Systems and methods for re-ranking displayed conversations

• US 10,706,060 B2
• Filed: 08/15/2017
• Issued: 07/07/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Buchheit, Paul T., Baptist, Lauren M., Chang, Bay-Wei W., Golub, Seth J., Lim, Jing Yee, Singh, Sanjeev, Tuck, III, Russell R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nooristany, Sulaiman
• Application Number:
  US15/678,055
• Publication Number:
  US 20180018376A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,057 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads

Abstract

Systems and methods for storing a plurality of conversations are provided. Each such conversation has a corresponding conversation identifier and one or more messages sharing a common set of characteristics that meet predefined criteria. Information is sent to a remote computer identifying the conversations and providing sufficient information to rank them in accordance with a date/time value of a most recently received message of each conversation thereby causing a first conversation to be ordered before a second conversation. Subsequently, a first message that is deemed to belong to the second conversation is obtained and added to the second conversation. Information is resent to a remote computer identifying the plurality of conversations and providing sufficient information to rank the plurality of conversations in accordance with a date/time value of a most recently received message of each respective conversation thereby causing the first conversation to be ordered after the second conversation.

Claims

1. A method of searching conversations, comprising:

at a computing device having one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs configured for execution by the one or more processors;

receiving a search query from a user;

in response to the search query;

analyzing, by the computing device, content of a plurality of electronic messages intended for the user in order to determine whether one or more of the plurality of electronic messages matches the search query;

in conjunction with analyzing content of the plurality of electronic messages, identifying a conversation in the plurality of electronic messages matching the search query, and wherein the matching conversation comprises two or more messages in the plurality of electronic messages; and

providing, by the computing device, a user interface for an electronic messaging application, wherein the user interface includes a list of objects comprising a collapsed state of the matching conversation and at least one other electronic message or collapsed conversation, the collapsed state of the matching conversation comprising a snippet from the matching conversation; and

responsive to user selection of the object representing the collapsed state of the matching conversation, replacing the collapsed state of the matching conversation with an expanded state of the matching conversation, and removing all other electronic messages and collapsed conversations in the list of objects from the user interface, the expanded state comprising content of the two or more messages in the matching conversation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the snippet includes portions of message bodies from at least one respective message in the matched conversation.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the portions contain a matched query term.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the content of the matching conversation includes the entire message body of the at least one respective message in the matched conversation.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the two or more messages are from distinct senders.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the collapsed state of the matching conversation further comprises a list of sender identifiers corresponding to senders who have sent messages in the conversation.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the sender identifiers are ordered according to their respective message arrival time.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein at least one sender identifier in the list of sender identifiers is represented by a unique character string distinct from the sender names.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein at least one sender identifier in the list of sender identifiers is represented by an icon.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the snippet and the list of sender identifiers occupy different portions of the collapsed state of the matching conversation.

11. A computing device, comprising:

one or more processors;

memory; and

one or more programs stored in the memory configured for execution by the one or more processors, the one or more programs comprising instructions for;

receiving a search query from a user;

in response to the search query;

analyzing, by the computing device, content of a plurality of electronic messages intended for the user in order to determine whether one or more of the plurality of electronic messages matches the search query;

in conjunction with analyzing content of the plurality of electronic messages, identifying a conversation in the plurality of electronic messages matching the search query, and wherein the matching conversation comprises two or more messages in the plurality of electronic messages; and

providing, by the computing device, a user interface for an electronic messaging application, wherein the user interface includes a list of objects comprising a collapsed state of the matching conversation and at least one other electronic message or collapsed conversation, the collapsed state of the matching conversation comprising a snippet from the matching conversation; and

responsive to user selection of the object representing the collapsed state of the matching conversation, replacing the collapsed state of the matching conversation with an expanded state of the matching conversation, and removing all other electronic messages and collapsed conversations in the list of objects from the user interface, the expanded state comprising content of the two or more messages in the matching conversation.

12. The computing device of claim 11, wherein the snippet includes portions of message bodies from at least one respective message in the matched conversation.

13. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the portions contain a matched query term.

14. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the content of the matching conversation includes the entire message body of the at least one respective message in the matched conversation.

15. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured for execution by a computing device having one or more processors and memory, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:

receiving a search query from a user;

in response to the search query;

analyzing, by the computing device, content of a plurality of electronic messages intended for the user in order to determine whether one or more of the plurality of electronic messages matches the search query;

in conjunction with analyzing content of the plurality of electronic messages, identifying a conversation in the plurality of electronic messages matching the search query, and wherein the matching conversation comprises two or more messages in the plurality of electronic messages; and

providing, by the computing device, a user interface for an electronic messaging application, wherein the user interface includes a list of objects comprising a collapsed state of the matching conversation and at least one other electronic message or collapsed conversation, the collapsed state of the matching conversation comprising a snippet from the matching conversation; and

responsive to user selection of the object representing the collapsed state of the matching conversation, replacing the collapsed state of the matching conversation with an expanded state of the matching conversation, and removing all other electronic messages and collapsed conversations in the list of objects from the user interface, the expanded state comprising content of the two or more messages in the matching conversation.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the two or more messages are from distinct senders.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the collapsed state of the matching conversation further comprises a list of sender identifiers corresponding to senders who have sent messages in the conversation.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the sender identifiers are ordered according to their respective message arrival time.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein at least one sender identifier in the list of sender identifiers is represented by a unique character string distinct from the sender names.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein at least one sender identifier in the list of sender identifiers is represented by an icon.