Providing augmented message elements in electronic communication threads

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016352667-A1
Application number	US-201514727452-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 1, 2015
Priority date	Jun 1, 2015
Publication date	Dec 1, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present disclosure is directed toward systems and methods for providing message element in electronic communication threads. For example, systems and methods described herein identify message elements in electronic communication threads and add interactions between the message elements to the electronic communication thread.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
identifying a first message element submitted by a first user in a communications thread; identifying a second message element submitted by a second user in the communications thread; determining, by the one or more processors, that the first message element and the second message element were submitted within a threshold amount of time; identifying, in response to the determination that the first message element and the second message element were submitted within the threshold amount of time, a third message element corresponding to the first message element and the second message element; and replacing, in the communication thread, the first message element and the second message element with the third message element.

2 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein identifying a third message element corresponding to the first message element and the second message element comprises accessing a table lookup and identifying from the look up table that a combination of the first message element and the second message element indicates the third message element.

3 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein replacing, in the communication thread, the first message element and the second message element with the third message element comprises:
removing, from the communications thread, a first cell containing the first message element; removing, from the communications thread, a second cell containing the second message element; and providing a new cell in the communication thread containing the third message element.

4 . The method as recited in claim 3 , wherein providing the new cell in the communication thread containing the third message element comprises positioning the new cell in the communication thread in a position previously occupied by the first and second cells.

5 . The method as recited in claim 4 , wherein replacing, in the communication thread, the first message element and the second message element with the third message element comprises re-rendering the communications thread after positioning the new cell in the communication thread thereby removing the first message element and the second message element and rendering the third message element.

6 . The method as recited in claim 5 , further comprising, after a predetermined period of time:
removing, from the communications thread, the new cell containing the third message element; providing, in the communications thread, the first cell containing the first message element; providing, in the communications thread, the second cell containing the second message element; and re-rendering the communication thread thereby removing the third message element and rendering the first message element and the second message element.

7 . The method as recited in claim 6 , further comprising accessing metadata associated with the third message element to identify the predetermined period of time.

8 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein:
the first message element comprises a first sticker; the second message element comprises a second sticker; and the third message element comprises a third sticker.

9 . The method as recited in claim 8 , wherein:
the first sticker comprises a first illustration; the second sticker comprises a second illustration; and the third sticker comprises an animation including the first illustration and the second illustration.

10 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein:
the first message element comprises a first image; the second message element comprises a second image; and the third message element comprises a collage including the first image and the second image.

11 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein determining that the first message element and the second message element were submitted within the threshold amount of time comprises:
accessing metadata associated with the first message element to identify a submission time of the first message element; accessing metadata associated with the second message element to identify a submission time of the second message element; and comparing a difference between the submission time of the first message element and the submission time of the second message element to the threshold amount of time.

12 . A mobile device comprising:
at least one processor; and at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions thereon that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the mobile device to:
identify a first message element submitted by the first user in a communications thread;
identify a second message element submitted by a second user in the communications thread;
determine that the first message element and the second message element were submitted within a threshold amount of time;
identify, in response to determining that the first message element and the second message element were submitted within the threshold amount of time, a third message element corresponding to the first message element and the second message element; and
replace, in the communication thread, the first message element and the second message element with the third message element.

13 . The mobile device as recited in claim 12 , wherein:
the first message element comprises a first illustration; the second message element comprises a second illustration; and the third message element comprises an animation.

14 . The mobile device as recited in claim 12 , further comprising instructions, that when executed by the at least one processor, cause the mobile device, upon opening of a messaging application associated with the communications thread, to:
parse at least a portion of the communications thread to identify any message elements included in the communications thread; identify corresponding pairs of message elements sent within the threshold amount of time; replace, in the communications thread, the corresponding pairs of message elements sent within the threshold amount of time with corresponding augmented message element; and render the message elements included in the communications thread.

15 . The mobile device as recited in claim 12 , further comprising instructions, that when executed by the at least one processor, cause the mobile device to:
access metadata associated with the first message element to identify a submission time of the first message element; access metadata associated with the second message element to identify a submission time of the second message element; and compare a difference between the submission time of the first message element and the submission time of the second message element to the threshold amount of time.

16 . The mobile device as recited in claim 12 , wherein the instructions that cause the mobile device to replace, in the communication thread, the first message element and the second message element with the third message element further cause the mobile device to:
remove, from the communications thread, a first cell containing the first message element; remove, from the communications thread, a second cell containing the second message element; provide a new cell in the communication thread containing the third message element; and re-rendering the communications thread after the new cell is provided in the communication thread thereby removing the first message element and the second message element and rendering the third message element.

17 . The mobile device as recited in claim 16 , wherein the instructions that ca

Assignees

• Facebook Inc

Inventors

• Pickett Cameron James
• Larson Patrick Andrew
• Andrews Russell William

Classifications

• H04L51/063

  Content adaptation, e.g. replacement of unsuitable content · CPC title

• H04L67/306 Primary

  User profiles · CPC title

• H04L67/104

  Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks · CPC title

• H04L51/16 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L51/046

  Interoperability with other network applications or services · CPC title