Method and system for identifying message recipients

• US 20040135816A1
• Filed: 01/15/2003
• Published: 07/15/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Park, Vivien, Dok, Cees Van, Giacobbe, Gail Borod, Palmen, Hilary, Silbey, Marc Adam, Kabir, Ahsan Syed, Schwartz, Jordan Luther King, Barnet, Sandra
• Granted Patent: US 7,543,243 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/811
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a system and method for identifying the most likely recipients for a message or other communication from a source and building a most frequently used list of recipients. The present invention utilizes a contact list and determines the likelihood that a list of recipients from that contact list are the intended targets for a current message. The likelihood determination is made using both how recent and how frequent prior communications were made to particular individuals or groups of recipients. Further, a user is able to switch between a most frequently used list of recipients and full list of contacts.

Claims

1. A method in a computing environment for identifying a recipient of a message comprising:

receiving an indication that a messaging system requires a recipient designation;

displaying automatically a list of recipients for the message;

providing the ability to select one or more recipients from said list of recipients; and

accepting a selected one or more recipient as targets for the message.

2. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein said list of recipients includes an identified grouping of recipients.

3. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein said list of recipients is a list of most likely recipients.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said list of recipients is a list of most frequent contacts.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said list of recipients is a full list of contacts from a messaging system.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising providing an identifier for the recipient wherein said identifier is a reference to a record within an address book.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising sending the message to said selected one or more recipients.

8. A computer readable medium having computer executable instructions for performing a method for identifying a recipient of a message, the method comprising:

receiving an indication that a messaging system requires a recipient designation;

displaying automatically a list of recipients for the message;

providing the ability to select one or more recipients from said list of recipients; and

accepting a selected one or more recipient as targets for the message.

9. A method as recited in claim 8, further comprising sending the message to said selected one or more recipients.

10. A computer system having a processor, a memory and an operating environment, the computer system operable to execute a method for identifying a recipient of a message, the method comprising:

receiving an indication that a messaging system requires a recipient designation;

displaying automatically a list of recipients for the message;

providing the ability to select one or more recipients from said list of recipients; and

accepting a selected one of more recipient as targets for the message.

11. A method as recited in claim 10, further comprising sending the message to said selected one or more recipients.

12. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein said list or recipients is ordered according to the most likely intended recipients of the message.

13. A method in a computing environment for providing a list of most likely recipients for a message comprising:

collecting information regarding a specified message recipient in the computing environment;

applying a contact frequency algorithm to track said specified message recipient; and

presenting said specified message recipient in an ordered position within the list of most likely recipients, wherein said ordered position corresponds to the output of said contact frequency algorithm.

14. A method as recited in claim 13, wherein information regarding said specified message recipient is collected when there is a limited total number of said specified message recipients.

15. A method as recited in claim 13 further comprising tracking one or more non-address book message recipients and prompting for the addition of said one or more non-address book recipients to an address book.

16. A method as recited in claim 13 wherein the list of most likely recipients includes an identified grouping of recipients.

17. A method as recited in claim 13, wherein said specified message recipient is from a list of most frequent contacts.

18. A method as recited in claim 13, wherein said specified message recipient is obtained from a full list of contacts from a messaging system.

19. A method as recited in claim 13, further comprising providing an identifier for said specified message recipient wherein said identifier is a reference to a record within an address book.

20. A method as recited in claim 13, further comprising obtaining a reference to a contact list entry pertaining to said specified message recipient.

21. A method as recited in claim 20, wherein said reference to said contact list is utilized in the presented list of most likely recipients.

22. A method as recited in claim 20 wherein said reference to said contact list remains unchanged with regards to its inclusion or position when there is an edit of said message recipient'"'"'s contact information such as an e-mail address.

23. A computer readable medium having computer executable instructions for providing a list of most likely recipients for a message, the method comprising:

collecting information regarding a specified message recipient in the computing environment;

applying a contract frequency algorithm to track a specified message recipient;

obtaining a reference to a contact list entry pertaining to said specified message recipient; and

presenting said specified message recipient in an ordered position within the list of most likely recipients, wherein said ordered position corresponds to the output of said contact frequency algorithm.

24. A computer system having a processor, a memory and an operating environment, the computer system operable to execute a method for providing a list of most likely recipients for a message, the method comprising:

collecting information regarding a specified message recipient in the computing environment;

applying a contract frequency algorithm to track a specified message recipient;

obtaining a reference to a contact list entry pertaining to said specified message recipient; and

presenting said specified message recipient in an ordered position within the list of most likely recipients, wherein said ordered position corresponds to the output of said contact frequency algorithm.

25. A computer system having a processor, a memory and an operating environment, for identifying message recipients in a messaging computing environment, the computer system comprising:

an automated pick window display component;

a list of selectable recipients; and

a recipient identification component

said recipient identification component utilizing the frequency, context and how recently a contact has received messages, to incorporate a reference to said contact in said list of selectable recipients;

said list of selectable recipients being incorporated and displayed by said automated pick window display component when a user entry is expected by the messaging computing environment.

26. A method in a computing environment for identifying a recipient of a message comprising:

receiving an indication that a messaging system requires a target recipient designation;

displaying automatically a list of most likely recipients for the message;

providing the ability to toggle between said displayed list of most likely recipients and a full list of contacts; and

providing the ability to select one or more target recipients from either said list of most likely recipients or said full list of contacts.

27. A method as recited in claim 26, further comprising sending the message to said selected one or more target recipients.

28. A method as recited in claim 26 wherein said list of most likely recipients includes an identified grouping of recipients.

29. A method as recited in claim 26, wherein said list of most likely recipients is a list of most frequent contacts.

30. A method as recited in claim 26, further comprising providing an identifier for each of the selectable one or more target recipients, wherein said identifier is a reference to a record within an address book.