Facebook, Inc.

Aol Inc.

Deborah Ruth Yurow

Brian Heikes

Andrew Lee Wick

Kristine Amber Krantz

Venkatesh Ramanathan

Richard W Robinson, Jr

Edward L Sears

Kelly Matthews

Russell Scott Medeiros

Barry Appelman

Xiaoyan Yin

Perry E Miranda Roman

Kelly Monroe Mathews

James A Odell

Perry E Roman

Managing instant messages may include receiving instant messages created by or on behalf of one or more message sources for delivery to an intended recipient. From among the received instant messages, qualifying instant messages may be identified that satisfy a capture rule, and two or more of the qualifying instant messages may be captured. The intended recipient may be informed of the captured instant messages unobtrusively, and also may be enabled to manage the captured instant messages.

Methods for controlling display of electronic messages captured based on community rankings

A computer program or method provides away messages from a first user to other users of a communications system, where the first user has grouped the other users into two or more groups. An interface is provided to the first user that displays representations of the other users in a manner that identifies how the first user has grouped the other users into the groups. The first user is able to select a selected group from the groups using the interface. The first user also is able to set a group away message for the selected group using the interface. The group away message is sent to a second user that has been grouped in the selected group when the second user attempts to communicate with the first user using the communications system and the first user is offline.

Offline away messages

Methods for capturing electronic messages based on capture rules relating to user actions regarding received electronic messages

Controlling the volume of an audible alert associated with an instant messaging communications session includes rendering, on a first instant messaging user system, an instant messaging application user interface for an instant messaging communications session involving at least a first instant messaging user and a second instant messaging user, receiving notification of an event related to the instant messaging communications session, determining a characteristic of the event, accessing an audible alert to be rendered to signal existence of the event, adjusting based upon the determined characteristic of the event a volume of the audible alert corresponding to the event, and rendering the audible alert to signal existence of the event.

Changing event notification volumes

Methods for capturing electronic messages based on capture rules relating to online contexts of users

Growing community of inventors

Arlington, VA, United States of America

Deborah Ruth Yurow