Unified Communication Manager for Multi-Modal Group Messaging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current communication systems lack the ability to efficiently manage and initiate simultaneous communication with multiple contacts across various modalities, such as email, text messaging, and social networks, from a single interface, making it inconvenient for users to communicate effectively with large groups.
Innovation Solution
A computing device with a user interface that allows users to select multiple contacts for communication and a communications manager to initiate communication via multiple modalities, such as email, text messaging, and social networks, using a 'one-click' approach, enabling unified communication management and preferences setting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If users manually manage communication with multiple contacts across different modalities, then communication can be initiated, but the process becomes time-consuming and complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple communication modalities (email, text messaging, social networks) and contact management functions into a single unified interface. Users can select multiple contacts across different modalities and initiate communication through one integrated system rather than switching between separate applications, thereby improving productivity while reducing time loss.
Solution Approach 2:
The communication manager is designed as a universal system that handles multiple communication modalities and contact types through a single interface. This multi-functional approach allows users to manage diverse communication channels uniformly, eliminating the need for separate management processes for each modality and significantly reducing the time required for contact management.
2Ease of operation
If a unified interface for managing multiple communication modalities is implemented, then ease of operation improves, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a communication manager as an intermediary layer between the user interface and multiple communication modalities. This mediator handles the complexity of integrating different communication channels, protocols, and contacts, while presenting a simplified unified interface to users. The communication manager absorbs the system complexity internally while maintaining ease of operation externally.
3Productivity
If simultaneous communication with multiple contacts is enabled, then communication effectiveness increases, but the complexity of managing preferences and modalities increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-configuring communication preferences and modality settings for each contact during the contact creation or import phase. When users initiate group communication, these pre-set preferences are automatically applied, enabling simultaneous multi-modal communication without requiring users to manually configure each contact's preferences at the moment of communication, thus managing complexity in advance.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems, computing devices, and methods for communicating to multiple contacts via multiple, different communication modalities are disclosed herein. According to an aspect, a computing device includes a user interface configured to present a plurality of contacts for communication via multiple, different communication modalities. The user interface can also receive user selection of two or more of the contacts for communication. The computing device can also include a communications manager configured to initiate communication with the two or more of the contacts via two of the modalities in response to receipt of the user selection of the contacts.