Cross-Platform Contact Availability Matching for Social Calls
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing communication platforms fail to efficiently connect users across multiple platforms when both parties are available for socializing, leading to missed opportunities for interaction.
Innovation Solution
A server manages user contacts across multiple communication platforms, determining a list of available contacts within a predefined period and facilitating communication connections between devices based on this information.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If users manually check availability across multiple communication platforms, then they can identify available contacts for socializing, but the time and effort required increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple communication platforms (email, voicemail, Facebook, FaceTime, Twitter, LinkedIn, Skype, Instagram, Messenger) into a single unified system. The server aggregates contact availability information across all these platforms, allowing users to check availability once rather than manually checking each platform separately. This merging resolves the contradiction by consolidating information gathering while reducing time investment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a server as an intermediary between users and multiple communication platforms. The server manages contact lists, determines availability status across platforms, and provides this information to users. This intermediary automates the availability checking process, eliminating the need for users to manually query each platform and thus reducing time loss while maintaining complete availability information.
2Adaptability or versatility
If users expand their contact list across multiple communication platforms, then more potential socializing opportunities become available, but the complexity of managing these contacts increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the complex task of contact management and availability tracking from the user's device and transfers it to a remote server. The server stores and manages contact information across multiple platforms, while the user's device only needs to query the server for availability. This extraction reduces device complexity while maintaining adaptability across numerous communication platforms.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a universal contact management system that works across multiple communication platforms simultaneously. The server provides a single interface that manages contacts from email, voicemail, Facebook, FaceTime, Twitter, LinkedIn, Skype, Instagram, and Messenger, making the system adaptable to various platforms without increasing user-facing complexity. One system performs multiple functions across different platforms.
3Productivity
If users actively seek to socialize with more people, then social interaction opportunities increase, but the effort to initiate contacts increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary action by automatically determining contact availability before users need to initiate social interaction. The server continuously monitors and updates contact availability status across all platforms, so when users want to socialize, they immediately have access to ready-made lists of available contacts. This preliminary preparation eliminates the effort of actively searching for available people, increasing social interaction productivity while maintaining ease of operation.
Data Source
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AI summary
Hereinafter, techniques which facilitate automatically establishing a communication connection between a device of a user and a further device of a contact of the user are provided. Upon determining the user of the device being available to socialize, the device obtains or receives, e.g., from a server, contact information associated with each of a list of contacts of the user being available to socialize within a predefined period of time. The list of contacts is determined based on contacts of the user across a plurality of communication platforms. The contact is selected, based on the contact information, from the list of contacts.