Patent Application
20080005254
The subject matter which is regarded as the invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion of the specification. The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention are apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
The detailed description explains the preferred embodiments of the invention, together with advantages and features, by way of example with reference to the drawings.
The present invention and the various features and advantageous details thereof are explained more fully with reference to the non-limiting embodiments that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and detailed in the following description. It should be noted that the features illustrated in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. Descriptions of well-known components and processing techniques are omitted so as to not unnecessarily obscure the present invention in detail. The examples used herein are intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which the invention may be practiced and to further enable those of skill in the art to practice the invention. Accordingly, the examples should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention.
Referring now to
In exemplary embodiments, rules can be defined for specific chats. For example, the rules may determine whether an authority is required or suggested for a specific chat session depending on the participants or subject matter of the chat. In addition, the rules may be used to determine which authorities are qualified to monitor the based on the chat content or participants. Further, the rules may require an authority to respond when certain keywords are used during the chat. Finally, the rules may also contain instructions for the situation where the ‘customer’ contacts the person requiring the authority, or employee, requesting a chat. In exemplary embodiments, the instant messaging authority provides real-time “proof reading” of IM communications similar to how many users have important email communications proof read for accuracy and legal purposes.
Referring now to
In one exemplary embodiment, User A (for example, a company employee) is communicating via IM with User B (for example, a client representing another company) and wishes to filter his/her comments through an appropriate authority, which may be an expert in the field or a lawyer. The authority can monitor the chat and review or edit User A's comments before they are sent to User B. User B does not have knowledge of the authority's presence, as User A and the authority are acting as one voice representing the company. Optionally, User A can configure presentation options to allow User B knowledge of the authority's presence, which may be useful in certain intra-team communications.
In another exemplary embodiment, a first chat user who wishes to have his comments redirected through an authority and the second chat user is a chat recipient, who may reside in another company. The first chat user contacts the second chat user and creates a new chat requiring the presence of an authority. The first chat user may initiate the chat by dragging recipients into recipient section of chat window and dragging the appropriate authorities (or authority priority list) into authority section of chat window. The authority confirms initiation before the chat session is actually initiated with the second chat user. The required confirmation from the authority is based on preset rules for this specific authority chat, and in alternate embodiments, the chat can be initiated immediately while waiting for the authority to join.
In another exemplary embodiment a second chat user wishes to contact a first chat user to establish a chat session. The online status of the first chat user, as displayed to the second chat user, may be based on whether authorities on the authority priority list are available. The priority list is a list of appropriate authorities for a particular topic of customer chat. If all people on authority list are ‘away’, the first chat user is shown as ‘away’ for the people with whom he is requiring using authority chat.
In exemplary embodiments, a set of rules may be used to monitor chat sessions. For example, when a specific individual initiates a chat, the appropriate authority may be invited automatically. If an authority is not present for a chat, rules can be set up to trigger a reminder to invite an authority if enough keywords or phrases are used. The keywords or phrases are words considered ‘dangerous’ for a specific chat and can be set within a keyword rule in advance by first chat user. In exemplary embodiments, specific keywords can be set or a ‘standard keyword set’ can be selected (e.g., Legal keyword set includes pre-selected words like license, patent, etc). When the second chat user sends a keyword to the first chat user, the words can either get highlighted so first chat user is aware of the danger. Additionally, an authority may be automatically contacted upon the detection of a keyword or phrase.
A number of techniques can be used to redirect messages to the authority. In one example, all messages from the first chat user are redirected to the authority before being transmitted to the second chat user. In another example, the first chat user can manually redirect specific messages to the authority before they are transmitted to the second chat user. In yet another example, redirection can be determined automatically via keywords. Messages redirected to the authority can be simply monitored to ensure accuracy, or can be edited or modified before being transmitted to the second chat user. The authority can set a transmission buffer to automatically transmit the message if it is not blocked/paused within X seconds, which allows for the conversation to continue as normal even if the authority is busy for a moment or forgets to manually hit “transmit.” This also allows the authority to block or pause a message from being transmitted while he/she gives it thought or edits the wording before hitting transmit. Furthermore, this allows the authority to control his/her level of involvement and balance the redirection and chat flow appropriately. Optionally, authority edits can be sent back to the first chat user before final transmission to the second chat user.
With the various options of preset rules, authority chat can range from making a conversation very constricted to mostly at ease. The nature of the rules will depend on the risk-level of the given conversation. This flexibility makes authority chats viable for nearly any business use. Merely having an authority present removes some of the relaxed, naive nature of instant messaging and protects a company's assets and reputation more carefully.
The capabilities of the present invention can be implemented in software, firmware, hardware or some combination thereof.
As one example, one or more aspects of the present invention can be included in an article of manufacture (e.g., one or more computer program products) having, for instance, computer usable media. The media has embodied therein, for instance, computer readable program code means for providing and facilitating the capabilities of the present invention. The article of manufacture can be included as a part of a computer system or sold separately.
Additionally, at least one program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying at least one program of instructions executable by the machine to perform the capabilities of the present invention can be provided.
The flow diagrams depicted herein are just examples. There may be many variations to these diagrams or the steps (or operations) described therein without departing from the spirit of the invention. For instance, the steps may be performed in a differing order, or steps may be added, deleted or modified. All of these variations are considered a part of the claimed invention.
While the preferred embodiment to the invention has been described, it will be understood that those skilled in the art, both now and in the future, may make various improvements and enhancements which fall within the scope of the claims which follow. These claims should be construed to maintain the proper protection for the invention first described.
