HK1174993B - Relevance oriented graphical representation of discussion messages - Google Patents

Description

Relevance-oriented graphical representation of discussion messages

Background

The graphical design procedure emphasizes the visual communication and presentation methods. Graphic designers may use typography, visual art, data visualization, and page layout techniques to convey information. Symbols, images, and/or text may be combined to create a visual presentation of the concept. The composition of the different visual components is an important aspect of the graphic design, not only because the number of components that can be selected, but also the way they can be combined, is very large. Composition and other design efforts may, for example, enhance readability, aid in compression, convincing features, and promote recall.

Magazines, web pages, advertisements in various media, and product packaging are common examples of graphical design efforts. For example, a graphical design may be used to create a product package that includes a manufacturer logo, descriptive text, and design elements such as shapes and colors. Graphical design efforts can be seen in a wide variety of projects, from road signs to technical drawings, from notebooks and reference manuals to movie credits and theater scenery, to name a few. In scientific publications and news reports, the textual content that describes facts and assumptions may be accompanied by helpful graphics. Newspapers, magazines, blogs and other media are notified and entertained with both still images and video or movie clips using graphical design results. On the web, interactive tools can also be used to convey information in text and images by integrating visual communication skills and human-computer interaction technology.

Disclosure of Invention

Message boards and other online forum postings, email messages and other message collections may include a large number of postings and/or other messages. Such messages are sometimes organized in threads, i.e., according to which previous message a person is replying to, and are sometimes manually categorized into folders of different topics or entities created by the user. Messages may be arranged from latest to earliest or from earliest to latest by time of posting. Keyword search tools and date range filters can also sometimes be used to help organize messages. In any event, additional assistance to the message organization can be very helpful.

Some embodiments discussed herein provide message organization and display assistance that takes into account the relevance between message originators and message recipients, and visually indicate the relevance of each respective message originator. For example, assume that a set of messages is obtained for a focused user, where each message has a source contact (message originator) and some content. A visual representation of the message and related information is generated that includes a focal user representation (text or graphic) that visually represents the focal user and a plurality of contact representations (text or graphic) that visually represent respective contacts. The contact representations are displayed on a computer or other device screen at respective relevance distances from the focused user representation, wherein the distances correspond to the relevance between the respective contacts and the focused user. The visual representation also includes a text region that presents the content of each message from the source contact. The contact representations may be disposed on the screen in various configurations, such as within concentric areas around the focused user, within a two-dimensional map view, or within a three-dimensional illustration/representation of, for example, a message originator, a message recipient, and other discussion participants.

Other variations are also described. For example, in addition to placement according to the relevance of the contact to the focused user, each message may be placed by default according to its respective timestamp. In some versions, the graphic novel style balloon contains selected text that is "spoken" visually by a still or animated avatar or other graphical representation (as if) of each contact. Some embodiments filter contacts according to their relevance to the focused user and do not display contact representations for contacts below a specified relevance threshold. Some embodiments filter messages by relevance such that the visual representation omits message text for messages below a specified relevance threshold. As used herein, "relevance" is a measure of the relationship between two people (i.e., the focused user and the contact), and "relevance" is a measure of the relationship between a message and a person (i.e., the focused user).

The examples given are merely illustrative. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Rather, this summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. The invention is defined by the following claims, to the extent that this summary conflicts with the claims, the claims should prevail.

Drawings

A more particular description will be given with reference to the accompanying drawings. These drawings illustrate only selected aspects and are therefore not intended to be exhaustive of the coverage or scope.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a computer having at least one processor, at least one memory, at least one browser or other tool for reading messages, and other items in an operating environment that may be present on multiple network nodes, and also illustrating configured storage medium embodiments;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating message visualization components in an example architecture;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating steps of a method and configured storage medium embodiments; and

fig. 4 is a simplified screen shot illustrating a message visualization in some embodiments.

Detailed Description

Overview

Various solutions available to facilitate discussion display messages sent within a group of people. Some examples include browsers, email managers, forums, intercom systems, and other tools for organizing and presenting messages in online forums, newsgroups, or email threads. One common representation of messages is a chronological representation in which messages are arranged by date, typically with a subject line or other text excerpt. The text or small image identifies the poster or the person who sent the message, and sometimes has accompanying text in the form of an online name, email address, or other identifier. Messages are arranged in a linear list ordered chronologically and/or by poster/sender.

Some tools provide ways to flag, or infer how relevant a single message in a thread is to a reader. The correlation may be calculated by evaluating the content or sender of the message. However, message presentation other than just a list can be done to effectively filter out less relevant messages and/or provide a visual display of the message thread so that the relevance of each message is clear.

Some embodiments described herein provide a graphical representation of messages that uses graphical cues or visual cues to convey the relevance of messages in the context of a mail thread. For example, given a message thread and a relevance score indicating the relevance of the message sender/poster to the current reader of the thread, some embodiments will display messages in an intuitive manner that conveys both the chronological aspect of the thread and the relevance of the message/sender.

Some embodiments use a caricature-type representation of group interactions. Some embodiments place contacts on a radar-type display to convey relevance to a viewing user. Some embodiments provide for dynamic thresholding, filtering, and pruning of messages based on their relevance in a caricature-type representation. As a specific example, some embodiments use a graphic novel representation of the discussion, where the chronological order is conveyed according to the top-down order of the balloons containing the messages, and the relevance is conveyed by placing the avatar of each message sender on a set of concentric circles that express the relevance distance between the sender and the user. Each text balloon extends from the avatar. Other embodiments provide different feature sets.

Reference will now be made to exemplary embodiments, such as those illustrated in the drawings, and specific language will be used to describe the same. Alterations and further modifications of the inventive features illustrated herein, and additional applications of the principles of the invention as illustrated herein, which would occur to one skilled in the relevant art and having possession of this disclosure, are to be considered within the scope of the invention as claimed.

The meanings of the terms are set forth in the disclosure, and thus the claims should be read with careful attention to the explanations. Specific examples are given, but one skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that other examples may fall within the meaning of the terms used and within the scope of one or more claims. Each term need not necessarily have the same meaning here as it would normally be used, in a particular industry, or in a particular dictionary or set of dictionaries. Reference numerals may be used with various words to help illustrate the breadth of the term. The omission of a reference numeral from a given text passage does not necessarily imply that the contents of the drawing are not discussed textually. The inventors claim rights to parallel make them to their own lexicon. Terms may be defined herein, either explicitly or implicitly, in particular embodiments and/or elsewhere in the application.

As used herein, a "computer system" may include, for example, one or more servers, motherboards, processing nodes, personal computers (portable or non-portable), personal digital assistants, cellular or mobile telephones, and/or other devices that provide one or more processors controlled, at least in part, by instructions. The instructions may take the form of software in a memory and/or specialized circuitry. In particular, while many embodiments may occur running on a workstation or laptop, other embodiments may also run on other computing devices, and any one or more of such devices may be part of a given embodiment.

A "multithreaded" computer system is a computer system that supports multiple threads of execution. The term thread should be understood to include any code capable of or subject to synchronization, and may be referred to by another name, such as "task," process, "or" co-routine. Threads may run in parallel, in order, or in a combination of parallel execution (e.g., multiprocessing) and sequential execution (e.g., time-slicing). Multithreading environments have been designed in various configurations. The threads of execution may run in parallel, or the threads may be organized to execute in parallel, but in fact take turns executing in sequence. For example, multithreading may be implemented by running different threads on different cores in a multiprocessing environment, by time-slicing different threads on a single processor core, or by some combination of time-slicing and multiprocessor threading. The thread context switch may be initiated, for example, by a thread scheduler of the kernel, by a user-space signal, or by a combination of user-space and kernel operations. The threads may operate on shared data in turn, or each thread may operate on its own data, for example.

A "logical processor" or "processor" is a single, independent hardware thread processing unit. For example, a hyper-threaded quad-core chip with two threads running per core has 8 logical processors. Processors may be general-purpose, or they may be customized for specific uses, such as graphics processing, signal processing, floating point arithmetic processing, encryption, I/O processing, and so forth.

A "multiprocessor" computer system is a computer system having multiple logical processors. Multiprocessor environments exist in a variety of configurations. In a given configuration, all processors may be functionally identical, while in another configuration, some processors may differ from others by having different hardware capabilities, different software allocations, or both. Depending on the configuration, the processors may be tightly coupled to each other on a single bus, or they may be loosely coupled. In some configurations, the processors share a central memory, in some configurations they each have their own local memory, and in some configurations, there are both shared and local memories.

"kernel" includes operating systems, hypervisors, virtual machines, and similar hardware interface software.

"code" refers to processor instructions, data (including constants, variables, and data structures), or both instructions and data.

"automatically" refers to the use of automation (e.g., general purpose computing hardware configured by software for the specific operations discussed herein), as opposed to without automation. In particular, the steps performed "automatically" are not performed by hand on paper or in the mind of a human, they are performed by machine.

The use of an optional plural number throughout this document means that there is one or more of the indicated features. For example, "message(s)" means "one or more messages" or equivalently "at least one message".

When referring to data or instructions, it is understood that these items configure the computer readable memory to transform it into a specific article, not simply being present on paper, in the mind of a human being, or as a transitory signal, for example, on a wire.

Operating environment

Referring to FIG. 1, an operating environment 100 for an embodiment may include a computer system 102. The computer system 102 may or may not be a multi-processor computer system. The operating environment may include one or more machines in a given computer system, which may be clustered, client-server networked, and/or peer-to-peer networked. In some embodiments, the operating environment is a "cloud" of connected devices.

The human user 104 may interact with the computer system 102 through the use of a display, keyboard, and other peripheral devices 106. System administrators, developers, engineers, and end users are each a particular type of user 104. An automated agent operating on behalf of one or more persons may also be a user 104. In some embodiments, storage devices and/or networking devices may be considered peripheral devices. Other computer systems not shown in FIG. 1 may interact with computer system 102 or with another system embodiment using one or more connections to network 108, for example, through a network interface device.

The computer system 102 includes at least one logical processor 110. Computer system 102, like other suitable systems, also includes one or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media 112. The media 112 may be of different physical types. The medium 112 may be volatile memory, non-volatile memory, mounted-in-place media, removable media, magnetic media, optical media, and/or other types of non-transitory media (rather than transitory media such as a wire that merely propagates a signal). In particular, a configured medium 114, such as a CD, DVD, memory stick, or other removable non-volatile memory medium, may become functionally part of the computer system when inserted or otherwise installed, making its contents accessible for use by the processor 110. The removable configured media 114 is an example of the computer-readable storage media 112. Some other examples of computer-readable storage media 112 include built-in RAM, ROM, hard disks, and other storage devices that cannot be easily removed by user 104.

The medium 114 is configured with instructions 116 executable by the processor 110; "executable" is used herein in a broad sense to include machine code, interpretable code, and code that runs on, for example, a virtual machine. The media 114 is also configured with data 118 that is created, modified, referenced, and/or otherwise used by execution of the instructions 116. The instructions 116 and data 118 configure the medium 114 on which they reside; when the memory is a functional part of a given computer system, the instructions 116 and data 118 also configure the computer system. In some embodiments, a portion of the data 118 represents real-world items such as product features, inventory, physical measurements, settings, images, readings, targets, volumes, and so forth. As discussed herein, such data is also transformed, for example, by virtualization, dependency-based placement, filtering, deployment, execution, modification, display, creation, loading, and/or other operations.

The web browser 120, email manager or other email tools 122, as well as other tools 124 for reading (and possibly also for posting/sending) messages 126 (such as news collectors), and other items shown in the figures may reside partially or completely within one or more media 112, thereby configuring these media. The messages 126 include text 128 and possibly other content 130 (such as digitally encoded sounds and images, executable code, database files, etc.) that are either embedded in the messages at the message source 140 or attached to the messages. The message 126 also has at least one timestamp 132 representing, for example, the time the message was created at the source 140, the time dispatched from the source 140, or the time received at the target system 102.

A given operating environment 100 may include an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) 134 that provides a developer with a coordinated set of software development tools. In particular, for some embodiments, some of the suitable operating environments include or facilitate the creation of a software application configured to support program developmentVisualDevelopment environment (mark by microsoft corporation). Some suitable operating environments includeEnvironments (a notation of Sun microsystems, Inc.), and some operating environments include environments that utilize languages such as C + + or C # ("C-Sharp"), but the teachings herein are applicable to a wide variety of programming languages, programming models, and programs, and to efforts outside the field of software development that use email, instant messaging, web feeds, and/or other messaging techniques.

The illustrated operating environment 100 includes at least one display 136, such as a computer screen, smart phone screen, or other graphical display device. The operating environment may also include other hardware 138, such as a bus, a power supply, and an accelerator.

Some items are shown in outline form in FIG. 1 to emphasize that they are not necessarily part of the illustrated operating environment, but may interoperate with items in the operating environment discussed herein. Items that do not take the form of contours are also not necessarily required in any figure or any embodiment.

System for controlling a power supply

Fig. 2 illustrates an architecture suitable for use with some embodiments. The focused user 202 is a user whose relevance is calculated and visually indicated, such as the current user. The focused user 202 may be the only user for which the message 126 is intended, e.g., a recipient of an email message, although some embodiments allow a given message to have more than one recipient. Message 126 is created by contact 204 or at least communicated (e.g., forwarded) by contact 204. For example, the user that sent the forum message 126 or created the email message 126 is in the individual contact 204 of the focused user. Each contact 204 has a calculated relevance value for the focused user 202. The correlation between a given contact C1 and the focused user F1 may also differ from the correlation between the same contact C1 and a different focused user F2.

Messages 126 from one or more contacts 204 to a given focused user 202 are presented in a visual representation 208 on the display 136 to facilitate organization and use of the messages by the focused user. The visual representations 208 include a representation 210 of the focused user 202 and a representation 212 of the corresponding contact(s) 204. The message 126 is also represented by a text region 214, which text region 214 may include a balloon or other callout 216 that extends graphically from the contact representation 212. The relevance value 206 of the displayed contact is indicated by, for example, a physical and/or numerical relevance distance 218 on the display 136.

A given embodiment may include one or more modules 220 that provide the ability to be used to create and manage a visual representation 208 of a message 126.

The correlation value calculator 222 in module 220 calculates (or retrieves previously calculated) the correlation value 206. The relevance value for a given contact may be the value 206 provided by the focused user 202, or it may be based on various factors, such as how consistent or fast the focused user responds to the contact (absolute or relative metrics may be used), where the contact and focused user appear relative to each other in an organizational hierarchy, or whether the focused user indicates that a close relationship (such as a family relationship) exists with the contact.

Representation selection and placement 224 in module 220 the ability to select textual and/or graphical representations of the user, such as the focused user representation 210 of the focused user 202 and the contact representation 212 of the corresponding contact(s) 204. The representation may be selected by the user or may be automatically selected (assigned) according to this embodiment. Placing the selected user representation 210, 212 in the visual representation 208 to reflect the relevance value 206 may be performed by placing the contact representation closer to the focal representation when the contacts are more relevant.

Text selection and text region placement 226 capabilities in module 220 select message text 128 (including snippets and/or full text) to be displayed in visual representation 208 at a given point in time. The subject line may be selected, which may be, for example, the first N characters or the first M words of the message. Placing the selected message text 128 in the visual representation 208 may be performed by displaying the text in a text area 214 that includes a graphic novel style word balloon, notes, starburst patterns, box callouts, center text callouts, notes, comments, and/or other graphic callouts. Many examples of annotations that may be suitable for the various uses described herein may be found, for example, in Microsoft WindowsThe shape of the tool. Annotations are placed in visual representation 208 in visual association with the contact representation, for example, by extending a text balloon from the contact's visual avatar.

A distance scale 228 may be supported in the module 220 to place avatars (graphical representations 210, 212) based on the correlation values. Some embodiments place contact avatars a distance from the in focus user avatar on the screens according to a common logarithmic scale 228. For example, in one embodiment, the avatar of the contact whose relevance to the focused user has a value of 128 to 255 (max) is placed within 8 pixels of the avatar of the focused user, the contact with relevance of 64 to 127 is placed within 32 to 9 pixels of the focused user, the contact with relevance of 32 to 63 is placed within 128 to 33 pixels, and so on. Some embodiments place contact avatars at distances from the focused user avatar on the screen according to a common linear scale 228. For example, an avatar for a contact having a relevance value R in the range from zero (least relevant) to one hundred (most relevant) is placed with its center at (100-R) × 8+20 pixels from the center of the avatar for the user in focus. These are just a few of many possible (specific) formulas and many possible scales that are typically used to visually link avatar placements to relevance values 206.

Some embodiments include graphics 230 capabilities in module 220, such as code for displaying avatars, annotations 216, other graphics 230, and text 128.

Some embodiments include a module 220 that defines a visually demarcated region 232 in which to place an avatar. For example, FIG. 4 shows avatars and their text balloons placed in a region 232 defined by concentric circles. The region 232 may also be defined by other visual indicators, such as concentric semi-circles, concentric quarter circles, areas depicting geographic terrain, landscape maps of cities, and so forth.

Some embodiments provide a message display system having at least one logical processor 110, at least one display 136 (screen), and at least one processor (medium 112) operably coupled to the logical processor and the display screen. A set of messages 126 resides in memory, with each message having a source contact 204 (e.g., a poster or sender) and content (e.g., text 128). Visual representation structures (e.g., data and instructions) reside in the memory and the display is configured with a visual representation 208 that includes: a focal user representation 210 that visually represents the focal user 202 and a plurality of contact representations 212 that visually represent respective contacts 204. Each contact representation 212 is displayed at a corresponding relevance distance 218 from the focal user representation; each relevance distance 218 corresponds to a relevance value 206 that indicates the relevance of the respective contact to the focused user. The visual representation 208 also includes a plurality of text regions 214 representing the content 130 of the respective message 126 (i.e., the message whose source contact is in each contact visually represented by each contact representation).

In some embodiments, each message 126 has a timestamp 132, and the display 136 is configured with a visual representation 208 that includes a plurality of text regions 214 that are positioned in an order corresponding to the timestamps of their respective messages. For example, fig. 4 shows a visual representation 208 in which messages are ordered top-down according to an incremented timestamp value.

In some embodiments, the display 136 is configured with a visual representation 208 that includes a contact representation 212, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, the contact representation 212 being disposed in a concentric region around the focal user representation 210. In some other configurations, contact representation 212 is positioned in a two-dimensional map view or in a three-dimensional view.

In some embodiments, the text region 214 includes text callouts 216 having visual pointers to respective ones of the contact representations 212. For example, fig. 4 shows a text region that includes a text balloon as a text annotation 216.

In some embodiments, display 136 is configured with a visual representation 208 in which contact representation 212 is positioned for display at a respective relevance distance 218 from other contact representations such that whenever contact X is more relevant to contact Y than to contact Z, the representation of contact X is closer to the representation of contact Y than to the representation of contact Z. That is, in addition to the correlation between a contact and the focused user, the correlation between two contacts may also be reflected in the display.

Privacy concerns should be respected. Some users may consider or designate their relevance values as fully shareable (e.g., a third person is authorized to access the relevance between two users), while other users may consider or designate their relevance values as items of limited disclosure. In a configuration that allows a third user to make an assessment of the relevance value belonging to two other users, a respectful concern for privacy concerns is important. Thus, before a relevance value is disclosed outside a pair of users for which it is defined, the users may be given a clear written advance notice with explanations and examples of how disclosure will occur and how it may be prevented or otherwise limited. Users may also be given the opportunity to forgo privacy of some or all of their relevance values.

In some embodiments, a peripheral device 106 (screen, keyboard, mouse, tablet, microphone, speaker, motion sensor, etc.) such as a human user I/O device will be in operable communication with one or more processors 110 and memory. However, an embodiment may also be deeply embedded in the system so that no human user 104 directly interacts with the embodiment. Script interpreters, debuggers, emulators, record/playback controllers, and other software processes may be the user 104.

In some embodiments, the system includes a plurality of computers connected by a network. The network interface device may provide access to the network 108 using, for example, components such as a packet switched network interface card, a wireless transceiver, or a telephone network interface, and will be present in the computer system. However, an embodiment may also communicate through direct memory access, removable non-volatile media, or other information storage-retrieval and/or transmission methods, or an embodiment in a computer system may operate without communicating with other computer systems.

Some embodiments operate in a "cloud" computing environment and/or a "cloud" storage environment. For example, the message source 140 may be on multiple devices/systems 102 of a networked cloud, the message itself may be stored on yet other devices within the cloud, and the visual representation may configure displays on yet other cloud devices/systems 102.

Method of producing a composite material

Fig. 3 illustrates some method embodiments in a flow chart 300. The method illustrated in the figures may be performed automatically in some embodiments, for example, by module 220, module 220 organizing the messages and generating visual representation 208 under control of the script with little or no user input; the generated visual representation may then be stored in the media 112 for possible subsequent access by the focused user 202 or administrative user. Methods may also be performed partially automatically and partially manually, unless otherwise specified. In a given implementation, zero or more illustrated steps of a method may be repeated, perhaps operating with different parameters or data. The steps in an embodiment may also be performed in a different order than the top-down order illustrated in fig. 3. The steps may be performed serially, in a partially overlapping manner, or fully in parallel. The order in which the steps are performed during a method may vary from one execution of the method to another execution of the method as illustrated by the traversal of flowchart 300. The flowchart traversal order may also vary from one method embodiment to another. Steps may also be omitted, combined, renamed, recombined, or otherwise separated from the illustrated flow, provided that the performed method is operable and in compliance with at least one claim.

Examples are provided herein to help illustrate aspects of the technology, but the examples given herein do not describe all possible embodiments. Embodiments are not limited to the specific implementations, arrangements, displays, features, methods, or scenarios provided herein. A given embodiment may include, for example, additional or different features, mechanisms, and/or data structures, and may otherwise depart from the examples provided herein.

During a contact acquisition step 302, an embodiment obtains a set of contacts 204 for a specified focused user 202 in RAM or other media 112. Step 302 may be accomplished, for example, by using an address book of the email tool 122, by scanning or otherwise obtaining a list of forum poster screen names, and/or by other mechanisms for identifying the message source 140.

During a message retrieval step 304, an embodiment retrieves a set of messages 126 for a given focus user 202 in RAM or another medium 112; the message may relate solely to the focused user or to a group comprising the focused user. Step 304 may be accomplished using the email tool 122, for example, by scanning or otherwise obtaining a list of forum posts, and/or by other mechanisms for identifying the message source 130.

During a display configuration step 306, an embodiment configures the display 136 with a visual representation 208 that includes: at least one focal user representation 210 and at least one contact representation 212 having a corresponding relevance distance 218. Step 306 may be accomplished using graphical software and hardware in accordance with the teachings of the present invention.

During the focus user representation placement step 308, the focus user representation 210 is placed by an embodiment in the display coordinate space (in RAM and/or on the display screen). The focal user representation 210 may be positioned 308 at or near the center of the available space, for example, or may be positioned 308 at or near a corner or edge of the available space. FIG. 4 illustrates placement of the focal user representation 210 at or near the center of the available space. Step 308 may be accomplished using graphics software and hardware in accordance with the teachings of the present invention and may be considered part of display configuration step 306.

During a focus user text representation using step 310, an embodiment uses the focus user text representation 312, for example, by positioning 308 the focus user text representation 312 in a display space or by configuring 306 a display screen with the focus user text representation 312. The focused user text representation 312 contains text in natural language and may also contain graphics, sound, and/or other components.

During the focus user graphical representation using step 314, an embodiment uses the focus user graphical representation 316, for example, by positioning 308 the focus user graphical representation 316 in a display space or by configuring 306 a display screen with the focus user graphical representation 316. The focused user graphical representation 316 contains non-textual graphical content and may also contain textual, sound, and/or other components. The particular focused user representation, which includes both textual and non-textual graphics, can be treated as both the focused user textual representation 312 and the focused user graphical representation 316.

During a contact representation placement step 318, the contact representation 212 is placed by an embodiment in the display coordinate space (in RAM and/or on the display screen). The contact representation 212 may be positioned 318 in the available space not allocated to the focal user representation 210. FIG. 4 illustrates the placement of four contact representations 212 in the available space. Step 318 may be accomplished using graphics software and hardware in accordance with the teachings of the present invention and may be considered part of display configuration step 306.

During a contact text representation using step 320, an embodiment uses a contact text representation 322, for example, by disposing 318 the contact text representation 322 in a display space or by configuring 306 a display screen with the contact text representation 322. Contact text representation 322 contains text in natural language and may also contain graphics, sound, and/or other components.

During a contact graphical representation usage step 324, an embodiment uses a contact graphical representation 326, for example, by disposing 318 the contact graphical representation 326 in a display space or by configuring 306 a display screen with the contact graphical representation 326. Contact graphical representation 326 contains non-textual graphical content and may also contain text, sound, and/or other components. A particular contact representation that contains both textual and non-textual graphics can be treated as both a contact textual representation 322 and a contact graphical representation 326.

During scale use step 328, an embodiment uses a formula-based scale to map correlation values 206 to correlation distances 218 to be used in configuring 306 a display. The formula may define the scale 228 in a linear mapping, a logarithmic mapping, or some other relationship.

During the partition placement step 330, an embodiment places the representation(s) 210, 212 in the partitions while configuring 306 the display. The zones 232 may be defined using lines, textures, colors, and/or other visual mechanisms. Fig. 4 shows the zones defined by concentric circles.

During the configuration placement step 332, an embodiment places the representation(s) 210, 212 in a selected view, map, or other configuration while configuring 306 the display. The view may be top-down, perspective, moving camera, two or higher dimensional, or a combination thereof. The map may, for example, simulate natural terrain, city landscape, or other settings. The configuration may be static or animated.

During a chronological disposing step 334, an embodiment disposes the representations 210, 212 and/or the message text region 214 in a chronological order based on the timestamps 132 while configuring 306 the display. Fig. 4 shows the message text region 214 positioned 334 in chronological order with time increasing from the top to the bottom of the visual representation 208.

During the contact relevance filtering step 336, an embodiment filters contacts 204 according to their relevance values 206 with respect to a particular focused user 202 such that only contacts within a particular relevance range have representations 212 displayed within the visual representation 208. The range may be specified by the user or built-in, and may be an upper range (most relevant contacts), a lower range (least relevant contacts), or some other range. In some embodiments, only the contact representations of contacts having messages pending (e.g., not yet opened, not deleted) are displayed.

During a message relevance filtering step 338, an embodiment filters each message 126 according to its relevance to a particular focused user 202, such that only messages within a specified range of relevance have the text area 214 displayed within the visual representation 208. The range may be specified by the user or built-in, and may be an upper range (most relevant messages), a lower range (least relevant messages), or some other range. The relevancy may be calculated based on keywords in the message text, an "urgent" or other priority flag placed on the message by the sender/poster, and/or other factors.

During a contact relevance visual indication step 340 during the display configuration 306 step, an embodiment visually indicates contact relevance by, for example: by mechanisms such as setting the representation 212 of the more relevant contact closer to the in focus user representation 210 than the representation of the less relevant contact, by coloring the contact representations 212 differently according to their respective relevance values 206, and/or by making the representation 212 of the more relevant contact larger than the representation of the less relevant contact.

During a memory or other media configuration step 342, the media 112 is configured by the visual representation 208, the representation selection and placement module 224, and/or the media 112 is otherwise configured in conjunction with the relevance-oriented graphical representation of the discussion message 126 as described herein.

During a correlation value calculation step 344, an embodiment calculates one or more correlation values 206. The relevance calculation may be based on factors such as, for example, the number and frequency of tracked communications between two users, a corporate organization chart, and/or the frequency of tracked similar keywords in communications between two users.

The foregoing steps and their interrelationships are discussed in greater detail below in connection with various embodiments.

Certain embodiments provide a process for organizing message threads. The process uses a device having at least one display 136 and at least one logical processor 110 in operable communication with at least one memory medium 112. The process includes obtaining 302 in memory a set of contacts 204 for a focused user 202, each contact having a calculated relevance value 206 indicating the relevance of the contact to the focused user, which may be calculated before, during, or after making copies of other contact information in memory and still meet this requirement. The process also retrieves 304 in memory a set of messages 126, each having a source contact 204 and content 120.

Through operation of the processor, the process configures 306 the display with a visual representation 208 that includes: a focal user representation 210 that visually represents a focal user and a plurality of contact representations 212 that visually represent respective contacts. The contact representation 212 displays (e.g., via spatial location and/or numeric text) respective relevance distances 218 corresponding to the relevance values 206 between the respective contacts and the focused user. The visual representation 208 also includes a plurality of text regions 214 representing the content of respective messages whose source contacts are among the contacts visually represented by the respective contact representations. Thus, the configured display 136 shows the focused user, contacts (in a list and/or with graphics), and messages (summarized and/or with excerpts or all content shown). A distance indication of the relevance between each contact and the focused user is also shown.

In some embodiments, the process configures 306 the display 136 with a visual representation 208 that includes: a focal user text representation 312 visually representing a focal user, a plurality of contact text representations 322 visually representing respective contacts, and a plurality of text regions 214 representing the content of respective messages whose source contacts are in the respective contacts visually represented by the contact text representations. In some embodiments, each contact representation is displayed with a corresponding textual numerical relevance distance from the focal user graphical representation, the distances corresponding to relevance values between each contact and the focal user. That is, a list format is used in which each relevance distance is shown as a text numerical value.

In some embodiments, the process configures 306 the display 136 with a visual representation 208 that includes: a focused user text representation 316 that visually represents the focused user, a plurality of contact text representations 326 that visually represent respective contacts, and a plurality of text regions 214 that represent the content of respective messages whose source contacts are in the respective contacts visually represented by the contact text representations. In some embodiments, the contact representations are displayed as respective relevance distances from the focal user graphical representation, the distances corresponding to relevance values between the contacts and the focal user. That is, the graphic format is used by arranging avatars at distances on the screen according to relevance to the current user (typically the user in focus).

In some embodiments, the process configures 306 the display with the visual representation 208 in part by: the contact representation to be displayed is positioned 318 at a corresponding relevance distance from the in-focus user graphical representation using 328 a linear distance scale 228 for the gap between avatars being displayed. In some embodiments, the process configures 306 the display with the visual representation 208 in part by: the contact representation to be displayed is positioned 318 at a corresponding relevance distance from the in-focus user graphical representation using 328 a logarithmic distance scale 228 for the gap between avatars being displayed. Other monotonic functions may also be used 328 in the formula to define the scale 228 for positioning or otherwise visually indicating the relevance value 206 in the visual representation 208.

In some embodiments, the process configures 306 the display with the visual representation 208 in part by: the contact representation to be displayed is positioned 318 at a corresponding relevance distance from the in-focus user graphical representation 316 such that whenever contact X is more relevant to the in-focus user than contact Y, the graphical representation of contact X is closer to the in-focus user graphical representation than the graphical representation of contact Y. Thus, if a contact is more relevant to the focused user, the closer the contact's graphic is to the focused user's graphic. Proximity may be a mechanism to indicate relevance; other mechanisms may be size, color, animation, or any other visual indication.

In some embodiments, each relevance value 206 is within one of a set of relevance ranges having a respective display area 232, with a larger relevance range having a respective display area farther from the point-of-focus user graphical representation 316. Configuring 306 the display with the visual representations includes positioning contact graphical representations in the display areas 232 based on within which of the relevance ranges each respective relevance distance is.

Fig. 4 shows one particular configuration with concentric ring regions 232. More generally, contacts are divided into groups according to relevance scopes. For example, if the relevance is from zero to 100, where 100 is the most relevant, one embodiment places all users with relevance 90-100 in the first circle nearest the user in focus, places contacts with relevance 60-89 in the next (second) circle out, places users with relevance 10-59 in the next (third) circle out, and places all other users (with relevance 0-9) out of the third circle.

In some embodiments, each message 126 has a timestamp 132, and the process configures 306 the display with a visual representation 208 that includes a plurality of text regions 214 that are positioned in the visual representation in an order corresponding to the timestamps of their respective messages. In addition to the relevance of the message source contact, messages may be scheduled according to their timestamps.

In some embodiments, the process organizes the messages by: obtaining 302 a set of contacts of a focused user in a memory; calculating 344, for each acquired contact, a relevance value indicating the relevance between the contact and the focused user; retrieving 304 a set of messages in memory, each message having a source contact and content; and configuring 306 the display with the visual representation. The visual representation includes: the system includes a focal user representation that visually represents a focal user, a plurality of contact representations that visually represent respective contacts and visually indicate correlation values between the respective contacts and the focal user, and a plurality of text regions that represent content of respective messages whose source contacts are among the contacts visually represented by the contact representations.

In some embodiments, the process filters 336 the contacts according to the relevance value between the contact and the focused user, such that the visual representation ignores contact representations for contacts below a specified relevance threshold. In some embodiments, each message also has an indicated pertinence to the focused user, and the process filters 338 the messages according to pertinence such that the visual representation ignores text regions of messages below a specified pertinence threshold.

In some embodiments, the contact representation visually indicates 340 the relevance value 206 between the respective contact and the focused user with at least one of the following mechanisms: the relative distance between the contact representation and the focused user representation, the relative size of the contact representation, the color of the contact representation.

In some embodiments, the process configures 306 the display with a visual representation 208 that includes a plurality of text regions 214 representing respective messages 126, as each text region contains at least a portion of the message content 210. In some embodiments, each text region 214 has a visual pointer, such as the callout 216 of the contact graphical representation 326 that indicates the source contact of the message. That is, the process displays the message excerpts and visually connects each message to the contact graphic.

In some embodiments, the display is configured 306 with a visual representation 208 that includes a contact graphical representation that is positioned 318 in at least one of the following configurations: within a concentric circular area around the focal user graphical representation, along a one-dimensional relevance axis, within a two-dimensional map view, in a multi-dimensional view.

In some embodiments, the process includes switching between views. That is, the process configures 306 the display with a visual representation that indicates a correlation value between the respective contact and the focused user, and also configures 306 the display without using any of the following mechanisms for visually indicating a correlation value between a contact and a focused user: the relative distance between the contact representation and the focused user representation, the relative size of the contact representation, the color of the contact representation.

Configured medium

Some embodiments include a configured computer-readable storage medium 112. Media 112 may include disks (magnetic, optical, or other), RAM, EEPROM or other ROM, and/or other configurable memory, including in particular non-transitory computer-readable media (as opposed to wires and other propagated signal media). The storage medium that is configured may be in particular a removable storage medium 114 such as a CD, DVD or flash memory. The general-purpose memory, which may be removable or non-removable and may be volatile or non-volatile, may be configured to form embodiments of the configured media using items such as the visual representation 208 and the module 220 in the form of data 118 and instructions 116 read from the removable media 114 and/or another source such as a network connection. The configured medium 112 is capable of causing a computer system to perform process steps for transforming data through the relevance-oriented graphical representation of the discussion message 126 disclosed herein. Fig. 1 through 4 thus help illustrate configured storage medium embodiments and method embodiments, as well as system and method embodiments. In particular, any of the method steps shown in FIG. 3, or otherwise taught herein, may be used to help configure a storage medium to form a configured medium embodiment.

Supplementary examples

Additional details and design considerations are provided below. As with other examples herein, the features described may be used individually and/or in combination, or not at all, in a given embodiment.

Let C be a list of contacts 204 in the system, e.g., a buddy list, where C ═ { C ═ C₁,c₂,c₃，....c_n}. Let similarity (C) be a function that maps from C to a similarity value (also called relevance value 206), expressing contact C_iSimilarity to the current user playing the role of the focused user 202. Let T be a message containing a plurality of messages T = { m = }₁,m₂,….m_kJ thread/discussion of. Each message m_iIncluding the following information { contacts, timestamp, content }, thereinThe content may be anything from a text message to binary data, such as an image, a sound file, and the like. Some embodiments also include a function pertinence (m) that maps from the message to a relevance value, expressing the relevance of the message to the focused user as a reader. This function may use any part of the message to interpret a relevance, for example by checking whether the message text contains words of interest to the current user.

In this context, some embodiments use a visual representation 208 similar to the radar format as shown in FIG. 4, where each concentric circle depicts the distance from the center of the representation reader. Other visual representations may also be used to provide relevance and other information as described herein. In fig. 4, the center map/position represents the current reader (focused user). The contacts contributing messages to the displayed thread T are arranged in concentric circles around the user. The radius to a contact is determined by a function that takes into account the similarity (relevance) of the contact and the available screen space. Thus, in a comic style, the callout balloon is extended from a different contact. Each balloon represents a message in a thread and is called out from the avatar of the contact sending the message. In this example, all messages are ordered from top to bottom according to their timestamps.

In some embodiments, a contact relevance threshold slider and/or a message relevance threshold slider may be added to control which messages and which contacts appear on the radar. This may provide for easy filtering 336, 338. For example, in the example diagram of FIG. 4, if the similarity function between the reader and the contacts is based on their favorite team, all contacts that are dissimilar from the reader in response to the thread may be filtered out. That is, all contacts (and their messages) that are not fans of the same team as the focused user may be hidden. Such filtering may allow for faster and easier reading of threads.

Final phrase

Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein as a method, configured medium, or system, it will be appreciated that discussion of one type of embodiment generally extends to other types of embodiments. The method description in connection with fig. 3 also helps describe configured media, and helps describe the operation of systems and articles of manufacture such as those discussed in connection with other figures, for example. Nor is the limitation of one embodiment necessarily applicable to another embodiment. In particular, the methodologies need not necessarily be limited to the data structures and arrangements presented when discussing a system or article of manufacture, such as a configured medium.

Not every item shown in the figures need be present in every embodiment. Rather, embodiments may include items not explicitly shown in the figures. Although some possibilities are shown here in text and drawings by specific examples, embodiments may deviate from these examples. For example, particular features of an example may be omitted, renamed, grouped differently, repeated, instantiated in hardware and/or software differently, or a mix of features appearing in two or more examples. In some embodiments, functionality shown at one location may also be provided at a different location.

Reference is made to the accompanying drawings by reference numerals. Any apparent inconsistency in the wording associated with a given reference sign in a drawing or text is to be understood as merely broadening the scope of what is referenced by that sign.

As used herein, terms such as "a," "an," and "the" are inclusive of one or more of the indicated item or step. In particular, in the claims, a reference to an item generally indicates that at least one such item exists, and a reference to a step indicates that at least one instance of the step is performed.

Headings are for convenience only; information about a given topic may be found outside of the section whose heading indicates that topic.

All claims presented are a part of this specification.

While exemplary embodiments have been shown in the drawings and described above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many modifications are possible without departing from the principles and concepts set forth in the claims. Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Not every means or aspect identified in a given definition or example is necessarily present or used in every embodiment. Rather, the specific features and acts described are disclosed as examples for consideration when implementing the claims.

All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope to the full extent permitted by law.

Claims (13)

1. A method for organizing message threads, the method utilizing a device having at least one display and at least one logical processor in operative communication with at least one memory, the method comprising the steps of:

obtaining a set of contacts of a focal user in the memory, each contact having a calculated relevance value indicating the relevance of the contact to the focal user;

retrieving a set of messages in the memory, each message having a source contact and content; and

configuring, by operation of the processor, the display with a visual representation comprising:

a focus user representation visually representing the focus user;

a plurality of contact representations visually representing respective contacts, the contact representations displaying respective contact distances corresponding to relevance values between the contacts and the focused user;

a plurality of text regions representing content of respective messages whose source contacts are among the contacts visually represented by the contact representations; and

a contact relevance threshold slider and a message relevance threshold slider that control which messages and which contacts appear,

wherein in the visual representation, the contact representation is positioned for display at a respective relevance distance from other contact representations such that whenever contact X is more relevant to contact Z than contact Y, the representation of contact X is closer to the representation of contact Z than to the representation of contact Y.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising configuring the display with a visual representation comprising:

a focus user text representation visually representing the focus user;

a plurality of contact textual representations visually representing respective contacts, the contact representations displayed with a respective textual numerical relevance distance from the focused user graphical representation, the distance corresponding to a relevance value between the contact and the focused user; and

a plurality of text regions representing content of respective messages whose source contacts are among the contacts visually represented by the contact textual representations.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising configuring the display with a visual representation comprising:

a focus user graphical representation visually representing the focus user;

a plurality of contact graphical representations visually representing respective contacts, the contact representations being displayed at respective relevance distances from the focal user graphical representation, the distances corresponding to relevance values between the contacts and the focal user; and

a plurality of text regions representing content of respective messages whose source contacts are among the contacts visually represented by the contact graphical representation.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein configuring the display with a visual representation comprises at least one of:

positioning a contact representation to be displayed at a respective relevance distance from the in-focus user graphical representation using a linear distance scale;

positioning a contact representation to be displayed at a corresponding relevance distance from the in-focus user graphical representation using a logarithmic distance scale;

positioning a contact representation to be displayed at a respective relevance distance from the focal user graphical representation such that whenever contact X is more relevant to the focal user than contact Y, the graphical representation of contact X is closer to the focal user graphical representation than the graphical representation of contact Y;

the contact graphical representations are arranged in the display areas based on which relevance range each respective relevance distance is within, each respective relevance value being within one of a set of relevance ranges having a corresponding display area, with a larger relevance range having a respective display area that is further away from the focused user graphical representation.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein each message has a timestamp, and the method comprises configuring the display with a visual representation that includes a plurality of text regions that are positioned in the visual representation in an order corresponding to the timestamps of their respective messages.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises filtering contacts according to their relevance value to an in focus user such that the visual representation ignores contact representations for contacts below a specified relevance threshold.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein each message further has an indicated relevance to the focused user, and further comprising filtering messages according to relevance such that the visual representation ignores text regions of messages below a specified relevance threshold.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the contact representation visually indicates the respective contact-to-focal-user relevance value with at least one of the following mechanisms:

a relative distance between a contact representation and the focal user representation;

the relative size of the contact representation;

the color of the contact representation.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the method comprises configuring the display with a visual representation comprising a graphical representation of contacts positioned in at least one of the following configurations:

within a concentric circular region around the focal user graphical representation;

along a one-dimensional correlation axis;

within a two-dimensional map view;

in a three-dimensional view.

10. A system for organizing message threads, the system utilizing a device having at least one display and at least one logical processor in operative communication with at least one memory, the system comprising:

means for retrieving in the memory a set of contacts of a focal user, each contact having a calculated relevance value indicating the relevance of the contact to the focal user;

means for retrieving a set of messages in the memory, each message having a source contact and content; and

means for configuring, by operation of the processor, the display with a visual representation comprising:

a focus user graphical representation visually representing a focus user;

a plurality of contact graphical representations visually representing respective contacts, the contact representations being displayed at respective relevance distances from the focal user graphical representation, the distances corresponding to relevance values indicating relevance of the respective contacts to the focal user;

a plurality of text regions representing content of respective messages whose source contacts are among the contacts visually represented by the contact graphical representation; and

a contact relevance threshold slider and a message relevance threshold slider that control which messages and which contacts appear,

wherein in the visual representation, the contact representation is positioned for display at a respective relevance distance from other contact representations such that whenever contact X is more relevant to contact Z than contact Y, the representation of contact X is closer to the representation of contact Z than to the representation of contact Y.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein each message has a timestamp, and the display is configured with a visual representation that includes a plurality of text regions that are positioned in an order corresponding to the timestamps of their respective messages.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the display is configured with a visual representation comprising a graphical representation of contacts disposed in at least one of the following configurations:

within a concentric region around the focal user graphical representation;

within a two-dimensional map view;

within the three-dimensional view.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the text region includes a text label having a visual pointer to a corresponding contact graphical representation.