Integration of collaboration systems in an instant messaging application

摘要

A user of an instant messaging application may interact with instant messaging contacts in other collaboration applications (e.g., e-mail, calendar applications, etc.). IM conversations may relate to information in the collaboration applications. For example, an employee may send an e-mail containing marketing data to his manager and wishes to discuss the data further. The employee sends an IM to the manager referencing the data. The manager should read the e-mail before responding, but the manager may not know that she received the e-mail. Information from a plurality of collaboration applications can be integrated into an instant messaging application. A collaboration integration unit can collect and associate information from the collaboration applications with instant messaging contacts and provide suggestions based on the information. In the previous example, the manager's instant messaging application collects information from an e-mail application and indicates that she has an unread e-mail from the employee.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
receiving information corresponding to a plurality of instant messaging contacts from one or more collaboration applications, wherein the plurality of instant messaging contacts are stored by an instant messaging application, wherein the one or more collaboration applications comprise an e-mail application, a calendar application, an online meeting application, and a voicemail application; associating the information with the plurality of instant messaging contacts; determining a contact priority for each of the plurality of instant messaging contacts based, at least in part, on the association between the information and the plurality of instant messaging contacts, wherein the contact priority indicates an attention level associated with each of the plurality of instant messaging contacts; generating a contact tip based, at least in part, on the contact priority, wherein the contact tip specifies a reason for the contact priority; displaying an indication of the contact priority and the contact tip in an instant messaging contacts list; detecting that an instant message has been received from one of the plurality of instant messaging contacts; receiving, from the one or more collaboration applications, contact information corresponding to the instant messaging contact; associating the contact information with the instant messaging contact; determining a message priority for the instant message based, at least in part, on the association between the contact information and the instant messaging contact, wherein the message priority indicates the attention level for the instant message; generating a message tip based, at least in part, on the message priority, wherein the message tip specifies a reason for the message priority; and displaying the instant message with an indication of the message priority and the message tip.