Generating conversation threads for a unified messaging system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9374690-B2
Application number	US-201113330049-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 19, 2011
Priority date	Dec 19, 2011
Publication date	Jun 21, 2016
Grant date	Jun 21, 2016

Abstract

Methods and systems directed to assigning individual messages and call log data into an aggregated conversation thread on both client and server devices for a user interface having a conversations view including all the communications a given users has with his or her contacts across multiple communication means and protocols. Messages between a user and a particular contact are threaded together, regardless of their format or protocol in order to provide the user with a quick history of all communications with his or her contacts.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
by one or more computing devices of a social-networking system, receiving, from a first client of one or more clients associated with a first node in a social graph of the social-networking system, a first communication between the first client and a plurality of other clients, the first communication associated with a first protocol and comprising identifiers for the plurality of other clients;
by the one or more computing devices of the social-networking system, searching a database of threads maintained by the social-networking system, each thread comprising a plurality of participants, for a matching thread associated with the first node and having a plurality of participants matching the identifiers for the plurality of other clients, wherein each of the participants is represented by a second node in the social graph, wherein the first node is connected through the social graph to each of the second nodes, and wherein the social graph describes social relationships between the first node and each of the second nodes, the social relationships based on shared connections between the first node and each of the second nodes;
by the one or more computing devices of the social-networking system, if a matching thread is identified, then adding information associated with the first communication to the matching thread;
by the one or more computing devices of the social-networking system, if a matching thread is not identified, then creating a new thread associated with the first node, the new thread comprising the information associated with the first communication;
by the one or more computing devices of the social-networking system, for each of the second nodes:
sending, through a first communication channel, to a mailbox server, a request for a message-delivery policy of the second node;
selecting a communication channel from a plurality of communication channels based on the message-delivery policy of the second node, wherein the plurality of communication channels comprise the first communication channel and a second communication channel;
if the message-delivery policy indicates that the communication is to be sent using the first channel, then sending, to the mailbox server, the communication;
if the message-delivery policy indicates that the communication is to be sent using the second communication channel, then requesting a carrier SMS server to send, to a second client associated with the second node, the communication through the second communication channel in an SMS message; and

sending the first communication through the selected communication protocol channel for the second node; and
requesting, using the first communication channel, the mailbox server to store the first communication in a mailbox associated with the second node;

by the one or more computing devices of the social-networking system, receiving a second communication between one of the one or more clients associated with the first node and the plurality of other clients, the second communication associated with a second protocol, different from the first protocol, and comprising identifiers for the plurality of other clients; and
by the one or more computing devices of the social-networking system, adding information associated with the second communication to the matching thread or the new thread.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifiers are social networking user identifiers, each associated with a node in the social graph.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifiers are received from the client as phone numbers, and further comprising:
performing, prior to searching the database of threads, a reverse-lookup for each phone number in a database of phone numbers, each number in the database of phone numbers associated with a social networking user identifier representing a node on a social networking system; and
replacing, for each phone number having an associated social networking user identifier, the identifier with the social networking identifier; and
for each phone number not having an associated social networking user identifier, adding the phone number to the database of phone numbers.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifiers are received as phone numbers, and further comprising:
performing a reverse-lookup for each phone number in a database of phone numbers, each number in the database of phone numbers associated with a social networking user identifier representing a node on a social networking system; and
replacing, for each phone number having an associated social networking user identifier, the identifier with the social networking identifier; and
for each phone number not having an associated social networking user identifier, adding the phone number to the database of phone numbers.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first communication is a voice call, and the information associated with the first communication comprises a time and date of the voice call.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first communication is a text message, and the information associated with the first communication comprises:
a time and date of the text message;
a sender and one or more recipients of the text message; and
text of the text message.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first communication is a voicemail, and the information associated with the first communication comprises:
a time and date of the voicemail;
a sender and recipient of the voicemail; and
content of the voicemail.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the content of the voicemail comprises an audio recording of the voicemail.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the content of the voicemail comprises a link to an audio recording of the voicemail.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the content of the voicemail comprises a series of text strings obtained through speech-to-text processing of the voicemail.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first protocol comprises one or more of the following:
voice over IP;
a circuit-switched network protocol;
a packet data network protocol;
a cellular network protocol;
a WIFI protocol;
a notification channel; or
an SMS channel.

12. A system comprising:
one or more processors; and
a memory coupled to the processors comprising instructions executable by the processors, the processors operable when executing the instructions to:
at one or more computing devices of the social-networking system, receive, from a first client of one or more clients associated with a first node in a social graph of the social-networking system, a first communication between the first client and a plurality of other clients, the first communication associated with a first protocol and comprising identifiers for the plurality of other clients;
at one or more computing devices of the social-networking system, search a database of threads maintained by the social-networking system, each thread comprising a plurality of participants, for a matching thread associated with the first node and having a plurality of participants matching the identifiers for the plurality of other clients, wherein each of the participants is represented by a second node in the social graph, wherein the first node is connected through the social graph to each of the second nodes, and wherein the social graph describes social relationships between the first node and each second node, the social relationships based on shared connections between the first node and each second node;
if a matching thread is identified, then, at one or more computing devices of the social-networking system, add information associated with the first

Assignees

• Talwar Mohit
• Pavlicic Miladin
• Murlidhar Siddharth
• Facebook Inc

Inventors

• Talwar Mohit
• Pavlicic Miladin
• Murlidhar Siddharth

Classifications

• H04W4/16 Primary

  Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold · CPC title

• H04W4/14 Primary

  Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD] · CPC title

• H04L51/52

  for supporting social networking services · CPC title

• H04L51/216

  Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads · CPC title

• H04L51/56 Primary

  Unified messaging, e.g. interactions between e-mail, instant messaging or converged IP messaging [CPM] · CPC title