Presenting quick list of contacts to communication application user

• US 8,392,836 B1
• Filed: 07/11/2005
• Issued: 03/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Bau, David, Perlow, Jonathan David
• Primary Examiner(s): SAX, STEVEN PAUL
• Application Number:
  US11/180,035
• Time in Patent Office: 2,794 Days
• Field of Search: 715/752, 715/759, 715/758, 715/748, 715/749, 715/802, 715/804, 715/805, 715/739, 715/738, 715/968, 715853-854, 715762-763, 715/864, 715/821, 715/845, 707/6, 707/102, 707/3, 707/104.1, 709/206, 709/207, 709/229, 709/204
• US Class Current: 715/739
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9558 Details of hyperlinks; Management of linked annotations
• 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: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1813 for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms instant messaging H04L51/04; protocols for multimedia communication H04L65/1101; arrangements for multi-party communication H04L65/403; telephonic conference arrangements H04M3/56; television conference systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]

Abstract

Methods and systems of presenting a quick list of contacts to an instant messaging user are disclosed. A set of contacts is identified. From the set of contacts, a first subset is selected based on first predefined criteria and a second subset is selected from second predefined criteria. The first and second predefined criteria may include contact interaction criteria, user activity criteria, and connectedness criteria. From the first and second subsets, one or more lists of contacts are generated. The one or more lists may be displayed in a display region of an instant messaging application.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of selecting contacts in an electronic messaging system for presentation in a display region, comprising:

on a computer system having one or more processors and memory storing programs executed by the one or more processors, generating an integrated list of contacts by;

identifying a set of contacts of a user;

selecting a first subset of one or more contacts from the set of contacts in accordance with first predefined criteria, the first predefined criteria comprising contact interaction criteria based on quantity of prior electronic messaging communications between the user and contacts in the set of contacts;

selecting a second subset of one or more contacts from the set of contacts excluding the first subset based on second predefined criteria, the second predefined criteria comprising online status criteria and the contact interaction criteria; and

generating for presentation in a display region the integrated list of contacts from the first and second subsets of contacts, including combining and reordering the first and second subsets of contacts;

wherein the integrated list of contacts includes, for respective contacts in the integrated list, indicia of current status of the respective contacts, and the contacts in the integrated list of contacts are ordered in accordance with predefined criteria.

32. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the set of contacts of the user further comprises identifying the set of contacts in an address book for the user that is stored at the computer system.

2. A computer-implemented method of selecting contacts in an electronic messaging system for presentation in a display region, comprising:

on a computer system having one or more processors and memory storing programs executed by the one or more processors, generating an integrated list of contacts by;

identifying a set of contacts of a user;

selecting a first subset of one or more contacts from the set of contacts in accordance with first predefined criteria, the first predefined criteria comprising contact interaction criteria based on quantity of prior electronic messaging communications between the user and contacts in the set of contacts;

selecting a second subset of one or more contacts from the set of contacts based on second different predefined criteria comprising online status criteria; and

generating for presentation in a display region the integrated list of contacts from the first and second subsets of contacts, wherein the integrated list is generated so as to include at least one contact that is not included in the first subset and at least one contact that is not included in the second subset;

wherein the integrated list of contacts includes, for respective contacts in the integrated list, indicia of current status of the respective contacts, and the contacts in the integrated list of contacts are ordered in accordance with predefined criteria.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first predefined criteria comprises both the contact interaction criteria and a requirement that each selected contact in the first subset satisfy a query string in a received query.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the second predefined criteria comprises predefined user activity criteria.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein selecting the second subset of contacts includes selecting contacts so as to exclude contacts in the first subset of contacts.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

selecting a third subset of one or more contacts from the set of contacts excluding the first and second subsets based on third predefined criteria; and

the method includes generating for presentation in the display region the integrated list of contacts from the first, second, and third subsets.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the third predefined criteria comprises predefined connectedness criteria.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein generating the integrated list of contacts from the first, second, and third subsets comprises combining and reordering the first, second, and third subsets.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein identifying the set of contacts further comprises determining a score for each contact in the set of contacts.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein determining the score comprises determining the score for each contact in the set of contacts based on one or more interaction metrics with respect to the respective contact.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein selecting the first subset comprises selecting from the set of contacts a first number of contacts having highest respective scores, wherein the scores are based on one or more interaction metrics.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first number is based on a size of the display region.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein selecting the second subset comprises selecting from the set of contacts excluding the first subset, a second number of contacts having highest respective scores and satisfying predefined user activity criteria.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the second number is based on a size of the display region.

15. The method of claim 2, further comprising presenting the lists of contacts in the display region without a vertical scroll bar.

33. The method of claim 2, wherein identifying the set of contacts of the user further comprises identifying the set of contacts in an address book for the user that is stored at the computer system.

16. A system for selecting contacts in an electronic messaging system for presentation in a display region, comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory storing one or more modules for execution by the one or more processors, the one or more modules including instructions to generate an integrated list of contacts, the instructions including instructions;

to identify a set of contacts of a user;

to select a first subset of one or more contacts from the set of contacts in accordance with first predefined criteria, the first predefined criteria comprising contact interaction criteria based on quantity of prior electronic messaging communications between the user and contacts in the set of contacts;

to select a second subset of one or more contacts from the set of contacts based on second different predefined criteria comprising online status criteria; and

to generate for presentation in the display region the integrated list of contacts from the first and second subsets of contacts, wherein the integrated list is generated so as to include at least one contact that is not included in the first subset and at least one contact that is not included in the second subset;

wherein the integrated list of contacts includes, for respective contacts in the integrated list, indicia of current status of the respective contacts, and the contacts in the integrated list of contacts are ordered in accordance with predefined criteria.

36. The system of claim 16, wherein identifying the set of contacts of the user further comprises identifying the set of contacts in an address book for the user that is stored at the computer system.

37. The system of claim 16, wherein the first predefined criteria comprises both the contact interaction criteria and a requirement that each selected contact in the first subset satisfy a query string in a received query.

38. The system of claim 16, wherein the second predefined criteria comprise predefined user activity criteria.

39. The system of claim 16, wherein the instructions for selecting the second subset of contacts comprise instructions for selecting contacts from a set of contacts that excludes the first subset of contacts.

40. The system of claim 16, the one or more modules further comprising instructions for:

selecting a third subset of one or more contacts from the set of contacts excluding the first and second subsets based on third predefined criteria;

wherein the instructions for generating the integrated list of contacts include instructions for generating for presentation in the display region the integrated list of contacts from the first, second, and third subsets.

41. The system of claim 40, wherein the third predefined criteria comprises predefined connectedness criteria.

42. The system of claim 40, wherein the instructions for generating an integrated list of contacts from the first, second, and third subsets comprise instructions for combining and reordering the first, second, and third subsets.

43. The system of claim 16, wherein the instructions for identifying the set of contacts further comprise instructions for determining a score for each contact in the set of contacts.

44. The system of claim 43, wherein the instructions for determining the score comprise instructions for determining the score for each contact in the set of contacts based on one or more interaction metrics with respect to the respective contact.

45. The system of claim 43, wherein the instructions for selecting the first subset comprise instructions for selecting from the set of contacts a first number of contacts having highest respective scores, wherein the scores are based on one or more interaction metrics.

46. The system of claim 45, wherein the first number is based on a size of the display region.

47. The system of claim 45, wherein the instructions for selecting the second subset comprise instructions for selecting from the set of contacts excluding the first subset a second number of contacts having highest respective scores and satisfying predefined activity criteria.

48. The system of claim 47, wherein the second number is based on a size of the display region.

17. A system for selecting contacts in an electronic messaging system for presentation in a display region, comprising:

one or more processors;

memory storing one or more modules for execution by the one or more processors;

means for generating an integrated list of contacts, including means for;

identifying a set of contacts of a user;

selecting a first subset of one or more contacts from the set of contacts in accordance with first predefined criteria, the first predefined criteria comprising contact interaction criteria based on quantity of prior electronic messaging communications between the user and contacts in the set of contacts;

selecting a second subset of one or more contacts from the set of contacts based on second different predefined criteria comprising online status criteria; and

generating for presentation in the display region the integrated list of contacts from the first and second subsets of contacts, wherein the integrated list is generated so as to include at least one contact that is not included in the first subset and at least one contact that is not included in the second subset;

wherein the integrated list of contacts includes, for respective contacts in the integrated list, indicia of current status of the respective contacts, and the contacts in the integrated list of contacts are ordered in accordance with predefined criteria.

18. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs for execution by one or more processors of a computer system, the one or more programs comprising instructions to generate an integrated list of contacts in an electronic messaging system, the instructions including instructions for:

identifying a set of contacts of a user;

selecting a first subset of one or more contacts from the set of contacts in accordance with first predefined criteria, the first predefined criteria comprising contact interaction criteria based on quantity of prior electronic messaging communications between the user and contacts in the set of contacts;

selecting a second subset of one or more contacts from the set of contacts based on second different predefined criteria comprising online status criteria; and

generating for presentation in a display region the integrated list of contacts from the first and second subsets of contacts, wherein the integrated list is generated so as to include at least one contact that is not included in the first subset and at least one contact that is not included in the second subset;

wherein the integrated list of contacts includes, for respective contacts in the integrated list, indicia of current status of the respective contacts, and the contacts in the integrated list of contacts are ordered in accordance with predefined criteria.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the first predefined criteria comprises both the contact interaction criteria and a requirement that each selected contact in the first subset satisfy a query string in a received query.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the second predefined criteria comprise predefined user activity criteria.

21. The computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions for selecting the second subset of contacts comprise instructions for selecting contacts from a set of contacts that excludes the first subset of contacts.

22. The computer readable storage medium of claim 18, further comprising instructions for:

selecting a third subset of one or more contacts from the set of contacts excluding the first and second subsets based on third predefined criteria;

wherein the instructions for generating the integrated list of contacts include instructions for generating for presentation in the display region the integrated list of contacts from the first, second, and third subsets.

23. The computer readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the third predefined criteria comprises predefined connectedness criteria.

24. The computer readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the instructions for generating an integrated list of contacts from the first, second, and third subsets comprise instructions for combining and reordering the first, second, and third subsets.

25. The computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions for identifying the set of contacts further comprise instructions for determining a score for each contact in the set of contacts.

26. The computer readable storage medium of claim 25, wherein the instructions for determining the score comprise instructions for determining the score for each contact in the set of contacts based on one or more interaction metrics with respect to the respective contact.

27. The computer readable storage medium of claim 25, wherein the instructions for selecting the first subset comprise instructions for selecting from the set of contacts a first number of contacts having highest respective scores, wherein the scores are based on one or more interaction metrics.

28. The computer readable storage medium of claim 27, wherein the first number is based on a size of the display region.

29. The computer readable storage medium of claim 27, wherein the instructions for selecting the second subset comprise instructions for selecting from the set of contacts excluding the first subset a second number of contacts having highest respective scores and satisfying predefined activity criteria.

30. The computer readable storage medium of claim 29, wherein the second number is based on a size of the display region.

34. The computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein identifying the set of contacts of the user further comprises identifying the set of contacts in an address book for the user that is stored at the computer system.

31. A computer-implemented method of selecting contacts in an electronic messaging system for presentation in a display region, comprising on a computer system having one or more processors and memory storing programs executed by the one or more processors:

identifying a set of contacts of a user;

selecting a first subset of one or more contacts from the set of contacts in accordance with first predefined criteria, the first predefined criteria comprising contact interaction criteria based on quantity of prior electronic messaging communications between the user and contacts in the set of contacts;

selecting a second subset of one or more contacts from the set of contacts based on second different predefined criteria comprising online status criteria; and

generating for simultaneous presentation in a display region a list of contacts including contacts from both the first and second subsets of contacts, wherein the contacts in the list of contacts are selected so as to include at least one contact that is not included in the first subset and at least one contact that is not included in the second subset;

wherein the integrated list of contacts includes, for respective contacts in the integrated list, indicia of current status of the respective contacts, and the contacts in the integrated list of contacts are ordered in accordance with predefined criteria.

35. The method of claim 31, wherein identifying the set of contacts of the user further comprises identifying the set of contacts in an address book for the user that is stored at the computer system.