Patent ID: 8539031
Filing Date: 2013-09-17
Classification: G06F,G06Q,H04L

Abstract:
1. A computer-implemented method for displaying a list of people associated with a message item stored in a message store for use by a personal information manager (PIM) application, the computer-implemented method comprising performing computer-implemented operations for: identifying a plurality of people associated with the message item stored in the message store; upon identifying the plurality of people associated with the message item stored in the message store, accessing a local storage of the PIM to determine whether an image associated with each of the plurality of people is contained in the local storage; in response to determining that an image associated with one of the plurality of people is contained in the local storage, retrieving the image associated with the person from the local storage; in response to determining that an image associated with the person is not contained in the local storage, determining whether an image associated with the person is contained in an organization directory; in response to determining that an image associated with the person is contained in the organization directory, retrieving the image associated with the person from the organization directory; and in response to determining that an image associated with the person is not contained in the organization directory, causing a placeholder image to be displayed in the list entry for the person; generating a list of people comprising a list entry for each of the plurality of people, each list entry comprising a name, an image associated with a corresponding person associated with the message item, and a pronunciation user interface (UI) control, the pronunciation UI control configured to cause an audio recording of the name of the corresponding person to be played through a speaker connected to a computer executing the PIM when the pronunciation UI control is selected by a user of the computer; and displaying the list of people in conjunction with data regarding the message item stored in the message store in a window of the PIM; detect that a user of the computer has selected the pronunciation UI control of at least one list entry for the corresponding person; upon detecting that the user has selected the pronunciation UI control, determine whether the audio recording of the name of the at least one list entry is contained in a local storage of the PIM; in response to determining that the audio recording of the name of the at least one list entry is contained in the local storage, retrieve the audio recording of the name of the at least one list entry from the local storage and play the audio recording of the name of the at least one list entry through the speaker; in response to determining that the audio recording of the name of the at least one list entry is not contained in the local storage, determine whether the audio recording of the name of the at least one list entry is contained in an organization directory; and in response to determining that the audio recording of the name of the at least one list entry is contained in the organization directory, retrieve the audio recording of the name of the at least one list entry from the organization directory and play the audio recording of the name of the at least one list entry through the speaker.