Integrating external contacts in a communication platform

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11757809-B2
Application number	US-202117239311-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 23, 2021
Priority date	Apr 23, 2021
Publication date	Sep 12, 2023
Grant date	Sep 12, 2023

Abstract

Techniques for enabling access to external data of a user for facilitating communications via a communication platform are described herein. A user of the communication platform maintains external data with a third-party service provider. The communication platform receives, in association with a user account of the user, an indication of intent to grant the communication platform access to the external data and an authorization code (the “code”). The communication platform later receives, from the first user account, a request to access the external data. For example, the request can include an input corresponding to an intended recipient of a message. In response to the input, the communication platform sends a request, with the code, to the third-party service provider to obtain contact data associated with the intended recipient and causes the contact data to be presented in association with the message, such as in a “To” field of the message.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, implemented at least in part by one or more computing devices of a communication platform, comprising:
sending, via the communication platform, a first request to access contact data from a third-party resource, wherein the contact data comprises contact information for a plurality of users;
sending, via the communication platform and based on passage of a period of time, a second request to access updated contact data from the third-party resource;
receiving, from a client associated with a first user account of a first user of a first organization and via a user interface associated with the communication platform, a first authorization to access the contact data from the third-party resource;
receiving, from the client associated with the first user, a third request to compose a message to a second user associated with a second organization that is different from the first organization;
receiving, from the client, a first input comprising a portion of contact information associated with the second user, the first input being provided by the first user to the message;
identifying, by the communication platform and based at least in part on the portion of contact information, a plurality of potential intended users that are associated with the portion of contact information;
determining, by the communication platform and based at least in part on receiving the first input, that the portion of contact information is not stored in association with a contact list of the first user account of the communication platform;
accessing, based at least in part on the portion of contact information not being stored in association with the first user account, by the communication platform, from the third-party resource, and based at least in part on the first authorization, the contact information matching the portion of contact information associated with the second user; and
presenting, via a messaging interface associated with the client, a first group of contacts stored by a first third-party service provider and a second group of contacts stored by a second third-party service provider different than the first third-party service provider, the first group of contacts and the second group of contacts including the contact information matching the portion of contact information associated with the second user, the first group of contacts associated with a first indicator indicating the contact information was obtained from the first third-party service provider and the second group of contacts associated with a second indicator different than the first indicator indicating the second group of contacts is associated with the second third-party service provider.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, from the client and in association with the first authorization, a token configured to enable access to the contact data from the third-party resource,
wherein the contact data is obtained based at least in part on the token.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the contact data further comprises second contact information for at least one user associated with a third organization that is different from the first organization and the second organization.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, from the client and via the messaging interface, a fourth request to transmit the message to a second user account of the second user;
generating, based at least in part on the fourth request, a user interface comprising message data associated with the message, the message data comprising:
user data associated with the first user;
a first option to approve the message; and
a second option to deny the message;

causing a presentation of the user interface via a second client associated with the second user; and
in response to receiving, from the second client, an indication of selection of the first option to approve the message, causing the message to be presented via the second client.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein presenting the contact data further comprises:
automatically populating, via the messaging interface, a recipient user identifier associated with the second user based at least in part on the first input.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the third-party resource is a first third-party resource, the contact data is first contact data, and the plurality of users is a first plurality of users, the method further comprising:
receiving a fourth request to access second contact data from a second third-party resource, wherein the second contact data comprises second contact information for a second plurality of users associated with one or more organizations that are different from the first organization; and
in response to receiving the fourth request, obtaining the second contact data from the second third-party resource;
wherein presenting the contact data comprises presenting at least a first portion of the first contact data or a second portion of the second contact data via the messaging interface.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the contact data comprises the first portion of the first contact data and the second portion of the second contact data, the method further comprising:
receiving, from the client, a first indication of selection of a first indicator associated with the second user corresponding to the first contact data;
receiving, from the client, a second indication of selection of a second indicator associated with a third user corresponding to the second contact data; and
in response to receiving the first indication of selection of the first indicator and the second indication of selection of the second indicator, generating a direct messaging instance between the first user, the second user, and the third user, wherein the direct messaging instance enables communication between the first user, the second user, and the third user.

8. A system comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more computer readable media storing instructions that, when executed, cause the system to perform operations comprising:
sending, via a communication platform, a first request to access contact data from a third-party resource, wherein the contact data comprises contact information for a plurality of users;
sending, via the communication platform and based on passage of a period of time, a second request to access updated contact data from the third-party resource;
receiving, from a client associated with a first user account of a first user of a first organization and via a user interface associated with a communication platform, a first authorization to access the contact data from the third-party resource;
receiving, from the client associated with the first user, a third request to compose a message to a second user associated with a second organization that is different from the first organization;
receiving, from the client, a first input comprising a portion of contact information associated with the second user, the first input being provided by the first user to the message;
identifying, by the communication platform and based at least in part on the portion of contact information, a plurality of potential intended users that are associated with the portion of contact information;
determining, by the communication platform and based at least in part on receiving the first input, that the portion of contact information is not stored in association with a contact list of the first user account of the communication platform;
accessing, based at least in part on the portion of contact information not being stored in association with the first user account, by the communication platform, from the third-party resource, and based at least in part on the

Assignees

• Salesforce Inc

Inventors

• Demmer Michael
• Marshall Kevin
• Agarwal Pranay

Classifications

• H04L65/4015 Primary

  where at least one of the additional parallel sessions is real time or time sensitive, e.g. white board sharing, collaboration or spawning of a subconference · CPC title

• H04L51/04 Primary

  Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM] · CPC title

• H04L65/1069

  Session establishment or de-establishment · CPC title

• H04L51/48

  Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases · CPC title

• H04L67/306

  User profiles · CPC title