INITIATING INSTANT MESSAGING (IM) CHAT SESSIONS FROM EMAIL MESSAGES

• US 20120259937A1
• Filed: 06/21/2012
• Published: 10/11/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: MALIK, DALE W., DANIELL, W. TODD
• Granted Patent: US 8,458,274 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1818 Conference organisation arrangements, e.g. handling schedules, setting up parameters needed by nodes to attend a conference, booking network resources, notifying involved parties
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1831 Tracking arrangements for later retrieval, e.g. recording contents, participants activities or behavior, network status
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/043 using or handling presence information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion

Abstract

Systems and methods for integrating instant messaging (IM) services and email services are described. In one embodiment, email messages and IM chat session transcripts are threaded to each other so that an email thread history may be traced back to an IM chat session transcript and, conversely, an IM thread history may be traced back to an email message.

Claims

1. A system for integrating email and instant messaging services, comprising:

an electronic processor configured to;

determine an internet presence of a first contact identified in an email message from the first contact;

display presence information of the first contact in the email message based on determining the internet presence of the first contact;

initiate an instant messaging chat session with the first contact from the email message;

reformat an instant message received from the first contact by removing an instant messaging address of a user from the instant message from the first contact and concatenating content of the instant message from the first contact with an instant messaging address of the first contact prior to transmitting the instant message from the first contact to a second contact; and

transmit the instant message to the second contact.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic processor is configured to determine a number of characters in the instant messaging address of the user receiving the instant message.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the electronic processor is configured to insert a number of delete characters adjacent to the instant messaging address of the user, wherein the number of delete characters corresponds to the number of characters in the instant messaging address of the user.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the electronic processor is configured to remove the instant messaging address of the user when the number of delete characters are inserted adjacent to the instant messaging address of the user.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic processor is configured to receive the instant message from the first contact utilizing a first instant messaging protocol and transmit the instant message to the second contact utilizing a second instant messaging protocol.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic processor is configured to extract the content of the instant message from the instant message prior to concatenating the content of the instant message with the instant messaging address of the first contact.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic processor is configured to launch the instant messaging chat session with the first contact and the second contact without user intervention.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic processor is configured to initiate the instant messaging session with the first contact in an instant messaging window and initiate a separate instant messaging session with the second contact in the instant messaging window.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic processor is configured to retrieve contact information for the first contact from the instant messaging address of the first contact and correlate the contact information for the first contact with a contact identifier for the first contact.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic processor is configured to receive an instant message from the second contact and reformat the instant message received from the second contact by removing, from the instant message from the second contact, the instant messaging address of the user receiving the instant message from the second contact.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the electronic processor is configured to concatenate content of the instant message from the second contact with an instant messaging address of the second contact prior to transmitting the instant message of the second contact to the first contact.

12. A method of integrating instant messaging services and email services, comprising:

determining an internet presence of a first contact identified in an email message from the first contact;

displaying presence information of the first contact in the email message based on determining the internet presence of the first contact;

initiating an instant messaging chat session with the first contact from the email message;

removing an instant messaging address of a user receiving the instant message from an instant message from the first contact;

concatenating content of the instant message from the first contact with an instant messaging address of the first contact prior to transmitting the instant message from the first contact to a second contact; and

transmitting the instant message to the second contact.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising inserting a number of delete characters adjacent to the instant messaging address of the user, wherein the number of delete characters corresponds to a number of characters in the instant messaging address of the user.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising removing the instant messaging address of the user when the number of delete characters are inserted adjacent to the instant messaging address of the user.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising reformatting the instant message from the first contact by removing the instant messaging address of the user and concatenating the content of the instant message from the first contact with the instant messaging address of the first contact.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising receiving an email message from the second contact and determining an internet presence of the second contact identified in the email message from the second contact.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising initiating a separate instant messaging chat session with the second contact from the email message from the second contact.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising launching the separate instant messaging chat session with the second contact without user intervention.

19. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising computer instructions for causing an electronic processor to:

determine an internet presence of a first contact identified in an email message from the first contact;

display presence information of the first contact in the email message based on determining the internet presence of the first contact;

initiate an instant messaging chat session with the first contact from the email message;

reformat an instant message received from the first contact by removing an instant messaging address of a user from the instant message from the first contact and concatenating content of the instant message from the first contact with an instant messaging address of the first contact prior to transmitting the instant message from the first contact to a second contact; and

transmit the instant message to the second contact.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, further comprising instructions for causing the electronic processor to remove the instant messaging address of the user when a number of delete characters are inserted adjacent to the instant messaging address of the user that correspond to a number of characters in the instant messaging address of the user.