Techniques to restore communications sessions for applications having conversation and meeting environments

Abstract

Techniques for restoring communications sessions for applications having conversation environment and a meeting embodiment are described. A system may include a meeting component of a communications application for selecting a meeting from multiple meetings, a conversation component of the communications application for managing multiple conversation threads, and a recovery component of the communications application for recovering an active meeting from the multiple meetings or an active conversation thread from the multiple conversation threads. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:
 exposing functionality, via a processing unit, for a conversations environment and a meetings environment in a communications application;   displaying a list of items associated with the conversations environment or the meetings environment;   detecting a termination of an active communications session for a communications item in the list of items, the active communications session including an active conversation thread; and   recovering the communications application and the active communications session, including establishing a new active communications session or restarting the active communications session.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising detecting a recovery event corresponding to the termination of the active communications session. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising converting the communications item into the new communications session. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising detecting an interruption of the active communications session caused by at least one of an event or an error. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the termination is caused by at least one of a network disconnect, network failure, device failure, component failure, hardware failure, software failure, communications stack failure, radio failure, radio channel failure, signal interference, power conservation measures, power failure, user error, third party error, undocking event, rebooting event, timeout event, or a disconnect event. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising establishing the new active communications session with at least one identical or similar characteristic as the terminated active communications session. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one similar or identical characteristic comprises same or similar participants, device parameters, communications parameters, security parameters, privacy parameters, meeting content, communications history, or messages. 
     
     
         8 . An apparatus, comprising:
 a component of a communications application operative on a processing circuit to expose functionality for a conversations environment and a meetings environment and display a list of items associated with the conversations environment or the meetings environment; and   another component of the communications applications operative on the processing circuit to detect a termination of an active communications session for a communications item in the list of items, the active communications session including an active conversation thread and recover the communications application and the active communications session by establishing a new active communications session or restarting the active communications session.   
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein the other component is further operative to detect a recovery event corresponding to the termination of the active communications session. 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein the other component is further operative to convert the communications item into the new communications session. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein the other component is further operative to detect an interruption of the active communications session caused by at least one of an event or an error. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein the termination is caused by at least one of a network disconnect, network failure, device failure, component failure, hardware failure, software failure, communications stack failure, radio failure, radio channel failure, signal interference, power conservation measures, power failure, user error, third party error, undocking event, rebooting event, timeout event, or a disconnect event. 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein the other component is further operative to establish the new active communications session with at least one identical or similar characteristic as the terminated active communications session. 
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein the at least one similar or identical characteristic comprises same or similar participants, device parameters, communications parameters, security parameters, privacy parameters, meeting content, communications history, or messages. 
     
     
         15 . A computer-readable media storing instructions that when executed by a system, cause the system to:
 expose functionality, via a processing unit, for a conversations environment and a meetings environment in a communications application;   display a list of items associated with the conversations environment or the meetings environment;   detect a termination of an active communications session for a communications item in the list of items, the active communications session including an active conversation thread; and   recover the communications application and the active communications session, including establishing a new active communications session or restarting the active communications session.   
     
     
         16 . The computer-readable media of  claim 15  further having instructions that when executed by the system, cause the system to:
 detect a recovery event corresponding to the termination of the active communications session. 
 
     
     
         17 . The computer-readable media of  claim 15  further having instructions that when executed by the system, cause the system to:
 convert the communications item into the new communications session. 
 
     
     
         18 . The computer-readable media of  claim 15  further having instructions that when executed by the system, cause the system to:
 detect an interruption of the active communications session caused by at least one of an event or an error. 
 
     
     
         19 . The computer-readable media of  claim 15 , the termination being caused by at least one of a network disconnect, network failure, device failure, component failure, hardware failure, software failure, communications stack failure, radio failure, radio channel failure, signal interference, power conservation measures, power failure, user error, third party error, undocking event, rebooting event, timeout event, or a disconnect event. 
     
     
         20 . The computer-readable media of  claim 15  further having instructions that when executed by the system, cause the system to:
 establish the new active communications session with at least one identical or similar characteristic as the terminated active communications session.