CHAT TOOL FOR CONCURRENTLY CHATTING OVER MORE THAN ONE INTERRELATED CHAT CHANNELS

• US 20070288560A1
• Filed: 06/13/2006
• Published: 12/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Activision Publishing Incorporated (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: JAISWAL, PEEYUSH, WANG, FANG, BOU-GHANNAM, AKRAM A., DAVIS, BRENT L.
• Granted Patent: US 7,945,620 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: H04L 51/046 Interoperability with other network applications or services

Abstract

The present invention discloses a chat tool including a chat window configured to permit a user to simultaneously receive chat messages for two or more different chat sessions, thereby permitting side discussions within a secondary chat session. Each of the different chat sessions can correspond to a session specific chat channel. Different chat sessions can include private and public sessions. The participants of a private chat session can be participants of the public chat session and/or can be able to view discussions occurring in the public chat session. Further, members of the public chat session can be unaware of the existence of the private chat session. Any number of private chat sessions can be spawned from a public chat session using an invitation option, which automatically establishes new private sessions for invited individuals.

Claims

1. A chat interface implemented within software that is stored within a computer readable medium comprising:

a chat window configured to permit a user to simultaneously receive chat messages for a plurality of different chat sessions, each of the different chat sessions corresponding to a session specific chat channel.

2. The interface of claim 1, wherein the plurality of different chat sessions include a public chat session having a corresponding public chat channel and a private chat session having a corresponding private chat channel.

3. The interface of claim 2, further comprising:

an invitation option configured to invite a participant of the public chat session that is not participating in the private chat session to join the private chat session.

4. The interface of claim 2, wherein each participant included in the private chat session is able to concurrently view chat messages of the public chat session.

5. The interface of claim 4, wherein each participant of the private chat session is also a participant of the public chat session, and wherein at least one participant of the public chat session is not a participant of the private chat session.

6. The interface of claim 4, wherein at least one of the participants of the private chat session is not a participant of the public chat session even though that participant is able to dynamically view chat messages of the public chat session.

7. The interface of claim 1, wherein the chat windows include a plurality of sections, each section being simultaneously viewable, and wherein each section corresponds to one of the chat sessions.

8. The interface of claim 7, wherein the chat window includes a message transmission section and a session selector control, wherein the session selector control permits a user of the interface to designate one of the plurality of different chat sessions as a current output session, and wherein messages contained in the message transmission section are transmitted as chat messages directed toward the designated chat session.

9. The interface of claim 1, wherein a different session visual indicator is associated with user messages for the different chat sessions, wherein messages entered into the chat window shown in accordance with the session visual indicator associated with a chat session to which the entered messages are directed, whereby a user of the interface is able to tell which chat session user messages to be transmitted are directed towards by the visual indicator.

10. The interface of claim 1, wherein the chat interface is configured to handle peer-to-peer chat sessions and server managed chat sessions.

11. A method of engaging in electronic chat communications comprising:

within a software interface presenting a chat window having a plurality of distinct sections, each section corresponding to a chat session, each chat session corresponding to a chat channel, wherein at least two of the distinct sections are simultaneously viewable; and

simultaneously and dynamically conducting chat communications within the distinct sections.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein one of the chat sessions is a public chat session and wherein another one of the chat sessions is a private chat session, said method further comprising:

identifying an invitation request input into the interface, wherein the invitation request is associated with a user designated participant of the public chat session who is not currently participating within the private chat session;

responsively inviting the designated participant to join the private chat session;

determining a response to the inventing step; and

when the response is positive, including the designated participant in the private chat session.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein one of the chat sessions is a public chat session and wherein another one of the chat sessions is a private chat session, said method further comprising:

inviting a private participant not currently participating in the public chat session to join the private chat session;

responsive to the inviting step, including the private participant in the private chat session;

permitting the private chat participant to send and receive messages related to the private chat session; and

permitting the private chat participant to dynamically and automatically view messages of the public chat session without joining the public chat session.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving a message to be transmitted via the interface;

determining one of the chat sessions for which the message is to be conveyed;

automatically conveying the received message to the determined chat session; and

presenting the conveyed message within the chat section associated with the determined chat session.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

within the interface, depicting the message to be transmitted with a visual indicator unique to the determined chat session.

16. A system for electronic chat communications comprising:

a public chat channel configured for a public chat session having at least three chat participants; and

a private chat channel configured for a private chat session having at least two chat participants, wherein at least one of the chat participants of the private chat session is also a participant of the public chat session, and wherein each chat participant of the private chat channel is able to simultaneously view messages of the private chat session and the public chat session.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the private chat session is initiated by one of the participants of the public chat channel using an option of a chat interface.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein at least two participants of the private chat session are simultaneously participating in the public chat session, and wherein at least one of the participants of the public chat session is not a participant of the private chat session.

19. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

a chat interface that includes a chat window configured to permit a user to simultaneously participate in the public chat session and the private chat session, wherein the chat window includes a single message transmission section that is selectively used for generating messages for the public chat session and the private chat session.

20. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

a chat server configured to maintain the public chat channel and the private chat channel, wherein the chat server establishes the private chat channel responsive to a request from one of the participants of the public chat channel.