ENHANCEMENTS TO UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS AND MESSAGING SYSTEMS

• US 20110126126A1
• Filed: 03/06/2009
• Published: 05/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Software Hothouse Limited
• Original Assignee: Software Hothouse Limited
• Inventors: Blair, Christopher Douglas
• Granted Patent: US 8,555,178 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/752
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/56 Unified messaging, e.g. interactions between e-mail, instant messaging or converged IP messaging [CPM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/60 logging of communication history, e.g. outgoing or incoming calls, missed calls, messages or URLs logging of telephone numbers H04M1/56, H04M1/57

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for handling a plurality of communications between parties. In an aspect, the presentation of both real-time and “store and forward” interactions are presented in a way to make it easier for a user of the system to read and understand what is being communicated, by whom, and to whom.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

identifying address data for an interaction, the address data defining participant addresses for a plurality of participants in the interaction;

categorizing a first set of one or more participant addresses as belonging to a first addressing category that is defined by a preference associated with a viewer;

identifying corresponding display text for each of the participant addresses in the first set for display within a display space defined by a first boundary;

categorizing each of the participant addresses in the first set as belonging to an initiator category or one or more other participant categories;

associating a first graphical attribute with the display text of the participant address belonging to the initiator category;

associating a corresponding second graphical attribute with the display text of the participant addresses belonging to the one or more other participant categories;

wherein each graphical attribute causes its associated display text to be displayed in a manner indicative of the category to which the participant address associated with the display text belongs; and

displaying the corresponding display text according to their corresponding graphical attributes within the display space, the display space displayed within a representation of the interaction.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein:

the viewer is a participant in the e-mail message;

the preference associated with the viewer is a participant address of the viewer; and

wherein categorizing the first set of one or more participant addresses as belonging to the first addressing category that is defined by the preference associated with a viewer comprises grouping all participant addresses that include a same domain name of the participant address associated with the viewer.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising, for each participant address, associating a corresponding third graphical attribute with the display text of the participant address, each corresponding third graphical attribute indicating whether the interaction has been determined to have been received at the participant address.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising:

categorizing a second set of one or more participant addresses as belonging to a second addressing category that does not include the first addressing category; and

identifying corresponding display text for each of the one or more participant addresses in the second set for display within a display space defined by a second boundary that is separate from the first boundary.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein categorizing the second set of one or more participant addresses as belonging to the second addressing category that does not include the first addressing category comprises grouping all participant addresses that do not include the same domain name of the participant address associated with the viewer.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein categorizing the second set of one or more participant addresses as belonging to the second addressing category that does not include the first addressing category comprises grouping all participant addresses that include a common domain name that is different from the domain name of the participant address associated with the viewer.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein categorizing the first set of one or more participant addresses as belonging to the first addressing category that is defined by the preference associated with a viewer comprises grouping all participant addresses that belong to a company to which a participant address associated with the viewer belongs.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a receipt time of the interaction;

determining a current time; and

displaying a difference between the current time and the time of receipt of the interaction.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the interaction is a constituent interaction within a thread of related interactions, and further comprising:

identifying other constituent interactions of the thread;

for each other constituent interaction;

identifying address data for the constituent interaction, the address data defining participant addresses for a plurality of participants in the constituent interaction;

categorizing a first set of one or more participant addresses as belonging to the first addressing category that is defined by a preference associated with the viewer;

identifying corresponding display text for each of the participant addresses in the first set for display within a display space defined by a first boundary;

categorizing each of the participant addresses in the first set as belonging to the initiator category or one or more other participant categories;

associating a first graphical attribute with the display text of the participant address belonging to the initiator category;

associating a corresponding second graphical attribute with the display text of the participant addresses belonging to the one or more other participant categories;

wherein each graphical attribute causes its associated display text to be displayed in a manner indicative of the category to which the participant address associated with the display text belongs; and

displaying the corresponding display text according to their corresponding graphical attributes within the display space, the display space displayed within a representation of the interaction; and

displaying the corresponding representations of the constituent interactions in chronological order, the chronological order being defined by the times at which each constituent interaction was received.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the interaction is an e-mail message, the initiator category is a sender category, and the one or more other categories are recipient categories.

11. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

identifying a plurality of interaction threads;

for each interaction thread;

identifying a corresponding plurality of constituent interactions, each constituent interaction having a common portion of a subject line;

associating a graphical attribute with a subject field for the interaction thread, the graphical attribute being specific to the interaction thread; and

displaying the subject fields of the constituent interactions according to the associated graphical attribute.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the graphical attribute is a colour coding.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising, for each interaction thread:

for each constituent interaction, identifying participant addresses for a plurality of participants in the constituent interaction;

generating a subject heading for the interaction thread, the subject heading incorporating the common portion of the subject line;

displaying in a subject field a subject heading of a first constituent interaction that is first in chronological order of all constituent interactions of the interaction thread;

displaying as a contiguous group the constituent interactions that are subsequent to the first constituent interaction in chronological order; and

displaying in the subject field for each constituent interaction that is subsequent to the first constituent interaction only a beginning portion of body content of the constituent interaction.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising:

displaying each constituent interaction in chronological order of receipt; and

in response to receiving a selection of a constituent interaction, displaying a linkage indicator that graphically links each constituent interaction belonging to a same thread.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising:

identifying a first addressing category;

for each interaction thread;

determining whether a participant address of an initiator of a first constituent interaction belongs to the first addressing category;

displaying the subject field according to a first graphical attribute that indicates the participant address of an initiator of the first constituent interaction belongs to the first addressing category in response to determining that participant address of an initiator of the first constituent interaction belongs to the first addressing category; and

displaying the subject field according to a second graphical attribute that indicates the participant address of an initiator of the first constituent interaction does not belong to the first addressing category in response to determining that participant address of an initiator of the first constituent interaction does not belong to the first addressing category.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the colour coding indicates whether initiated the first constituent interaction of the thread or was a recipient of the first constituent interaction of the thread.

17. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

identifying address data for an interaction, the address data defining a plurality of participant addresses for a plurality of participants in the interaction;

identifying alternate communication media, each alternate communication medium being associated with at least two participants in the interaction;

displaying a representation of the interaction, the representation including a plurality of communication icons, each communication icon corresponding to an alternate communication medium and displayed according to a preference; and

wherein a selection of a communication icon causes a communication to be established over the corresponding alternate communication medium.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein the preference is one of a preference defined by an initiator, a cost preference based on a cost of using each alternate communication medium, a speed of response preference and a coverage preference based on a number of the participants that can be reached over each alternate communication medium.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein the interaction is a constituent interaction in an interaction thread, and further comprising:

automatically recording an alternate communication established over a corresponding alternate communication medium;

identifying the recorded communication as a subsequent constituent interaction in the interaction thread; and

displaying the interaction and the recorded communication as two separate constituent interactions in the interaction thread.

20. The computer-implement method of claim 19, wherein the alternate communication is one of a telephone communication or an instant messaging communication.

21. A computing device, comprising:

a display subsystem including a display device;

a processing subsystem in data communication with the display subsystem;

a data store in data communication with the processing subsystem and storing instructions executable by the processing subsystem that upon such execution cause the computing device to perform operations comprising;

identifying address data for an interaction, the address data defining participant addresses for a plurality of participants in the interaction;

categorizing a first set of one or more participant addresses as belonging to a first addressing category that is defined by a preference associated with a viewer;

identifying corresponding display text for each of the participant addresses in the first set for display within a display space defined by a first boundary;

categorizing each of the participant addresses in the first set as belonging to an initiator category or one or more other participant categories;

associating a first graphical attribute with the display text of the participant address belonging to the initiator category;

associating a corresponding second graphical attribute with the display text of the participant addresses belonging to the one or more other participant categories;

wherein each graphical attribute causes its associated display text to be displayed in a manner indicative of the category to which the participant address associated with the display text belongs; and

displaying the corresponding display text according to their corresponding graphical attributes within the display space on the display device, the display space displayed within a representation of the interaction on the display device.

22. The computing device of claim 21, wherein the computing device is a mobile communication device.

23. A computing device, comprising:

a display subsystem including a display device;

a processing subsystem in data communication with the display subsystem;

a data store in data communication with the processing subsystem and storing instructions executable by the processing subsystem that upon such execution cause the computing device to perform operations comprising;

identifying a plurality of interaction threads;

for each interaction thread;

identifying a corresponding plurality of constituent interactions, each constituent interaction having a common portion of a subject line;

associating a graphical attribute with a subject field for the interaction thread, the graphical attribute being specific to the interaction thread; and

displaying the subject fields of the constituent interactions on the display device according to the associated graphical attribute.

24. A computing device, comprising:

a display subsystem including a display device;

a processing subsystem in data communication with the display subsystem;

a communication subsystem operable to communicate over a plurality of communication media;

a data store in data communication with the processing subsystem and storing instructions executable by the processing subsystem that upon such execution cause the computing device to perform operations comprising;

identifying address data for an interaction, the address data defining a plurality of participant addresses for a plurality of participants in the interaction;

identifying alternate communication media, each alternate communication medium being associated with at least two participants in the interaction and being one of the plurality of communication media;

displaying a representation of the interaction on the display device, the representation including a plurality of communication icons, each communication icon corresponding to an alternate communication medium and displayed according to a preference; and

wherein a selection of a communication icon causes a communication to be established over the corresponding alternate communication medium.