Rich profile communication with notifications

• US 8,418,067 B2
• Filed: 01/15/2004
• Issued: 04/09/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Cheng, Lili, Vronay, David P., Kott, Ryszard K., Kelly, Sean U.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pesin, Boris
• Assistant Examiner(s): HEFFINGTON, JOHN M
• Application Number:
  US10/758,359
• Publication Number:
  US 20050160167A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,372 Days
• Field of Search: 715/805, 715/739, 715/742, 715/743, 715/745, 715/46, 715/747, 715/767
• US Class Current: 715/745
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users

Abstract

A rich communication profile system with notifications. The system is a feedback mechanism that utilizes rich content, e.g., multimedia content, as one or more indicators that represent the status of a remote user. The system includes a state component that receives information relating to state of at least one entity. A notifications component dynamically renders at least one personalized graphical indicia representative of the entity'"'"'s state. The entity can be a person, group of people, component, place, and object.

Claims

1. A system to facilitate notifications, comprising:

one or more processors configured to execute computer-executable instructions; and

one or more memory storage devices storing the computer-executable instructions, the one or more memory storage devices comprising;

a state component to receive information relating to a state of at least one entity, wherein an entity is an individual or group of individuals; and

a notification component to dynamically render at least one graphical indicia representative of the state of the at least one entity to at least one user, the notification component further configured to determine graphical indicia to render based upon a utility component configured to factor cost to the at least one user associated with rendering graphical indicia that incorrectly represents the state of the at least one entity versus benefit to the at least one user of rendering graphical indicia that correctly represents the state of the at least one entity.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the notification component further configured to render graphical indicia as a function of the at least one user'"'"'s device'"'"'s capability.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one graphical indicia changes based upon a length of time the at least one entity is in the state.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising an inference component to infer the state of the at least one entity based on extrinsic data.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the notification component further configured to dynamically render annotations or comments as a function of the state of the at least one entity, wherein the at least one entity inputted annotations or comments for each entity state.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the user specifies one or more graphical indicia that each correlates to a context of the state of the at least one entity.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one entity defines an order in which users will receive the graphical indicia representative of the state of the at least one entity.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the notifications component is a hardware component to render graphical indicia as a function of device capabilities.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one entity defines a plurality of sets of graphical indicia representing states of the at least one entity, each set comprises at least one graphical indicia that is different for a particular state than the other sets, and wherein the at least one entity assigns at least one set for display to a first user and at least one other set for display to a second user.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the notification component is used to facilitate dynamic rendering of the graphical indicia for at least one of instant messaging, e-mail, and telephone interaction.

11. A computer-implemented method of facilitating message notifications, comprising:

receiving, by one or more processors, state information associated with a state of at least one entity, wherein an entity is an individual or group of individuals;

dynamically rendering at least one graphical indicia representative of the state of the at least one entity based upon cost associated with rendering graphical indicia that incorrectly represents the state of the at least one entity versus benefit of rendering graphical indicia that correctly represents the state of the at least one entity; and

presenting the at least one graphical indicia to at least one user.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising ranking the at least one graphical indicia according to at least one of a number of comments, a number of accesses, and popularity of use.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising providing multiple tiles of the at least one graphical indicia for a particular state, wherein each tile differs in part according to a user that the at least one graphical indicia will be presented.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising the at least one user presenting a plurality of graphical indicia representative of states of a plurality of entities, the at least one user ordering display of the graphical indicia according to priority of the plurality of entities.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising automatically ordering display of the plurality of graphical indicia based upon the frequency of communication between the at least one user and each of the plurality of entities.

16. A system to facilitate notifications, comprising:

one or more means for processing computer-executable instructions; and

one or more memory storage devices storing the computer-executable instructions, the one or more memory storage devices comprising;

means for receiving information relating to a state of at least one entity, wherein an entity is an individual or group of individuals;

means for dynamically rendering at least one graphical indicia representative of the state of the at least one entity to at least one user, the means for dynamically rendering further configured to determine graphical indicia to render based upon a utility component configured to factor cost to the at least one user associated with rendering graphical indicia that incorrectly represents the state of the at least one entity versus benefit to the at least one user of rendering graphical indicia that correctly represents the state of the at least one entity; and

means for the at least one entity to define a plurality of sets of graphical indicia representing states of the at least one entity, each set comprising at least one graphical indicia that is different for a particular state than the other sets, the at least one entity assigns at least one set for display to a first user and at least one other set for display to a second user.