Interactive preview teasers in communications

• US 10,191,891 B2
• Filed: 08/26/2015
• Issued: 01/29/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Sunderland, Mark, Wood, Matthew, Desai, Aditi, De La Brena, David, Wadhwani, Amit
• Primary Examiner(s): Kells, Asher D
• Application Number:
  US14/836,691
• Publication Number:
  US 20170060824A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,252 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/134 Hyperlinking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/205 Parsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/174 Facial expression recognition

Abstract

Technologies are described for rich visualization of embedded objects, attachments, and links within emails and similar forms of online conversations. In some examples, the embedded objects, attachments, and links may be analyzed and parsed to generate teasers, which may include enhanced images, summary information, and comparable features. The teasers may be presented within a body of an email or in a dedicated area of a conversation user interface and include interactive features such as presentation of detailed information upon selection without opening and processing individual emails.

Claims

1. A computing device to provide rich visualization of embedded objects, attachments, and links within emails through teasers, the computing device comprising:

a memory configured to store instructions; and

one or more processors coupled to the memory, the one or more processors configured to execute, in conjunction with the instructions stored in the memory, a communication application, wherein the one or more processors are configured to;

provide a conversation to be displayed on a conversation user interface, the conversation comprising a plurality of email messages;

detect an embedded object within an email message of the plurality of email messages;

analyze the embedded object to determine one or more teaser components, each of the one or more teaser components including a portion of textual or graphical content included in the embedded object;

conducting a search of an external source for additional information associated with the embedded object based on content included in at least one of the one or more teaser components;

construct a teaser including at least one of the one or more teaser components and the additional information; and

provide the teaser to be displayed within a body of the email message or on a dedicated portion of the conversation user interface without requiring a user to open the email message in a separate user interface.

2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to analyze the embedded object by parsing one or more of a content, one or more properties, and metadata associated with the embedded object.

3. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to perform facial recognition analysis on an image teaser component included in the one or more teaser components and wherein the one or more processors are further configured to conduct the search of the external source for the additional information by conducting a search for information associated with a recognized person.

4. The computing device of claim 1, wherein one or more processors are further configured to construct the teaser from the one or more teaser components by performing salient region analysis on an image teaser component included in the one or more teaser components.

5. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to construct the teaser from the one or more teaser components by analyzing textual and graphical content of a document or a web site and generating a summary of the textual content and one or more representative graphical objects.

6. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the teaser includes interactive features, and wherein the interactive features include one or more of presentation of additional information if the teaser or a portion of the teaser is selected, activation a corresponding link, and activation of an application associated with the embedded object.

7. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

detect an attachment within the email message;

analyze the attachment to determine the teaser components, the teaser components further including textual and graphical content portions associated with the attachment; and

construct another teaser using the determined teaser components, wherein the other teaser is configured to present detailed information associated with the attachment, wherein the attachment includes one of an image, a graphic file, a document, an audio object, and a video object.

8. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the embedded object includes one of an image, a graphic file, a document, an audio object, and a video object.

9. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

detect a link within the email message;

analyze the link to determine the teaser components, the teaser components further including textual and graphical content portions associated with the link; and

construct a further teaser using the determined teaser components, wherein the further teaser is configured to present detailed information associated with the link, wherein the link provides a location for one of a webpage, a document, an online resource, and one or more files.

10. A method executed at least in part in a computing device to provide rich visualization of embedded objects, attachments, and links within emails through teasers, the method comprising:

providing a conversation to be displayed on a conversation user interface, the conversation comprising a plurality of email messages;

detecting an embedded object within an email message of the plurality of email messages;

analyzing the embedded object to determine one or more teaser components, each of the one or more teaser components including a portion of textual or graphical content included in the embedded object;

conducting a search of an external source for additional information associated with the embedded object based on content included in at least one of the one or more teaser components;

constructing a teaser including at least one of the one or more teaser components and the additional information;

providing the email message to be displayed with the teaser; and

providing, to be displayed on the conversation user interface, detailed information associated with the embedded object upon selection of the teaser without requiring a user to open the email message in a separate user interface.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein analyzing the embedded object to determine the one or more teaser components comprises

parsing one or more of a content, one or more properties, and metadata associated with the embedded object.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising one or more of:

performing facial recognition analysis on an image teaser component included in the one or more teaser components and wherein conducting the search of the external source for the additional information includes retrieving information associated with a recognized person, and wherein the teaser includes the image of the recognized person and the retrieved information;

performing salient region analysis on an image teaser component and wherein the teaser includes a salient region of the image; and

analyzing textual and graphical content of a document or a web site and wherein the teaser includes a summary of the textual content and one or more representative graphical objects.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the embedded object includes one of an image, a graphic file, a document, an audio object, and a video object.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

employing one or more of a graphical scheme, a highlighting scheme, a textual scheme, a color scheme, and a shading scheme to present the teaser and an association between the teaser and the embedded object.

15. A hardware computer readable memory device with instructions stored thereon to provide rich visualization of embedded objects, attachments, and links within communications through teasers, the instructions comprising:

providing a conversation to be displayed on a conversation user interface, the conversation comprising a plurality of communications;

detecting an embedded object within one or more communication in the conversation;

analyzing the embedded object to determine one or more teaser components, each of the one or more teaser components including a portion of textual or graphical content included in the embedded object;

conducting a search of an external source for additional information associated with the embedded object based on content included in at least one of the one or more teaser components;

constructing a teaser including at least one of the one or more teaser components and the additional information, wherein the teaser is configured to present detailed information associated with the embedded object upon selection without requiring a user to open the communication in a separate user interface; and

providing the conversation to be displayed with the teaser displayed within a body of the communication or on a dedicated portion of the conversation user interface.

16. The hardware computer readable memory device of claim 15, wherein the communication includes one or more of an email message, a text message, a video message, an online conference recording, a desktop sharing session, and an application sharing session.