Patent ID: 8201108

Claim:
A conferencing communication notification and reply method to notify a user of a computer system of an incoming conferencing correspondence from a conferencing system that is networked with said computer system and said user replying to said notification, said communication notification and reply method is implemented as a software program on said computer system, wherein said software program comprises the method steps of: (a) monitoring user activity on said computer system based on a plurality of input or tracking devices, wherein said monitoring is accomplished automatically by said software program and without any guidance or input from the user; (b) receiving said incoming conferencing correspondence from said conferencing system; (c) classifying the type of said received incoming conferencing correspondence; (d) determining, without any guidance or input from the user, a notification format for said incoming conferencing correspondence by taking into account said monitored user activity and said classified type of said incoming conferencing correspondence; (e) determining an area on a display of said computer system where said incoming conferencing correspondence in said notification format can be presented to said user, wherein said determined area avoids said user to have to switch over to another window on said display and wherein said determined area is within or near a central field of view of said user on said display or within a workspace area where said user is working or looking on said display; (f) presenting said incoming conferencing correspondence in said determined notification format to said user; (g) detecting a pointer-device gesture movement that is included in a predefined set of pointer-device gesture combinations; and (h) generating a reply based on said detecting.