JP7478898B2 - Messaging Services - Google Patents

Description

Workplace and social interactions are increasingly conducted using Internet-based tools. Internet-based tools can be any software or platform. Traditional communication tools such as email can facilitate internal and external communication. However, traditional communication tools may not meet the needs of users due to various limitations. As communication devices become more sophisticated, new tools are constantly being discovered to improve communication efficiency and effectiveness.

The following detailed description can be better understood when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. For purposes of illustration, there are shown in the drawings exemplary embodiments of various aspects of the present disclosure; however, the invention is not limited to the specific methods and instrumentalities disclosed.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a cloud computing network in which a messaging service can be implemented.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a messaging system according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a messaging service and messaging techniques that can be implemented by a messaging application/service.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a messaging service and messaging techniques that can be implemented by a messaging application/service.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary data model that can be used in accordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example process that can be performed by a messaging service in accordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 illustrates another exemplary process that may be performed by a messaging service in accordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a messaging technique that can be implemented by the chat service and push service of a messaging service.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example user interface of a messaging application including a conversation.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example user interface of a messaging application including a conversation.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary technique for adding topics to a conversation.

1 illustrates an example user interface of a messaging application in which topic tags can be added to a conversation.

1 illustrates an example user interface of a messaging application in which conversations can be sorted by topic tags.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example technique for creating a group and inviting members.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example user interface of a messaging application in which a new group can be created.

FIG. 1 illustrates a group view in a user interface of a messaging application in which users in a group can be displayed.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary technique for adding a new member to an existing group.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example technique for assigning and managing tasks using a messaging service.

1 illustrates an example user interface of a messaging application in which a reminder date can be scheduled.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example technique for integrating email and messaging services.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example user interface of a messaging application that allows adding an email address to a conversation.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of an email message received at an email address and sent from a messaging service.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example user interface of a messaging application in which messages sent from an email address can be displayed in a corresponding conversation.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example process that may be performed by a messaging application in accordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary user interface of a messaging application consistent with the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 illustrates another exemplary process that may be performed by a messaging application in accordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary user interface of a messaging application for creating a new conversation in accordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates another exemplary user interface of a messaging application for creating a new conversation in accordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example process that may be performed by a messaging application in accordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example user interface of a messaging application that is generated based on attributes of a conversation and in which a user can provide input to reorganize the conversation.

FIG. 2 illustrates another example user interface of a messaging application with a two-dimensional representation superimposed on the other user interface.

FIG. 13 illustrates another example user interface of a messaging application in which conversations are filtered in response to selection of intersections in a two-dimensional display.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example computing device that can be used to execute any of the techniques disclosed herein.

FIG. 1 illustrates exemplary components of a cloud computing system 100. By way of example, and not limitation, cloud computing system 100 may be used to implement aspects of the disclosed subject matter. Cloud-based computing generally refers to a networked computer architecture in which application execution, service provisioning, and data storage may be divided to some extent between clients and cloud computing devices. A "cloud" may refer to a service or group of services accessible, for example, by clients, server devices, and other cloud computing systems over a network (e.g., the Internet).

In one example, multiple computing devices connected to the cloud can access and use a shared pool of computing power, services, applications, storage, and files. Thus, cloud computing enables a shared pool of configurable computing resources, such as networks, servers, storage, applications, and services, that can be provided and released by a cloud service provider with minimal administrative effort or interaction.

As one example, a cloud-based application may store copies of data and/or executable program code on a cloud computing system and permit download of at least a portion of this data and program code by a client device as necessary for execution on the client device. In some examples, the downloaded data and program code may be tailored according to the capabilities of the particular client device (e.g., a personal computer, a tablet computer, a mobile phone, and/or a smartphone) accessing the cloud-based application. Additionally, splitting application execution and storage between the client device and the cloud computing system may allow the cloud computing system to perform more processing, thereby taking advantage of the processing power and capabilities of the cloud computing system.

Cloud-based computing can also refer to a distributed computing architecture in which data and program code for a cloud-based application is shared in near real-time among one or more client devices and/or cloud computing devices. Portions of this data and program code can be dynamically distributed to various clients accessing the cloud-based application as needed or as otherwise required. The details of the cloud-based computing architecture may be largely transparent to users of the client devices. By way of example and not limitation, a PC user device accessing a cloud-based application may not be aware that the PC is downloading program logic and/or data from a cloud computing system or that the PC is offloading processing or storage functions to the cloud computing system.

In FIG. 1, the cloud computing system 100 includes one or more cloud services 104, one or more cloud platforms 106, cloud infrastructure components 108, and a cloud knowledge base 110. The cloud computing system 100 may include more or fewer components, and each of the cloud services 104, cloud platforms 106, cloud infrastructure components 108, and cloud knowledge base 110 may further include multiple computing and storage elements. Thus, one or more of the aforementioned functions of the cloud computing system 100 may be split into additional functional or physical components or combined into fewer functional or physical components. In some alternative examples, additional functional and/or physical components may be added to the example shown in FIG. 1. The delivery of cloud computing-based services may involve multiple cloud components that communicate with each other via application programming interfaces, such as web services or multi-tier architectures.

The exemplary cloud computing system 100 shown in FIG. 1 is a network computing architecture. The cloud services 104 may represent queues for processing requests from client devices. The cloud platform 106 may include a client interface front end for the cloud computing system 100, such as a client interface front end for a messaging service. The cloud platform 106 may be coupled to the cloud services 104 to perform functions for interacting with client devices. The cloud infrastructure 108 may include the services, payment, and other operational and infrastructure components of the cloud computing system 100. The cloud knowledge base 110 is configured to store data used by the cloud computing system 100, such that the cloud knowledge base 110 is accessible by any of the cloud services 104, the cloud platform 106, and/or the cloud infrastructure components 108.

Many different types of client devices, e.g., devices of users of messaging services, can be configured to communicate with components of cloud computing system 100 to access data and execute applications provided by cloud computing system 100. For example, computer 112, mobile device 114, and host 116 are shown as examples of types of client devices that can be configured to communicate with cloud computing system 100. Of course, more or fewer client devices may communicate with cloud computing system 100. Additionally, other types of client devices may be configured to communicate with cloud computing system 100.

1 can be any type of computing device, e.g., a PC, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, etc., and the mobile device 114 can be any type of mobile computing device, e.g., a laptop computer, a smartphone, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a tablet computer, etc., configured to transmit data to and/or receive data from the cloud computing system 100. Similarly, the host 116 can be any type of computing device having a transmitter/receiver, including a laptop computer, a mobile phone, a smartphone, a tablet computer, etc., configured to transmit data to and/or receive data from the cloud computing system 100.

1, the communication link between the client device and the cloud 100 may comprise a wired connection, such as a serial or parallel bus, Ethernet, optical connection, or other type of wired connection. The communication link may also be a wireless link, such as Bluetooth, IEEE 802.11 (IEEE 802.11 may refer to IEEE 802.11-2007, IEEE 802.11n-2009, or any other IEEE 802.11 revision), CDMA, 3G, GSM, WiMAX, or other radio-based data communication link.

In another example, the client device may be configured to communicate with the cloud computing system 100 via a wireless access point. The access point may take a variety of forms. For example, the access point may take the form of a wireless access point (WAP) or a wireless router. As another example, if the client device connects using a cellular air interface protocol such as CDMA, GSM, 3G, or 4G, the access point may be a base station in a cellular network that provides Internet connectivity via the cellular network.

Thus, the client device may include a wired or wireless network interface through which the client device may connect to the cloud computing system 100 directly or through an access point. As an example, the client device may be configured to use one or more protocols, such as 802.11, 802.16 (WiMAX), LTE, GSM, GPRS, CDMA, EV-DO, and/or HSPDA. Additionally, the client device may be configured to use multiple wired and/or wireless protocols, such as a "3G" or "4G" data connection using a cellular communication protocol (e.g., CDMA, GSM, or WiMAX), and a "WiFi" connection using 802.11. Other types of communication interfaces and protocols may also be used.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary messaging service 220 for performing the disclosed techniques. By way of example and not limitation, the messaging service 220 may operate on the cloud network 100 of FIG. 1. The messaging service 220 may include a combination of cloud network devices and local devices. The messaging service 220 may include a chat service 222. The chat service 222 may be a device and/or a program operating on the messaging service 220 device.

The chat service 222 may be configured to receive input from users 210. Users 210 may register as users of the messaging service 220 in order to exchange messages with each other within the messaging service 220. Users 210 may be users of a messaging application 240 running on a user device 242. User input may include a request to start a conversation. A conversation may be started by selecting a "Start Conversation" icon in a user interface (UI) of the messaging application 240 running on any user device 242. A conversation may be started by a creator user without any other participants of the conversation being identified. Participants of a conversation include any entity that is authorized to participate in a conversation in any manner. For example, participants of a conversation may be a creator user, a group invited to join the conversation, an assignor user who can assign a task to another participant (assignee user), an assignee user, an email participant invited to the conversation, etc.

The chat service 222 can generate and/or manage conversations. For example, the chat service 222 can categorize the conversations. The chat service 222 can store the conversations, any associations with the conversations, and/or conversation metadata in one or more databases 260, such as the conversation database 230, the topic database 236, the group database 232, the user database 234, the search index database 252, the task database 256, the email user database 237, the email message database 238, etc. The input can include messages, such as messages to add to an existing conversation or a new conversation. The chat service 222 can add messages to the conversations. The chat service 222 can store the messages and/or message associations in a database, such as the conversation database 230.

The messaging service 220 can determine that the message includes information that identifies a user, such as a username, a handle (i.e., a username beginning with @), an account, etc. The messaging service 220 can add the identified user to a conversation. The messaging service 220 can store an association between the user and the conversation, for example, in the conversation database 230, the group database 232, the user database 234, and/or the search index database 252. The user can be granted access permissions to the conversation, for example, to view a feed of messages previously communicated within the conversation.

The messaging service 220 can determine that the message includes information indicative of a topic. The topic can be associated with a corresponding conversation. The messaging service 220 can add the topic to one or more databases, such as the topic database 236. The messaging service 220 can store the association between the topic and the conversation in the conversation database 230 and/or the topic database 236, for example.

The messaging service 220 can determine that the message includes information identifying a group. The group can be a user group. The messaging service 220 can add the group to a conversation. The messaging service 220 can store the association between the group and the conversation in, for example, the conversation database 230, the group database 232, the user database 234, and/or the search index database 252.

The messaging service 220 can determine that the message includes information indicating a task assigned to the user. The messaging service 220 can also receive information indicating a due date for the task. The task and due date can be associated with a user and a conversation. The messaging service 220 can add the task and due date to a database 260, such as the task database 256. The messaging service 220 can store the association of the task, due date, user, and conversation in, for example, the conversation database 230, the user database 234, and the task database 256.

The messaging service 220 can determine that the message can include an email address. The email address can be associated with a conversation. The email address can be an intended recipient of messages in the conversation. The messaging service 220 can add the email address to the conversation. The messaging service 220 can store the association of the email address with the conversation in, for example, the conversation database 230, the email user database 237, and/or the email message database 238.

The messaging service 220 can include a push service 224. The push service 224 can be a device and/or a program running on a device of the messaging service 220. The push service 224 can receive data, such as user-entered instructions, from the chat service 222. The push service 224 can store data in and/or access data in a database 260. The push service 224 can push (e.g., send, display, etc.) data, such as user-entered instructions, to a user device, for example, via the messaging application 240. The push service 224 can push data to an email address external to the messaging service 220.

The messaging service 220 may include other services. The other services may include a group service 251. The group service 251 may manage user groups. The group service 251 may manage stored group associations. The group service 251 may identify members included in a group by searching a search index database 252. The other services may include a reminder/scheduler service 253. The reminder/scheduler service 253 may determine associations between due dates and tasks. The reminder/scheduler service 253 may send reminders associated with due dates and/or tasks. The reminder/scheduler service 253 may manage stored due dates and/or tasks.

The other services may include an email service 254. The email service 254 may generate email messages and send email messages to email addresses external to the messaging service 220. The email service 254 may receive data from email addresses external to the messaging service 220. The email service 254 may determine a conversation associated with the data received from the email address and generate a corresponding message to be sent to users in the conversation. The other services may further include an authentication service 226. The authentication service 226 may grant and verify access to various conversations. The authentication service 226 may grant hierarchical permissions to participants in a conversation. For example, only participants with a certain level of authority may be allowed to add other participants, assign tasks, etc.

It should be understood that the messaging service 220 of FIG. 2 is merely exemplary and that other implementations may be used. It should also be understood that the functionality disclosed herein may be implemented by one or more servers or computing devices. Furthermore, it should be understood that the functionality disclosed herein may be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination of software and hardware.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a messaging service 220. The messaging service 220 can communicate with a network 301. The network 301 can include the Internet. The network 301 can include one or more cloud network components. The network 301 can communicate with one or more databases 260 via the network. The databases 260 can be the same as or similar to the databases 230-238 of FIG. 2. By way of example, the databases 260 can include a topic database, a conversation database, a user database, and/or a tag database. The messaging service 220 can store attributes and/or associations in the database 260. The messaging service 220 can access (e.g., query) the database 260 for attributes, associations, or other data.

The messaging service 220 can communicate with one or more user devices 242 via a network 301. The messaging service 220 can communicate with the devices 302 via a messaging application 240 running on the user device 242. The messaging application 240 can be configured to manage data and permissions, such as conversations, conversation topic tags, users, groups, privacy, etc.

The messaging service 220 can communicate with connected users 210 via the network 301. The connected users 210 can be users who are participants in conversations of the messaging service 220 and/or the messaging application 240. For example, the connected users 210 can receive messages associated with a conversation via an external email address. The connected users 210 can send messages from the external email address to the messaging service 220, the messaging application 240, the conversation, and/or other users.

FIG. 4 illustrates a messaging technique 400. The technique 400 can be performed by a messaging service (e.g., messaging service 220 of FIGS. 2 and 3), a messaging application (e.g., messaging application 240 of FIGS. 2 and 3), one or more users 210, and/or one or more user devices 242. At 401, a conversation can be started. A conversation can be started by a creator user (i.e., a user who triggers the creation of a conversation) by entering an input via a messaging application requesting to start a conversation. For example, a user can select a "Start a conversation" icon in a messaging application UI displayed on a user device. A chat service (e.g., chat service 222 of FIG. 2) can receive the input and create a conversation. A conversation can be started without any other participants in the conversation being identified.

At 402, a message can be entered. The message can be entered by a user via a messaging application. The message can be entered into a conversation, for example, via an input field displayed in the UI of the messaging application. The message can be entered before any other participants to the conversation are identified. The message can include text. The chat service can receive the message. The message can be added to the conversation. The message can be sent to one or more users associated with the conversation. The message can be sent to one or more external users, for example, external email addresses that have been added to the conversation. The association of the message with the conversation can be stored in a database (e.g., database 260 of FIGS. 2-3).

At 403, the message may be parsed to determine content and/or attributes. The message may be parsed by a messaging application (e.g., messaging application 240 of FIGS. 2-3) and/or a messaging service (e.g., messaging service 220 of FIGS. 2-3). For example, the messaging application may determine attributes of the message, e.g., attributes identified by special characters in the message, and send an indication of the attributes to the messaging service.

At 404, the content of the message may be stored in a content database (e.g., database 260 of FIGS. 2-3). An association between the content and one or more users (e.g., users tagged in the message) may be stored in a database such as user database 234, group database 232, search index database 252, etc. The content and/or associations may be stored in a database by a messaging service (e.g., messaging service 220 of FIGS. 2-3).

At 405, message attributes may be stored in attribute databases, such as topic database 236, user database 234, group database 232, search index database 252, email user database 237, and task database 256. Attribute and message content associations may also be stored in the attribute databases and any other databases. For example, as shown in Figures 2-3, attributes and/or associations may be stored in database 260 by messaging service 220.

At 406, attributes of the message can be processed. For example, the content of the message can be tagged with topics associated with the conversation. As another example, a search can be performed for all users associated with the content. The attributes of the message can be processed by the messaging service.

In contrast to most messaging systems based on direct exchanges between users, in some embodiments, messaging systems (e.g., messaging services and messaging applications) according to the present disclosure are more message-centric, where messages are the content and users are the attributes of that content. For example, the techniques of the present disclosure do not require identifying recipients or subscribers of a conversation. Instead, the present messaging system allows a conversation, e.g., a series of messages, to be created by a creator user (e.g., a user who triggers the creation of a conversation) without any other participants being identified. Participants in a conversation are creator users, not just recipients. Creator users can post messages, label conversation topics, add other participants to a conversation, assign tasks to other participants, etc.

After a conversation is created, other participants can be added to the conversation. Unlike most messaging systems where the participants of a conversation are defined at the beginning of the conversation, the messaging system allows participants to join a conversation at any time. A participant can join an existing conversation by including a username, group name, or email address of a user of the messaging service in the conversation. The participant can then be added to the conversation and receive past and future messages conveyed within the conversation, e.g., in a feed or notifications. The added participant can participate in the conversation, e.g., by posting a message in the conversation, labeling the conversation topic, assigning a task, and/or adding other participants to the conversation.

5 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a data model according to the present disclosure. It should be understood that the exemplary data model of FIG. 5 is merely exemplary and other configurations may be used. As shown, the data model is conversation-centric. In other words, conversations are the primary data in the database. Other data, such as user data, topic data, task data, etc., are attributes of conversations. As shown, a conversation database 230 of the messaging service includes multiple conversations. The conversation database 230 includes multiple tables. For example, a thread table 502, a message table 504, and a content table 506 are all stored in the conversation database 230.

The thread table 502 includes fields such as Thread_ID, User_ID, and Created_Time. The Thread_ID is a primary key that references other data and attributes. For example, the Thread_ID is used to look up messages associated with a particular Thread_ID. The Thread_ID is also used to look up attributes in an attribute database that is associated with the thread identified by the Thread_ID, as described more fully below. Before describing the attribute database, the records stored in the conversation database 230 are described in more detail.

For the conversation database 230, each time a new thread (e.g., a new conversation) is created by a user, the message service generates and assigns a new Thread_ID and creates a new record in the thread table with the User_ID of the user who created the thread and the time the thread was created (Created_Time). Additionally, information associated with each message in a particular thread (e.g., a particular conversation) is stored in the message table 504 with the Thread_ID, the User_ID (for the user who created the message), a Message_ID identifying each message, the time the message was created (Created_Time), and an entry identifying other users or groups that may have been mentioned and added in the conversation (Is_Mentioned). Users or groups mentioned in the conversation (e.g., beginning with the @ symbol) are referred to below as "mentions." The content of each message is stored separately in the content table 506 and can be referenced by the corresponding message ID. This is because the storage size of a message can vary greatly depending on whether the message is a short string of text or contains some form of media such as JPEG or video.

As mentioned above, each thread (conversation) can have attributes associated with it. These attributes are referenced by the conversation's Thread_ID. For example, the Thread_ID is a key contained in each attribute database and can be used to look up all attributes associated with a particular conversation. As shown in FIG. 5, user is an attribute of a conversation. The user associated with a particular conversation can be determined by searching the user database 234 for all users associated with a particular Thread_ID that corresponds to the particular conversation. The search returns all matching User_IDs.

Similarly, a search of the email message database 238 returns all User_IDs of users associated with the thread via email. That is, each time an email address is added to a conversation, a new record is created in the email message database 238. Each record stores the User_ID of the user who added the email address in the conversation. Additionally, a Return_Email address corresponding to the conversation is assigned by a messaging service (e.g., messaging service 220) and stored in the email message database 238. Each email participant (a participant added by email address) is assigned a Mail_Box_User_ID that can be used to look up the associated Email_Address. The email address is stored along with the Message_ID of the message that contains this email address. Additionally, the message content, etc. of each email message is also stored in the email message database 238 (e.g., email attribute tables 522, 520).

The attribute database further includes, for example, a group database (e.g., group database 232). The group database 232 stores information about the group associated with the conversation (e.g., group attributes). The data stored in the group database 232 includes one or more of Thread_ID, Group_ID, and Created_Time (time when the group was created). The Group_ID is also used to indicate a record that includes Group_Name, Owner_User_ID (the group owner, e.g., the User_ID of the creator of the group), group type (e.g., private or public group), join time (time when a member joined the group), and a status associated with the group.

In one embodiment, the attribute database includes a task database (e.g., task database 256) that stores information (e.g., task attributes) indicative of task assignments associated with a conversation. The task attributes stored in task database 256 are also referenced by the Thread_ID of each conversation. Some of the data and information stored in task database 256 includes the deadline (effectively the due date), the assigner and assignee user IDs (Assignor_User_ID and Assignee_User_ID), and the state (e.g., status). The time created, validated, and last updated can also be associated with the record stored for the task.

According to one embodiment, the attribute database further includes a topic database (e.g., topic database 236) that stores information (e.g., topic attributes) indicative of topics associated with a conversation. The topic database is referenced by the Thread_ID of each conversation and is associated with a conversation, and typically includes the user ID, Topic_ID, and time of creation associated with each topic. The Topic_ID is used to reference the topic name (Topic_Name). Each time a new topic is added to a conversation, for example by an entry in a message beginning with a hashtag in the conversation, the messaging service (e.g., messaging service 220) stores an entry in the topic database 236 referenced by the Thread_ID of the conversation.

As mentioned above, all of these various attributes are associated with a Thread_ID that is generated when a new thread (e.g., a new conversation) is created in a messaging service (e.g., messaging service 220). Thus, messaging service 220 can search and retrieve various attributes associated with a conversation. Conversation and thread are used somewhat interchangeably herein. In one example, message thread database 230 and the multiple attribute databases (e.g., topic database 236, task database 256, group database 232, email message database 238, and user database 234) can be stored on the same server or device. In another example, message thread database 230 and the multiple attribute databases may each be stored on different servers or devices. Message thread database 230 and the multiple attribute databases can be hosted on one or more physical servers or one or more virtual servers.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example process 600 performed by a messaging service (e.g., messaging service 220) in conjunction with the data model illustrated in FIG. 5. Although illustrated as a series of operations in FIG. 6, one skilled in the art will appreciate that in various embodiments, the operations described may be added, removed, reordered, or modified.

At 602, the messaging service 220 receives a request from a messaging application, e.g., messaging application 240 running on the user device 242, indicating at least one of the conversations. For example, the user may be requesting information from the messaging application 240 indicating attributes associated with one or more conversations in which the user is participating. For example, the messaging application 240 running on the user device 242 may request information indicating attributes (e.g., topics, users, groups, tasks) associated with conversations for the user. In response to the request, at 604, the messaging service 220 looks up all Thread_IDs associated with the user's User_ID in the user database 234 and further queries other attribute databases to determine various attributes associated with the identified conversations based on these Thread_IDs. In one example, the messaging service 220 may look up all topics in a topic database associated with the Thread_ID. At 606, the messaging service 220 processes the query results to determine that at least one attribute (e.g., a topic attribute) is associated with at least some of the conversations.

At 608, the messaging service 220 sends attribute information associated with the conversation to the messaging application 240 for displaying an attribute indicator on the user device 242. For example, as shown in FIG. 12, multiple topics associated with the conversation are displayed in the leftmost column 1205 of the user interface (UI) 1200. In some embodiments, multiple attributes may be present and may be assigned different priorities by the messaging service 220 or messaging application 240. The messaging service 220 or messaging application 240 may organize the multiple attributes based on their priorities. In one example, the mention (i.e., user or group added to the conversation) attribute may have a higher priority than the topic attribute. For example, the mention attributes (e.g., UserE 2501 and Group1 2504) of FIG. 25 may be assigned a higher priority than the topic attribute. The attribute indicator of FIG. 25 may be displayed based on the mention attribute and may display one or more topics (if any) below the mention attribute. In one example, a conversation with a particular mention attribute may have multiple topics associated with it. As shown in FIG. 25, a conversation with mention attribute UserE 2501 has multiple topics associated with it (including topic "patent" 2502), and because mention attributes have a higher priority than topic attributes in this example, the multiple topics are displayed under the mention attribute UserE 2501.

In some embodiments, in response to receiving a request from messaging application 240, messaging service 220 can query databases 260 (e.g., user database 234, task database 256, etc.) to determine the tasks associated with any particular user. For example, messaging service 220 receives a request from messaging application 240 that includes an identification of a particular user (e.g., a user ID). In response, messaging service 220 can search user database 234 based on the user ID to identify a Thread_ID that corresponds to a conversation in which the user is involved. Messaging service 220 can then query task database 256 based on the Thread_ID to look up tasks associated with the conversation. Messaging service 220 can identify an Assignor_User_ID and an Assignee_User_ID for each task based on a search of task database 256. The messaging service 220 can then determine whether any of the tasks are associated with a particular user based on determining whether the identified Assignor_User_ID or Assignee_User_ID is the same as the user ID of the particular user. Upon determining that any of the tasks are associated with a particular user, the messaging service 220 sends information indicative of the determined tasks to the messaging application 240 to display the tasks associated with the particular user. In one example, the messaging application 240 can sort or order the tasks based on a due date associated with the task. In another example, the messaging application 240 can sort or order the tasks based on information associated with the assignor or assignee of the task. The messaging application 240 can display the sorted or ordered tasks in a predefined area of the UI or in a window overlaid on the UI.

In one embodiment, additional interactions may occur between the messaging application 240 and the messaging service 220. For example, at 610, the messaging service 220 receives input from the messaging application 240 indicating that the messaging application 240 has selected an attribute (e.g., a topic from the displayed list of topics shown in the leftmost column of FIG. 12). In response, at 612, the messaging service 220 queries the message thread database 230 for messages associated with the selected attribute (e.g., topic). The messaging service 220 then transmits the messages to the messaging application 240 for display on the user device 242. For example, as shown in FIG. 12, messages associated with the selected topic are displayed on the rightmost column 1204 of the UI 1200.

FIG. 7 illustrates another exemplary process 700 illustrating the interaction between a messaging application (e.g., messaging application 240) and a data model maintained in messaging service 220. Although described as a series of operations in FIG. 6, one skilled in the art would understand that in various embodiments, the described operations can be added, removed, reordered, or modified. In another embodiment, messaging service 220 receives a request at 702 from a messaging application (e.g., messaging application 240 running on user device 242) associated with a user that represents at least one of the conversations. In response, messaging service 220 queries message thread database 230 at 704. For example, messaging service 220 looks up corresponding conversations in which the user has already participated. Then, at 706, messaging service 220 processes the query results to determine a subset of messages in each conversation. In one embodiment, the subset of messages for each conversation may be the first and last messages in the conversation. Messaging service 220 can create a summary of each conversation based on the subset of messages. At 708, the messaging service 220 sends the subset of messages to the messaging application 240 for displaying a summary of each conversation. For example, as shown in FIG. 12, the conversation summaries are displayed in the middle area 1216 of the UI 1200.

In some embodiments, at 710, the messaging service 220 may receive a request indicating that the messaging application 240 has selected one of the summaries. In this case, and in response, at 712, the messaging service 220 may again query the conversation database 230 to retrieve all or a number of messages in the corresponding conversation. In embodiments, the messaging service 220 may retrieve all messages in the corresponding conversation. In other embodiments, the messaging service may retrieve a subset of the messages in the corresponding conversation. For example, if the number of messages and the content of the messages would require a user device (e.g., user device 242) to store the messages, it may be advantageous for the messaging service 220 to retrieve only a subset of the messages sent to the user device 242. In a non-limiting example, the messaging service 220 may retrieve only the most recent message in the corresponding conversation. At 714, the messaging service 220 sends at least the subset of the retrieved messages in the conversation to the messaging application 240 so that the messaging application 240 can display the messages on the user device 242.

8 illustrates a messaging technique. The technique may be performed by a messaging service (e.g., messaging service 220 of FIGS. 2 and 3), a messaging application (e.g., messaging application 240 of FIGS. 2 and 3), one or more users 210, and/or one or more user devices 242. At 801, a conversation may be started. A conversation may be started by a creator user by entering input via a messaging application requesting to start a conversation. For example, a user may select a "Start a conversation" icon in a messaging application UI displayed on a user device. A chat service of the messaging service (e.g., chat service 222 of FIG. 2) may receive the input and create a conversation. A conversation may be started by a creator user without any other participants in the conversation being identified.

At 802, when a message is received via a messaging service 220, such as chat service 222, a lookup can be performed for all participants in the conversation (e.g., the creator user and any other participants). The content of the message can be determined. The content can be analyzed by a messaging service 220, such as chat service 222. Analyzing the content can include determining one or more attributes of the message and/or the conversation. For example, the content can include text that consists of predefined special characters that represent attributes such as a topic, a user, and/or a user group. This lookup can be performed by the messaging service 220, e.g., chat service 222. This lookup can be performed by querying one or more databases 260. The databases 260 can include a conversation database 230, a group database 232, a user database 234, a topic database 236, a task database 256, an email user database 237, and/or an email message database 238. An association of participants with the conversation can be stored in the database 260, for example, by the chat service 222.

At 803, a topic associated with the conversation may be determined. The topic may be determined by the messaging service 220, e.g., chat service 222. The messaging service 220 may determine that the message includes information indicative of a topic based on analyzing the message and identifying a predefined character included in the message. By way of example and not limitation, the predefined character may be a hash symbol #. The messaging service 220 may determine whether any messages associated with the conversation already received include a new topic by searching existing topics stored in database 260 (e.g., topic database 236). If a new topic is determined, the messaging service 220 may store the new topic in database 260 (e.g., topic database 236). An association between the conversation and the topic may also be determined and stored in database 260, such as conversation database 230 and topic database 236.

At 804, the message and an indication of the new topic can be output (e.g., pushed, sent). The indication of the new topic (e.g., new topic tag) can be sent by a push service (e.g., push service 224) to a messaging application (e.g., messaging application 240) associated with the conversation participants for display. When user input indicating a selection of a topic is received, a message associated with the topic can be output by push service 224 of messaging service 220. The message and topic tag can be output to a user of the messaging application, for example, via a conversation in a UI of messaging application 240 running on user device 242. The message and topic tag can be sent to the user device (e.g., user device 242). The message and topic tag can be sent to an external email address that has been added to the conversation.

At 805, a new participant A can be invited to join the conversation. The new participant A can be invited by an existing participant, for example, by entering a username, group name, or email address associated with the new participant A in an input field of the conversation. The messaging service 220 (e.g., chat service 222) can add the new participant A to the conversation. The messaging service (e.g., chat service 222) can store the association of the new participant A with the conversation in a database 260, for example in the conversation database 230 and the user database 234.

At 806, a lookup of existing participants in the conversation may be performed. This lookup may be performed by a messaging service 220, such as a chat service 222. The chat service 222 may send an indication of the determined participants in the conversation to a push service 224.

At 807, existing participants in the conversation may be notified that new participant A has been added to the conversation. The existing participants may be notified by push service 224. Notifying the existing participants may include sending notifications to their user devices (e.g., user device 242). The existing participants may be notified via the conversation and/or UI of a messaging application running on their devices.

At 808, content of messages associated with the conversation may be determined. The content may be analyzed by a messaging service 220, such as chat service 222. Analyzing the content may include determining one or more attributes of the content of the message. For example, it may be determined that the message includes text that is comprised of special characters that represent an attribute such as new participant A. By way of example and not limitation, the predefined special character that represents a new user (i.e., a new participant) may be the @ symbol. The conversation lookup may be performed by querying a database 260, such as the conversation database 230 or the topic database 236. The conversation lookup may be performed to determine users, messages, topics, and other attributes associated with the conversation. The chat service 222 may send an indication of the results of the analysis and/or conversation lookup to the push service 224.

At 809, the results of the conversation lookup, e.g., a message and a topic tag, can be output (e.g., pushed) to the new participant A. The message and topic tag can be output by the push service 224. Outputting the message and topic tag can include, for example, sending the message and topic tag to the new participant via a conversation in a UI of a messaging application (e.g., messaging application 240) running on a user device (e.g., user device 242). The message and topic tag can be sent to a user device (e.g., user device 242) associated with the new participant A. The message in the conversation can be sent to an external email address associated with the new participant A. The messaging service according to the present disclosure can classify the conversation based on the attributes of the topic associated with the conversation and provide the content of the conversation to the participant in response to the selection of a topic tag indicating a topic of the conversation that is of interest to the participant. This allows the messaging service to more efficiently provide content of interest to the user.

FIG. 9 illustrates, in conjunction with FIG. 8, how to start a new conversation and add a user to the new conversation. As described with respect to FIG. 4, a user starts a new conversation. The user may start a new conversation by selecting a "Start a conversation" button 917. This is shown in FIG. 9 from the perspective of a user interface 900 operating on a user device (e.g., user device 242). Here, a user (e.g., user A) starts a conversation 901 and posts a message "#tag-patent" 903. Because there are no other users associated with the message 903, the message appears only within the conversation 901 of a single user, user A, who is also the creator of the conversation (i.e., the creator user). This allows the creator user to continue to add messages to the conversation 901. As described more fully below, the message "#tag-patent" includes a topic ("patent") that was posted as at least part of the initial message. A message including a topic may be posted at any time during a conversation. In one embodiment, the message is processed by the messaging service and stored in a database as an attribute associated with conversation 901. Similarly, as described, other participants in conversation 901 (e.g., users of the messaging service who have permission to access conversation 901) can be added to conversation 901 as attributes of conversation 901.

8, the creator user of a conversation can invite new users (i.e., new participants) to join the conversation. In some embodiments, the messaging service uses the chat service 222 and push service 224 described above in communication with the multiple databases 260 described. Continuing with the example, at 810, a user can initiate a conversation that includes one or more messages. A message can include multiple characters, symbols, be a text string, or other type of content. When a new message is added to a conversation, the chat service 222 determines which users are attributes of the conversation, i.e., users associated with the conversation. These attributes are stored in one or more databases. Such databases include, but are not limited to, a conversation database (e.g., conversation database 230), a group database (e.g., group database 232), a topic database (e.g., topic database 236), and an email user database (e.g., email user database 237). Participants of the conversation can be identified and notified of the conversation.

When a message is received during a conversation, the messaging service (e.g., messaging service 220) may determine whether a new topic is included in the message forming the conversation, and may search for existing topics in one or more databases, such as topic database 236. Thus, attributes of the conversation, e.g., topic, user, group, etc., ensure that the conversation is properly categorized, e.g., based on topic, and new conversations are pushed out to participants. Push service 224 assists in outputting the message, existing topic tags, and new topic tags to the intended participants. In some embodiments, this may occur by pushing the message to a user interface or user display on a device associated with the intended participant of the conversation.

In another example, a user may be invited to join a conversation. For example, at 805, a new participant A may be invited to join an existing conversation, which allows the messaging service (e.g., messaging service 220) to share information related to the conversation with the new participant A. The chat service 222 processes this operation, at 506, as in the previous example, by looking up all existing participants associated with the conversation and communicating with one or more databases 260 (e.g., databases 230-236) as necessary to obtain the relevant information. Once the participants are identified, the push service 224 notifies the identified existing participants associated with the conversation, at 807, to indicate to the existing participants that a new participant has been added to the conversation.

After a new participant A is invited to join the conversation, messages, content, and/or metadata related to the conversation are retrieved, for example, from the conversation database 230 and the topic database 236 so that the push service can send relevant aspects of the conversation to the new participant. FIG. 9 illustrates an example user interface (UI) 900 of an aspect of a technique for inviting a new user to join a conversation. In FIG. 9, the UI 900 is shown as presented on a user device (e.g., user device 242) through, for example, a messaging application (messaging application 240). In this example, and as shown in UI 900, user A has initiated a conversation 901 that includes one or more messages 902. In this example, a message "Hello" has been added to the conversation 901. Additionally, another message including the topic "patent" 903 has been added to the conversation 901. The conversation 901 can be stored in a database 260, for example, the conversation database 230. To add a new user, information identifying the user is entered into a message field 904 of the UI 900 using an @ symbol 905 or other predefined special character followed by a text string 906 that identifies the user, for example, by username. Here, the username of User C has been entered into the text field beginning with the @ symbol.

In one embodiment, after the user selects the "Send" button 907, the message is sent to a messaging service (e.g., messaging service 220). The messaging service then parses the message to determine that it contains a predefined @ symbol 905, as shown in FIG. 4, and interprets the subsequent text of the message 906 as user identification information. The messaging service then interprets the message as a request from User A to authorize the system to add the identified User C (i.e., a new participant) to the conversation. Other embodiments are contemplated, for example, a messaging application on the user device can parse the message and send an indicator to the messaging service indicating that the user wishes to allow the identified User C (i.e., a new participant) to join the conversation. In other words, the processing of the message can be performed partially on the user device and partially by the messaging service.

In a particular event, once permitted, the cloud service can add information identifying the new participant (e.g., the new participant's username) as an attribute of the conversation. To this end, the user is associated with the conversation 901, and the association is stored in database 260. It should be understood that multiple symbols, text, characters, etc. can be defined as indicators associated with identifying a particular user. In this particular example, the @ sign is the predetermined symbol for adding a new user, and the user enters the new username as "@UserC", which is recognized by the messaging service as a new participant in the conversation 901.

10 shows an aspect of the properties from the perspective of the UI 1000 after a new participant 1002 (e.g., User C) is added to the conversation 1001. In this example, as shown in the figure, the username of the new participant 1002 becomes another message in the conversation 1001. In other words, the addition of a new participant to the conversation 1001 is stored in the text of the conversation 1001 itself. Thus, by analyzing the messages in the conversation 1001, the order and time in which the new participant and other attributes are added to the conversation 1001 can be discerned. For example, after the new participant C is added, the user (e.g., User A) also puts another message to the conversation 1001 at 9:31 pm, including the topic "#tag-patent1". Thus, the user (e.g., User A) can add the new user to the conversation and specify one or more topics to be associated with the conversation 1001 by putting a message, e.g., "#tag-patent", "#tag-patent1". As shown in FIG. 2, these particular messages in Conversation 1001 also become attributes of the Conversation that are stored in various attribute databases, such as topic database 236, user database 234, etc. In an embodiment, attributes may be defined using different symbols, letters, or characters, for example, @ may be used to indicate that a username or other user identification is to be included, and a hashtag # may be used to indicate that a topic is to be associated with Conversation 1001. It is contemplated that other symbols may be used to add additional attributes to a Conversation.

9-10 also show that conversations can be sorted by topic, for example, as indicated by the left-most column 909, 1009. The illustrated example shows what is labeled as a "Feed" view 908, 1008 in which conversations are sorted by attributes, such as topic attributes. Selecting a feed displays a list of one or more conversations in an abridged version associated with the selected topic of the conversation. In one embodiment, selecting an abridged version of a conversation displays one or more messages associated with the selected conversation. Here, for example, an abridged version (or summary) of the conversation is displayed, with the creator of the conversation listed at the top, followed by the first message in the conversation, "UserB Hello" 910, 1010, followed by the last message in the conversation, i.e., the message to add a second topic, "#tag-patent1" 911, 1011. The condensed version (or summary) of the conversation gives the user a preview of the conversation, allowing the user to decide whether the conversation is of interest to him or her and whether he or she wants to get an overview of the entire content of the conversation by selecting the conversation summary. Topics (shown as topic tags on the UI) act as short descriptors of the content of the conversation.

In other embodiments, as described below, conversations may be sorted by one or more other categories and classifications, the "Groups" view 912, 1012, in which conversations and messages are organized based on the groups to which each of those conversations and messages is directed. These are further described in other embodiments below.

FIG. 11 illustrates an embodiment for adding a topic tag to a conversation and adding a new message to a conversation. As previously described, topic tags corresponding to topics are attributes of a conversation that are used, for example, in a feed view to facilitate sorting, managing, and selecting conversations. One or more topics can be associated with a conversation via such topic tags. By way of example and not limitation, a topic tag can be a text string with a leading character that indicates that the following text contains a topic. In this embodiment, a hash symbol or "#" is a predefined character recognized by the messaging service to represent a topic. A user (i.e., a participant) can initiate a conversation. In this example, the user also adds a topic to the conversation at 1110. The chat service 222 can then receive an indication of the new conversation and parse the message to detect the presence of the topic. As discussed above, parsing the message can be done by a messaging service (e.g., messaging service 220), by a messaging application (e.g., messaging application 240) on a user device (e.g., user device 242), or by some combination of the two. After a conversation is initiated by posting a message, e.g., a message including a topic, a lookup 830 is performed to determine whether any other users, i.e., participants, are relevant attributes of the conversation. The lookup may be performed by one or more searches of databases 260, such as the conversation database 230, the group database 232, the user database 234, and the topic database 236.

Once relevant users (i.e., participants in the conversation) are identified, the conversation is added at 840 to the topic tag taxonomy of all participants stored and tracked in various databases. In other words, an association between the new conversation and the specified topic tag can be stored, and the association can be stored to associate all users associated with the topic tag and also associated with the conversation. Thus, the conversation is summarized for all participants 1150 in relation to the topic tag. For example, when a user is added to a conversation, the user can receive a summarized version of the topic consisting of the first and last messages. The push service 224 can further process such messages and send them to the respective users at 1152, for example, on a user display, allowing the respective views of existing and new tags to be updated, for example, in a feed view of the conversation sorted by such tags.

In another embodiment shown in FIG. 11, topic tag characteristics are incorporated into an existing conversation. For example, at 1115, a new message including a topic indication can be added to an existing conversation. Similar to the process described above, receipt of a message including information indicating a topic triggers a lookup of all participants in the conversation at 1135. Associations between topics and conversations and between participants and topics can be stored in databases 260, such as conversation database 230, topic database 236, user database 234, group database 232, and email user database 237. At 1145, a lookup of other existing topic tags can be performed to determine whether the topic is a new topic, for example, if there are multiple topic tags present in the conversation and associated with the conversation. At 1156, messaging service 220, e.g., push service 224, then pushes the message and the new topic tag corresponding to the new topic to each participant.

An example of these techniques is described with the example user interface of FIGS. 12-13. FIG. 12 shows a feed view 1208 of an example messaging application that provides a list of topic tags 1215. In this example, a conversation 1201 includes a message "#tag-patent" that includes a topic that begins with a predefined character "#". As previously described, the predefined character representing a topic may be any other special character, such as a % symbol. If the messaging service determines that the message includes a new topic based on determining that the message includes the predefined character # and searching the database 260, the conversation is added to a conversation list associated with the new topic. Thus, when a corresponding topic tag is selected from the feed view 1208 via the UI of the messaging application (e.g., messaging application 240), the current conversation 1201 and all other conversations associated with the new topic can be easily viewed and organized by all participants of the conversation.

13 further illustrates this concept and the ability to sort conversations based on topic. Here, the user has selected the topic tag "#tag-patent" 1316 in the leftmost column 1315 of the UI 1300. This causes the messaging service to push an abridged version of each conversation related to the user and the selected topic. When the topic tag "#tag-patent" 1316 is selected, the messaging service also pushes the contents of the corresponding conversation to the rightmost area 1325 of the UI 1300 for displaying messages in that conversation. These conversations are then displayed in the feed view 1308 without displaying other conversations that are not related. The order of topic tags displayed in the feed view 1308 can be arranged according to user preferences such as the priority or importance of each topic. The conversations associated with each topic tag can also be sorted based on one or more variables, such as time, last message received, priority, user preference, etc. Similarly, each conversation contains multiple messages, and users associated with a particular conversation can view messages, send messages, and add attributes such as additional users, topics, groups, etc., as described herein.

In various embodiments, a user may generate a conversation consisting of one or more messages, which may include attributes. The messages may be analyzed to determine that the messages include strings indicative of attributes, such as a user, a topic, a group, etc., based on the analyzed message or messages. The attributes may be stored in at least one database as an association between information indicative of a topic and the conversation. In response to receiving input from a messaging application (e.g., messaging application 240) indicating a selection of a topic, a messaging service (e.g., messaging service 220) transmits at least a subset of the conversations associated with the topic to messaging application 240 for display.

In additional embodiments, the messaging service may further determine that the topic is new by searching at least one database containing information related to the topic, and store information indicative of the topic in the at least one database based on a determination that the topic is new. In another example, a second message in the conversation may be analyzed. It may be determined that the second message contains information identifying the second user, and as a result, the second user may be permitted to add the message to the conversation. The information indicative of the topic may be transmitted, for example, to one or more messaging applications operated by one or more other users, and the database may store multiple conversations in addition to multiple attributes, such as a topic, associated with each conversation.

One or more features and functions may be achieved through the use of a messaging service that may include at least one database and at least one computing device configured to communicate with the at least one database and perform operations. Furthermore, various aspects of processing may be split between a messaging application and a messaging service. In some embodiments, it may be preferable to have a messaging app perform the operations, while in other embodiments, the same operations may be performed by a service.

In the feed view 1308, a conversation can be started, for example, by selecting an icon, such as the "Start a Conversation" icon 1317. Unlike other messaging applications, conversations may be organized by topics, not just by users. Topics can be defined by the user at the beginning of the conversation. For example, the creator user who starts a conversation 1301 can assign a topic to the conversation 1301. Topics can also be defined by other participants at other stages of the conversation. Topics can be represented by special characters, such as the "#" symbol, or tags. The creator user may then add additional participants to the conversation or continue the conversation alone.

The "Feed" view 1308 may display one or more panels 1315, 1318, 1320. The panels may include an open (e.g., expanded) conversation panel 1318. Participants may communicate in the open conversation panel 1318, for example, by posting messages in the input field 1304. Posted messages may be displayed as a log or feed 1319 of the conversation 1301, for example, in the order in which they were sent, posted, or received. A timestamp may be displayed adjacent to the message in the conversation 1301 to indicate the time the message was sent, posted, or received. The username of the participant who posted the message may be displayed next to the message in the conversation.

The panels can include a collapsed conversation panel 1320. The collapsed conversation panel 1320 can be adjacent to the open conversation panel 1318. The collapsed conversation panel 1320 can show a preview 1321a, 1321b of the conversation, such as the first message in the conversation, the title of the conversation, the last message in the conversation, and/or the number of unread messages in the conversation.

FIGS. 14-19 illustrate aspects of interactions between participants in the context of a group (e.g., a user group) and various techniques and embodiments by which messaging services and applications can categorize, organize, and output messages and conversations related to the group. It should be understood that FIGS. 14-19 are merely exemplary and that groups can be created and conversations can be joined in other suitable ways.

FIG. 14 illustrates aspects for inviting an existing or newly created group to a conversation and creating a new group. At 1405, an existing or newly created group can be invited to join any conversation. By way of example and not limitation, as an attribute, a group with multiple members can be invited and allowed to participate in multiple conversations. The group attribute also allows having multiple group participants in the same conversation. Additionally, group participants in a conversation can push the contents of the conversation to all members of the group at once. Thus, the messaging service provides greater flexibility and efficiency compared to conventional messaging systems.

A group can be invited by any conversation participant by searching for the group's group name. By way of example and not limitation, in response to receiving user input indicating to invite a group to a conversation, the messaging service stores an association between the group and the conversation in a database 260, such as conversation database 230 and group database 232.

At 1406, information associated with the conversation can be recorded for all members of the group in a database 260, such as the group database 232 and the search index database 252. The information associated with the conversation can include messages in the conversation, attributes of the conversation, and any other information associated with the conversation. The information associated with the conversation can be sent to the push service 224.

At 1407, after the group has been invited to join the conversation, at least a subset of the messages in the conversation are pushed to all members of the group. The messages may be pushed by push service 224. Pushing the messages may include sending the messages to the members, for example, to the members' devices. Pushing the messages may include causing the messages to be displayed in the UI of a messaging application associated with the members.

16 illustrates aspects of a group view 1600 in a messaging application UI. In the group view 1600, the groups to which the user belongs are displayed to the user. FIG. 16 lists eight groups to which the user belongs. According to an embodiment, the groups are displayed in a list. The group view displays attributes of the group and one or more selectable interface elements (e.g., selectable buttons such as "Edit" and "Delete"). Attributes include the group name 1601. FIG. 16 illustrates group names including "Group1", "Group2", "Group3", etc. Information associated with the groups is sent to a messaging service (e.g., messaging service 220) and maintained by the messaging service 220 in a database 260 (e.g., group database 232, search index database 252, etc.).

Once a group is admitted to a conversation, an association between the group and the conversation is stored in database 260. For example, messaging service 220 stores a thread identification (ID) of the conversation and a group identification (ID) of the group in group database 232. By way of example and not limitation, an association between a group and a conversation can be identified based on the thread ID and group ID of the conversation. The messaging service can generate a search index based on the information associated with the group and store the search index in database 260, such as search index database 252. An association between all members of the group and the conversation can be determined based on the search index and the association can be stored in database 260. Information associated with the group and the members of the group can be retrieved from database 260, such that messages in the conversation can be sent to a messaging application for display associated with all members of the group (i.e., group participants of the conversation) based on the retrieved information.

After a group is invited to participate in a conversation (i.e., as a group participant), the identity of the group's individual members may not be sent to a messaging application associated with the conversation participants for display unless any particular individual member is invited to the conversation by other participants or directly participates in the conversation (e.g., posts a message to the conversation). If any particular individual member of a group is invited to the conversation by other participants or directly participates in the conversation, the identity of the particular individual member is sent to a messaging application associated with the conversation participants to display the identity of the particular individual member. Furthermore, the particular individual member may continue to participate in the conversation as an individual participant even after the group is removed from the conversation. Any other members of the group who are not invited to the conversation by other participants or who are not directly participating in the conversation will not receive any further messages in the conversation after the group is removed from the conversation or the individual member is removed from the group.

As described further below, members can be added to or removed from groups. Upon receiving information indicating an edit to a group (e.g., adding or removing a member), the messaging service (e.g., messaging service 220) updates database 260 (e.g., group database 232 and search index database 252). The messaging service 220 searches database 260 to determine which members are included in the current group and sends any messages in a conversation in which the group participates as a group participant to the current members in the group. If any previous individual members of the group were already invited to the conversation by other members or directly participated in the conversation before the individual members were removed from the group, the previous individual members may continue to participate in the conversation as individual participants. The messaging service 220 may continue to send messages in a conversation to the previous individual members, now as individual participants.

Attributes of a group may include group privacy settings 1602. As shown in FIG. 16, group "Group1" is private. Group "Group2" is also private. Privacy settings may also be maintained in a database 260, such as group database 232. For any private group, only members of the private group may access the private group. Unlike private groups, public groups are not limited to members in the group. Instead, public groups may be accessed by any participant in the conversation, or at least a subset of other users registered with the messaging service (e.g., messaging service 220).

Attributes of a group can also include people 1603 (e.g., members of the group). FIG. 16 shows a group "Group1" with 10 members. "Group2" has 3 members. In the group view, the members of each group can be represented by the members' profile pictures, account avatars, usernames, and/or handles, which can be maintained on the user device (e.g., user device 242) and/or in database 260 of messaging service 220, by way of example.

The group view includes features that allow the user to manage their groups. In addition to the features for creating new groups, as described above and particularly shown in FIG. 15, these features may include actions 1605. Actions 1605 include an "edit" option that allows the user to change attributes, such as the name, privacy settings, and members of the group (e.g., adding or removing members). In response to the user selecting the edit option, a window such as window 1203 of FIG. 12 is displayed. This window includes options for adding or deleting members. Actions 1605 may further include a "delete" option that allows the user to delete the group.

By way of example and not limitation, at 1401, a new group may be created. The new group includes multiple members. The group may be created by the group service 251 of the messaging service 220. The messaging service 220 may also create a group ID for the new group. The group may be created based on user input. The user input may be received via a group view of the UI of the messaging application, such as group view 1501 of FIG. 15. The user may switch from feed view 1502 to group view 1501. In the group view, a participant of the conversation may select a "New Group" icon 1507. In response to the user selecting icon 1507, a UI (e.g., window 1503) is displayed having an option to create a new group. The new group may be created via the UI (e.g., window 1503).

The options include privacy settings 1504, which are selected by selection of an icon 1508 having privacy options, such as a slideable icon or a toggleable icon. In one embodiment, private groups are not searchable by other users across the messaging platform. In other embodiments, non-private groups may be discovered and added to various conversations, so associated attributes, etc.

Options include a group name 1505. The group name 1505 is entered by entering a string of text in input field 1509. As shown in FIG. 15, the group name "Patent Team" is entered in input field 1509. The group name 1505 distinguishes the group from other groups. A group can be searched for by its group name 1505.

Options include users (i.e., members) 1506 in the group. FIG. 15 shows a Patent Team group with five members. Members 1506 are invited (e.g., added) by retrieving information identifying the members 1506 in the group. By way of example and not limitation, information identifying the members 1506 of the group may include a username associated with any member, an account within an entity associated with any member, an email address associated with any member, or a phone number associated with any member. Upon receiving the identification information of the group members, the messaging service 220 may store the identification information of the members in a database 260, such as the group database 232 and the search index database 252.

Add members 1506 by entering a text string in the input field 1510. For example, FIG. 15 shows searching for a member named "User C" to invite to the "Patent Team" group. The window shows the number of members 1511 selected to be invited to the group. The options selected in the window are group attributes and/or associations.

The group can be canceled by selecting the "Cancel" button 1507 in the UI. The group can be saved by selecting the "Save" button 1508 in the UI. Once the group is saved, the group's attributes and associations can be saved to the database.

Returning to FIG. 14, at 1402, group information (e.g., attributes, associations) is recorded (e.g., saved, stored) in one or more databases 260, such as group database 232 of FIG. 2. The group information may be recorded by group service 251. The databases may include conversation database 230, group database 232, user database 234, and/or search index database 252.

At 1403, a search index is constructed to store an index of search information. The search index may be constructed by the group service 251. The search index may operate in conjunction with other databases such as the conversation database 230, the topic database 236, the group database 232, and the user database 234. The search index allows the messaging service to search attributes associated with messages and conversations (e.g., group attributes). The search index allows management of access permissions. Based on the search index, group members can access specific conversations and messages.

At 1404, information associated with the group may be output for display to a messaging application associated with a participant of the conversation. Outputting the group information may include sending an indication of the group to the participant, e.g., to a device of the participant. As shown in FIG. 16, outputting the group information may include causing the group information to be displayed via a UI of the messaging application.

Figure 17 illustrates an aspect 1700 for adding a new member to an existing group. At 1701, a new member is added to an existing group. In response to receiving user input, a new member may be added to an existing group. The user may enter the input by selecting one of the "edit" icons in the group view of the UI. A window may display a list of the current members of the group. The user may search for the name of a user who is not a member of the group and select to invite the new member to the group.

The messaging service's group service 251 can add new members to existing groups. The group service 251 can add new members based on receiving user input. The group service 251 can store the association of the new members with the groups in one or more databases 260. By way of example, the databases 260 can include the conversation database 230, the group database 232, the user database 234, the topic database 236, and/or the search index database 252.

At 1702, perform a lookup of information related to the group, such as associated conversations, topic tags, etc. Group attributes include existing group members, etc. The lookup is performed by sending a query to one or more databases 260. Import attributes for the new member. Importing attributes can include storing attributes locally, e.g., in memory of the group service 251, and storing the new member attributes in the group database 232.

At 1703, conversations associated with the group are output to the new member. The conversations may be output by push service 224. Outputting the conversations may include sending messages contained in various conversations associated with the group to the new member, for example, to the new member's device. Outputting the conversations may include having the new member view the conversations via a messaging application UI.

At 1704, members of the group are discovered. Members of the group may be discovered by the group service 251 and/or the push service 224. Members of the group may be discovered by querying the database 260. The group service 251 may determine the members of the group and send an indication of the members to the push service 224.

At 1705, the determined members of the group are notified of the determined group members. The members may be notified by push service 224. The members may be notified that a new member has been added. Notifying the members may include sending a notification to the members, for example, to the members' devices. Notifying the members may include having the members view the group members via a messaging application UI, for example, in a group view.

In some embodiments, the messaging service 220 and/or messaging application 240 can receive messages in a conversation that include information for identifying a group that includes multiple members. In response to receiving this information, the messaging service 220 can query the database 260 to send at least a subset of the messages in the conversation to the messaging application 240 associated with the group members for displaying the at least a subset of the messages in the conversation. In one example, the messaging service 220 and/or messaging application 240 can obtain information associated with the members of the group by analyzing data associated with the group. In one example, the data associated with the group includes information of the members and attributes of the group. In another example, the data associated with the group can further include at least a portion of the content of a conversation in which the group participates.

According to another aspect, a task associated with a due date can be created by one participant (an assignor user) and assigned to another participant (an assignee user) in a conversation. FIGS. 18 and 19 show a technique for assigning a task associated with a due date in a conversation. The messaging service includes a chat service 222. The chat service 222 can be provided by a device or program, such as a device or program in the cloud computing network 100 of FIG. 1. The chat service 222 allows users of the messaging service to exchange messages in a conversation and/or create a conversation.

A task is initiated when the chat service 222 receives input from a user. In some embodiments, a task may first be edited by an assignor user via a messaging application (e.g., messaging application 240) and then an assignee user may be invited to join the conversation in order to assign the task to the assignee user. In other embodiments, editing the task and inviting the assignee user to assign the task may be performed simultaneously on the same UI of a messaging application associated with the assignor user. The chat service 222 may receive input via the conversation, for example, via an input field for the conversation in the UI of a messaging application on the user device.

For illustration, FIG. 19 shows a UI 1900 of a messaging application in a feed view, where a user can enter input into an input field 1903. The user can be the creator user of the conversation or another participant in the conversation. The input is a text string. For example, in FIG. 19, user "User A" enters the text "User B Please give us a conclusio." The text can describe a task. For example, User A's text includes "Please give us a conclusio," and the task is "giving a conclusio." The text can include an indication of another user, e.g., a user to whom the task is assigned. For example, User A's text includes the name of another user, User B. The users identified in the input may be users who are registered with a messaging service (e.g., messaging service 220) and participating in a conversation. The users identified in the input may not be entities external to the messaging service (e.g., messaging service 220) (e.g., email participants in a conversation, as described further below). In this example, User A is the assignor user and User B is the assignee user.

The input may include a date to be associated with the message. This date may be a due date for the task. This date may be a date by which a reminder regarding the task needs to be sent. This date may include the selection of an icon to be output via a UI of a messaging application on the user device. The icon may represent a calendar, such as icon 1601 in FIG. 16.

Returning to FIG. 18, at 1802, assignment information is generated based on the input. The chat service 222 can generate the assignment information. The assignment information can include associations between users assigning tasks, users to whom tasks are assigned, messages and/or tasks, and/or due dates. The assignment information is stored in one or more databases 260, such as the task database 256, the conversation database 230, and the user database 234. The chat service 222 can store the assignment information.

At 1803, assignor and/or assignee attributes are added to the conversation based on the assignment information. The chat service 222 can add attributes. Adding attributes can include storing associations between assignor users, assignee users, messages and/or tasks, due dates, and/or conversations. The attributes are stored in databases 260, such as the conversation database 230, the task database 256, the user database 234, and the group database 232.

According to an embodiment, a task has a status. The status is based on a due date for the task and/or an attribute that indicates what stage of completion the task is at. For example, when a task and/or due date is created, the status can be set to "open", "incomplete", and/or "not verified". The descriptive attribute of the status can be a pre-filled selectable input in the UI, such as a selectable icon or a list of selectable icons. The descriptive attribute can be a text string entered by the user into an input field in the UI of, for example, a messaging application.

The assignor user and/or the assignee user can change the status to, for example, “closed”, “completed”, and/or “verified”. The status can be changed based on whether the task is completed. For example, if the task is completed, the status can be changed to “completed”. The status is stored in database 260 in association with the task and/or the due date. In response to the status change, the new status is stored in database 260. The messaging service 220 (e.g., chat service 222) can determine and store the status, timestamp (e.g., time verified, time last updated, etc.), and other information in database 260 (e.g., task database 256). In response to the status change, a notification is sent to the user. According to one embodiment, the status is displayed to the assignor user, the assignee user, and/or the participants of the conversation, for example, in the conversation in the UI of the messaging application on the user device. Upon receiving the information indicating the status and due date of the task, the messaging application can display the status and due date of the task.

At 1804, all participants of the conversation are discovered. The chat service 222 may discover the participants. The participants in the conversation may be determined by querying the database 260. The participants may be sent to the messaging service's push service 224. The push service 224 may be a messaging service device or program.

At 1806, the status of the task is pushed to the determined participants of the conversation. The push service 224 can push the status. Pushing the status can include sending the status to the participant's device (e.g., user device 242). Pushing the status can include displaying the status within the conversation via a UI of a messaging application (e.g., messaging application 240) on the user device (messaging application 242). The messaging service (e.g., messaging service 220) can update the status of the task upon receiving information from, e.g., the assignor user and the assignee user, indicating a change to the due date or status of the task. The messaging service can then send information indicating the updated status of the task to the user device associated with the participant to cause the updated status of the task to be displayed.

According to one embodiment, the messaging service includes a reminder scheduler service 253. The reminder scheduler service 253 may be a messaging service device or program. The reminder scheduler service 253 has access to a messaging service database 260. The reminder scheduler service 253 determines assigned tasks, conversations associated with the tasks, and one or more users associated with the tasks.

A user (e.g., user A) can enter an input indicating a reminder date. As shown in FIG. 19, a user can enter an input indicating a due date for sending a reminder via a messaging application UI 1900. For example, user A selects a date selection icon 1902. Based on the selection of the date selection icon 1902, a window 1901 with selectable dates is displayed. The window 1901 can represent a calendar showing days and months of the year. User A selects a reminder date of April 28, 2020 in the window 1901. Based on the user entering the reminder date, the reminder date is sent to a database 260 and stored in a database 260, such as a task database 256 as shown in FIG. 15, associated with the task and/or due date, for example, by a reminder scheduler service 253 of the messaging service 220.

The reminder scheduler service 253 can determine whether the status and/or due date of the task has changed. The reminder scheduler service 253 can determine whether the status of the task has changed by querying the database 260 to determine the current descriptive attributes and/or due date assigned to the task and determining whether the due date has passed. Based on the status changing to a "closed", "completed" and/or "verified" status, the reminder scheduler service 253 does not send a reminder. At 1811, based on the status of the task not changing or remaining "open", "incomplete" or "not verified", a reminder of the task and/or due date is sent by the reminder scheduler service 253. The reminder is sent to the assignor user, the assignee user, and other participants of the conversation. The message can be sent to the push service 224. An indication of the status change is sent to the push service 224.

At 1812, the push service 224 receives a message from the reminder scheduler service 253. The messaging service 220 (e.g., the push service 224) notifies and/or reminds the assignor user and/or the assignee user of the due date and/or the task. The messaging service can also notify or remind other participants of the due date and/or the task. The push service 224 notifies the assignor user, the assignee user, and other participants of the reminder and/or the due date and/or the status change to the task. According to some embodiments, the push service 224 notifies the participants by sending a message to a device associated with the user. According to one aspect, the push service 224 can send a reminder at a predetermined time period, such as, for example, one week before the due date, two weeks before the due date, the day before the due date, one hour before the due date, etc. The push service 224 can notify the participants by causing the reminder to be displayed in a UI output via the participant's device. The push service 224 can stop providing reminders based on due dates and/or changes in the status of a task. The task assignment and task reminder features allow a messaging service according to the present disclosure to provide more functionality than traditional messaging systems.

A user may respond to a status change made by another user. For example, an assigner user may mark a task as "verified" in response to an assignee user marking a task as "completed," thereby indicating that the completion of the task has been verified by the user. An assigner user may reopen a task marked as "completed," for example, if the user realizes that the task was not performed satisfactorily or determines that additional work is required. According to an embodiment, based on the status change, the due date and/or the color or other indicator of the task displayed in the UI may change. Based on the status change, an indication of the change may be sent to the conversation participants, for example, by push service 224.

In some embodiments, messaging application 240 can receive information associated with a task within a conversation. This information can include an identifier for identifying a user (e.g., an assignee), task content, and information indicating a date. Messaging application 240 can transmit the information associated with the task to messaging service 220. Upon receiving the information from messaging application 240, messaging service 220 can transmit the information to the identified user (e.g., an assignee). Messaging application 240 can further receive information indicating an update to the task status and display the updated task status. The task content can include at least a portion of the conversation content.

According to one embodiment, messaging service 220 blends chat and email features with email integration functionality. FIG. 20 illustrates an example of a messaging service chat and email integration process. The messaging service of the present disclosure improves the efficiency of information exchange by providing integration of email and messaging services. As illustrated, a messaging service (e.g., messaging service 220) includes chat service 222. Chat service 222 may be a standalone service or may be incorporated as a feature of messaging service 220. Chat service 222 manages conversations in messaging service 220.

At 2002, the chat service 222 receives input, e.g., from a user device. Specifically, the chat service 222 receives input in the form of a message via a messaging application running on the user device, e.g., via an input field in the UI of the messaging application 240. FIG. 21 provides an illustration of an exemplary UI for inviting an email participant to a conversation 2101 and entering a message for the email participant. To include an external email participant A in the conversation 2101, the user enters a message in the form of an external address, such as an email address. In the particular example of the UI 2100 shown in FIG. 21, the user entered the email address UserF@gmail.com 2105. Thus, the chat service parses the message and recognizes it as an email address associated with an entity external to the messaging service (i.e., email participant A). The email address is also associated with the email service 254. This example shows that the user entered an email address that includes the domain "gmail.com". Other embodiments may use email aliases previously known by the messaging service, for example, represented by predefined characters.

Returning to FIG. 20, at 2008, the chat service 222 stores an association of the email address with the conversation, for example, in the conversation metadata 230 and the email user database 237. Once email participant A has been invited and granted access to the conversation, the messaging service (e.g., messaging service 220) can generate an identifier for identifying the conversation. The identifier can be used by an email service external to the messaging service 220 to identify the conversation and associated with the email address of the email participant. In another example, before inviting any email participant to the conversation, the messaging service 220 can generate an identifier for identifying the conversation to be used for the external email service. The messaging service can send the identifier to the external email service associated with the email participant. By way of example and not limitation, the identifier for identifying the conversation can be a return email address corresponding to the conversation. The external email service can then send an email to the return email address associated with the conversation. In response to determining that the email was received from an email address associated with the conversation, the messaging service may generate a message based on the email and send the message to a messaging application (e.g., messaging application 240) associated with a participant of the conversation for display of the generated message based on the email. In response to determining that the email was not from an email address associated with the conversation, the messaging service may discard the email and/or return a notification that sending email to the return email address corresponding to the conversation is prohibited.

21 illustrates an example UI 2100 for a messaging application (e.g., messaging application 240). The UI 2100 can include a conversation 2101. The conversation 2101 can include an input field 2102. User input can be received via the input field 2102. An example input 2104 addressed to an email participant includes the content "Hi, external User F." An example input (i.e., a message in the conversation 2101) 2104 includes an email address, UserF@gmail.com. The email address and content can be entered into the input field 2102.

At 2009, the chat service 222 discovers existing participants in the conversation. The existing participants can be users of the messaging service and/or existing external email users. The chat service 222 discovers participants based on the conversation metadata. To this end, the chat service 222 discovers participants by querying the user database 234 for users associated with the conversation and the email user database 237 for users who are participants. After receiving an indication that an email participant has been added to the conversation, a subsequent message can be added to the conversation and an email message is generated and sent to the email address associated with email participant A as described more fully below.

In some embodiments, the messaging service 220 can generate an email message upon receiving a message in the conversation that includes information identifying email participant A (e.g., an email address associated with email participant A). The email message is generated according to an email protocol associated with email service 254. The generated email message includes at least a subset of the received messages and the email address. In some embodiments, the generated email message can further include a return email address generated by messaging service 220 and corresponding to the conversation. In another example, messaging service 220 can generate multiple return email addresses, each corresponding to multiple conversations. The generated email message can be sent by messaging service 220 (e.g., email service 254) to an external email service associated with the email address for delivery to email participant A's email inbox. In other embodiments, the external email participant receives a single subsequent message or at least a subset of the subsequent messages. In other embodiments, all subsequent messages in the conversation are sent to external email participant A.

The chat service 222 sends the new message along with an indication of the conversation participants to a messaging application's push service 224. At 2011, the push service 224 notifies existing participants of the message, including the external email address. Notifying existing participants may include sending an indication of the message and/or email address to participants of the conversation. Notifying existing participants may include causing the message and/or email address to appear in the conversation.

The push service 224 can send an indication of the message to an email service 254 of the messaging application. The email service 254 can be a service that is part of the messaging service. In one embodiment, the email service 254 formats the one or more messages into an email format according to an email protocol such as SMTP. This allows the email service to add an external email address associated with email participant A to a header field of the generated email message and add the message content to the body of the generated email message. Additionally, in some embodiments, the email service 254 adds information to the email message that indicates a conversation resulting from the message content, such as a return email address corresponding to the conversation and generated by the messaging service 220.

Specifically, replies to email messages received by the messaging service, e.g., via email service 254, include information indicating an association with a conversation (e.g., a return email address corresponding to the conversation). The information associated with the reply can be pushed to messaging applications associated with participants of the conversation to cause the content of at least one of the replies to the email message to be displayed. Thus, the information added to the email message and included in any replies to the email message (e.g., a return email address corresponding to the conversation) helps identify the corresponding conversation in order to push information associated with the reply to the email message to messaging applications associated with participants of the conversation.

As discussed above, one example of this association is for the messaging service 220 (e.g., email service 254) to generate a corresponding return email address associated with each conversation. By way of example and not limitation, the generated return email may include at least a partially randomly chosen string of text. For example, as shown in FIG. 22, the messaging service sent an email to email participant UserF@gmail.com 2220 at the return email address calendar-kZNnYBkbywE@feishgroups.com 2221. As shown in FIG. 21, the return email address is associated with the particular conversation that generated the message to be sent to the external email address 2220. The return email address 2221 is added to the email header in the sender field of the email message. The messaging service (e.g., messaging service 220) can then use replies to the return email address 2221 to associate the return email with the particular conversation.

This method can be used to prevent spoofing of messaging services by return emails and junk emails. For example, the return email address can be generated in the form of a random email address generator. In this example, the return email address 2221 includes "kZNnYBkbywE", which is randomly selected and is not easily predictable or spoofable. Thus, it helps reduce the occurrence of conversations receiving unwanted spam. In another example, the email header can include specific information used to identify the conversation, for example in the subject line or other header fields. Such identifiers can include random or hard to predict character sequences that can be used by the messaging service to help prevent or control spam. Any or all of the above data can be stored in a database, such as email message database 238, for later association and classification of return email messages.

Thus, at 2013, the email service 254 can send the formatted email message to an email address associated with email participant A. Sending the email message to the email address can include sending the email message to a domain associated with the email address. As discussed above, sending the email message to the email address can include sending other information from the conversation to the email address. Figure 22 shows the email message being received by an email participant (e.g., UserF@gmail.com 2220). The email participant then composes a reply email 2222 containing the text "Hi, there. I am happy!" and sends the reply email 2222 to a return email address associated with the messaging service and corresponding to the particular conversation.

The email service 254 can receive replies to the message from the email address. The replies can be received by the email service 254 at a generated return email address corresponding to the conversation. The email service 254 can use information contained in the reply email, for example, to associate the return email address with the corresponding conversation, for example by querying a database 260 (e.g., email message database 238), and determine the conversation associated with the reply to the email message. In one embodiment, the messaging service 220 (e.g., email service 254) formats the reply into a message and sends the message via the chat service 222 to the push service 224. The push service 224 can then send a message corresponding to the reply to a messaging application associated with a participant in the conversation. In some embodiments, the conversation can include other email participants (e.g., email participant B) in addition to email participant A. In this case, messaging service 220 can further generate an email message based on the message formatted by messaging service 220 corresponding to the reply from email participant A, and messaging service 220 then sends the generated email message to the other email participant (e.g., email participant B).

23 illustrates an example UI 2300 of a messaging application (e.g., messaging application 240). UI 2300 may be the same as or similar to UI 2100 of FIG. 21. UI 2300 includes a continuation of the conversation from FIG. 21. Based on receiving a reply email 2222 from an email address and an external email system (e.g., external email service 2200 of FIG. 22), a messaging service (e.g., messaging service 220) can generate a message, add the message to the conversation, and send the message to a messaging application associated with a participant of the conversation to display a message 2304 corresponding to the reply email 2222. In the illustrated example, the external email address UserF@email.com is displayed with the message 2304. Other metadata, such as the time the message was sent to the messaging application associated with the participant of the conversation, may also be displayed.

In some embodiments, messaging application 240 can receive information entered by a user during a conversation. This information can include an email address and content to be sent to the email address. Messaging application 240 can then send the information to messaging service 220. Upon receiving this information, messaging service 220 can send an identifier for identifying the conversation and content to an email service associated with the email address that is external to messaging service 220. In other embodiments, messaging service 220 can receive an email from an external email service. In this case, messaging service 220 can determine that the email is associated with a conversation based on determining that the email includes an identifier for identifying the conversation. Messaging service 220 can then generate a message including the email content and send the generated message to messaging application 240 for displaying the generated message.

24 illustrates an example process 2400 performed by a messaging application (e.g., messaging application 240) consistent with the present disclosure. Although described as a series of operations, one skilled in the art will appreciate that in various embodiments, the operations described may be added, removed, reordered, or modified.

At 2402, messaging application 240 begins operating on a device (e.g., user device 242) associated with a user of a messaging service (e.g., messaging service 220). At 2404, messaging application 240 sends a request to messaging service 220 for information associated with conversations (i.e., message threads) in which the user is involved. In some embodiments, the requested information includes metadata associated with the conversations, e.g., a thread identification (ID) corresponding to each of the conversations. The requested information further includes information indicative of attributes associated with the conversations, e.g., topics, users, groups, tasks, etc. associated with the conversations. In other embodiments, the requested information may further include data indicative of a summary of the conversations, e.g., a subset of messages for each conversation. In one example, the subset of messages for each conversation may be the first and last messages in the conversation.

At 2406, the messaging application 240 receives the requested information and stores the requested information locally, for example, within the user device 242. In some embodiments, the received information, including the conversation thread ID and attributes, may be stored in a local memory, such as a browser cache. In other embodiments, the conversation thread ID and attributes may be stored in a local database. At 2408, the message application 240 displays an indicator of the conversation. The indicator of the conversation may include a topic beginning with a predefined character associated with the conversation (e.g., a hashtag #). The indicator of the conversation may further include a user or group beginning with another predefined character associated with the conversation (e.g., an @ sign). The indicator of the conversation may further include a summary of the conversation.

25 illustrates an example of a user interface (UI) 2500 for a messaging application 240. In this example, indicators of conversations categorized by topic (e.g., "patent" 2502) and categorized by user (e.g., "UserA" 2503) or group (e.g., "Group1" 2504) are displayed in the leftmost column 2506. Conversation summaries are displayed in an area 2508 adjacent to the leftmost column 2506. Task attributes of the conversation may also be displayed along with the conversation summary. For example, as shown in FIG. 25, task status 2512 and changes to task due dates 2514 are displayed along with summaries 2516 and 2518, respectively. It should be understood that the UI 2500 of FIG. 25 is merely exemplary and other display arrangements may be used.

Returning to FIG. 24, the messaging application 240 can receive user input indicating a selection of an indicator or summary of a conversation among the multiple conversations. Upon receiving the user input at 2410, the messaging application 240 sends a request for messages in the selected conversation to a messaging service. The request includes a thread ID of the selected conversation. At 2412, the messaging application 240 receives the messages of the selected conversation and causes the messages of the selected conversation to be displayed. By way of example and not limitation, as shown in FIG. 25, the messages of the selected conversation can be displayed in a right-most area 2520 of the messaging application UI 2500. In one example, the messaging application 240 can utilize the summary to send a request for messages in a selected conversation among the multiple conversations. The message application 240 can then display content associated with the messages in the selected conversation received in response to the request.

26 illustrates another example process 2600 performed by a messaging application (e.g., messaging application 240) consistent with the present disclosure. Although described as a series of operations, one skilled in the art will appreciate that in various embodiments, the operations described may be added, removed, reordered, or modified.

At 2602, the messaging application 240 receives input indicating the start of a new conversation. For example, a user may select the "New Conversation" button 2526 of the UI 2500, as shown in FIG. 25, to start a new conversation. In some embodiments, the messaging application 240 may generate a thread ID for the new conversation. In other embodiments, a thread ID for the new conversation may be generated by the messaging service 220 upon receiving information indicating the new conversation sent from the messaging application 240.

At 2604, messaging application 240 receives another input from the user. In some embodiments, the user input can be entered via windows 2702 and 2802, shown in FIGS. 27 and 28. In response to user input indicating the start of a new conversation, messaging application 240 can cause a user device (e.g., user device 242) to display window 2702 overlaid on UI 2700, as shown in FIG. 27. The window includes a number of selectable interface elements.

Window 2702 includes representative symbols (e.g., @ symbol 2704, # symbol 2706, and calendar icon 2708) corresponding to attributes associated with the new conversation. In one example, a user can select @ symbol 2704 to add one or more participants (e.g., UserA 2706 and Group1 2708) to the new conversation. In another example, a user can select # symbol 2706 to add one or more topics (e.g., topic "backlog" 2710) to the new conversation. The one or more topics may be any existing topic listed in the leftmost column of UI 2700. In this example, the existing topic "backlog" 2710 is selected and added to the new conversation. In another example, when calendar icon 2708 is selected, calendar UI 2806 with selectable dates is displayed, as shown in FIG. 28. In this example, a due date of July 17, 2020 is selected for a task assigned to a participant. Information describing the task can be typed into input field 2808 of window 2802.

In other embodiments, messaging application 240 can receive data indicative of a message placed by a user. The message can be placed by a user in a new or existing conversation, for example, via input area 2522 of UI 2500, as shown in FIG. 25.

At 2606, messaging application 240 may determine that the user input includes information indicative of one or more attributes associated with the conversation. Messaging application 240 may determine that the user input indicates at least one attribute based on determining that the input is associated with a predetermined character. For example, messaging application 240 may determine that the user input includes information indicative of an attribute (e.g., topic, user, or group) based on identifying a predetermined character (e.g., #, @, or any other predetermined character). Each predetermined character (or multiple predetermined characters) may represent an attribute, e.g., topic, user, or group. In other embodiments, upon receiving the information from messaging application 240, messaging service 220 may determine whether the user input includes one or more attributes associated with the conversation.

In one example, a text string beginning with a # symbol is determined as a topic to be associated with the conversation. In another example, a text string beginning with an @ symbol is determined as a user or group invited to the conversation. In another example, the messaging application 240 or messaging service 220 can recognize the structure of an email address, for example the text string (mailbox) + @ + domain, and determine that the user input contains an email address to be associated with the conversation.

At 2608, the messaging application 240 sends information to the messaging service 220 indicating at least one attribute associated with the conversation. Upon receiving the information indicating the attribute, the messaging service 220 stores the attribute in a corresponding attribute database associated with the conversation's thread ID. The attribute may be a topic, a user or group, an email address, etc. associated with the conversation. In some embodiments that provide user input by entering a message, the messaging application 240 may also send the message content and metadata associated with the message to the messaging service 220. The message content may be text, images, video, or audio content. The metadata may include a user ID (for the user who created the message), a timestamp indicating when the message was created, etc. Upon receiving the message content and metadata, the messaging service 220 stores the message content and metadata in the conversation (message thread) database 230.

29 illustrates another example process 2900 performed by a messaging application (e.g., messaging application 240) consistent with the present disclosure. Although described as a series of operations, one skilled in the art will appreciate that in various embodiments, the operations described may be added, removed, reordered, or modified.

At 2902, messaging application 240 receives input from a user. In one example, user input can be provided by selecting "Operator" option 2526 of UI 2500, as shown in FIG. 25. At 2904, in response to the user input, messaging application 240 generates an interface based on attributes of conversations in which the user is involved. At 2906, messaging application 240 further displays an interface in which the user can order attributes of conversations based on a priority attribute of the conversation.

Unlike conventional messaging systems that organize messages in a single dimension, e.g., the timing of the messages, the messaging service 220 and/or messaging application 240 of the present disclosure can organize conversations in multiple dimensions. Optionally, the messaging application 240 can generate an interface that includes a two-dimensional representation associated with the multiple conversations. The two dimensions in the two-dimensional representation are based on a first attribute associated with the multiple conversations and a second attribute associated with the multiple conversations. The messaging device can display an interface in which a user can provide input indicating a reorganization of the attributes associated with the multiple conversations. The messaging device can reorganize the two-dimensional representation in response to receiving the input.

30 illustrates an interface 3000 that includes a two-dimensional table 3002. The two-dimensional table 3002 includes a vertical axis 3004 and a horizontal axis 3006. In one example, the vertical axis 3004 can list all or a subset of topics associated with conversations in which the user is involved. The horizontal axis 3006 can list all or a subset of users or groups that have conversations with the user (e.g., users or groups that are mentioned in a conversation and begin with the @ symbol, i.e., "mentions"). In another example, the vertical axis can list all or a subset of users or groups that have conversations with the user, and the horizontal axis can list all or a subset of topics associated with conversations in which the user is involved.

A user may reorganize the two-dimensional table 3002 by dragging a particular topic listed on the vertical axis 3004 or a particular mention listed on the horizontal axis 3006 and dropping the particular topic or mention on a different row or column. In one example, the two-dimensional table 3002 may be reorganized by the messaging application 240 based on the priority of the attributes associated with the conversation. The topics listed on the vertical axis 3004 and/or the mentions listed on the horizontal axis 3006 may be organized and displayed in any manner to reflect their respective priorities. By way of example and not limitation, the most important attribute may be moved to the top left corner of the two-dimensional table 3002. In one example, a user may drag the topic that is most important to the user (e.g., the topic "bugs") and drop the topic "bugs" onto the vertical axis 3004. Similarly, the user can drag the mention that is most important to the user (e.g., the mention "Boss") and drop the mention "Boss" into the leftmost cell of the horizontal axis 3006. The two-dimensional table 3002 can include a leftmost column 3008 and a topmost row 3010 with a grayscale or color change that indicates a decrease in importance of the listed attributes from top to bottom and left to right, respectively. In another embodiment, the most important attribute can be moved to the bottom right corner of the two-dimensional table 3002. The leftmost column 3008 and the topmost row 3010 with a grayscale or color change may indicate an increase in importance of the listed attributes from top to bottom and left to right, respectively.

The two-dimensional table 3002 includes a number of cells (intersections) defined by the columns and rows of the table 3002. Each cell in the two-dimensional table 3002 is a selectable button that allows filtering of conversations based on a corresponding attribute (e.g., topic or mention attribute). Each of the multiple intersections is associated with one or more conversations having the corresponding attribute. In one example, the number of unread conversations can be displayed in the cells of the two-dimensional table 3002. For example, the number "2" 3012 is displayed in the cell 3014, indicating that there are two conversations with unread messages in the conversation with the corresponding attribute (i.e., Topic1 3016 and UserA 3018). In another example, different cells can have different colors or any other suitable indicator. Different colors or other indicators included in the cells can indicate different statuses of tasks associated with the conversations with the corresponding attribute.

In some embodiments, the UI 3000 can include an "Enable" button 3019 that can toggle between enabled and disabled states of the "Operator" option 2526. In other embodiments, the UI 3000 can further include slideable buttons 3018, 3020, 3022 for toggling between enabled and disabled states of attributes, such as topic (e.g., hashtag) attributes, mention attributes, and task status attributes. If either the topic or mention attributes are disabled, the UI 3000 includes a one-dimensional table instead of the two-dimensional table 3002. If the task status attribute is disabled, the two-dimensional table 3002 does not indicate the status of the task in a different color or otherwise.

Returning to FIG. 29, at 2908, the messaging application 240 can overlay a reduced-size two-dimensional display on top of another user interface. The two-dimensional table 3002 shown in FIG. 30 presents the user with useful information and attributes associated with a conversation and allows the user to reorganize the attributes of the conversation. However, the two-dimensional table 3002 can be relatively large and take up excessive screen space. Thus, the messaging application 240 can provide a reduced-size version of the two-dimensional table 3002 in response to user input. The user input can be provided by selecting an icon 2530 as shown in FIG. 25.

31 shows a reduced version 3102 of the two-dimensional table 3002. As shown in FIG. 31, the reduced table 3102 has been overlaid on another user interface 3104. Like the two-dimensional table 3002, the reduced table 3102 can include numbers in the cells indicating unread conversations. The reduced table 3102 can also have different colors in different cells indicating different statuses of the associated task. Each cell in the reduced table 3102 is also a selectable button that can filter conversations based on the corresponding topic and mention attributes, like the cells in the two-dimensional table 3002. The reduced two-dimensional table allows the table to be overlaid on the UI so that the user can refer to the table when using the UI. The reduced size may be predetermined based on the screen size or may be defined by the user, for example by directly selecting and resizing the table or by entering a size range in a form.

Returning to FIG. 29, at 2910, messaging application 240 receives information indicating a selection of an intersection in a two-dimensional display. In one example, as shown in FIG. 30, a user may select a cell in two-dimensional table 3002. In another example, as shown in FIG. 31, a user may select a cell in collapsed table 3102. At 2912, messaging application 240 may filter conversations in response to the selection of a cell in either two-dimensional table 3002 or collapsed table 3102. The conversations are filtered by the messaging application based on the particular attributes corresponding to the selected cell. For example, in response to the selection of cell 3036 in two-dimensional table 3002 or cell 3106 in collapsed table 3102, messaging application 240 filters the conversations based on the corresponding attributes, i.e., topic "bugs" and mention "Boss". FIG. 32 shows the filtered results. By way of example and not limitation, summaries 3206, 3208, 3210, and 3212 of a conversation having attributes of topic "bugs" 3202 and mention "Boss" 3204 are displayed in UI 3200.

The above-described aspects of the present disclosure have been described with respect to certain examples and embodiments, which are intended to illustrate, but not to limit, the present disclosure. It should be understood that the subject matter presented herein may be embodied as a computer process, a computer-controlled apparatus or system, or as an article of manufacture, such as a computer-readable storage medium.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the subject matter described herein may be implemented on or in connection with other computer system configurations other than those described herein, including multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, minicomputers, mainframe computers, handheld computers, personal digital assistants, electronic readers, cellular telephone devices, special purpose hardware devices, network appliances, and the like. The embodiments described herein may also be implemented in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.

A network built by an entity, such as a business or public sector agency, to provide one or more services accessible via the Internet and/or other networks to a set of distributed clients can be referred to as a provider network. Such a provider network can include multiple data centers that host various resource pools, such as a collection of physical and/or virtualized computer servers, storage devices, network equipment, etc., necessary to implement and deliver the infrastructure and services provided by the provider network. In some embodiments, resources may be provided to clients in units called instances, such as virtual or physical computing instances or storage instances. For example, a virtual computing instance can include one or more servers having a defined computing capability (which can be specified by indicating the type and number of CPUs, the size of main memory, etc.) and a defined software stack (e.g., a particular version of an operating system that can run on a hypervisor).

A number of different types of computing devices, including general purpose or special purpose computer servers, storage devices, network devices, and the like, may be used individually or in combination to provide the resources and services in different embodiments. In at least some embodiments, a server or computing device implementing at least a portion of one or more of the technologies described herein, including technologies implementing the functionality of messaging service 220 and messaging application 240, may include a general purpose computer system that includes or is configured to access one or more databases and/or computer-accessible media.

Figure 33 illustrates such a general-purpose computing device 3300. The computing device 3300 can operate in a virtual environment, such as the environment 100 of Figure 1. The computing device 3300 can be used to host a messaging service or messaging application. The computing device 3300 can be configured to communicate with devices of users of the messaging application. The computing device 3300 can be a general-purpose computing device. The computing device 3300 can be an on-premise device, such as a node of a distributed system operating in a user's data center. Components of the computing device 3300 can include, but are not limited to, one or more processors or processing units 3316, a system memory 3328, and a bus 3318 that couples various system components, including the system memory 3328, to the processor 3316.

The bus 3318 in the example of FIG. 33 represents one or more of several types of bus structures, including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, an accelerated graphics port, and a processor or local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. By way of example and not limitation, such architectures include an Industry Standard Architecture ("ISA") bus, a MicroChannel Architecture ("MCA") bus, an Enhanced ISA ("EISA") bus, a Video Electronics Standards Association ("VESA") local bus, and a Peripheral Component Interconnect ("PCI") bus.

The computing device 3300 may include a variety of computer system readable media. Such media may be any available media accessible to the computing device 3300, including both volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media. The computing device 3300 may include a system memory 3328, which may include computer system readable media in the form of volatile memory, such as random access memory ("RAM") 3330 and/or cache memory 3332. The computing device 3300 may further include other removable/non-removable, volatile/non-volatile computer system storage media. By way of example only, the storage system 3334 may provide for reading from and writing to a non-removable, non-volatile magnetic medium (not shown, typically referred to as a "hard drive"). Although not shown, a magnetic disk drive may be provided for reading from and writing to a removable, non-volatile magnetic disk, such as a "floppy disk", and an optical disk drive may be provided for reading from and writing to a removable, non-volatile optical disk, such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, or other optical medium. In this case, each may be connected to the bus 3318 via one or more data medium interfaces. As will be further described and illustrated below, the memory 3328 may include at least one program product having a set, for example at least one, of program modules configured to perform the functions of an embodiment of the present invention.

The computing device 3300 may include a program/utility 3340 having a set (at least one) of program modules 3342 storable in the memory 3328. The computing device 3300 of FIG. 33 may further include an operating system, one or more messaging applications, other messaging application modules, and messaging application data. Each of the operating system, one or more messaging applications, other messaging application modules, and messaging application data, or some combination thereof, may include an implementation of a network environment, such as the cloud computing system 100 of FIG. 1. The program modules 3342 generally perform the functions and/or methods of the embodiments of the present invention described herein.

The computing device 3300 of FIG. 33 may also communicate with one or more external devices 3314, such as a keyboard, pointing device, display 3324, that allow a user to interact with the computing device 3300. The computing device 3300 may also include any device that allows the computing device 3300 to communicate with one or more other computing devices, such as a network card, modem, etc. Such communication may occur, for example, via an I/O interface 3321. It should be noted that the computing device 3300 may communicate with one or more networks, such as a local area network ("LAN"), a general-purpose wide area network ("WAN"), and/or a public network (e.g., the Internet), via a network adapter 3320. As shown, the network adapter 3320 communicates with other components of the computing device 3300 via a bus 3318. It should be understood that other hardware and/or software components, not shown, may also be used in combination with the computing device 3300. Examples include, but are not limited to, microcode, device drivers, redundant processing units, external disk drive arrays, RAID systems, tape drives, and data archival storage systems.

Each of the processes, methods, and algorithms described in the preceding paragraphs may be realized in code modules executed by one or more computers or computer processors, and may thereby be fully or partially automated. The code modules may be stored in any type of non-transitory computer-readable medium or computer storage device, such as a hard drive, solid-state memory, optical disk, etc. The processes and algorithms may be implemented in part or in whole in application-specific circuits. The results of the disclosed processes and process steps may be stored persistently or otherwise in any type of non-transitory computer storage device, such as volatile or non-volatile storage device.

The various features and processes described above may be used independently of one another or may be combined in various ways. All possible combinations and subcombinations are intended to fall within the scope of the present disclosure. Furthermore, in some implementations, some method or process blocks may be omitted. The methods and processes described herein are not limited to any particular order, and the blocks or states associated therewith may be performed in other orders as appropriate. For example, the described blocks or states may be performed in an order other than the order specifically disclosed, or multiple blocks or states may be combined within a single block or state. The example blocks or states may be performed sequentially, in parallel, or in some other manner. Blocks or states may be added to or deleted from the disclosed example embodiments. The example systems and components described herein may be configured differently than described. For example, elements may be added, deleted, or rearranged as compared to the disclosed example embodiments.

It will also be understood that while various items are shown as being stored in memory or on a storage device during use, these items or portions thereof may be transferred between memory and other storage devices for purposes of memory management and data integrity. Alternatively, in other embodiments, some or all of the software modules and/or systems may be executed in memory on another device and communicate with the illustrated computing system via computer-to-computer communications. Furthermore, in some embodiments, some or all of the systems and/or modules may be implemented or provided in other ways, such as at least partially in firmware and/or hardware, including, but not limited to, one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), standard integrated circuits, controllers (e.g., by executing appropriate instructions, and including microcontrollers and/or embedded controllers), field programmable gate arrays, complex programmable logic devices, and the like. Some or all of the modules, systems, and data structures may also be stored (e.g., as software instructions or structured data) on a computer-readable medium, such as a hard disk, memory, network, or portable media product, for reading by an appropriate drive or via an appropriate connection. The systems, modules, and data structures may be transmitted as generated data signals (e.g., as part of a carrier wave or other analog or digital propagated signal) over a variety of computer-readable transmission media, including wireless-based media and wire/cable-based media, and may take a variety of forms (e.g., as part of a single or multiplexed analog signal, or as multiple discrete digital packets or frames). In other embodiments, such computer program products may take other forms. Thus, the invention may be practiced with other computer system configurations.

Conditional language used herein, for example, particularly "can," "can," "may," "could," "for example," etc., is intended to convey that some embodiments include certain features, elements, and/or steps while other embodiments do not include certain features, elements, and/or steps, unless otherwise specified or understood in the context in which it is used. Thus, such conditional language does not imply that features, elements, and/or steps are required in any way by one or more embodiments, or that one or more embodiments necessarily include logic for determining whether those features, elements, and/or steps are included or performed in any particular embodiment, with or without author input or prompting. The terms "comprise," "include," "have," etc. are synonymous and are used in an inclusive, open-ended manner and do not exclude additional elements, features, operations, actions, etc. Additionally, the term "or" is used in an inclusive (not exclusive) sense, such that when the term "or" is used to connect a list of elements, the term "or" means one, some, or all of the elements in the list.

Although several exemplary embodiments have been described, these embodiments are presented by way of example only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention disclosed herein. Thus, nothing in the foregoing description is intended to imply that any particular characteristic, feature, step, module, or block is essential or essential. Indeed, the novel methods and systems described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms. Moreover, various omissions, substitutions, and changes may be made in the form of the methods and systems described herein without departing from the spirit of the invention disclosed herein. The appended claims and their equivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications within the scope and spirit of any invention disclosed herein.

In summary, the embodiments of the present disclosure can provide the following technical solutions:
[Technical proposal 1]
1. A system comprising:
At least one database;
at least one computing device in communication with the at least one database,
Receiving a plurality of messages in a first conversation;
determining that a user input in the first conversation includes information indicative of a topic;
storing an association between the information indicative of the topic and the first conversation in the at least one database;
At least one computing device configured to perform operations including:
A system comprising:
[Technical proposal 2]
The above operation is
and in response to receiving an input indicating a selection of the topic from a messaging application associated with a first participant of the first conversation, transmitting at least a subset of the first conversation to the messaging application for displaying the at least a subset of the plurality of messages.
The system described in technical proposal 1.
[Technical proposal 3]
The operation includes:
determining that the topic is new by searching the at least one database containing information related to the topic;
storing information indicative of the topic in the at least one database based on a determination that the topic is new;
The system according to technical solution 1, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 4]
The operation includes:
Analyzing a second message in the first conversation;
determining that the second message includes information identifying a user;
permitting the user to participate in the first conversation by accessing at least the plurality of messages in the first conversation;
The system according to technical solution 1, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 5]
sending the information indicating the topic to one or more messaging applications, the one or more messaging applications including a second messaging application associated with the authorized user.
The system described in technical proposal 4.
[Technical proposal 6]
the at least one database includes a plurality of conversations including the first conversation, the at least one database further storing a plurality of topics as attributes associated with the plurality of conversations and information associated with participants of the plurality of conversations;
The system described in technical proposal 1.
[Technical proposal 7]
determining that the first message includes information indicative of a topic includes determining that the first message includes a predetermined character;
The system described in technical proposal 1.
[Technical proposal 8]
1. A system comprising:
At least one database;
at least one computing device in communication with the at least one database,
receiving an input from a messaging application associated with a first participant of the first conversation indicating a selection of a topic from among a plurality of topics;
sending at least a portion of the first conversation to the messaging application for displaying at least a subset of messages in the first conversation;
and at least one computing device configured to perform operations including:
an association between the information indicative of the topic and the first conversation is stored in the at least one database;
system.
[Technical proposal 9]
The operation includes:
sending another conversation associated with the selected topic to the messaging application for displaying at least a subset of messages in the another conversation;
The system according to technical proposal 8, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 10]
1. A method comprising:
Receiving multiple messages in a conversation;
determining that a user input in the conversation includes information indicative of a topic;
storing an association between the information indicative of the topic and the conversation;
The method includes:
[Technical proposal 11]
and in response to receiving input from a first user indicating a selection associated with the topic, transmitting the at least a subset of the plurality of messages to a first user device associated with the first user for displaying the at least a subset of the plurality of messages in response to the input from the first user.
The method according to technical proposal 10.
[Technical proposal 12]
determining that the topic is new by searching a database containing information related to the topic;
if the topic is determined to be new, storing information indicative of the topic in the database;
The method according to technical proposal 10, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 13]
the information indicating the topic includes at least a part of a character string indicating the topic;
The method according to technical proposal 12.
[Technical proposal 14]
determining, based on analyzing a second message, that the second message includes information identifying a second user;
granting the second user access to the conversation;
The method according to technical proposal 10, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 15]
transmitting information indicative of the topic to a second user device associated with the second user to cause an indication of the topic to be displayed.
The method according to technical proposal 14.
[Technical proposal 16]
receiving a third message from the second user;
appending the third message to the plurality of messages;
The method according to technical proposal 14, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 17]
sending a notification to the first user device indicating the permission of the second user to access the plurality of messages.
The method according to technical proposal 14.
[Technical proposal 18]
and storing an association between the conversation and a plurality of participants of the conversation.
The method according to technical proposal 10.
[Technical proposal 19]
receiving a third message in the conversation;
identifying the plurality of participants in the conversation;
transmitting the third message to a plurality of user devices associated with the plurality of participants for displaying the third message;
The method according to technical proposal 18, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 20]
the character string includes an identifier for determining that the character string indicates the topic;
The method according to technical proposal 10.
[Technical proposal 21]
1. A method comprising:
receiving an input from a messaging application associated with a first participant of the first conversation indicating a selection of a topic from among a plurality of topics;
sending at least a portion of the first conversation to the messaging application to cause display of at least a subset of messages in the first conversation;
an association between the information indicative of the topic and the first conversation is stored in the at least one database;
Method.
[Technical proposal 22]
sending the other conversation associated with the selected topic to the messaging application for displaying at least a subset of messages in the other conversation.
The method according to technical proposal 21.
[Technical proposal 23]
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon, the computer-readable instructions, when executed on a computing device, causing the computing device to at least:
Receiving a plurality of messages;
determining, based on analyzing a first message of the plurality of messages, that the first message includes a string indicative of a topic;
storing an association between at least a portion of the string indicating the topic and the plurality of messages;
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for causing
[Technical proposal 24]
When executed on the computing device, the computing device is provided with at least
in response to receiving input from a first user indicating a selection associated with the topic, transmitting at least a subset of the plurality of messages to a first user device associated with the first user for displaying at least a subset of the plurality of messages in response to the input from the first user.
The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to technical proposal 23, further storing computer-readable instructions.
[Technical proposal 25]
When executed on the computing device, the computing device is provided with at least
determining that the topic is new by searching a database containing information related to the topic;
if the topic is determined to be new, storing information indicating the topic in the database;
The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to technical proposal 23, further storing computer-readable instructions.
[Technical proposal 26]
When executed on the computing device, the computing device is provided with at least
determining, based on analyzing the second message, that the second message includes information identifying a second user;
and permitting the second user to access the plurality of messages and to add one or more new messages to the plurality of messages.
The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to technical proposal 23, further storing computer-readable instructions.
[Technical proposal 27]
When executed on the computing device, the computing device is provided with at least
storing an association between the topic and a number of participants in a conversation associated with the topic;
receiving a third message in the conversation associated with the topic;
transmitting the third message and the topic to a plurality of user devices associated with the plurality of participants.
further comprising computer readable instructions,
a first user device associated with a first participant of the plurality of participants configured to, in response to determining that the first user device has previously received any messages associated with the topic, display only the third message without displaying the topic.
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to technical proposal 23.
[Technical proposal 28]
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon, the computer-readable instructions, when executed on a computing device, causing the computing device to at least:
receiving an input from a messaging application associated with a first participant of the first conversation indicating a selection of a topic from among a plurality of topics;
transmitting at least a portion of the first conversation to the messaging application to cause the messaging application to display at least a subset of the messages in the first conversation;
An association between the information indicative of the topic and the first conversation is stored in the at least one database.
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium.
[Technical proposal 29]
When executed on the computing device, the computing device is provided with at least
sending another conversation associated with the selected topic to the messaging application to cause the messaging application to display at least a subset of messages in the another conversation;
The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to technical proposal 28, further storing computer-readable instructions.
[Technical proposal 30]
1. A system comprising:
At least one database;
at least one computing device in communication with the at least one database,
Receiving a plurality of messages in a first conversation;
determining that the user input in the first conversation includes information identifying a first group of users and allowing the first group to participate in the first conversation;
storing an association between the first group and the first conversation in the at least one database;
retrieving data associated with the first group from the at least one database based on the information identifying the first group, the data including information identifying the users in the first group;
transmitting at least a subset of the first conversation to a plurality of messaging applications associated with the plurality of users in the first group for displaying at least a subset of the plurality of messages based at least in part on the retrieved data associated with the first group;
At least one computing device configured to perform operations including:
A system comprising:
[Technical proposal 31]
The operation includes:
and associating the first conversation with each of the plurality of users in the first group based at least in part on a search index.
The system described in technical proposal 30.
[Technical proposal 32]
The operation includes:
updating the data associated with the first group in response to receiving information indicating adding or removing a first user from the first group and information identifying the first user.
The system described in technical proposal 31.
[Technical proposal 33]
The operation includes:
receiving a second message in a second conversation and, in response to determining that the second message includes information identifying the first group, allowing the first group to participate in the second conversation;
storing an association between the first group and the second conversation in the at least one database;
The system according to technical proposal 30, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 34]
The operation includes:
receiving information indicating adding a second user to the first group and information identifying the second user;
updating data associated with the first group;
The system according to technical proposal 33, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 35]
The operation includes:
identifying the plurality of messages in the first conversation and a second plurality of messages in the second conversation by searching the at least one database;
sending the plurality of messages in the first conversation and the second plurality of messages in the second conversation to a messaging application associated with the second user;
The system according to technical proposal 34, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 36]
The operation includes:
sending a notification to the plurality of messaging applications associated with the plurality of users in the first group indicating that the second user has been added to the first group;
The system according to technical proposal 34, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 37]
The information identifying the plurality of users in the first group includes at least one of: a username of a registered user; an account within an entity associated with one of the plurality of users; and an email address associated with one of the plurality of users associated with one of the plurality of users.
The system described in technical proposal 30.
[Technical proposal 38]
the data associated with the first group further includes information indicating that the first group is a private group, the private group being accessible only to a plurality of users within the private group.
The system described in technical proposal 30.
[Technical proposal 39]
1. A method comprising:
Receiving a plurality of messages in a first conversation;
determining that a first message in the first conversation includes information identifying a first group of users and allowing the first group to participate in the first conversation;
storing an association between the first group and the first conversation in the at least one database;
retrieving data associated with the first group from the at least one database based on the information identifying the first group, the data including information identifying the users in the first group;
transmitting at least a subset of the first conversation to a plurality of messaging applications associated with the plurality of users in the first group for displaying at least a subset of the plurality of messages based at least in part on the retrieved data associated with the first group;
The method includes:
[Technical proposal 40]
and associating the first conversation with each of the plurality of users in the first group based at least in part on a search index.
The method according to technical proposal 39.
[Technical proposal 41]
and updating the data associated with the first group and the search index in response to receiving information indicating adding or removing a first user from the first group and information identifying the first user.
The method according to technical proposal 40.
[Technical proposal 42]
receiving a second message in a second conversation and, in response to determining that the second message includes information identifying the first group, allowing the first group to participate in the second conversation;
storing an association between the first group and the second conversation in the at least one database;
The method according to technical proposal 39, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 43]
receiving information indicating adding or removing a second user to the first group and information identifying the second user;
updating data associated with the first group;
The method according to technical proposal 39, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 44]
identifying the plurality of messages in the first conversation and a second plurality of messages in the second conversation by searching the at least one database;
sending the plurality of messages in the first conversation and the second plurality of messages in the second conversation to a messaging application associated with the second user;
The method according to technical proposal 43, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 45]
determining to send a number of new messages to a third user who has already been removed from the first group based on a determination that the third user actively participated in the first conversation or was invited to the first conversation by another user before the third user was removed from the first group.
The method according to technical proposal 39.
[Technical proposal 46]
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon, the computer-readable instructions, when executed on a computing device, causing the computing device to at least:
Receiving a plurality of messages in a first conversation;
determining that a first message in the first conversation includes information identifying a first group of users and allowing the first group to participate in the first conversation;
storing an association between the first group and the first conversation in the at least one database;
retrieving data associated with the first group from the at least one database based on the information identifying the first group, the data including information identifying the users in the first group;
transmitting at least a subset of the first conversation to a plurality of messaging applications associated with the plurality of users in the first group for displaying at least a subset of the plurality of messages based at least in part on the retrieved data associated with the first group;
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for causing
[Technical proposal 47]
When executed on the computing device, the computing device is provided with at least
generating a search index based on the information identifying the users in the first group;
and associating the first conversation with each of the plurality of users in the first group based at least in part on the search index.
The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to technical proposal 46, further storing computer-readable instructions.
[Technical proposal 48]
When executed on the computing device, the computing device is provided with at least
receiving a second message in a second conversation and, in response to determining that the second message includes information identifying the first group, allowing the first group to participate in the second conversation;
storing an association between the first group and the second conversation in the at least one database.
The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to technical proposal 46, further storing computer-readable instructions.
[Technical proposal 49]
When executed on the computing device, the computing device is provided with at least
receiving information indicating adding a first user to the first group and information identifying the first user;
identifying the plurality of messages in the first conversation and a second plurality of messages in the second conversation by searching the at least one database;
sending the plurality of messages in the first conversation and the second plurality of messages in the second conversation to a messaging application associated with the first user.
The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to technical proposal 48, further storing computer-readable instructions.
[Technical proposal 50]
1. A system comprising:
At least one database;
at least one computing device in communication with the at least one database,
receiving a plurality of messages in the conversation, including a first message sent from a first messaging application associated with a first user;
determining that the first message includes information identifying a second user;
receiving information indicative of a date associated with the first message;
storing an association between at least the first message, the second user, and the date in the at least one database;
At least one computing device configured to perform operations including:
A system comprising:
[Technical proposal 51]
The operation includes:
sending a reminder to a second messaging application associated with the second user indicating that the date is still valid in the at least one database based at least in part on the date associated with the first message;
The system according to technical proposal 50, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 52]
the first message indicating a task assigned by the first user to the second user;
The system described in technical proposal 50.
[Technical proposal 53]
the date associated with the first message includes a deadline date for the task;
The system described in technical proposal 52.
[Technical proposal 54]
The operation includes:
determining a status of the task based at least in part on a deadline date of the task;
sending information indicative of a status and a due date of the task to a plurality of messaging applications associated with a plurality of participants of the conversation to cause the status and due date of the task to be displayed;
The system described in technical proposal 53 further includes:
[Technical proposal 55]
The operation includes:
receiving information from the first messaging application or the second messaging application indicating a change in a due date or status of the task;
updating a status of the task based on the information indicating a change in due date or status of the task;
The system described in technical proposal 54 further includes:
[Technical proposal 56]
The operation includes:
sending information indicating an updated status of the task to the plurality of messaging applications to cause the plurality of messaging applications to display the updated status of the task;
The system described in technical proposal 55 further includes:
[Technical proposal 57]
The operation includes:
sending the reminder to at least the second messaging application based on at least one of receiving information indicative of a status of the task, a due date of the task, or a reminder date;
The system described in technical proposal 56 further includes:
[Technical proposal 58]
The operation includes:
sending information indicative of the first message and a date associated with the first message to a plurality of messaging applications associated with a plurality of participants of the conversation to cause the plurality of messaging applications to display the first message and a date associated with the first message;
The system according to technical proposal 50, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 59]
1. A method comprising:
receiving a plurality of messages in a conversation maintained by the messaging service, the plurality of messages including a first message sent from a first messaging application associated with the first user;
determining that the first message includes information identifying a second user;
receiving information indicative of a date associated with the first message;
storing an association between at least the first message, the second user, and the date in at least one database;
The method includes:
[Technical proposal 60]
sending information to a second messaging application associated with the second user indicating that the date is still valid in the at least one database.
The method described in technical proposal 59.
[Technical proposal 61]
the first message indicating a task assigned by the first user to the second user;
The method described in technical proposal 59.
[Technical proposal 62]
the date associated with the first message includes a deadline date for the task;
The method described in technical proposal 59.
[Technical proposal 63]
determining a status of the task based at least in part on a deadline date of the task;
sending information indicative of a status and a due date of the task to a plurality of messaging applications associated with a plurality of participants in the conversation to cause the status and due date of the task to be displayed;
The method according to technical proposal 62, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 64]
and sending a reminder to the first messaging application and the second messaging application based on at least one of receiving information indicating a status of the task, a due date of the task, or a reminder date.
The method according to technical proposal 53.
[Technical proposal 65]
receiving information from the first messaging application or the second messaging application indicating a change in a due date or status of the task;
updating a status of the task based on the information indicating a change in due date or status of the task;
sending information indicating an updated status of the task to the plurality of messaging applications to cause the plurality of messaging applications to display the updated status of the task.
The method according to technical proposal 63.
[Technical proposal 66]
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon, the computer-readable instructions, when executed on a computing device, causing the computing device to at least:
receiving a plurality of messages in a conversation maintained by the messaging service, the plurality of messages including a first message sent from a first messaging application associated with the first user;
determining that the first message includes information identifying a second user;
receiving information indicative of a date associated with the first message;
storing an association between at least the first message, the second user, and the date in at least one database;
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for causing
[Technical proposal 67]
When executed on the computing device, the computing device is provided with at least
sending a reminder to a second messaging application associated with the second user indicating that the date is still valid in the at least one database based at least in part on the date associated with the first message.
The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to technical proposal 66, further storing computer-readable instructions.
[Technical proposal 68]
the first message indicates a task assigned by the first user to the second user, and the date associated with the first message includes a deadline for the task.
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to technical proposal 66.
[Technical proposal 69]
When executed on the computing device, the computing device is provided with at least
determining a status of the task based at least in part on a deadline date of the task;
sending information indicative of the status and due date of the task to a plurality of messaging applications associated with a plurality of participants of the conversation to cause the messaging applications to display the status and due date of the task;
The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to technical proposal 66, further storing computer-readable instructions.
[Technical proposal 70]
1. A system comprising:
At least one database;
at least one computing device in communication with the at least one database,
Receiving a first input in a conversation;
determining, based on analyzing the first input, that the first input includes information indicative of a first email address;
generating a first identifier for identifying the conversation;
sending the first identifier to a first external email service associated with the first email address;
At least one computing device configured to perform operations including:
A system comprising:
[Technical proposal 71]
the first identifier is a first return email address corresponding to the conversation;
The system described in technical proposal 70.
[Technical proposal 72]
the first return email address includes an at least partially randomly selected string of text;
The system described in technical proposal 71.
[Technical proposal 73]
The operation includes:
receiving a first set of data from the first external email service, the first set of data including the first email address and the first identifier;
The system according to technical proposal 70, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 74]
The operation includes:
determining that the first set of data is associated with the conversation based on the first identifier included in the first set of data; generating a second message based on the first set of data; and sending the second message to a plurality of messaging applications associated with a plurality of participants of the conversation for displaying the second message.
The system according to technical proposal 73, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 75]
The operation includes:
storing an association between the first email address and the conversation in the at least one database;
The system according to technical proposal 70, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 76]
The operation includes:
sending notifications to a plurality of messaging applications associated with the plurality of participants of the conversation indicating that a first email address is associated with a first external entity participating in the conversation;
The system according to technical proposal 70, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 77]
The operation includes:
receiving a third message from a first messaging application associated with a first participant of the conversation, the third message including information identifying the first email address;
generating a first email message according to a first email protocol, the first email address, the second message content, and the first identifier;
sending the first email message to the first external email service associated with the first email address for delivery to a first email inbox;
The system according to technical proposal 70, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 78]
The operation includes:
receiving a second set of data from the first external email service, the second set of data including the first identifier, information indicative of a reply to the third message, and content of the reply;
determining, based on the first identifier included in the second set of data, that the second set of data is associated with the conversation;
generating a fourth message based on the second set of data; and
sending the fourth message to a plurality of messaging applications associated with a plurality of participants of the conversation for displaying the fourth message;
The system described in technical proposal 77 further includes:
[Technical proposal 79]
a second external entity associated with a second email address is permitted to participate in the conversation;
The system described in technical proposal 78.
[Technical proposal 80]
The operation includes:
generating a second email message according to a second email protocol, the second email message including the second email address, content of the fourth message, and a second identifier generated by the messaging service for a second external email service that is associated with the second email address to identify the conversation;
sending the second email message to the second external email service associated with the second email address for delivery to a second email inbox;
The system according to technical proposal 79, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 81]
1. A method comprising:
Receiving a first message in the conversation;
determining that the first message includes information indicative of a first email address;
storing an association between the first email address and the conversation in at least one database;
generating a first identifier for identifying the conversation;
sending the first identifier to the first external email service associated with the first email address;
The method includes:
[Technical proposal 82]
the first identifier is a first return email address corresponding to the conversation;
The method according to technical proposal 81.
[Technical proposal 83]
receiving a first set of data from the first external email service, the first set of data including the first identifier;
determining, based on the first identifier included in the first set of data, that the first set of data is associated with the conversation;
generating a second message based on the first set of data;
sending the second message to a plurality of messaging applications associated with a plurality of participants of the conversation for displaying the second message;
The method according to technical proposal 81, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 84]
receiving a third message from a first messaging application associated with a first participant of the conversation, the third message including information identifying the first email address;
generating a first email message according to a first email protocol, the first email address, the second message content, and the first identifier;
sending the first email message to the first external email service associated with the first email address for delivery to a first email inbox;
The method according to technical proposal 81, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 85]
receiving a second set of data from the first external email service, the second set of data including the first identifier, information indicative of a reply to the third message, and content of the reply;
determining, based on the first identifier included in the second set of data, that the second set of data is associated with the conversation;
generating a fourth message based on the second set of data; and
sending the fourth message to a plurality of messaging applications associated with a plurality of participants of the conversation for displaying the fourth message;
The method according to technical proposal 84, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 86]
A second external entity associated with a second email address is permitted to participate in the conversation, the method comprising:
generating a second email message according to a second email protocol, the second email message including the second email address, content of the fourth message, and a second identifier for identifying the conversation;
sending the second email message to the second external email service associated with the second email address for delivery to a second email inbox;
The method according to technical proposal 85, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 87]
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon, the computer-readable instructions, when executed on a computing device, causing the computing device to at least:
Receiving a first message in the conversation;
determining that the first message includes information indicative of an email address associated with an email participant;
storing an association between the email address and the conversation in at least one database;
generating an identifier for identifying the conversation by an external email service associated with the email address;
sending the identifier to the external email service associated with the email address.
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium.
[Technical proposal 88]
The identifier is a first return email address corresponding to the conversation.
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to technical proposal 85.
[Technical proposal 89]
When executed on the computing device, the computing device is provided with at least
receiving a set of data from the external email service, the set including the identifier;
determining that the set of data is associated with the conversation based on the identifier included in the set of data;
generating a second message based on the first set of data;
sending the second message to a plurality of messaging applications associated with a plurality of participants of the conversation for displaying the second message.
The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to technical proposal 85, further storing computer-readable instructions.
[Technical proposal 90]
1. A system comprising:
A message thread database containing multiple conversations;
a plurality of attribute databases containing attributes associated with the plurality of conversations;
at least one computing device in communication with the message thread database and the plurality of attribute databases,
receiving a plurality of messages in a first conversation of the plurality of conversations;
storing said plurality of messages in said message thread database;
receiving a user input within the first conversation;
determining that the user input includes at least one attribute associated with the first conversation;
storing information in at least one of the plurality of attribute databases based on the determination of a type of the at least one attribute;
storing an association between the at least one attribute and the first conversation;
At least one computing device configured to perform operations including:
A system comprising:
[Technical proposal 91]
the message thread database includes metadata and content associated with each of the plurality of conversations;
The system described in technical proposal 90.
[Technical proposal 92]
the message thread database further includes thread identification information associated with each of the plurality of conversations, at least one message identification information of at least one message included in each of the plurality of conversations, and the at least one message included in each of the plurality of conversations;
The system described in technical proposal 91.
[Technical proposal 93]
the content of the at least one message includes text data, video content, or audio content;
The system described in technical proposal 92.
[Technical proposal 94]
The plurality of attribute databases include at least one of a first attribute database storing information indicative of topics associated with the plurality of conversations, a second attribute database storing information on users associated with the plurality of conversations, a third attribute database storing information on groups associated with the plurality of conversations, a fourth attribute database storing information indicative of task assignments associated with the plurality of conversations, and a fifth attribute database storing information associated with one or more email addresses included in the plurality of conversations.
The system described in technical proposal 90.
[Technical proposal 95]
each of the plurality of attribute databases further comprising a plurality of thread identification information corresponding to the plurality of conversations for identifying one or more attributes associated with each of the plurality of conversations;
The system described in technical proposal 90.
[Technical proposal 96]
The operation includes:
updating the at least one of the plurality of attribute databases based on the new message;
sending information associated with the new message to one or more messaging applications associated with the first conversation;
The system according to technical proposal 90, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 97]
The operation includes:
receiving a request from the first messaging application indicating at least one of the plurality of conversations;
querying the message thread database based on information indicative of the at least one of the plurality of conversations;
processing the query results to determine at least a subset of messages in the at least one of the plurality of conversations;
in response to the request, transmitting at least the subset of messages in the at least one of the plurality of conversations to the first messaging application;
The system according to technical proposal 90, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 98]
The operation includes:
receiving a request from a second messaging application associated with at least one of the plurality of conversations;
Querying the plurality of attribute databases based on the request; and
processing a query result to determine that at least one attribute is associated with the at least one of the plurality of conversations;
sending information indicative of the at least one attribute to the second messaging application to cause the second messaging application to display at least one indicator of the at least one attribute;
The system according to technical proposal 90, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 99]
The operation includes:
receiving an input indicating a selection of the at least one indicator of the at least one attribute associated with the at least one of the plurality of conversations;
querying the message thread database based on the input;
identifying and transmitting a plurality of messages in the at least one of the plurality of conversations for display;
The system described in technical proposal 98 further includes:
[Technical proposal 100]
1. A method comprising:
receiving a plurality of messages in a first conversation of a plurality of conversations, a conversation database including the plurality of conversations, and a plurality of attribute databases including attributes associated with the plurality of conversations;
storing said plurality of messages in said conversation database;
receiving a user input within the first conversation;
determining that the user input includes at least one attribute associated with the first conversation;
storing information in at least one of the plurality of attribute databases based on the determination of a type of the at least one attribute;
storing an association between the at least one attribute and the first conversation;
The method includes:
[Technical proposal 101]
receiving a request from the first messaging application indicating at least one of the plurality of conversations;
querying the conversation database based on information indicative of the at least one of the plurality of conversations;
processing the query results to determine at least a subset of messages in the at least one of the plurality of conversations;
in response to the request, transmitting at least the subset of messages in the at least one of the plurality of conversations to the first messaging application;
The method according to the technical solution 100, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 102]
receiving a request from a second messaging application associated with at least one of the plurality of conversations;
Querying the plurality of attribute databases based on the request; and
processing a query result to determine that at least one attribute is associated with the at least one of the plurality of conversations;
sending information indicative of the at least one attribute to the second messaging application to cause the second messaging application to display at least one indicator of the at least one attribute;
The method according to technical proposal 90, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 103]
receiving an input indicating a selection of the at least one indicator of the at least one attribute associated with the at least one of the plurality of conversations;
Querying the conversation database based on the input; and
identifying and transmitting a plurality of messages in the at least one of the plurality of conversations for display;
The method according to technical proposal 102, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 104]
the conversation database includes thread identification information associated with each of the plurality of conversations including at least one message, at least one message identification information of the at least one message included in each of the plurality of conversations, and content of the at least one message included in each of the plurality of conversations;
The method according to technical solution 100.
[Technical proposal 105]
each of the plurality of attribute databases further comprising a plurality of thread identification information corresponding to the plurality of conversations for identifying one or more attributes associated with each of the plurality of conversations;
The method according to technical solution 100.
[Technical proposal 106]
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon, the computer-readable instructions, when executed on a computing device, causing the computing device to at least:
receiving a plurality of messages in a first conversation of a plurality of conversations, a conversation database including the plurality of conversations, and a plurality of attribute databases including attributes associated with the plurality of conversations;
storing said plurality of messages in said conversation database;
receiving a new message in the first conversation;
parsing the new message to determine that the new message includes at least one attribute associated with the first conversation;
storing information in at least one of the plurality of attribute databases based on the determination of a type of the at least one attribute;
storing an association between the at least one attribute and the first conversation;
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for causing
[Technical proposal 107]
When executed on the computing device, the computing device is provided with at least
receiving a request from a first messaging application indicating at least one of the plurality of conversations;
querying the conversation database based on information indicative of the at least one of the plurality of conversations;
processing the query results to determine at least a subset of messages in the at least one of the plurality of conversations;
in response to the request, transmitting at least the subset of messages in the at least one of the plurality of conversations to the first messaging application.
The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to technical solution 106, further storing computer-readable instructions.
[Technical proposal 108]
When executed on the computing device, the computing device is provided with at least
receiving a request from a second messaging application associated with at least one of the plurality of conversations;
Querying the plurality of attribute databases based on the request; and
processing a query result to determine that at least one attribute is associated with the at least one of the plurality of conversations;
sending information indicative of the at least one attribute to the second messaging application to cause the second messaging application to display at least one indicator of the at least one attribute.
The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to technical solution 106, further storing computer-readable instructions.
[Technical proposal 109]
The conversation database includes thread identification information associated with each of the plurality of conversations and the contents of one or more messages included in each of the plurality of conversations, and each of the plurality of attribute databases further includes a plurality of thread identification information corresponding to the plurality of conversations for identifying one or more attributes associated with each of the plurality of conversations.
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to technical proposal 106.
[Technical proposal 110]
1. A computing device comprising:
At least one processor;
at least one memory communicatively coupled to the at least one processor and storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the client computing device to:
Receiving a first input from a user interface indicating starting a first conversation;
receiving a second input by a first user;
determining that the second input is indicative of at least one attribute associated with the first conversation;
sending information to a message service, the information including information indicating a start of a new conversation and information indicating that the at least one attribute is associated with the first conversation; and
1. A computing device comprising:
[Technical proposal 111]
The at least one memory includes:
When executed by the at least one processor, the client computing device:
sending a request for information to the messaging service;
storing information received in response to the request, the information including information indicative of a plurality of attributes associated with a plurality of conversations, the plurality of conversations having corresponding thread IDs;
and displaying a plurality of indicators associated with the plurality of conversations based on the received information.
The computing device according to the technical solution 110, further storing instructions.
[Technical proposal 112]
The at least one memory further comprises, when executed by the at least one processor, causing the client computing device to:
sending a request for a plurality of messages in a second conversation selected from the plurality of conversations;
displaying content associated with the plurality of messages in the second conversation received in response to the request.
The computing device of technical solution 111, further storing instructions.
[Technical proposal 113]
The at least one memory further comprises, when executed by the at least one processor, causing the client computing device to:
transmitting a request for information indicative of the plurality of conversations;
and displaying summaries of at least some of the plurality of conversations based on the received information.
The computing device according to the technical solution 110, further storing instructions.
[Technical proposal 114]
The at least one memory further comprises, when executed by the at least one processor, causing the client computing device to:
further storing instructions for generating an interface based on attributes of the second plurality of conversations;
the interface includes a two-dimensional representation associated with the second plurality of conversations, two dimensions of the two-dimensional representation based on a first attribute associated with the second plurality of conversations and a second attribute associated with the second plurality of conversations.
The computing device according to technical solution 110.
[Technical proposal 115]
The at least one memory further comprises, when executed by the at least one processor, causing the client computing device to:
displaying an interface providing an input indicating that a second user wishes to rearrange attributes associated with the second plurality of conversations;
reorganizing the two-dimensional representation in response to receiving the input.
The computing device of the technical solution 114, further storing instructions.
[Technical proposal 116]
At least one intersection in the two-dimensional representation comprises:
an indicator indicating a status of at least one task associated with at least one conversation of the second plurality of conversations;
a number indicating conversations among the second plurality of conversations that have unread messages; and
The computing device according to technical solution 114, comprising:
[Technical proposal 117]
The at least one memory further comprises, when executed by the at least one processor, causing the client computing device to:
receiving information indicative of a selection of intersections within the two-dimensional representation;
and in response to receiving the information, filtering the second plurality of conversations based on an attribute corresponding to the selected intersection.
The computing device of the technical solution 114, further storing instructions.
[Technical proposal 118]
the second input is provided by selecting an existing indicator of the at least one attribute.
The computing device according to technical solution 110.
[Technical proposal 119]
the second input is provided by entering a message including predetermined characters indicative of a type of the at least one attribute.
The computing device according to technical solution 110.
[Technical proposal 120]
the at least one attribute includes at least one of a topic attribute, a user attribute, a group attribute, a task attribute, and an email message attribute;
The computing device according to technical solution 110.
[Technical proposal 121]
The at least one memory further comprises, when executed by the at least one processor, causing the client computing device to:
determining that the second input is indicative of at least one attribute based on a determination that the second input is associated with a predetermined character.
The computing device of the technical solution 110, further storing instructions.
[Technical proposal 122]
The at least one memory further comprises, when executed by the at least one processor, causing the client computing device to:
in response to receiving the third input, displaying a third user interface including information associated with at least one group participating in the one or more conversations.
The computing device according to the technical solution 110, further storing instructions.
[Technical proposal 123]
The at least one memory further comprises, when executed by the at least one processor, causing the client computing device to:
receiving a message in the first conversation;
determining that the message includes information identifying a second user;
receiving information indicative of a date associated with the message;
sending the message indicating a task assigned to the second user and the information indicating a date associated with the message to a message service.
The computing device of the technical solution 110, further storing instructions.
[Technical proposal 124]
The at least one memory further comprises, when executed by the at least one processor, causing the client computing device to:
displaying a status of a task associated with a third conversation of the plurality of conversations;
The computing device of the technical solution 110, further storing instructions.
[Technical proposal 125]
1. A method comprising:
Receiving a first input from a user interface indicating starting a first conversation;
receiving a second input by a first user;
determining that the second input is indicative of at least one attribute associated with the first conversation;
sending information to a messaging service, the information including information indicating the start of a new conversation and information indicating that the at least one attribute is associated with the first conversation, the messaging service storing the at least one attribute associated with a thread identifier (ID) of the first conversation in at least one database;
Method.
[Technical proposal 126]
sending a request for information to the messaging service;
storing information received in response to the request, the information including information indicative of a plurality of attributes associated with a plurality of conversations, each of the plurality of conversations having a corresponding thread ID;
displaying a plurality of indicators associated with the plurality of conversations based on the received information; and
The method according to technical proposal 125, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 127]
sending a request for a plurality of messages in a second conversation selected from the plurality of conversations;
displaying content associated with the plurality of messages in the second conversation received in response to the request; and
The method according to technical proposal 126, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 128]
transmitting a request for information indicative of the plurality of conversations;
displaying summaries of at least some of the plurality of conversations based on the received information; and
The method according to technical proposal 125, further comprising:
[Technical proposal 129]
generating an interface based on attributes of the second plurality of conversations;
the interface includes a two-dimensional representation associated with the second plurality of conversations, a second dimension in the two-dimensional representation based on a first attribute associated with the second plurality of conversations and a second attribute associated with the second plurality of conversations.
The method according to technical proposal 125.
[Technical proposal 130]
moreover,
receiving information indicative of a selection of intersections within the two-dimensional representation;
filtering the second plurality of conversations in response to receiving the information based on an attribute corresponding to the selected intersection; and
The method according to technical proposal 129, comprising:
[Technical proposal 131]
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon, the computer-readable instructions, when executed on a computing device, causing the computing device to at least:
Receiving a first input from a user interface indicating starting a first conversation;
receiving a second input by a first user;
determining that the second input is indicative of at least one attribute associated with the first conversation;
sending data to a messaging service including information indicating the start of a new conversation and information indicating that the at least one attribute is associated with the first conversation, the messaging service storing the at least one attribute associated with a thread identifier (ID) of the first conversation in at least one database.
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium.
[Technical proposal 132]
When executed on the computing device, the computing device is provided with at least
sending a request for information to the messaging service;
storing information received in response to the request, the information including information indicative of a plurality of attributes associated with a plurality of conversations, each of the plurality of conversations having a corresponding thread ID;
and displaying a plurality of indicators of the plurality of conversations based on the received information.
The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to technical proposal 131, further storing computing-readable instructions.
[Technical proposal 133]
When executed on the computing device, the computing device is provided with at least
sending a request for a plurality of messages in a second conversation selected from the plurality of conversations;
displaying content associated with the plurality of messages in the second conversation received in response to the request.
The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to technical proposal 132, further storing computer-readable instructions.
[Technical proposal 134]
When executed on the computing device, the computing device is provided with at least
and further storing instructions for generating and displaying an interface based on attributes of a second plurality of conversations, the interface including a two-dimensional representation associated with the second plurality of conversations, a second dimension in the two-dimensional representation being based on a first attribute associated with the second plurality of conversations and a second attribute associated with the second plurality of conversations.
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to technical proposal 131.

Claims (15)

1. A method comprising:
Receiving multiple messages in a conversation;
determining that a user input in the conversation includes information indicative of a topic;
storing an association between information indicative of the topic and the conversation , the topic being stored as an attribute associated with the conversation ;
pushing an indication of the topic to a plurality of messaging applications associated with a plurality of participants of the conversation to display the indication of the topic;
in response to receiving an input from a first participant in the plurality of participants indicating a selection associated with the indication of the topic, sending at least the subset of the plurality of messages to a first messaging application associated with the first participant for displaying at least the subset of the plurality of messages;
A method comprising: the association between the information indicative of the topic and the conversation is stored in at least one database, the at least one database being conversation-centric;
performing a lookup by querying the at least one database to determine the plurality of participants of the conversation;
The method of claim 1. determining that the topic is new by searching a database containing information related to the topic;
if the topic is determined to be new, storing information indicative of the topic in the database;
Further comprising:
the information indicating the topic includes at least a part of a character string indicating the topic;
The method of claim 1. determining, based on analyzing a second message in the plurality of messaging applications , that the second message includes information identifying a second user;
granting the second user access to the conversation;
The method of claim 1 further comprising: sending information indicative of the topic to a second messaging application associated with the second user to cause an indication of the topic to be displayed.
The method according to claim 4. receiving a third message from the second user;
appending the third message to the plurality of messages;
The method of claim 4 further comprising: and transmitting a notification to a first user device indicating the permission for the second user to access the plurality of messages.
The method according to claim 4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing an association between the conversation and multiple participants of the conversation. receiving a third message in the conversation;
identifying the plurality of participants in the conversation;
sending the third message to a plurality of messaging applications associated with the plurality of participants for displaying the third message;
The method of claim 8 further comprising: the character string includes an identifier for determining that the character string indicates the topic;
The method of claim 1. 1. A method comprising:
pushing an indication of a topic to a plurality of messaging applications associated with a plurality of participants of a first conversation to display the indication of the topic, wherein an association between information indicative of the topic and the first conversation is stored, and the topic is stored as an attribute associated with the first conversation;
receiving an input from a messaging application associated with a first participant of the first conversation indicating a selection of the topic from among a plurality of topics;
sending at least a portion of the first conversation to the messaging application for displaying at least a subset of the messages in the first conversation;
A method comprising : sending the other conversation associated with the selected topic to the messaging application for displaying at least a subset of messages in the other conversation.
The method of claim 11. 1. A system comprising:
At least one database;
at least one computing device in communication with the at least one database,
Receiving multiple messages in a conversation ;
determining that a user input in the conversation includes information indicative of a topic;
storing an association between information indicative of the topic and the conversation , the topic being stored as an attribute associated with the conversation ;
pushing an indication of the topic to a plurality of messaging applications associated with a plurality of participants of the conversation to display the indication of the topic;
in response to receiving an input from a first participant in the plurality of participants indicating a selection associated with the indication of the topic, sending at least the subset of the plurality of messages to a first messaging application associated with the first participant for displaying at least the subset of the plurality of messages;
At least one computing device configured to perform operations including:
A system comprising: 1. A system comprising:
At least one database;
at least one computing device in communication with the at least one database,
pushing an indication of a topic to a plurality of messaging applications associated with a plurality of participants of a first conversation to display the indication of the topic, wherein an association between information indicative of the topic and the first conversation is stored, and the topic is stored as an attribute associated with the first conversation;
receiving an input from a messaging application associated with a first participant of the first conversation indicating a selection of the topic from among a plurality of topics;
sending at least a portion of the first conversation to the messaging application for displaying at least a subset of messages in the first conversation;
At least one computing device configured to perform operations including:
A system comprising : A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-readable instructions that, when executed on a computing device, cause the computing device to perform at least one of the methods described in any one of claims 1 to 12.

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