User interface and content enhancements for real-time communication

• US 20040162877A1
• Filed: 02/19/2003
• Published: 08/19/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/19/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Van Dok, Cornelis K., Ghosh, Donna, Oreizy, Peyman, Blagsvedt, Sean O.
• Granted Patent: US 7,185,285 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• 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 40/109 Font handling; Temporal or kinetic typography
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/063 Content adaptation, e.g. replacement of unsuitable content
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72439 for image or video messaging

Abstract

Several enhancements to a real-time communications user interface are provided to add functionality and personality in such communications as instant messaging. These enhancements are geared at least in part to making the user interface more personalized between users in a real-time communication session, including personalized fonts, spacing, extensible emoticons, etc. Other enhancements are geared in part toward enhancing the use of the interface. For example, a dynamically changing input box may remove a need for scroll bars, and edit control of previous messages may remove the need to send corrective messages. A number of these enhancements may be accomplished through the use of markup languages in the user interface. One or more of the disclosed enhancements may improve the immediacy, readability, and functionality of instant message conversations.

Claims

1. In a computerized communication environment that allows a plurality of users to communicate with each other in real-time, a method of real-time communication that provides a sending system enhanced flexibility with respect to the type of content that may be included in a real-time message and enhanced control over the presentation of the real-time message at a receiving system, the method comprising acts of:

at the sending system, receiving content to be included in a real-time message;

formatting the received content at the sending system in accordance with a markup language that either influences the presentation of the received content at the receiving system, or allows some level of flexibility for the type of content allowed in the received content, or both; and

sending to the receiving system, the real-time message, including the received content which has been formatted in accordance with the markup language.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the markup language comprises at least one of extensible Markup Language and HyperText Markup Language.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the received content comprises at least one of a data file, an image file, a user-defined emoticon, and a multimedia file.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the formatting is based at least in part on the identity of a user at the sending system.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the formatting specifies at least one of a particular font and a particular font color selected to identify the user.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the formatting is done automatically based at least in part on the display format for another user in the real-time conversation so that one user can be distinguished from another automatically by format.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the automatic formatting specifies at least one of a particular font and a particular font color.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the received content corresponds to a previously sent real-time message that is being edited at the sending system.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the received content is being entered by a user into an input box of an initial size, the method further comprising an act of automatically increasing the size of the input box as the received content approaches the initial size of the input box so that the user can see the received content without scrolling.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the received content comprises rich content which is received from a paste operation.

11. In a computerized communication environment that allows a plurality of users to communicate with each other in real-time, a method of facilitating real-time communication between a sending system and a receiving system, the method comprising acts of:

displaying a real time message history area comprising one or more real-time messages that have previously been either sent or received;

displaying an input box for receiving content to be included in a new real-time message to be sent; and

displaying at least one of (i) an automatically selected default font to display the new real-time message at the receiving system, (ii) an automatically selected default font color in which to display the new real-time message at the receiving system, (iii) a list of one or more user definable emoticons to add to the new real-time message, (iv) a paste option for pasting rich content to the new real-time message, and (v) a cut option for cutting rich content from the new real-time message.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising an act of automatically increasing the size of the input box as the received content approaches an initial size of the input box so that the user can see the received content without scrolling.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the font and font color help identify a sender of the new real-time message.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising an act of receiving one or more initial real-time messages from a sending system.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising acts of:

displaying the one or more initial real-time messages in the real-time message history area; and

indenting the one or more initial real-time messages based on the identity of a sender for each of the one or more initial real-time messages.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising acts of:

receiving an indication that one or more senders of the one or more initial real-time messages are composing the one or more initial real-time messages; and

displaying an indicator that the one or more senders are composing the one or more initial real-time messages, the indicator displaying inline with where the one or more initial real-time messages are to be displayed when received.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more initial real-time messages are received from one or more users, the method further comprising acts of:

displaying a user name for the one or more initial real-time messages; and

receiving one or more subsequent real-time messages, wherein the one or more subsequent real-time messages are received from the one or more users, and wherein the user name for the one or more subsequent real-time messages is dropped from display.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more initial real-time messages comprise content formatted with a markup language.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the markup language comprises at least one of eXtensible Markup Language and HyperText Markup Language.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more initial real-time messages comprise at least one of a data file, an image file, a user-defined emoticon, a multimedia file, and rich text content.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the one or more initial real-time messages comprise a file, the method further comprising the act of displaying either the file or a representation of the file, or both, inline in the real-time message history area.

22. The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more initial real-time messages correspond to one or more previously received real-time messages that are being edited by a user at a sending system.

23. The method of claim 11, wherein the input box has an initial size, the method further comprising acts of:

receiving content into the input box; and

automatically increasing the size of the input box as the received content approaches the initial size of the input box so that the user can see the received content without scrolling.

24. For a computerized communication environment that allows a plurality of users to communicate with each other in real-time, a computer program product comprising a computer readable medium carrying computer executable instructions for implementing a method of real-time communication that provides a sending system enhanced flexibility with respect to the type of content that may be included in a real-time message and enhanced control over the presentation of the real-time message at a receiving system, the method comprising acts of:

at the sending system, receiving content to be included in a real-time message;

formatting the received content at the sending system in accordance with a markup language that either influences the presentation of the received content at the receiving system, or allows some level of flexibility for the type of content allowed in the received content, or both; and

sending to the receiving system, the real-time message, including the received content which has been formatted in accordance with the markup language.

25. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein the markup language comprises at least one of eXtensible Markup Language and HyperText Markup Language.

26. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein the received content comprises at least one of a data file, an image file, a user-defined emoticon, and a multimedia file.

27. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein the formatting is based at least in part on the identity of a user at the sending system.

28. The computer program product of claim 27, wherein the formatting specifies at least one of a particular font and a particular font color selected to identify the user.

29. The method of claim 24, wherein the formatting is done automatically based at least in part on the display format for another user in the real-time conversation so that one user can be distinguished from another automatically by format.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the automatic formatting specifies at least one of a particular font and a particular font color.

31. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein the received content corresponds to a previously sent real-time message that is being edited at the sending system.

32. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein the received content is being entered by a user into an input box of an initial size, the method further comprising an act of automatically increasing the size of the input box as the received content approaches the initial size of the input box so that the user can see the received content without scrolling.

33. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein the received content comprises rich content which is received from a paste operation.

34. For a computerized communication environment that allows a plurality of users to communicate with each other in real-time, a computer program product comprising a computer readable medium carrying computer executable instruction for implementing a method of facilitating real-time communication between a sending system and a receiving system, the method comprising acts of:

displaying a real time message history area comprising one or more real-time messages that have previously been either sent or received;

displaying an input box for receiving content to be included in a new real-time message to be sent; and

displaying at least one of (i) an automatically selected default font in which to display the new real-time message at the receiving system, (ii) an automatically selected default font color in which to display the new real-time message at the receiving system, (iii) a list of one or more user definable emoticons to add to the new real-time message, (iv) a paste option for pasting rich content to the new real-time message, and (v) a cut option for cutting rich content from the new real-time message.

35. The computer program product of claim 34, further comprising an act of automatically increasing the size of the input box as the received content approaches an initial size of the input box so that the user can see the received content without scrolling.

36. The computer program product of claim 34, wherein the font and font color help identify a sender of the new real-time message.

37. The computer program product of claim 34, further comprising an act of receiving one or more initial real-time messages from a sending system.

38. The computer program product of claim 37, further comprising acts of:

displaying the one or more initial real-time messages in the real-time message history area; and

indenting the one or more initial real-time messages based on the identity of a sender for each of the one or more initial real-time messages.

39. The computer program product of claim 37, further comprising acts of:

receiving an indication that one or more senders of the one or more initial real-time messages are composing the one or more initial real-time messages; and

displaying an indicator that the one or more senders are composing the one or more initial real-time messages, the indicator displaying inline with where the one or more initial real-time messages are to be displayed when received.

40. The computer program product of claim 37, wherein the one or more initial real-time messages are received from one or more users, the method further comprising acts of:

displaying a user name for the one or more initial real-time messages; and

receiving one or more subsequent real-time messages, wherein the one or more subsequent real-time messages are received from the one or more users, and wherein the user name for the one or more subsequent real-time messages is dropped from display.

41. The computer program product of claim 37, wherein the one or more initial real-time messages comprise content formatted with a markup language.

42. The computer program product of claim 41, wherein the markup language comprises at least one of extensible Markup Language and HyperText Markup Language.

43. The computer program product of claim 37, wherein the one or more initial real-time messages comprise at least one of a data file, an image file, a user-defined emoticon, a multimedia file, and rich text content.

44. The computer program product of claim 43, wherein the one or more initial real-time messages comprise a file, the method further comprising the act of displaying either the file or a representation of the file, or both, inline in the real-time message history area.

45. The computer program product of claim 37, wherein the one or more initial real-time messages correspond to one or more previously received real-time messages that are being edited by a user at a sending system.

46. The computer program product of claim 34, wherein the input box has an initial size, the method further comprising acts of:

receiving content into the input box; and

automatically increasing the size of the input box as the received content approaches the initial size of the input box so that the user can see the received content without scrolling.