Method and system for real-time blocking of content from an organization activity timeline

• US 10,686,741 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2017
• Issued: 06/16/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Hickox, Eli Spencer, Dennison, Christianne Brittany
• Primary Examiner(s): Bruckart, Benjamin R
• Assistant Examiner(s): Doshi, Akshay
• Application Number:
  US15/638,139
• Publication Number:
  US 20190005454A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,083 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1275 Print workflow management, e.g. defining or changing a workflow, cross publishing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/103 Workflow collaboration or project management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0227 Filtering policies mail message filtering H04L51/212
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/101 Access control lists [ACL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/108 when the policy decisions are valid for a limited amount of time
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1079 of unsolicited session attempts, e.g. SPIT

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for real-time blocking of content from an organization activity timeline of an organization. The content blocked can be, for example, activities, or contributions to those activities. The organization activity timeline is displayed within a user interface to show activities involving a particular external contact and one or more users of the organization. The disclosed methods and systems can be used to control which activities or contributions to activities are displayed in the organization activity timeline. One or more identifiers can be added to one or more blacklists. New activities are evaluated for inclusion in the organization activity timeline. Any new activity that includes an identifier (or contributions to that new activity) can be blocked so that it does not appear in the organization activity timeline.

Claims

1. A method for controlling which contributions are displayed in an organization activity timeline of an organization, wherein the organization activity timeline is a visual component displayed within a user interface that shows activities involving a particular external contact and one or more users of the organization, the method comprising:

adding an identifier to a user-level blacklist wherein the identifier is associated with the particular external contact and is specified by a user of the organization;

determining whether the user and the particular external contact are the only participants for a new activity created for the organization activity timeline or if there are other contributors to the new activity who are also participants, wherein the new activity includes the identifier from the user-level blacklist;

when the user and the particular external contact are the only participants for the new activity created for the organization activity timeline;

blocking the new activity from appearing in the organization activity timeline so that the new activity with the particular external contact does not appear in the organization activity timeline to other users of the organization; and

when the user and the particular external contact are not the only participants for the new activity created for the organization activity timeline and there are other contributors to the new activity who are also participants;

blocking only the user'"'"'s contribution to the new activity from appearing in the organization activity timeline so that the user'"'"'s contribution to the new activity does not appear in the organization activity timeline to other users of the organization; and

continuing to allow other contributions from the other users of the organization to the new activity to remain and appear in the organization activity timeline.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the organization activity timeline comprises a chronological record of activities each having at least one contributor that is a user from the organization.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein each activity comprises:

a recording of a communication between one or more users of the organization and a particular external contact, and wherein the communication comprises;

an email;

a calendar meeting;

a phone call;

a task;

a note;

a change to an internal representation of an external person;

or

an internal representation of a need or change of that need to follow-up with an external person.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the identifier comprises:

any identifier associated with the particular external contact that can be used to identify that particular external contact.

5. A computing system for controlling which contributions are displayed in an organization activity timeline of an organization, the computing system comprising:

a distributed database management system (DDMS) configured to store a user-level blacklist including at least one identifier that is associated with the particular external contact and that was added in to the user-level blacklist by a user of the organization;

an organization activity timeline generator configured to generate the organization activity timeline for the organization, wherein the organization activity timeline is a visual component displayed within a user interface that shows activities involving a particular external contact and one or more users of the organization, wherein the organization activity timeline generator comprises;

a real-time activity evaluator configured to ingest a new activity received from data sources of the use;

determine whether the user and the particular external contact are the only participants for a new activity created for the organization activity timeline or if there are other contributors to the new activity who are also participants, wherein the new activity includes the identifier from the user-level blacklist;

when the user and the particular external contact are the only participants for the new activity created for the organization activity timeline;

block the new activity from appearing in the organization activity timeline so that the new activity with the particular external contact does not appear in the organization activity timeline to other users of the organization; and

when the user and the particular external contact are not the only participants for the new activity created for the organization activity timeline and there are other contributors to the new activity who are also participants;

block only the user'"'"'s contribution to the new activity from appearing in the organization activity timeline so that the user'"'"'s contribution to the new activity does not appear in the organization activity timeline to other users of the organization; and

continue to allow other contributions from the other users of the organization to the new activity to remain and appear in the organization activity timeline.

6. A computing system according to claim 5, wherein the organization activity timeline comprises a chronological record of activities each having at least one contributor that is a user from the organization.

7. A computing system according to claim 5, wherein each activity comprises:

a recording of a communication between one or more users of the organization and a particular external contact, and wherein the communication comprises;

an email;

a calendar meeting;

a phone call;

a task;

a note;

a change to an internal representation of an external person;

or an internal representation of a need or change of that need to follow-up with an external person.

8. A computing system comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the memory comprises computer-executable instructions that are capable of execution by the processor, and that when executed by the processor, cause the computing system to:

control, which contributions are displayed in an organization activity timeline of an organization, wherein the organization activity timeline is a visual component displayed within a user interface that shows activities involving a particular external contact and one or more users of the organization;

add an identifier to a user-level blacklist;

process a new activity to determine whether the new activity includes the identifier from the user-level blacklist wherein the identifier is associated with the particular external contact and is specified by a user of the organization;

determine, when the new activity includes the identifier from the user-level blacklist whether the user and the particular external contact are the only participants for the new activity created for an organization activity timeline of the organization or if there are other contributors to the new activity who are also participants;

when the user and the particular external contact are the only participants for the new activity created for the organization activity timeline;

block the new activity from appearing in the organization activity timeline so that the new activity with the particular external contact does not appear in the organization activity timeline to other users of the organization; and

when the user and the particular external contact are not the only participants for the new activity created for the organization activity timeline and there are other contributors to the new activity who are also participants;

block only the user'"'"'s contribution to the new activity from appearing in the organization activity timeline so that the user'"'"'s contribution to the new activity does not appear in the organization activity timeline to other users of the organization; and

continue to allow other contributions from the other users of the organization to the new activity to remain and appear in the organization activity timeline.