Contact sidebar tile

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer program products for tracking real-time communication data within a single contact tracking application for diverse communication providers and applications. A global data store is synchronized with real-time communication data, such as presence, status, unread messages, and unread notifications, from each application/provider. Real-time communication data for contacts dynamically determined to be recent contacts is retrieved from the data store, based on properties such as a most recent communication time, a communication count, and the like. Real-time communication data corresponding to contacts identified as pinned contacts for which display of real-time communication data is preferred, also may be retrieved. A user interface is generated for displaying the one or more recent and/or pinned contacts, which may vary in size based on the number of contacts identified as pinned contacts, from which a contact may be selected for real-time conversation or e-mail.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A method for displaying communication data tracked from a plurality of providers and applications, the method performed by executing computer executable instructions upon one or more computer processors which cause the one or more computer processors to perform the method comprising:
 receiving communication data from a plurality of providers that correspond to one or more contacts, the plurality of providers comprising at least a first source and a second, different, source;   displaying a contact listing on a user interface that lists the one or more contacts;   displaying an indication next to a particular contact of the one or more contacts, the indication identifying a quantity of communication notifications that have been received that are associated with the particular contact; and   providing a user input section which, upon receiving corresponding user input, will open a view to display communication data associated with the particular contact.   
     
     
         2 . The method recited in  claim 1 , wherein the method further includes displaying a second indication next to the particular contact and wherein the second indication identifies a second quantity of communication notifications that have been received from the particular contact. 
     
     
         3 . The method recited in  claim 1 , wherein an ordering of the listed one or more contacts is based on a communication count associated with each of the one or more listed contacts and wherein the communication count for each of the one or more listed contacts comprises a total number of communication notifications received from each of the one or more listed contacts, respectively. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein an ordering of the listed one or more contacts is based on a combination of both a most recent communication time in which a communication was received associated with each of the one or more contacts, respectively, as well as a communication count for each of the one or more listed contacts which comprises a total number of communications received associated with each of the one or more listed contacts, respectively. 
     
     
         5 . The method recited in  claim 1 , wherein the user interface comprises separate pinned contact and recent contact portions, and wherein the contact listing is listed in the pinned contact portion of the user interface. 
     
     
         6 . The method recited in  claim 5 , wherein a first list of contacts included in the pinned contact portion of the user interface is ordered differently than an ordering of a second listing of contacts included in the recent contact portion of the user interface. 
     
     
         7 . The method recited in  claim 6 , wherein the first list of contacts is ordered alphabetically. 
     
     
         8 . The method recited in  claim 1 , wherein the method further includes displaying, within the user interface, a selectable object for initiating a search of one or more contacts. 
     
     
         9 . The method recited in  claim 1 , wherein the method further includes displaying, within the user interface, a selectable object for initiating the entry of another contact to add to the list of one or more contacts. 
     
     
         10 . A computer program product for performing a method of displaying communication data tracked from a plurality of communication providers and applications, the computer program product comprising one or more computer readable storage devices having encoded thereon computer executable instructions which when executed upon one or more computer processors cause the one or more computer processors to perform the method comprising:
 receiving communication data from a plurality of providers that correspond to one or more contacts, the plurality of providers comprising at least a first source and a second, different, source;   displaying a contact listing on a user interface that lists the one or more contacts;   displaying an indication next to a particular contact of the one or more contacts, the indication identifying a quantity of communication notifications that have been received that are associated with the particular contact; and   providing a user input section which, upon receiving corresponding user input, willopen a view to display communication data associated with the particular contact.   
     
     
         11 . The computer program product recited in  claim 10 , wherein the method further includes displaying a second indication next to the particular contact and wherein the second indication identifies a second quantity of communication notifications that have been received from the particular contact. 
     
     
         12 . The computer program product recited in  claim 10 , wherein an ordering of the listed one or more contacts is based on a communication count associated with each of the one or more listed contacts and wherein the communication count for each of the one or more listed contacts comprises a total number of communication notifications received from each of the one or more listed contacts, respectively. 
     
     
         13 . The computer program product of  claim 10 , wherein an ordering of the listed one or more contacts is based on a combination of both a most recent communication time in which a communication was received associated with each of the one or more contacts, respectively, as well as a communication count for each of the one or more listed contacts which comprises a total number of communications received associated with each of the one or more listed contacts, respectively. 
     
     
         14 . The computer program product recited in  claim 10 , wherein the user interface comprises separate pinned contact and recent contact portions, and wherein the contact listing is listed in the pinned contact portion of the user interface. 
     
     
         15 . The computer program product recited in  claim 14 , wherein a first list of contacts included in the pinned contact portion of the user interface is ordered differently than an ordering of a second listing of contacts included in the recent contact portion of the user interface. 
     
     
         16 . The computer program product recited in  claim 15 , wherein the first list of contacts is ordered alphabetically. 
     
     
         17 . The computer program product recited in  claim 10 , wherein the method further includes displaying, within the user interface, a selectable object for initiating a search of one or more contact. 
     
     
         18 . The computer program product recited in  claim 10 , wherein the method further includes displaying, within the user interface, a selectable object for initiating the entry of another contact to add to the list of one or more contacts. 
     
     
         19 . A computing device for performing a method of displaying communication data tracked from a plurality of communication providers and applications, the computing device comprising one or more processors and one or more computer readable storage devices having encoded thereon computer executable instructions which when executed upon the one or more computer processors cause the one or more computer processors to perform the method comprising:
 receiving communication data from a plurality of diverse communication providers corresponding to one or more contacts, plurality of providers comprising at least a first source and a second, different, source;   displaying a first contact listing on a user interface that lists the one or more contacts that have been determined to be recent contacts, determining the one or more contacts to be recent contacts comprising at least determining a most recent communication time;   displaying a second contact listing on the user interface comprising one or more pinned contacts, each pinned contact having been designated as a pinned contact by receipt of a corresponding user input;   distinguishing between the first and the second contact listings;   displaying a first number next to a contact of the one or more contacts included in either of the first or the second contact listing, the first number identifying a quantity of unread communication notifications that have been received from the contact; and   displaying a second number next to a communication contact of the one or more contacts included in either of the first or second contact listing, the second number identifying a quantity of unread communication notifications that have been received from the communication contact.   
     
     
         20 . The computing device recited in  claim 19 , wherein the contact and the communication contact are a same contact and such that the same contact is displayed with the first and the second numbers next to the same contact.