Personalized electronic message

• US 10,171,401 B2
• Filed: 09/15/2015
• Issued: 01/01/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Faruk, Omar, Bal, Sangram Jyoti, Macksood, Azmil, Hoque, Rezaul, Ashall, Stefan Alexander, Olislagers, Vincent
• Primary Examiner(s): Katsikis, Kostas J
• Application Number:
  US14/854,876
• Publication Number:
  US 20170078232A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,204 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/045 for graphical visualisation of monitoring data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

Enhancing and personalizing an electronic message with related and relevant information based on context of the message and recipients of the message is provided. A mailbox delivery agent receives an electronic message addressed to a recipient, extracts context data from the electronic message, queries an information source for information related to the context data and relevant to the recipient user, receives a response including information related to the context data and relevant to the recipient user, and generates and appends one or more information elements representative of the information related to the context data and relevant to the recipient user to the electronic message.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for personalizing an electronic message, comprising:

receiving an electronic message intended for a recipient user at a mailbox delivery agent associated with the recipient user;

identifying and extracting, by the mailbox delivery agent, context data from the electronic message including identities of a set of other recipients of the electronic message beside the recipient user;

querying, by the mailbox delivery agent, an information source for information related to the context data;

receiving, at the mailbox delivery agent, from the information source, a query response comprising information related to the context data, wherein the query response identifies information related to a subset of recipients, from the set of other recipients, with whom the recipient user does not share a close social relationship;

appending, by the mailbox delivery agent, one or more visual information elements representing the information related to the context data to the electronic message, the one or more visual information elements comprising selectable content cards including;

profiles associated with the subset of recipients with whom the recipient user does not share a close social relationship, wherein selection of a profile provides access via a link to a network store for displaying profile information regarding another recipient with whom the recipient user does not share a close social relationship, and documents related to a subject of the electronic message, wherein selection of a document provides access via a link to a network store for viewing the document; and

delivering, by the mailbox delivery agent, the electronic message comprising the appended information to a mailbox database of the recipient user, wherein the appended information is being provided within the electronic message to improve an electronic application to automatically provide personalized and related information to the recipient of the electronic message.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying and extracting context data from the electronic message further comprises identifying and extracting a subject of the electronic message.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein querying the information source for information related to the context data comprises querying a graph index for information related to the context data.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein querying the graph index for information related to the context data further comprises querying the graph index for information relevant to the recipient user.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein querying the graph index for information related to the context data and relevant to the recipient user comprises querying the graph index for information items related to the subject of the electronic message that the recipient user has not acted on previously.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein querying the graph index for information related to the context data and relevant to the recipient user comprises querying the graph index for information related to the subset of recipients of the electronic message with whom the recipient user does not share a close social relationship.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein:

receiving the electronic message intended for a recipient user comprises receiving a meeting request intended for a meeting invitee;

querying the graph index for information items related to the subject of the electronic message that the recipient user has not acted on previously comprises querying the graph index for information items related to the subject of a meeting; and

querying the graph index for information related to the subset of recipients of the electronic message who the recipient user does not share a close social relationship comprises querying the graph index for one or more other meeting invitees.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein prior to identifying and extracting context data from the electronic message, determining that the electronic message is a meeting request.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a query response comprising information related to the context data comprises receiving metadata associated with the information related to the context data.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein receiving metadata associated with the information related to the context data comprises receiving at least one of:

titles of information items;

descriptions of information items;

summaries of information items;

images of information items;

uniform resource locators (URLs) of information items;

activity information of information items;

profile information of recipients;

images of recipients;

URLs of recipients profile pages; and

organizational charts of recipients.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein appending the information related to the context data to the electronic message comprises:

generating one or more visual information elements representing the information related to the context data; and

appending the one or more visual information elements to the electronic message.

12. A system for personalizing an electronic message, comprising:

one or more processors for executing programmed instructions;

memory, coupled to the one or more processors, for storing program instruction steps for execution by the computer processor; and

a mailbox delivery agent comprising;

a message receiving engine operable to receive an electronic message intended for a recipient user;

a parser operable to identify and extract context data from the electronic message, the context data including identifies of a set of other recipients for whom the electronic message is intended in addition to the recipient user;

a query engine operable to;

query an information source for information related to the context data and relevant to the recipient user for a subset of recipients from the set of other recipients with whom the recipient user does not share a close social relationship; and

receive a query response comprising information related to the context data and relevant to the recipient user;

a personalized message generator operable to;

generate one or more visual information elements representing the information related to the context data and relevant to the recipient user; and

append the one or more visual information elements to the electronic message, the one or more visual information elements comprising selectable content cards including;

profiles associated with the subset of recipients with whom the recipient user does not share a close social relationship, wherein selection of a profile provides access via a link to a network store for displaying profile information regarding another recipient with whom the recipient user does not share a close social relationship, and documents related to a subject of the electronic message, wherein selection of a document provides access via a link to a network store for viewing the document; and

a message delivery engine operable to transmit the electronic message comprising the one or more appended visual information elements to a mailbox database of the recipient user, wherein the one or more visual information elements are being provided within the electronic message to improve an electronic application to automatically provide personalized and related information to the recipient of the electronic message.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein in identifying and extracting the context data from the electronic message, the parser is further operable to identify and extract a subject of the electronic message.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein in querying the information source for information related to the context data and relevant to the recipient user, the query engine is operable to query a graph index for information related to the context data and relevant to the recipient user.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein in querying the graph index for information related to the context data and relevant to the recipient user, the query engine is operable to query the graph index for:

information items related to the subject of the electronic message that the recipient user has not acted on previously; and

information related to the other recipients of the electronic message to determine whether each of the other recipients shares the close social relationship with the recipient user based on at least one of;

regular communications with the recipient user;

attendance at meetings with the recipient user; and

sharing an organization relationship with the recipient user.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein:

the electronic message is a meeting request intended for a meeting invitee; and

the query engine is operable to;

query the graph index for information items related to the subject of a meeting that the recipient user has not acted on previously; and

query the graph index for one or more meeting invitees with whom the recipient user does not share a close social relationship.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein in receiving a query response comprising information related to the context data and relevant to the recipient user, the query engine is operable to receive metadata associated with the information related to the context data and relevant to the recipient user, the metadata including at least one of:

titles of information items;

descriptions of information items;

summaries of information items;

images of information items;

uniform resource locators (URLs) of information items;

activity information of information items;

profile information of recipients;

images of recipients;

URLs of recipients profile pages; and

organizational charts of recipients.

18. One or more computer storage media storing computer-usable instructions that, when used by one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform a method for personalizing an electronic meeting invitation, the method comprising:

receiving an electronic meeting invitation intended for a recipient user at a mailbox delivery agent associated with the recipient user;

identifying and extracting, by the mailbox delivery agent, context data from the electronic meeting invitation, the context data including a subject of the meeting invitation and identities of a set of meeting invitees who are intended recipients of the electronic meeting invitation in addition to the recipient user;

querying, by the mailbox delivery agent, an information source for information related to the context data and relevant to the recipient user, wherein the information related to the context data and relevant to the recipient user identifies information related to a subset of the set of meeting invitees with whom the recipient user does not share a close social relationship;

receiving, at the mailbox delivery agent from the information source, a query response comprising information related to the context data and relevant to the recipient user, wherein the query response identifies information related to the subset of meeting invitees with whom the recipient user does not share a close social relationship;

generating, at the mailbox delivery agent, one or more visual information elements representing the information related to the context data and relevant to the recipient user;

appending, by the mailbox delivery agent, the one or more visual information elements to the electronic meeting invitation, representing the information related to the context data to the electronic message, the one or more visual information elements comprising selectable content cards including;

profiles associated with the subset of meeting invitees with whom the recipient user does not share a close social relationship, wherein selection of a profile provides access via a link to a network store for displaying profile information regarding another recipient with whom the recipient user does not share a close social relationship, and documents related to a subject of the electronic message, wherein selection of a document provides access via a link to a network store for viewing the document; and

delivering, by the mailbox delivery agent, the electronic meeting invitation comprising the one or more appended visual information elements to a mailbox database of the recipient user, wherein the one or more visual information elements are being provided within the electronic message to improve an electronic application to automatically provide personalized and related information to the recipient of the electronic message.

19. The one or more computer storage media of claim 18, wherein querying the information source for information related to the context data and relevant to the recipient user comprises querying a graph index for:

information items related to the subject of the electronic meeting invitation that the recipient user has not acted on previously; and

information related to one or more meeting invitees who the recipient user does not share a close social relationship.

20. The one or more computer storage media of claim 18, wherein generating one or more visual information elements representing the information related to the context data and relevant to the recipient user comprises generating one or more visual information elements including one or more pieces of metadata associated with the information related to the context data and relevant to the recipient user, the one or more pieces of metadata including at least one of:

titles of information items;

descriptions of information items;

summaries of information items;

images of information items;

uniform resource locators (URLs) of information items;

activity information of information items;

profile information of recipients;

images of recipients;

URLs of recipients profile pages; and

organizational charts of recipients.