Smart messenger

• US 20030131055A1
• Filed: 01/09/2002
• Published: 07/10/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 01/09/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Basson, Sara H., Kanevsky, Dimitri, Yashchin, Emmanuel, Oblinger, Daniel A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,200,635 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1822 Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99939 Privileged access

Abstract

A method and apparatus improve the synchronization and presentation of an exchange of messages between two or more users during an on-line Internet messaging session. This method and apparatus discriminate which messages from a sender correspond to replies from a recipient and presents these messages in an orderly, time-sequenced fashion using color schemes or separate presentation windows which improves the overall readability and efficiency of the communication. Additionally, the method and apparatus provide a level of identity security. As a user enters messages, the typing style, speech patterns, or boimetrics of all the users are monitored and will issue warnings whenever a change is detected, possibly indicating someone other then the original user is now sending messages. Alternatively, or in addition, a user may be asked a series of random questions and another user will evaluate answers provided to those questions to determine whether a user'"'"'s identity is false.

Claims

1. A messaging system comprising:

an interactive system for production and interchange of messages by users over a network;

a topic separator receiving user messages and separating messages according to different topics; and

a user interface, coupled to said topic separator, for representing in a distinct way parts of messages that were separated by said topic separator.

2. The messaging system as in claim 1, further comprising a time synchronizer for time stamping messages, the topic separator being responsive to said time synchronizer to determine relationships between messages.

3. The messaging system as in claim 1, wherein said user interface displays messages in windows according to topic.

4. The messaging system as in claim 1, wherein said user interface displays messages in different colors according to topic.

5. The messaging system as in claim 1, further comprising a security system to verify a user'"'"'s identity.

6. The messaging system as in claim 5, wherein said security system includes a database of questions from which random questions are posed to a user and whereby verification of validity of answers to posed questions is done by users of the system.

7. The messaging system as in claim 5, wherein said security system includes a biometric module for verification of a user'"'"'s identify.

8. A method of conducting a messaging session at a user'"'"'s computer between two or more users over a network comprising the steps of:

receiving a message over the network from a user;

identifying a topic of the received message;

determining if the topic of the received message has changed from a previous message;

determining if a changed topic is a new topic; and

if a new topic, opening a new window to display the received message.

9. The method of conducting a messaging session recited in claim 8, wherein if the topic of a received message has not changed, further comprising the step of displaying the received message in a currently opened window.

10. The method of conducting a messaging session recited in claim 8, wherein if a changed topic is not a new topic, further comprising the step of displaying the received message in a previously opened window.

11. The method of conducting a messaging session recited in claim 8, further comprising the step of identifying a time of a received message, the steps of determining if the topic of the received message has changed from a previous message and determining if a changed topic is a new topic using the time of the received message to determine whether the topic has changed or is a new topic.

12. The method of conducting a messaging session recited in claim 8, further comprising the step of checking a user'"'"'s identity.

13. The method of conducting a messaging session recited in claim 12, wherein the step checking a user'"'"'s identity comprises the steps of asking the user random questions and evaluating the user'"'"'s answers.

14. The method of conducting a messaging session recited in claim 13, wherein the step of evaluating the user'"'"'s answers is performed by another user.

15. The method of conducting a messaging session recited in claim 12, wherein the step of checking a user'"'"'s identity is performed using biometrics.