Intelligent message screening
First Claim
1. A method for processing an electronic message to determine an action likely to be carried out by a recipient in response to the electronic message, comprising the steps of:
- (a) parsing the electronic message to extract determinable attributes of the electronic message;
(b) applying a plurality of rules and user defined parameters to the determinable attributes of the electronic message to obtain a numerical ranking for the electronic message; and
(c) based on the numerical ranking of the electronic message, assigning one of a plurality of categories to the electronic message, each category in the plurality of categories corresponding to at least one user action a recipient can logically perform in response to receiving any electronic message.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Electronic messages are processed based on criteria relating to the sender, the content, and the personalization of the message. The content of the messages, the recipient'"'"'s address book, and parameters such as desired keywords and undesired keywords are employed in determining a numeric ranking for each message. Based upon the ranking, messages are assigned to a category indicating an expected response of the recipient, such as read, reply, and save, or simply read. Messages in the lowest category (spam) are marked for deletion. Fuzzy logic is preferably applied in determining the category to which a message is assigned based on its ranking. Content importance, sender importance, and degree of personalization are combined in a non-linear manner to rank a message. Based on the recipient'"'"'s actual response to a message, the priority of subsequent similar messages is adjusted to more accurately assign the messages to a category.
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Citations
51 Claims
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1. A method for processing an electronic message to determine an action likely to be carried out by a recipient in response to the electronic message, comprising the steps of:
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(a) parsing the electronic message to extract determinable attributes of the electronic message;
(b) applying a plurality of rules and user defined parameters to the determinable attributes of the electronic message to obtain a numerical ranking for the electronic message; and
(c) based on the numerical ranking of the electronic message, assigning one of a plurality of categories to the electronic message, each category in the plurality of categories corresponding to at least one user action a recipient can logically perform in response to receiving any electronic message. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. An article of manufacture adapted for use with a computing device, comprising:
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(a) a memory medium; and
(b) a plurality of machine instructions comprising a computer program, which are stored on the memory medium, said plurality of machine instructions when executed by a computer, causing the computing device to;
(i) parse the electronic message to extract determinable attributes of the electronic message;
(ii) apply a plurality of rules and user defined parameters to the determinable attributes of the electronic message to obtain a numerical ranking for the electronic message; and
(iii) based on the numerical ranking of the electronic message, assign one of a plurality of categories to the electronic message, each category in the plurality of categories corresponding to at least one user action a recipient can logically perform in response to receiving any electronic message. - View Dependent Claims (27)
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28. A system for ranking the importance of electronic messages to determine a likely response by a recipient of the electronic messages, comprising:
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(a) a memory in which a plurality of rules and user defined parameters, and a plurality of machine instructions are stored;
(b) a display; and
(c) a processor that is coupled to the memory to access the machine instructions and to the display, said processor executing said machine instructions and thereby implementing a plurality of functions, including;
(i) parsing the electronic messages to extract determinable attributes of the electronic messages;
(ii) applying a plurality of rules and user defined parameters to the determinable attributes of the electronic messages to obtain a numerical ranking for the electronic messages; and
(iii) based on the numerical ranking of the electronic messages, assigning one of a plurality of categories to each of the electronic messages, each category in the plurality of categories corresponding to at least one user action a recipient can logically perform in response to receiving any electronic message. - View Dependent Claims (29)
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30. A method for processing an electronic message using fuzzy logic, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) providing a plurality of rules based on determinable attributes of an electronic message and user defined parameters;
(b) parsing the electronic message to produce the determinable attributes of the electronic message; and
(c) applying the plurality of rules and the user defined parameters using fuzzy logic, to obtain a numerical ranking of the importance of the electronic message. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47)
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48. An article of manufacture adapted for use with a computing device, comprising:
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(a) a memory medium; and
(b) a plurality of machine instructions comprising a computer program, which are stored on the memory medium, said plurality of machine instructions when executed by a computing device, causing the computing device to;
(i) access a plurality of rules based on determinable attributes of an electronic message and user defined parameters;
(ii) parse the electronic message to identify the determinable attributes of the electronic message; and
(iii) apply the plurality of rules and the user defined parameters to the determinable attributes, using fuzzy logic, to obtain a numerical ranking of the importance of the electronic message. - View Dependent Claims (49)
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50. A system for ranking the importance of electronic messages before the electronic messages are reviewed by the recipient;
- the system comprising;
(a) a memory in which a plurality of rules based on determinable attributes of electronic messages and user defined parameters, and a plurality of machine instructions are stored;
(b) a display; and
(c) a processor that is coupled to the memory to access the machine instructions and to the display, said processor executing said machine instructions, which cause the processor to execute a plurality of functions, including;
(i) identifying determinable attributes of the electronic messages;
(ii) analyzing the electronic messages using the plurality of rules, based on the determinable attributes of the electronic message, and by applying the user defined parameters; and
(ii) applying fuzzy logic to results of the step of analyzing, to obtain a numerical ranking of the importance of each of the electronic messages. - View Dependent Claims (51)
- the system comprising;
Specification