Patent Application
20070300164
The novel features believed characteristic of the illustrative embodiments are set forth in the appended claims. A preferred mode of use, further objectives and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
With reference now to the figures and in particular with reference to
With reference now to the figures,
In the depicted example, server 104 and server 106 connect to network 102 along with storage unit 108. In addition, clients 110, 112, and 114 connect to network 102. These clients 110, 112, and 114 may be, for example, personal computers or network computers. In the depicted example, server 104 provides data, such as boot files, operating system images, and applications to clients 110, 112, and 114. Clients 110, 112, and 114 are clients to server 104 in this example. Network data processing system 100 may include additional servers, clients, and other devices not shown.
In the depicted example, network data processing system 100 is the Internet with network 102 representing a worldwide collection of networks and gateways that use the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) suite of protocols to communicate with one another. At the heart of the Internet is a backbone of high-speed data communication lines between major nodes or host computers, consisting of thousands of commercial, governmental, educational and other computer systems that route data and messages. Of course, network data processing system 100 also may be implemented as a number of different types of networks, such as for example, an intranet, a local area network (LAN), or a wide area network (WAN).
With reference now to
In the depicted example, data processing system 200 employs a hub architecture including a north bridge and memory controller hub (MCH) 202 and a south bridge and input/output (I/O) controller hub (ICH) 204. Processor 206, main memory 208, and graphics processor 210 are coupled to north bridge and memory controller hub 202. Graphics processor 210 may be coupled to the MCH through an accelerated graphics port (AGP), for example.
In the depicted example, local area network (LAN) adapter 212 is coupled to south bridge and I/O controller hub 204 and audio adapter 216, keyboard and mouse adapter 220, modem 222, read only memory (ROM) 224, universal serial bus (USB) ports and other communications ports 232, and PCI/PCIe devices 234 are coupled to south bridge and I/O controller hub 204 through bus 238, and hard disk drive (HDD) 226 and CD-ROM drive 230 are coupled to south bridge and I/O controller hub 204 through bus 240. PCI/PCIe devices may include, for example, Ethernet adapters, add-in cards, and PC cards for notebook computers. PCI uses a card bus controller, while PCIe does not. ROM 224 may be, for example, a flash binary input/output system (BIOS). Hard disk drive 226 and CD-ROM drive 230 may use, for example, an integrated drive electronics (IDE) or serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) interface. A super I/O (SIO) device 236 may be coupled to south bridge and I/O controller hub 204.
An operating system runs on processor 206 and coordinates and provides control of various components within data processing system 200 in
Instructions for the operating system, the object-oriented programming system, and applications or programs are located on storage devices, such as hard disk drive 226, and may be loaded into main memory 208 for execution by processor 206. The processes of the illustrative embodiments may be performed by processor 206 using computer implemented instructions, which may be located in a memory such as, for example, main memory 208, read only memory 224, or in one or more peripheral devices.
The hardware in
In some illustrative examples, data processing system 200 may be a personal digital assistant (PDA), which is generally configured with flash memory to provide non-volatile memory for storing operating system files and/or user-generated data. A bus system may be comprised of one or more buses, such as a system bus, an I/O bus and a PCI bus. Of course the bus system may be implemented using any type of communications fabric or architecture that provides for a transfer of data between different components or devices attached to the fabric or architecture. A communications unit may include one or more devices used to transmit and receive data, such as a modem or a network adapter. A memory may be, for example, main memory 208 or a cache such as found in north bridge and memory controller hub 202. A processing unit may include one or more processors or CPUs. The depicted examples in
The illustrative embodiments provide a computer implemented method, computer usable program code, and system for managing the logs of instant message sessions. In particular, the mechanism of the illustrative embodiments allows an instant message user to display identifiers in a calendar application to aid in locating an instant message session log. The identifiers mark the date and time of the instant message session in the calendar display. The identifiers may further provide visual clues as to the content of the interaction in the instant message session log. Illustrative examples of an identifier include a user initiated graphic icon that is a small picture of a participant or a symbol that represents the subject matter of the session.
Further illustrative examples of identifiers describe time blocks that highlight the portion of the user's calendar that spans the instant message session, indicating the duration of the instant message session. This feature may be used in lieu of the use of an icon as the identifier or in conjunction with an icon identifier. Since it is possible to keep an instant message session open for many hours without constant or indeed any interaction, these time blocks may also include lines that represent the interaction between the participants and the user. Each participant's representative lines being depicted in an individualized color or symbol. The length of the representative line indicates the quantity of that interactive communication. In other words, the more the participant types the longer the representative line. This feature is beneficial if a particular detail is sought that is contained in an instant message session that spans for hours. Another option in an illustrative example is to demark important lines of an instant message session with a special color or symbol.
The user may also place information adjacent to the identifier such as a comment as to the subject of the instant message session, a list of participant's names, or further data associated with the participants. The further data associated with the participants may be the name of the company for which the participant works, or an organization to which the participant is a member. In a preferred embodiment, the calendar application locates the further data in the instant messaging application in a contact file. Those of ordinary skill in the art can appreciate that the further data can be obtained in many ways, for example, from a list within a modified calendar application or in a participant profile located on a network such as network data processing system 100, in
The identifier is linked to the instant message session log such that the user may open the instant message session log by selecting the identifier by a left-click from within the calendar application. A left-click is performed by placing the mouse pointer over the identifier and manipulating the left mouse button.
Further, in a preferred embodiment, the calendar application displays information associated with the log of the instant messaging session when a user rests the mouse pointer over the identifier linked to the log (a mouseover), without the user having to open the instant message session log. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the mouseover information associated with the log of the instant messaging session may be accessed in other ways such as a right-click. A right-click is performed by placing the mouse pointer over the identifier and manipulating the right mouse button. In a pop-up display, information such as a preview of the log file, the names of the participants or the association of the participants are displayed. A pop-up display is a window that suddenly appears (pops up) when the user rests the mouse pointer or presses a special function key or right-clicks while the mouse pointer is indicating a particular icon. The pop-up window contains the information associated with the log file only as long as the mouse pointer rests on the identifier. When the user moves the mouse pointer away from the identifier, the pop-up display disappears.
Turning now to
Depending on the particular instant messaging system, instant messaging server process 308 may only be involved in providing an indication of when particular users are online and for establishing initial contacts while users contacting users already on a buddy list may contact those users directly after seeing that a particular user is online. Instant messaging server process 308 may be located on a server, such as servers 104 or 106 in
In these examples, the different users registered to the instant messaging system are stored in user database 310. This user database provides information needed to search for and find other users as well as contact users when they are online.
Turning next to
In the illustrative example, instant messaging client 400 processes messages, such as message 402, received from users located on remote data processing systems. As messages are received, these messages are presented in dialog windows 404. Additionally, dialog windows 404 provide an interface for a user to input text to send messages to other users.
Contact and control window 406 is presented by instant messaging client 400 to provide the user with a list of user names, as well as other information. Contact and control window 406 also provides an interface to allow a user to set different preferences. For example, the user may set passwords required to access different names used in instant messaging sessions.
Also, a user may employ contact and control window 406 to set other preferences, such as colors and fonts used in instant messaging client 400. These preferences also may include whether a picture is to be sent when a session is initiated with another user. Depending on the implementation, the preference may be set to allow a user who receives messages to retrieve images of the senders from a remote database or a local cache.
Further, a list of names presented by contact and control window 406 is stored in contact list 408 in these examples. Additional user or screen names may be added to or deleted from contact list 408. This contact list is employed in presenting the list of names within contact and control window 406.
Calendar system 410 may be integrated into instant messaging client 400 in various ways. For instance, calendar system 410 may be a personal calendaring system, such as Lotus Notes® or Microsoft Outlook®, that is connected to instant messaging client 400 via a plugin or adapter. The mechanism of the illustrative embodiments may use the calendaring system's existing application programming interface (API) to enable the instant messaging client to create entries in the calendar. A separate adapter may be created for each calendaring system.
In another example, calendar system 410 may also be built within the instant messaging client itself. In this case, the instant messaging client may mimic the capabilities of traditional calendaring systems by displaying selectable month/day/year and time options to the user, or alternatively, the instant messaging client may interpret specific syntax the user types into the instant message window as a request to display an identifier for an instant message session. Existing instant messaging clients have the capability to intercept text and handle the text as commands. Thus, when a user's instant messaging client sends text to a contact, the contact's instant messaging client may intercept the text not as text to be displayed to the user, but rather as commands to invoke the identifying mechanism of the illustrative embodiments. The user's instant messaging client may then handle adding the instant message session log identifier to the user's calendar. Alternatively the calendar system may be modified to handle instant message log files in a manner similar to the handling methods of appointments and other events, and displaying the identifier on the calendar display page.
Referring now to
To create the calendar highlighted block of time, the user chats for a selectable period of time (step 506). The selectable period of time may span from minutes to days. The selectable period of time may be preselected by the user or the user may determine during the instant message session that a highlighted time block is desired and then select the option. In either example, the calendar application highlights a block of time on the calendar display to represent the duration of the instant message session (step 508). The instant message time block is a shaded or marked area of the calendar display that represents the duration as well as the date and time of the instant message session occurrence. At the conclusion of the instant message session, the user saves the log of the instant message session (step 510). In response, the instant message block on the calendar display ends by ending the shaded portion of the date and time calendar display (step 512).
The user may optionally add text or graphics to further identify the log of the instant message session (step 514). The further added text is displayed adjacent to the identifier in the calendar display (step 516).
Turning now to
More information may be added to identify the log of the instant message session. This additional information is displayed adjacent to the identifier in the calendar display. Examples of such information include instant message session participant names 610, and participant data 612 with which the participant or participants are associated. Instant message session participant names 610 shown in this illustrative example are John, Tony, and Kulvir. An example of participant data is the group name of the participant. A group name refers to the company or other affiliation of the participant. The group name may be found in the instant message application contact list as contact list 408 in
In this illustrative example, instant message log time block 616 is used to denote a recorded instant message session that occurred on Sunday, Jun. 4, 2006. The example instant message session started at 9:15 am and lasted until 12:15 pm. This time block “image” that represents the conversation from 9:15 am to 12:15 pm may also have markings to represent the instant message participant interaction. For example, solid black lines 620, and 622 are text conversation from the user, while dashed lines 618, and 622 is text conversation from a participant of the session. Long lines 620, and 622 represent a long paragraph in the session. A session with multiple participants may have different colors or symbols to represent each person. Also, parts of the instant message that are noted as “important” may be represented in “red” or in another user chosen color or symbol. Other user configurable distinctive markings such as dashed or dotted lines may be used alternatively or in conjunction with color lines to make the lines distinguishable.
Turning now to
The user may rest the mouse pointer over an instant message session log participant's name (step 708). The calendar application responds by showing the profile of the instant message session participant (step 710). The profile may be previously stored in the calendar application in an illustrative embodiment or the profile of the instant message session participant may be stored in an instant message contact list such as contact list 408 in
The user may also rest the mouse pointer over an instant message session time block line such as line 622 in
A filter application may also be implemented that allows a user to only view instant message session log identifiers that meet the selected criterion. The user selects a filter criterion using, in an illustrative embodiment, a drop down menu (step 713). A drop down menu is a menu of options that appears below the item when the user clicks on it. The drop down menu may list such filter criteria as, participant names, group information and time of day of the instant message sessions. In response, the calendar application will cause all the other identifiers to be removed from the calendar display except those instant message session log identifiers that meet the filter criteria (step 715). For example, if the user selects John as a filter criterion, the calendar would display only the identifiers that link to instant message sessions logs that include John as a member.
The user may elect to open the log of the instant message session by left-clicking on the identifier of the log of the instant message session (step 716). Those of ordinary skill in the art can appreciate that the user may select and open the log of the instant message session using other keys or methods. The user left-clicks on an identifier, for example the identifier, icon 604 of
Thus, the advantages provided by the mechanism of the illustrative embodiments over current instant messaging systems include enabling an instant message user to find and organize instant message session logs using identifiers on a calendar display page. In searching for a particular instant message session log, the user may target a certain participant or group association and filter out all other identifiers in the calendar display easing the user's task of locating a particular instant message session log. The user may then open the log of the instant message session by selecting the identifier from within the calendar application.
The invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment containing both hardware and software elements. In a preferred embodiment, the invention is implemented in software, which includes but is not limited to firmware, resident software, microcode, etc.
Furthermore, the invention may take the form of a computer program product accessible from a computer-usable or computer-readable medium providing program code for use by or in connection with a computer or any instruction execution system. For the purposes of this description, a computer-usable or computer readable medium may be any tangible apparatus that may contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.
The medium may be an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system (or apparatus or device) or a propagation medium. Examples of a computer-readable medium include a semiconductor or solid state memory, magnetic tape, a removable computer diskette, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a rigid magnetic disk and an optical disk. Current examples of optical disks include compact disk—read only memory (CD-ROM), compact disk—read/write (CD-R/W) and DVD.
A data processing system suitable for storing and/or executing program code will include at least one processor coupled directly or indirectly to memory elements through a system bus. The memory elements may include local memory employed during actual execution of the program code, bulk storage, and cache memories which provide temporary storage of at least some program code in order to reduce the number of times code must be retrieved from bulk storage during execution.
Input/output or I/O devices (including but not limited to keyboards, displays, pointing devices, etc.) may be coupled to the system either directly or through intervening I/O controllers.
Network adapters may also be coupled to the system to enable the data processing system to become coupled to other data processing systems or remote printers or storage devices through intervening private or public networks. Modems, cable modem and Ethernet cards are just a few of the currently available types of network adapters.
The description of an illustrative embodiment has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, and is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention, the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.
