Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management

Definitions

• the disclosed systems and methods relate generally to the field of electronic communications and more specifically to the field of creating and managing message information for users of such information in a business environment.
• FIG. 1 is a system block diagram of a message management system.
• FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of steps in a method for managing messaging information.
• FIG. 3 is an illustration of a graphical user interface component.
• FIG. 4 is an illustration of a graphical user interface component.
• FIG. 5 is an illustration of a graphical user interface component.
• FIG. 6 is an illustration of a graphical user interface component.
• FIG. 8 is an illustration of a graphical user interface component.
• FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a computer networking environment.
• the disclosed subject matter relates to systems and methods for creating and managing electronic communication data and metadata.
• Such communication data and metadata can relate to voice, electronic mail, instant messaging, text messaging, or other types of electronic communication.
• references to components or modules generally refer to items that logically can be grouped together to perform a function or group of related functions.
• Components and modules can be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination of software and hardware.
• the term software is used expansively to include not only executable code, but also data structures, data stores and computing instructions in any electronic format, firmware, and embedded software. It should be noted that although examples discussed below might describe specific features or functions as part of a specific component or module, those features or functions may be implemented as part of a different component or module.
• the disclosed systems and methods can be implemented as a method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programming or engineering techniques to produce software, firmware, hardware, or any combination thereof to control a computer to implement the disclosed systems and methods.
• article of manufacture is intended to include a computer program accessible from any computer- readable device, carrier, or media.
• computer readable media can include but are not limited to magnetic storage devices, optical disks, smart cards, flash memory devices, or other memory devices.
• a carrier wave or other enabling data carrier can be employed to carry computer-readable electronic data such as those used in transmitting and receiving electronic mail or in accessing a network such as the Internet or a local area network (LAN).
• LAN local area network
• FIG. 1 is a system block diagram of a message management system 100.
• the message management system 100 includes an event manager 110.
• the event manager 110 can receive initiating or other messages or events and can be implemented as a background process, a daemon, a background service, or other suitable architecture. Access to the message management system 100, as well as its individual components, can be managed using typical computing security techniques such as challenge-response systems including username/password combinations and CAPTCHAs, tokens, biometric authentication, or user access policies, among other suitable systems (not pictured).
• the event manager 110 can communicate with a directory services module
• the directory services module 120 can provide functions for access control, user identification, and information management.
• the directory services module 120 can be implemented as a component that uses the lightweight directory access protocol ("LDAP"), active directory services, or as another suitable component.
• LDAP lightweight directory access protocol
• the directory services module 120 can also include or refer to a user rights and preference database (not pictured).
• the event manager 110 can also communicate with a customer relationship management (“CRM”) module 130.
• CRM customer relationship management
• the CRM module 130 can access a marketing information data store 140 and a client relationship information data store 150.
• the marketing information data store 140 and the client relationship information data store 150 can be integrated with the CRM module 130.
• the marketing information data store 140 and client relationship information data store 150 can be integrated into a single data store or can remain separate components as shown.
• the event manager 110 can also communicate with a financial module
• the financial module 160 can be implemented in a variety of ways from a relatively basic component that contains fundamental financial information to a fully integrated accounting package that can provide sophisticated financial information and analysis.
• the communication manager 170 can include subcomponents such as a phone system manager 172, a cell phone manager 174 and an email manager 176.
• the communication manager 170 can be extended through the addition of other modules to manage other types or formats of electronic communications such as text messages sent using the simple message system ("SMS") protocol, among others.
• SMS simple message system
• the phone system manager 172 of the communication manager 170 can initiate the sending of an event to the event manager 110 when an incoming telephone call is detected.
• the cell phone manager 174 and the email manager 176 can each initiate events to be sent to the event manager 110.
• the communication manager 170 can communicate with a graphical user interface (GUI) 180.
• GUI graphical user interface
• the GUI 180 can be any one of a number of suitable GUIs, such as a graphical environment of a computer operating system, a dedicated GUI for the communication manager 170, a web-based interface such as an interface based on pages written in hypertext markup language ("HTML"), or another suitable GUI.
• the message management system 100 can catch events or receive messages to trigger the gathering and display of information related to the identity of the message sender or recipient.
• the message management system 100 can supply information from a variety of sources as shown in FIG. 1.
• the message management system 100 can present the user with contact information for a sender of an incoming message such as an address, phone number, name, company, and title. Relationships to other records, such as master and super master records, can also be revealed.
• FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of steps in a method for managing messaging information 200. Execution of the method for managing messaging information 200 begins at START block 205 and continues to process block 210 where an event manager, such as the event manager 110 of FIG. 1, is launched and begins monitoring for system events. Such monitoring can take place as a background process or in the foreground if desired in a particular implementation.
• an event manager such as the event manager 110 of FIG. 1
• monitoring can take place as a background process or in the foreground if desired in a particular implementation.
• the message event can include information regarding the type of message and from which specific communications subsystem (phone, email, or other system) the message originated.
• message information from the message event is parsed and preliminarily evaluated. It should be noted that for ease of explanation, the remaining discussion of this flow diagram will assume that the electronic communication that initiated the message event was an incoming telephone call. Those of ordinary skill in this art area will recognize from reading this disclosure the various modifications that can be made to handle other types of electronic communications.
• decision block 230 a determination is made whether the message originated from an internal telephone extension.
• processing continues to process block 235 where directory services are accessed to obtain further information linked to or otherwise associated with that internal extension such as the physical location and owner of the extension, among other things. If the determination made at decision block 230 is NO, processing continues to process block 240. At process block 240 a CRM module is accessed to obtain further information linked to or otherwise associated with a telephone number from which the telephone call originated. [0027] Processing then continues to process block 245 where a record associated with the telephone number of the incoming call is accessed. At decision block 250, a determination is made whether the record indicates that the calling telephone number is associated with someone who is internal to the organization within which the call management system is being used.
• processing continues to process block 235 where directory services are accessed. If the determination is NO, processing continues to process block 255 where user preferences and permissions are accessed. It should be noted that in this specific example, user preferences and permissions can be used to govern the access and display of information in subsequent steps.
• FIG. 3 is an illustration of a component of a graphical user interface
• the GUI 300 can include one or more frames 310, 320, 330.
• each of the frames is associated with a primary, secondary, or tertiary telephone line associated with a telephone.
• Each of the frames 310, 320, 330 includes a set of data fields for displaying caller information.
• each of the frames 310, 320, 330 includes a name field for displaying caller name information, an extension field for displaying caller telephone extension information, an email address field for displaying caller email address information, a department field for displaying a caller's department information, and a location field for displaying a caller's location information.
• each of the frames 310, 320, 330 includes typical GUI control components such as buttons for closing the associated frame and for navigating to earlier and later screens within each frame.
• a button labeled "Support” can be used to trigger access to a user support system or database. Other functionality can be added. Additionally or alternatively, another button or buttons can be used with or instead of a "support” button to trigger access to other functions from within each frame.
• GUI 300 can be modified to permit data input as well as display. Such input can be by navigating to another screen or by using a button to access a data input module (not shown).
• FIG. 4 is an illustration of a component of a graphical user interface
• the GUI 400 is depicted in an "idle" state in which the system is awaiting a triggering event.
• the GUI 400 can include a primary frame 410.
• the primary frame 410 can include one or more sub-frames such as call sub-frame 420 and client sub-frame 430.
• the primary frame 410 can include a set of data fields for displaying user information and system status.
• the call sub-frame 420 can include a phone number field for displaying caller telephone information, a name field for displaying caller name information, and a company field for displaying a caller's company information.
• the client sub-frame 430 can include a set of data fields for displaying information associated with the client displayed in the call sub-frame 420.
• a financial field can display an account receivable status and a rank field can display a ranking identifier.
• the GUI 400 can also include typical GUI control components such as buttons for closing the GUI and for minimizing the GUI (not shown).
• a flyout button 440 labeled "More Info” can be used to trigger the display of additional frames and sub-frames for the display of information as discussed herein.
• the button labeled "Search” can be used to access search functionality based at least in part upon information from various fields in the GUI 400. In this manner, a search on email, phone number, and company name or client number can be undertaken. Other functionality can be added as appropriate in a specific implementation.
• FIG. 5 is an illustration of a component of a graphical user interface
• GUI 500 The GUI 500 is depicted in an "activated" state in which the system has received a triggering event based upon an incoming telephone call.
• the GUI 500 can include a primary frame 510.
• the primary frame 510 can include one or more sub- frames such as a call sub-frame 520 and a client sub-frame 530.
• the GUI 500 is similar to the GUI 400 of FIG. 4 with the addition of populated data being displayed in the various fields.
• GUI 600 Similarly to FIG. 5, the GUI 600 is depicted in an activated state in which the system has received a triggering event based upon an incoming telephone call. In this specific example, the GUI 600 is similar to the GUI 500 of FIG. 5 with the depiction of different values for populated data being displayed in the various fields.
• FIG. 7 is an illustration of a component of a graphical user interface
• GUI 700 The illustration depicts the GUI 700 in an activated state in which the system has received a triggering event based upon an incoming telephone call. Additionally, the GUI 700 has been expanded to display additional data through the use of the flyout button labeled "More Info.”
• the GUI 700 is similar to the GUI 600 of FIG. 6 with the depiction of additional values for populated data being displayed in various fields of a detail frame 710.
• the detail frame 710 can include a set of data fields for displaying information, in this example simply "More Information" in addition to one or more sub-frames 720, 730.
• a client sub-frame 720 and a relationship sub-frame 730 can include sets of data fields for displaying additional information.
• each of the client sub-frame 720 and a relationship sub- frame 730 can include typical GUI control components such as buttons for obtaining additional information labeled "More”.
• the client sub-frames 720 can include a set of data fields for displaying information associated with the displayed client.
• the client sub-frame 720 can include an information type indicator of "Client Account", a client number field for displaying the caller's client number #####, an Open Matters field for displaying the number of open matters that the particular client has, 10 in this specific example, and a financial field for displaying the aged accounts receivable dollar amount $125,394.34.
• the relationship sub-frame 730 can also include a set of data fields for displaying information.
• the relationship sub-frame 730 can include an information type indicator of "Client Relationships", a Shared field for displaying the number of relationships shared by the client, 3 in this example, a Last Contact field for displaying the date of last contact of 10/10/2008, and a linking field for displaying a status of a relationship property or linking to a superset of information, in this example "Linked Super" status of YES.
• GUI 800 The illustration depicts the GUI 800 in an activated state in which the system has received a triggering event based upon an outgoing telephone call.
• the GUI 800 is similar to the GUI 500 of FIG. 5 and the GUI 600 of FIG. 6 with the exception of apparent illustrated modifications based primarily upon the point of origin of the telephone call that initiated the triggering event.
• the system bus 918 can be any of several types of bus structure(s) including the memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus or external bus, and/or a local bus using any variety of available bus architectures including, but not limited to, Industrial Standard Architecture (ISA), Micro-Channel Architecture (MSA), Extended ISA (EISA), Intelligent Drive Electronics (IDE), VESA Local Bus (VLB), Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), Card Bus, Universal Serial Bus (USB), Advanced Graphics Port (AGP), Personal Computer Memory Card International Association bus (PCMCIA), Firewire (IEEE 1394), and Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI).
• ISA Industrial Standard Architecture
• MSA Micro-Channel Architecture
• EISA Extended ISA
• IDE Intelligent Drive Electronics
• VLB VESA Local Bus
• PCI Peripheral Component Interconnect
• Card Bus Universal Serial Bus
• USB Universal Serial Bus
• AGP Advanced Graphics Port
• PCMCIA Personal Computer Memory Card International Association bus
• Firewire IEEE 1394
• SCSI Small Computer Systems Interface
• nonvolatile memory 922 The basic input/output system (BIOS), containing the basic routines to transfer information between elements within the computer 912, such as during start-up, is stored in nonvolatile memory 922.
• nonvolatile memory 922 can include read only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), electrically programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable ROM (EEPROM), or flash memory.
• Volatile memory 920 includes random access memory (RAM), which acts as external cache memory.
• RAM is available in many forms such as synchronous RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), Synchlink DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct Rambus RAM (DRRAM).
• SRAM synchronous RAM
• DRAM dynamic RAM
• SDRAM synchronous DRAM
• DDR SDRAM double data rate SDRAM
• ESDRAM enhanced SDRAM
• SLDRAM Synchlink DRAM
• DRRAM direct Rambus RAM
• Computer 912 also includes removable/non-removable, volatile/nonvolatile computer storage media.
• FIG. 9 illustrates a disk storage 924.
• the disk storage 924 includes, but is not limited to, devices like a magnetic disk drive, floppy disk drive, tape drive, Jaz drive, Zip drive, LS-300 drive, flash memory card, or memory stick.
• disk storage 924 can include storage media separately or in combination with other storage media including, but not limited to, an optical disk drive such as a compact disk ROM device (CD-ROM), CD recordable drive (CD-R Drive), CD rewritable drive (CD-RW Drive) or a digital versatile disk ROM drive (DVD-ROM).
• CD-ROM compact disk ROM device
• CD-R Drive CD recordable drive
• CD-RW Drive CD rewritable drive
• DVD-ROM digital versatile disk ROM drive
• FIG. 9 describes software that can act as an intermediary between users and the basic computer resources described in the suitable operating environment 900.
• Such software includes an operating system 928.
• the operating system 928 which can be stored on the disk storage 924, acts to control and allocate resources of the computer system 912.
• System applications 930 take advantage of the management of resources by operating system 928 through program modules 932 and program data 934 stored either in system memory 916 or on disk storage 924. It is to be appreciated that the disclosed systems and methods can be implemented with various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.
• a user can enter commands or information into the computer 912 through input device(s) 936.
• the input devices 936 include, but are not limited to, a pointing device such as a mouse, trackball, stylus, touch pad, keyboard, microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, TV tuner card, digital camera, digital video camera, web camera, and the like.
• These and other input devices connect to the processing unit 914 through the system bus 918 via interface port(s) 938.
• Interface port(s) 938 include, for example, a serial port, a parallel port, a game port, and a universal serial bus (USB).
• Output device(s) 940 use some of the same type of ports as input device(s) 936.
• a USB port may be used to provide input to computer 912, and to output information from computer 912 to an output device 940.
• Output adapter 942 is provided to illustrate that there are some output devices 940 like monitors, speakers, and printers, among other output devices 940, which require special adapters.
• the output adapters 942 include, by way of illustration and not limitation, video and sound cards that provide a means of connection between the output device 940 and the system bus 918. It should be noted that other devices and/or systems of devices provide both input and output capabilities such as remote computer(s) 944.
• Computer 912 can operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as remote computer(s) 944.
• the remote computer(s) 944 can be a personal computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a workstation, a microprocessor based appliance, a peer device or other common network node and the like, and typically includes many or all of the elements described relative to computer 912. For purposes of brevity, only a memory storage device 946 is illustrated with remote computer(s) 944.
• Remote computer(s) 944 is logically connected to computer 912 through a network interface 948 and then physically connected via communication connection 950.
• Network interface 948 encompasses wire and/or wireless communication networks such as local-area networks (LAN) and wide-area networks (WAN).
• LAN technologies include Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI), Copper Distributed Data Interface (CDDI), Ethernet, Token Ring and the like.
• WAN technologies include, but are not limited to, point-to-point links, circuit switching networks like Integrated Services Digital Networks (ISDN) and variations thereon, packet switching networks, and Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL).
• ISDN Integrated Services Digital Networks
• DSL Digital Subscriber Lines
• Communication connection(s) 950 refers to the hardware/software employed to connect the network interface 948 to the bus 918. While communication connection 950 is shown for illustrative clarity inside computer 912, it can also be external to computer 912.
• the hardware/software necessary for connection to the network interface 948 includes, for exemplary purposes only, internal and external technologies such as, modems including regular telephone grade modems, cable modems and DSL modems, ISDN adapters, and
• FIG. 10 is a schematic block diagram of a sample-computing environment
• the system 1000 includes one or more client(s) 1010.
• the client(s) 1010 can be hardware and/or software (e.g., threads, processes, computing devices).
• the system 1000 also includes one or more server(s) 1020.
• the server(s) 1020 can be hardware and/or software (e.g., threads, processes, computing devices).
• the servers 1020 can house threads or processes to perform transformations by employing the disclosed systems or methods, for example.
• the system 1000 includes a communication framework 1040 that can be employed to facilitate communications between the client(s) 1010 and the server(s) 1020.
• the client(s) 1010 are operably connected to one or more client data store(s) 1050 that can be employed to store information local to the client(s) 1010.
• the server(s) 1020 are operably connected to one or more server data store(s) 1030 that can be employed to store information local to the servers 1040.

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• 2010
  • 2010-04-06 WO PCT/US2010/030146 patent/WO2010118070A1/en not_active Ceased
  • 2010-04-06 EP EP10762332A patent/EP2417564A4/de not_active Withdrawn

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