Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080307324 | SHARING CONTENT IN A VIDEOCONFERENCE SESSION - A videoconferencing participant can share content with other participants seamlessly and effortlessly. A consistent user interface is used to present content no matter what type of content is being shared. Navigation controls allow a participant in the videoconference session to control what content is being displayed. The particular navigation controls provided are sensitive to the type of content being shared. | 12-11-2008 |
20090178062 | Framework and Methods for Providing Communication Services to Client Applications - The disclosed implementations provide an infrastructure and methods for providing communication services to an application through an Application Programming Interface (API). | 07-09-2009 |
20100118179 | Image Capture Using Display Device As Light Source - A digital image capture system and method uses a display device to illuminate a target with light for improved image capture under poor lighting conditions. Various characteristics of the flash (e.g., brightness, color, duration, etc.) can be adjusted to improve image capture. Users are provided with feedback (e.g., live video feed, audio and/or visual countdowns, etc.) to assist them in preparing for image capture. The captured images are seamlessly integrated with existing applications (e.g., video conferencing, instant text messaging, etc.). | 05-13-2010 |
20110231495 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SELECTIVE PRESENCE OF MESSAGING SERVICES - Method and apparatus for maintaining presence settings of a user for buddies selected from different buddy groups regardless of which user accounts and which buddy accounts are used in a plurality of messaging services for the user and the buddies are described. The user may subscribe to the messaging services via one or more user accounts. Each buddy may subscribe to the messaging services via one or more buddy accounts. A presence setting may be associated with a buddy group including at least one buddy account of the buddies. One or more service specific settings matching the presence settings may be identified. Each service specific setting may specify a service specific presence of a messaging service for one of the user accounts and one of the buddy accounts. A presence notification message for the service specific setting may be determined to notify the messaging service for the presence setting. | 09-22-2011 |
20120005152 | Merged Event Logs - A record of an event is received in a common format. The record includes a time of the event, a type of the event, and an identity of a device that created the record in the common format using an event creation module selected based on the type of the event. A collection of records including the received record is managed, and a portion of the collection of records is provided in response to a user request. The portion is configured to be sorted according to user-configurable criteria and includes records with a plurality of types. | 01-05-2012 |
20120249855 | Image Capture Using Display Device as Light Source - A digital image capture system and method uses a display device to illuminate a target with light for improved image capture under poor lighting conditions. Various characteristics of the flash (e.g., brightness, color, duration, etc.) can be adjusted to improve image capture. Users are provided with feedback (e.g., live video feed, audio and/or visual countdowns, etc.) to assist them in preparing for image capture. The captured images are seamlessly integrated with existing applications (e.g., video conferencing, instant text messaging, etc.). | 10-04-2012 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100125580 | AUTOMATIC BUDDY MANAGEMENT - Exemplary embodiments of methods and apparatuses to provide automatic buddy management are described. One or more tags associated with a user on an instant messaging (IM) network are determined. One or more groups are organized based on the one or more tags associated with the user. The one or more tags associated with the user are communicated to the IM network. The one or more groups associated with the user may be displayed on a display. One or more tags associated with one or more other users on the IM network may be received. The one or more other users may be included into the one or more groups. One or more new groups may be created based on the one or more tags associated with one or more other users. | 05-20-2010 |
20110055735 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INITIATING AND MANAGING CHAT SESSIONS - Method and apparatus for initiating and managing a chat session are described herein. According to one embodiment, user activities with respect to the data processing system are monitored, including user activities that are unrelated to chat services. In response to a request to initiate a chat session between a local user and a remote user, a first chat service account is selected from a list of chat service accounts associated with the remote user based on the monitored user activities. A chat session is initiated using the selected first chat service account of the remote user and a second chat service account selected for the local user. Certain information is displayed within a chat window indicating that the chat session is conducted between the first and second chat service accounts. Other methods and apparatuses are also described. | 03-03-2011 |
20130204888 | COMMUNICATION HISTORY AGGREGATION AND PRESENTATION - A unified communication application can allow a user to communicate with contacts across multiple electronic communication services. The unified communication application can aggregate communication history between the user and another person. A set of communication files associated with user identifiers of the user and the other person can be obtained, arranged, and presented to the user in an order based on a timestamp of each conversation line in the files. | 08-08-2013 |
20130204947 | AUTOMATED PARTICIPANT ACCOUNT DETERMINATION FOR A COMMUNICATION SESSION - A unified communication application can allow a user to communicate with contacts across multiple electronic communication services. When the user desires to send a message, the communication application can identify a set of candidate account addresses associated with several electronic communication services in response to receiving a partial identifier of an intended recipient. The communication application can present a list including the set of candidate account addresses to the user. In response to receiving a user selection of one of the candidate account addresses, the communication application can determine a sender account from which to send the message. | 08-08-2013 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20110078591 | MULTI-WAY VIDEO CONFERENCING USER INTERFACE - A videoconferencing application includes a user interface that provides multiple participant panels, each of which is displayed with perspective with the panels appearing to be angled with respect to the user interface window. The participant panels display live video streams from remote participants. A two-way layout provides two participant panels for two remote participants, each of which is angled inwardly towards a center position. A three-way layout provides three participant panels for three remote participants, with a left, center and right panel, with the left and right panels angled inwardly towards a center position. | 03-31-2011 |
20140026073 | Method and Apparatus for Displaying Information During an Instant Messaging Session - A method and an apparatus are provided for controlling a graphical user interface to display information related to a communication session. Information relating to data produced by a first participant to the communication session is displayed on a first display unit, wherein the information produced by the first participant is displayed at a first position on the first display unit. Data is received from a second participant to the communication session, and information relating to the data received from the second participant is displayed on the first display unit, wherein the information received from the second participant is displayed at a second position on the first display unit. The first and second positions are horizontally spaced apart. | 01-23-2014 |
20140314223 | Mixed Media Conferencing - Multiple users participate in a conference while taking maximum advantage of hardware and bandwidth capabilities of each participant. Each user's system makes known to a directory service its hardware sending and receiving capabilities. The directory service makes this information available to other users who may then wish to join a conference with the user. An initiating user sends invitations via the directory service to the remote users. Each user that accepts an invitation transmits its network address to the initiating user, who then establishes a peer-to-peer connection with each of the remote users. Each participant system exchanges information about hardware capabilities and bandwidth, and a conference manager determines a best model for connecting each of the participants. Depending on the hardware and bandwidth capabilities of the participants, the manager chooses from a duplicate streams model, a multicast model, and a host-among-peers model for connecting the participants. | 10-23-2014 |