Apparatus and methods for performing an action on a database record

• US 9,823,813 B2
• Filed: 11/10/2014
• Issued: 11/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Beechuk, Scott D., Tamm, Steven, Kjellberg, Orjan, Krishnan, Arvind, Snyder, Benjamin, Ball, Luke A., Hale, Shannon, Nguyen, Khanh Kim P., Gradin, William, Mieritz, Anna Bonner, Maples, Beril Guvendik, Johnson, Gregg, Waite, Andrew, Bovet, Jean Elie, Perket, Scott Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Augustine, Nicholas
• Application Number:
  US14/537,656
• Publication Number:
  US 20150143248A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,107 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers

Abstract

Disclosed are methods, apparatus, systems, and computer program products for performing an action on a database record in an on-demand database service. What actions are presented to a user interface of a mobile device can depend on attributes of the database record, such as metadata stored in association with the database record. Selection of one of the actions can cause the mobile device to integrate data from hardware components, databases, and applications using mobile device. The data identified from the mobile device can be automatically associated with various data fields of the action. The selected action can be performed on the database record using the data in the data fields.

Claims

1. A phone-enabled mobile device comprising:

a display,

one or more storage media, and

one or more processors operable to execute one or more instructions stored on the one or more storage media, the instructions configurable to cause;

processing a phone call from an entity, the phone call received at the phone-enabled mobile device;

responsive to processing the phone call, displaying, in a user interface on the display of the phone-enabled mobile device, a publisher configurable to share feed items to a feed of a social networking system, the feed being associated with the entity, the publisher comprising;

an input area capable of receiving text,

a first selection operable to cause the text to be shared in the feed as a feed item, and

second selection associated with actions capable of being performed on a database record associated with the entity, the database record being stored or configured to be stored in a database system;

processing user input received via the user interface, the user input comprising selection of the second selection to request a first action to be performed on the database record;

retrieving, based on the user input, one or more data items from the phone-enabled mobile device;

automatically associating data of the database record with the one or more retrieved data items; and

performing the requested first action on the database record using the associated data.

2. The phone-enabled mobile device of claim 1, wherein retrieving the one or more data items from the phone-enabled mobile device comprises:

accessing one or more hardware components of the phone-enabled mobile device, the hardware components comprising one or more of;

a storage medium, a global positioning system (GPS) sensor, a proximity sensor, a camera, a gyroscope, or an accelerometer.

3. The phone-enabled mobile device of claim 1, wherein retrieving the one or more data items from the phone-enabled mobile device comprises:

accessing one or more databases comprising an address book.

4. The phone-enabled mobile device of claim 1, wherein retrieving the one or more data items from the phone-enabled mobile device comprises:

communicating with an application installed on the phone-enabled mobile device, the application capable of accessing a database external to the on-demand database service, and

identifying the one or more data items from metadata stored in association with the external database.

5. The phone-enabled mobile device of claim 1, the one or more instructions configured to further cause:

identifying the one or more attributes of the database record, the one or more attributes including one or more of;

a record identification (ID), a record type, a record relationship, and metadata stored in association with the database record, and

determining that the second selection is capable of associating data of the database record with data items using the one or more identified attributes.

6. The phone-enabled mobile device of claim 1, wherein the database record is a customer relationship management (CRM) object, the CRM object being one of:

a lead, a case, an account, an opportunity, a task, a contact, a campaign, a contract, an event, and a custom object.

7. The phone-enabled mobile device of claim 1, wherein causing the requested action to be performed on the database record includes one of:

creating the database record or updating the database record for storing in the database with the retrieved one or more data items in the associated data of the database record.

8. The phone-enabled mobile device of claim 1, the one or more instructions configured to further cause:

generating one or more values from the retrieved one or more data items after associating the data of the database record with the one or more retrieved data items, and

displaying the one or more values in the user interface before performing the requested action.

9. The phone-enabled mobile device of claim 1, the one or more instructions configured to further cause:

causing a feed item to be published in a feed associated with the database record, the feed item indicating performance of the action on the database record.

10. A database system for performing an action on a database record using a phone-enabled mobile device, the database system comprising:

one or more processors operable to execute one or more instructions configured to cause;

processing a phone call from an entity, the phone call received at the phone-enabled mobile device;

responsive to processing the phone call, displaying, in a user interface on the display of the phone-enabled mobile device, a publisher configurable to share feed items to a feed of a social networking system, the feed being associated with the entity, the publisher comprising;

an input area capable of receiving text,

a first selection operable to cause the text to be shared in the feed as a feed item, and

a second selection associated with actions capable of being performed on a database record associated with the entity, the database record being stored or configured to be stored in a database system;

processing user input received via the user interface, the user input comprising selection of the second selection to request a first action to be performed on the database record;

retrieving, based on the user input, one or more data items from the phone-enabled mobile device;

automatically associating data of the database record with the one or more retrieved data items; and

performing the requested first action on the database record using the associated data.

11. The database system of claim 10, the one or more instructions configured to further cause:

providing a feed item in a feed associated with the database record, the feed item indicating performance of the action on the database record.

12. The database system of claim 10, the one or more instructions configured to further cause:

accessing a database external to an on-demand database service from an application installed on the phone-enabled mobile device, and

identifying the one or more data items from metadata stored in association with the external database.

13. The database system of claim 10, wherein the one or more attributes comprises:

a record identification (ID), a record type, a record relationship, or metadata stored in association with the database record.

14. The database system of claim 10, wherein the request to perform an action on the database record includes one of:

creating the database record or updating the database record for storing in the database with the one or more data items in the associated data of the database record.

15. A computer-implemented method comprising:

processing a phone call from an entity, the phone call received at a phone-enabled mobile device;

responsive to processing the phone call, displaying, in a user interface on the display of the phone-enabled mobile device, a publisher configurable to share feed items to a feed of a social networking system, the feed being associated with the entity, the publisher comprising;

an input area capable of receiving text,

a first selection operable to cause the text to be shared in the feed as a feed item, and

second selection associated with actions capable of being performed on a database record associated with the entity, the database record being stored or configured to be stored in a database system;

processing user input received via the user interface, the user input comprising selection of the second selection to request a first action to be performed on the database record;

retrieving, based on the user input, one or more data items from the phone-enabled mobile device;

automatically associating data of the database record with the one or more retrieved data items; and

performing the requested first action on the database record using the associated data.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein retrieving the one or more data items from the phone-enabled mobile device comprises:

accessing one or more hardware components of the phone-enabled mobile device, the hardware components comprising one or more of;

a storage medium, a global positioning system (GPS) sensor, a proximity sensor, a camera, a gyroscope, or an accelerometer.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

identifying the one or more attributes of the database record, the one or more attributes including one or more of;

a record identification (ID), a record type, a record relationship, and metadata stored in association with the database record, and

determining that the second selection is capable of associating data of the database record with data items using the one or more identified attributes.

18. A computer program product comprising computer-readable program code to be executed by one or more processors when retrieved from a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the program code including instructions to cause:

processing a phone call from an entity, the phone call received at a phone-enabled mobile device;

responsive to processing the phone call, displaying, in a user interface on the display of the phone-enabled mobile device, a publisher configurable to share feed items to a feed of a social networking system, the feed being associated with the entity, the publisher comprising;

an input area capable of receiving text,

a first selection operable to cause the text to be shared in the feed as a feed item, and

second selection associated with actions capable of being performed on a database record associated with the entity, the database record being stored or configured to be stored in a database system;

processing user input received via the user interface, the user input comprising selection of the second selection to request a first action to be performed on the database record;

retrieving, based on the user input, one or more data items from the phone-enabled mobile device;

automatically associating data of the database record with the one or more retrieved data items; and

performing the requested first action on the database record using the associated data.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein retrieving the one or more data items from the phone-enabled mobile device comprises:

accessing one or more hardware components of the phone-enabled mobile device, the hardware components comprising one or more of;

a storage medium, a global positioning system (GPS) sensor, a proximity sensor, a camera, a gyroscope, or an accelerometer.

20. The computer program product of claim 18, the program code further including instructions to cause:

identifying the one or more attributes of the database record, the one or more attributes including one or more of;

a record identification (ID), a record type, a record relationship, and metadata stored in association with the database record, and

determining that the second selection is capable of associating data of the database record with data items using the one or more identified attributes.