Profile-based integrated messaging platform

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9800525-B1
Application number	US-201314037132-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Sep 25, 2013
Priority date	Sep 25, 2013
Publication date	Oct 24, 2017
Grant date	Oct 24, 2017

Abstract

Some examples enable profile-based management of multiple communication channels and associated communication services on an electronic device. For example, role-based profiles may be used to manage and filter communications from various contacts. A profile may be set on the electronic device, such as in response to a user input, or automatically based on a determined context of the electronic device. For instance, the context may be determined from one or more of a physical location of the electronic device, a time of day, a day of the week, or a detected activity of the user. Further, some examples include a unified communication interface that may enable a user to select a contact to receive a communication, and the electronic device may select a communication channel for communicating with the selected contact based at least in part on the profile currently set for the electronic device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more computer readable media maintaining one or more instructions executable by the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
receiving context-indicative information indicating at least one of:
a time of day, a day of a week, or a date of a year;
a physical location of the electronic device; or
an activity of a user of the electronic device;

determining, using a statistical model, a context from the context-indicative information;
restricting selection of one or more contacts and one or more communication channels based at least in part on comparing the context with one or more rules for restricting selection of the contacts and the communication channels;
receiving user input selecting a contact to receive a communication from the electronic device; and
selecting, based at least in part on the context-indicative information, a communication channel for communicating with the contact.

2. The electronic device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the communication channel is a first communication channel, the contact is a first contact, the operations further comprising:
receiving user input selecting a second contact to receive the communication;
selecting a second communication channel associated with the second contact for communicating the communication to the second contact based at least in part on a profile, wherein the first communication channel selected for the first contact is a first type of communication channel that is different from a second type of communication channel corresponding to the second communication channel selected for the second contact; and
sending the communication to the first contact by the first type of communication channel and to the second contact by the second type of communication channel.

3. The electronic device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the contact is a first contact, the communication channel is a first communication channel associated with the first contact, the one or more contacts and the one or more communication channels are associated with a first profile, the operations further comprising:
switching to a second profile; and
selecting, based at least in part on switching to the second profile, a second communication channel, associated with the first contact, for communicating the communication to the first contact, wherein the second communication channel is different from the first communication channel and is associated with the second profile.

4. The electronic device as recited in claim 1 , the operations further comprising
assigning a contact of the one or more contacts an override status, the override status preventing restricting selection of the contact.

5. The device as recited in claim 1 , wherein restricting selection of the one or more contacts and the one or more communication channels comprises restricting display, on the electronic device, of available contacts and available communication channels to the one or more contacts and the one or more communication channels.

6. A method comprising:
receiving contact information for a contact, the contact information indicating one or more first communication channels for use with a first profile, and one or more second communication channels for use with a second profile, wherein the contact identifies a person or an entity;
associating the contact with the first profile and the second profile;
determining, by a processor, a type of application executing on an electronic device;
selecting, based at least in part on the type of application executing on the electronic device, the first profile;
limiting a selection by a user of the electronic device to one or more contacts associated with the first profile and limiting communication channels for communicating with the contact to the one or more first communication channels; and
selecting, based at least in part on the type of application executing on the electronic device, a communication channel from the one or more first communication channels for communicating with the contact.

7. The method as recited in claim 6 , further comprising:
selecting the second profile on the electronic device; and
limiting, based at least in part on the second profile, the communication channels for the contact to one or more communication channels associated with the second profile.

8. The method as recited in claim 6 , wherein the first profile comprises at least one of a personal profile, a work profile, or a custom profile.

9. The method as recited in claim 6 , further comprising:
associating the one or more first communication channels with the first profile based on at least one of:
an association of the contact with the first profile; or
an association of the contact with one or more other contacts associated with the first profile.

10. The method as recited in claim 6 , further comprising:
automatically categorizing the one or more first communication channels with the first profile based at least in part on at least one of:
an association of the contact with the first profile;
one or more tags associating the one or more first communication channels with the first profile; or
a context determined for a communication received by the electronic device, the communication including the contact information.

11. The method as recited in claim 6 , further comprising:
determining that contact information for at least one contact of the one or more contacts is associated with at least two profiles in a plurality of profiles;
associating a first portion of the contact information with the first profile of the at least two profiles; and
associating a second portion of the contact information with the second profile of the at least two profiles.

12. A method comprising:
selecting, by a processor, a profile mode of an electronic device, the profile mode restricting one or more contacts and one or more communication channels based at least in part on a physical location of the electronic device;
presenting, on a display of the electronic device, a user interface for composing a communication;
presenting, on the display, a list of received communications, wherein a first communication in the list is received through a first type of communication channel and a second communication in the list is received through a second type of communication that is different from the first type of communication channel;
receiving, via the user interface, a selection of a contact associated with the profile mode to receive the communication; and
selecting, based at least in part on the profile mode of the electronic device, the first type of communication channel or the second type of communication channel from the list that is associated with the profile mode for sending the communication to the contact.

13. The method as recited in claim 12 , wherein the profile mode is one of a work-related profile mode or a personal profile mode.

14. The method as recited in claim 12 , further comprising:
switching to a different profile mode based at least in part on a detected change in a context of the electronic device; and
selecting, based at least in part on switching to the different profile, a different communication channel for sending the communication to the contact.

15. The method as recited in claim 12 , further comprising
omitting from the list a duplicate of the first communication, the duplicate received through the second type of communication channel.

16. The method as recited in claim 12 , wherein the pr

Assignees

• Amazon Tech Inc

Inventors

• Lerner David Mayr
• Garg Sunil Kumar
• Kobit Michael John
• Robinson Eli Hoku
• Miller Erik Joseph
• Smith Brandon John
• Slade Max

Classifications

• H04L51/00 Primary

  User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail · CPC title

• H04L51/56 Primary

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

• H04L51/043

  using or handling presence information · CPC title