. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein searching the database of recipient contacts includes:

matching the partial identifier with a set of first names in the database of recipient contacts to identify a subset of matching first names;

matching the partial identifier with a set of last names in the database of recipient contacts to identify a subset of matching last names; and

matching the partial identifier with a set of account addresses in the database of recipient contacts to identify a subset of matching account addresses,

wherein the set of candidate account addresses includes the subset of matching first names, the subset of matching last names, and the subset of matching account addresses.

13. An electronic device, comprising:

a processor;

a memory device coupled to the processor, the memory device including instructions to be executed for facilitating communication, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

within a single communication application running on the electronic device, wherein the single communication application is configured to communicate using a plurality of different types of electronic communications services;

receive user input including a partial identifier for an intended recipient of a message to be sent by a user;

search, based at least in part on the partial identifier, a database of recipient contacts to identify a set of candidate account addresses for a set of candidate recipients, wherein the set of candidate account addresses each associated with a respective electronic communication service of the plurality of different types of electronic communication services;

present the set of candidate account addresses;

receive a user selection of a particular account address of the candidate account addresses as a selected account address of the intended recipient for the message, where the particular account address is associated with a particular account address associated with a particular type of electronic communication service of the plurality of different types of electronic communication services; and

determine, in response to the selection without human intervention, a user account address associated with the user, wherein the user account address is determined in accordance with a criteria that the user account address is also associated with the particular type of electronic communication service, and the plurality of user account addresses include one or more user account addresses associated with a type of communication service other than the particular type of communication service; and

send the message to the selected account address from the respective user account address.

14. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

facilitate communications with the recipient via different types of electronic communication services of the plurality of different types of electronic communication services; and

present the message and the communications together in chronological order.

15. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the partial identifier is at least one of a string of characters, a characteristic of a candidate recipient, or a characteristic of an electronic device of the candidate recipient.

16. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the instructions that cause the processor to search the database of recipient contacts further includes instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

determine whether the partial identifier matches at least one of a first name, a last name, or an account address of contacts in the database of recipient contacts;

subsequent to determining whether the partial identifier matches at least one of the first name, the last name, or the account address of the contacts, identify a set of electronic communication services to which the device is connected; and

determine, for each of the set of electronic communication services, whether the partial identifier matches a message identifier of contacts in the database of recipient contacts, the message identifier being associated with one of the set of electronic communication services,

wherein the list presented includes matches to the partial identifier.

17. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the instructions that cause the processor to search the database of recipient contacts further includes instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

determine whether the partial identifier matches at least one of a first name, a last name, or an account address of contacts in the database of recipient contacts;

in response to determining that the partial identifier does not match at least one of the first name, the last name, or the account address of users, determine whether the partial identifier matches at least one of a communication identifier in a service-specific;

contacts list,

wherein the communication identifier is associated with at least one of the set of electronic communication services.

18. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium encoded with program instructions that, when executed, cause a processor in a computing device to execute a method for setting up a communication session, the method comprising:

within a single communication application running on the computing device, wherein the single communication application is configured to communicate using a set of different types of electronic communications services;

receiving, at the computing device, user input including a sequence of characters for a particular recipient of a communication to be sent by a user;

searching, based at least in part on the sequence of characters, a database of recipient contacts to identify a first set of candidate recipient accounts;

identifying, at the computing device, the set of different types of electronic communication services to which the computing device is connected;

searching, based at least in part on the sequence of characters, one or more service-specific contacts lists of a user, each service-specific contacts list being associated with one of the electronic communication services in the set of different types of electronic communication services, to identify a second set of candidate recipient accounts;

presenting, at the computing device, the first and second sets of candidate recipient accounts to the user; and

receiving, at the computing device, another user input selecting a particular candidate recipient account from the first and second sets of candidate recipient accounts to send the communication, wherein the particular candidate recipient account is associated with a particular type of electronic communication service of the set of different types of electronic communication services; and

determining, by the computing device without human intervention, based on the particular candidate recipient account, a respective user account address from a plurality of user account addresses associated with the user, wherein the user account address is determined in accordance with a criteria that the user account address is also associated with the particular type of electronic communication service, and the plurality of user account addresses include one or more user account addresses associated with a type of communication service other than the particular type of communication service; and

sending, from the computer via the particular type of communication service, the communication to the particular candidate recipient account from the respective user account address.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein one of the service-specific contacts list of the user is stored locally on the computer readable storage medium, wherein another one of the service-specific, contacts list of the user is stored at a remote server accessible through an application programming interface (API).

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the set of different types of electronic communication services includes a set of communication services which the user is currently logged into.

21. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein presenting the first and second sets of candidate recipient accounts includes presenting an ordered list in which the candidate recipient accounts in the first set precede the candidate recipient accounts in the second set.

22. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the first and second sets of candidate recipient accounts are presented to the user by displaying their associated user identifiers and electronic communication service, wherein the first and second sets of candidate recipient accounts are displayed in alphabetical order based at least in part on their associated user identifiers.

23. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 18, where determining the set of candidate recipient accounts matching a portion of at least one of a first name, a last name, or an account address of each contact stored in the database of recipient contacts.