US 8,510,399 B1Granted

Automated participants for hosted conversations

AssigneeGoogle Inc.

InventorsDavid Mark Byttow, Marcel Adi Prasetya, Douwe M. Osinga

Life of this patent

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Abstract

A server system stores a hosted conversation having a special-purpose automated participant and a standard participant. The server system receives a request to modify the conversation from a first participant, determines a set of edits that update the conversation to an updated state in accordance with the request to modify the conversation; and sends, the set of edits to a second participant. When the first participant is a standard participant: the request includes an indication of preliminary edits; the conversation is updated in accordance with the preliminary edits; and the set of edits include concurrency-resolved edits. When the first participant is a special-purpose automated participant: the request includes an operation to be performed on the conversation; the operation is performed on the conversation at the server system; and the set of edits updates the conversation, in accordance with the operation.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method, comprising:

at a server system having one or more processors and a memory storing one or more programs for execution by the one or more processors so as to perform the method:
storing a hosted conversation having a plurality of participants, the participants including one or more special-purpose automated participants that operate in accordance with instructions to perform one or more predefined operations in response to detecting predefined trigger criteria and one or more standard participants that respond dynamically to changes in the conversation;
receiving a request to modify the conversation from a first participant;
determining a set of edits that update the conversation in accordance with the request to modify the conversation;
and
sending the set of edits to a second participant that update the conversation to an updated state;
wherein:
when the first participant is a standard participant:
the request includes an indication of preliminary edits that were performed on the conversation by the first participant;
determining the set of edits includes updating the conversation in accordance with the preliminary edits that were performed on the conversation by the first participant;
and the set of edits include concurrency-resolved edits that transform the conversation to the updated state;
when the first participant is a special-purpose automated participant:
the request includes a request to perform an operation on the conversation;
determining the set of edits includes performing the operation on the conversation;
and the set of edits include edits that update the conversation, in accordance with the operation, to the updated state;
and
when the first participant is the special-purpose automated participant:
the first participant is in communication with a third-party;
the request to perform the operation on the conversation is a request to add third-party content to the conversation;
and the set of edits that are sent to the second participant update the conversation by adding the third-party content to the conversation.

17 more elements

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium and one or more computer programs embedded therein, the one or more computer programs comprising instructions, which when executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to:

store a hosted conversation having a plurality of participants, the participants including one or more special-purpose automated participants that operate in accordance with instructions to perform one or more predefined operations in response to detecting predefined trigger criteria and one or more standard participants that respond dynamically to changes in the conversation;
receive a request to modify the conversation from a first participant;
determine a set of edits that update the conversation in accordance with the request to modify the conversation;
and
send the set of edits to a second participant that update the conversation to an updated state;
wherein:
when the first participant is a standard participant:
the request includes an indication of preliminary edits that were performed on the conversation by the first participant;
determining the set of edits includes updating the conversation in accordance with the preliminary edits that were performed on the conversation by the first participant;
and the set of edits include concurrency-resolved edits that transform the conversation to the updated state;
when the first participant is a special-purpose automated participant:
the request includes a request to perform an operation on the conversation;
determining the set of edits includes performing the operation on the conversation;
and the set of edits includes include edits that update the conversation, in accordance with the operation, to the updated state;
and
when the first participant is the special-purpose automated participant:
the first participant is in communication with a third-party;
the request to perform the operation on the conversation is a request to add third-party content to the conversation;
and the set of edits that are sent to the second participant update the conversation by adding the third-party content to the conversation.

16 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 13/109,923Filed 17 May 2011 · us provisional application
Priority: 18 May 2010
Granted: 13 Aug 2013
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification5 codes

H04L 51/04
User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail: real-time or…
G06Q 10/10
Administration; Management: office automation; Time management
H04L 12/1822
For computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms: conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants,…
H04L
Digital communication