Providing suggested actions in response to textual communications

• US 10,248,295 B1
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Issued: 04/02/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Lee, Woo Jae, Syromiatnikov, Peter, Sharma, Sanjay K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Beausoliel, Jr., Robert W
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rayyan, Susan F
• Application Number:
  US13/803,299
• Time in Patent Office: 2,210 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1093 Calendar-based scheduling for persons or groups
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/963 Hybrid
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/962 Operator interface for marketing or sales
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/963 Calendar or scheduling

Abstract

A system, method, and computer-readable media are described for suggesting an action based on multiple descriptors within a textual communication (e.g. email, text message). In one embodiment, event descriptors within an email are identified and displayed to the email recipient with an indication that the descriptors are selectable. Upon receiving the selection of at least two descriptors, an action is suggested to the recipient for acceptance. Upon receiving the acceptance, the proposed action is performed.

Claims

1. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method of generating an entry in a personal information manager based on information in a textual communication, the method comprising:

receiving a textual communication;

identifying a plurality of descriptors within the textual communication, wherein a descriptor is text describing characteristics of a person or business;

displaying the textual communication to a recipient with the plurality of descriptors displayed as selectable by the recipient of the textual communication, wherein an appearance of the plurality of descriptors is changed to indicate the plurality of descriptors are capable of selection by the recipient;

receiving a first selection of a first descriptor and a second selection of a second descriptor from the recipient, wherein the first selection is received prior to the second selection; and

displaying, to the recipient, a suggested contact entry for the person or the business that is generated based on the first selection and the second selection.

2. The media of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

displaying, to the recipient, one or more contact types that correlate with the first selection and the second selection, the one or more contact types being a personal contact and a business contact; and

receiving a selection of a contact type from the recipient, wherein the suggested contact entry is also based on the contact type.

3. The media of claim 1, wherein the appearance of the plurality of descriptors includes one or more of underlining, double underlining, highlighting, changing text color, bold, and italics.

4. The media of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a third selection of a third descriptor from the recipient, wherein the third descriptor describes a time or physical location for an event associated with the entity; and

displaying, to the recipient, a suggested calendar entry based on at least the third descriptor.

5. The media of claim 1, wherein the plurality of descriptors describe characteristics of a person and the contact entry generated is for a personal contact entry.

6. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method of performing an action in response to identifying information within a textual communication, the method including:

receiving a textual communication;

identifying a plurality of descriptors, wherein a descriptor is a series of alphanumeric characters within a body of the textual communication and that describes characteristics of a person or a business;

displaying the textual communication to a recipient with the plurality of descriptors displayed with an appearance that indicates the plurality of descriptors are selectable by the recipient;

receiving an indication that the recipient selected two or more descriptors from the plurality of descriptors;

determining that the two or more descriptors selected by the recipient correspond to at least one template, wherein the at least one template is associated with a suggested action of creating a contact entry; and

providing a user interface that displays the suggested action of generating a contact entry corresponding to the two or more descriptors selected by the recipient and that allows the recipient to request generation of a contact entry for the person or the business.

7. The media of claim 6, wherein the method further comprises:

providing a user interface that allows a user to generate the template, wherein two or more types of information are associated with the template and the suggested action is associated with the template; and

storing the template in a data store configured for storing a plurality of templates.

8. The media of claim 6, wherein the two or more descriptors include a business name, business hours, and a business address, and wherein the suggested action is generating a business contact entry.

9. The media of claim 6, wherein the method further comprises:

determining a time of travel between a present location and a business address, wherein the business address is one of the two or more descriptors; and

displaying a message to the recipient indicating whether the recipient has sufficient time to arrive at the business address during business hours if the recipient began traveling towards the business address immediately.

10. The media of claim 6, wherein the method further comprises displaying one or more alternate suggested actions to the recipient concurrently with the suggested action.

11. The media of claim 10, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving an indication from the recipient to perform one or more of an alternate suggested action and the suggested action; and

facilitating performance of the indicated action.

12. A system for performance of an action in response to a textual communication, the system comprising:

a textual communication component that receives a textual communication and identifies a plurality of descriptors in the textual communication;

a display component that displays the textual communication to a recipient of the textual communication, wherein the plurality of descriptors are displayed with an appearance that indicates the plurality of descriptors may be selected by the recipient;

a template data store that stores at least one template associated with a suggested action of generating a contact entry, wherein, upon the recipient'"'"'s selection of two or more descriptors, the textual communication component determines that the at least one template corresponds to the two or more descriptors selected by the recipient; and

a personal information manager component that receives contact entries created upon requested performance of generating a contact entry using the at least one template.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the textual communication is one or more of an email, a webpage, and a text message.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the appearance includes one or more of underlining, double underlining, highlighting, changing text color, bold, and italics.

15. The system of claim 12 further comprising a user interface component that allows a user to generate a template wherein:

two or more types of information are associated with the template and a suggested action is associated with the template; and

the template generated is stored in the template data store.

16. The system of claim 12 further comprising a navigation component that, upon selection of the suggested action of generating a contact entry, generates directions from a default location to a physical location associated with the contact entry.