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US 10,979,487 B2Granted
Desktop assistant for multiple information types in a timeline view
AssigneeMicrosoft Technology Licensing, LLC
InventorsEdwin R. Burtner, Thomas V. Gruver
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and system for providing an aggregate view of information that a user may need is provided. A desktop assistant system collects information items that a user may need such as scheduling information and recently received messages. The desktop assistant system may also identify documents that the user may need and contacts with whom the user may need to communicate based on analysis of the collected scheduling information and the collected messages. The desktop assistant system then displays indications of the collected scheduling information, the collected messages, the identified documents, and the identified contacts so that the user has an integrated view of the needed information items.
Claims15
A computer system for providing an aggregation of information, the system comprising:
- a processing unit configured to
- collect a plurality of messages of a user, the plurality of messages including a first message of a first message type accessible through a first client application and a second message of a second message type accessible through a second client application, the first client application being different than the second client application;
- determine a first indicator for the first message based on the first message type;
- display the first indicator for the first message within a timeline displayed within a graphical user interface, the first indicator aligned with a time slot included in the timeline associated with a time of the first message within a first area of the graphical user interface associated with the first message type;
- determine a second indicator for the second message based on the second message type, the second indicator being different than the first indicator;
- display the second indicator for the second message within the timeline, the second indicator aligned with a time slot included in the timeline associated with a time of the second message within a second area of the graphical user interface associated with the second message type;
- and
- in response to selection of the first indicator, display an indicator of a separate collected information item related to the first message, wherein the separate collected information item includes at least one selected from a group consisting of a document, a third message, a meeting, and a contact, wherein the indicator of the separate collected information item is displayed within an area of the graphical user interface separate from the timeline and the area of the graphical user interface is associated with an item type of the separate collected information item, the item type being one selected from a group consisting of a message, a document, a meeting, and a contact.
5 more elements
A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for controlling a computing system to display indicators of information items, the computer-executable instructions comprising instructions that:
- collect a plurality of messages of a user, the plurality of messages including a first message of a first message type accessible through a first client application and a second message of a second message type accessible through a second client application, the first client application being different than the second client application;
- determine a first indicator for the first message based on the first message type;
- display the first indicator for the first message within a timeline displayed within a graphical user interface, the first indicator aligned with a time slot included in the timeline associated with a time of the first message and the first indicator selectable by the user to view the first message, the first indicator aligned with the timeslot associated with the time of the first message within a first area of the graphical user interface associated with the first message type;
- determine a second indicator for the second message based on the second message type, the second indicator being different than the first indicator;
- display the second indicator for the second message within the timeline, the second indicator aligned with a time slot included in the timeline associated with a time of the second message and the second indicator selectable by the user to view the second message, the second indicator aligned with the timeslot associated with the time of the second message within a second area of the graphical user interface separate from the first area and associated with the second message type;
- and
- in response to selection of the first indicator, display an indicator of a separate collected information item related to the first message, wherein the indicator of the separate collected information item is displayed within one of a plurality of areas of the graphical user interface separate from the timeline and wherein each area of the plurality of areas of the graphical user interface is associated with an item type, and wherein the indicator of the separate collected item is displayed within the one of the plurality of areas associated with an item type of the separate collected item.
4 more elements
A method of displaying indicators of information items, the method comprising:
- collecting, with a processing unit, a plurality of messages of a user, the plurality of messages including a first message of a first message type accessible through a first client application and a second message of a second message type accessible through a second client application, the first client application being different than the second client application;
- determining, with the processing unit, a first indicator for the first message based on the first message type;
- displaying the first indicator for the first message within a timeline displayed within of a graphical user interface, the first indicator aligned with a time slot included in the timeline associated with a time of the first message;
- determining, with the processing unit, a second indicator for the second message based on the second message type, the second indicator being different than the first indicator;
- displaying the second indicator for the second message within the timeline of the graphical user interface, the second indicator aligned with a time slot included in the timeline associated with a time of the second message;
- and
- in response to selection of the first indicator, displaying an indicator of a separate collected information item related to the first message, wherein the separate collected information item includes at least one selected from a group consisting of a document, a meeting, and a contact, wherein the indicator of the separate collected information item is displayed within an area of the graphical user interface separate from the timeline and the area of the graphical user interface is associated with an item type of the separate collected information item.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.