Facilitating communications between computer users across a network

Abstract

A stand-alone icon (i.e., an icon that is not part of an application interface) is provided to facilitate communications across a network between users of at least one communications program. The icon represents a contact or a set of contacts. Status information regarding the contact or set of contacts is received and displayed using the icon or in response to an operation performed on the icon. The icon additionally may provide an interface for performing actions related to the contact or set of contacts. The actions may generally include, for example, retrieving profile information about the contact, setting an alert to indicate that the contact's network/login status (e.g., login, logout, or idle) has changed, or performing communications with the contact.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of facilitating communications across a network between users of at least one communications program, the method comprising:
 providing a stand-alone icon that represents at least one contact of a user;   receiving status information regarding the contact;   displaying the status information regarding the contact using the icon or in response to an operation performed on the icon.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the status information comprises any of: whether the contact is online, how long the contact has been online, whether the contact is away or busy, whether the contact is using a mobile device, what types of connections the contact can accept, what capabilities are provided by the contact's connection, or what capabilities are provided by the communications program. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 recognizing that an operation associated with at least one action has been performed on the icon, wherein the action is related to the contact and is the same as an action that would be executed in response to an operation performed on a representation of the contact or set of contacts in the user interface of the communications program; and 
 executing the action in response to the operation performed on the icon. 
 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3  wherein the operation associated with the action comprises dropping an icon representing information to be transmitted to the contact on the icon representing the contact. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4  wherein executing at least one action comprises:
 detecting that the icon representing information to be transmitted to the contact has been dropped on the icon representing the contact, and 
 automatically transmitting the information represented by the dropped icon to the contact in response to the icon representing information to be transmitted being dropped on the icon representing the contact. 
 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5  wherein the information to be transmitted comprises a file, such that the file is automatically transmitted to the contact in response to the icon representing the file being dropped on the icon representing the contact. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5  wherein the information to be transmitted comprises a textual message such that the textual message is automatically transmitted to the contact in response to the icon representing the textual message being dropped on the icon representing the contact. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 3  wherein the communications program comprises an instant messaging program. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 3  wherein the icon that represents a contact is available when the communications program is not executing. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9  further comprising invoking the communications program in response to the operation associated with the action being performed on the icon that represents a contact. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 detecting that an icon representing information to be transmitted to the contact has been dropped on the icon representing the contact, and 
 automatically transmitting the information represented by the dropped icon to the contact in response to the icon representing information to be transmitted being dropped on the icon representing the contact. 
 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the information to be transmitted comprises a file, such that the file is automatically transmitted to the contact in response to the icon representing the file being dropped on the icon representing the contact. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the information to be transmitted comprises a textual message such that the textual message is automatically transmitted to the contact in response to the icon representing the textual message being dropped on the icon representing the contact. 
     
     
         14 . A computer-usable medium storing a computer program for facilitating communications across a network between users of at least one communications program, the computer program comprising instructions for causing a computer to:
 provide a stand-alone icon that represents at least one contact of a user;   receive status information regarding the contact;   display the status information regarding the contact using the icon or in response to an operation performed on the icon.   
     
     
         15 . The computer-usable medium of  claim 14  wherein the status information comprises any of: whether the contact is online, how long the contact has been online, whether the contact is away or busy, whether the contact is using a mobile device, what types of connections the contact can accept, what capabilities are provided by the contact's connection, or what capabilities are provided by the communications program. 
     
     
         16 . The computer-usable medium of  claim 14  wherein the computer program further comprises instructions for causing a computer to:
 recognize that an operation associated with at least one action has been performed on the icon, wherein the action is related to the contact and is the same as an action that would be executed in response to an operation performed on a representation of the contact or set of contacts in the user interface of the communications program; and 
 execute the action in response to the operation performed on the icon. 
 
     
     
         17 . The computer-usable medium of  claim 16  wherein the operation associated with the action comprises dropping an icon representing information to be transmitted to the contact on the icon representing the contact. 
     
     
         18 . The computer-usable medium of  claim 17  wherein, to execute at least one action, the computer program further comprises instructions for causing a computer to:
 detect that the icon representing information to be transmitted to the contact has been dropped on the icon representing the contact, and 
 automatically transmit the information represented by the dropped icon to the contact in response to the icon representing information to be transmitted being dropped on the icon representing the contact. 
 
     
     
         19 . The computer-usable medium of  claim 18  wherein the information to be transmitted comprises a file, such that the file is automatically transmitted to the contact in response to the icon representing the file being dropped on the icon representing the contact. 
     
     
         20 . The computer-usable medium of  claim 18  wherein the information to be transmitted comprises a textual message such that the textual message is automatically transmitted to the contact in response to the icon representing the textual message being dropped on the icon representing the contact.