Processing messages in a conversation-based email system

• US 20050223057A1
• Filed: 08/06/2004
• Published: 10/06/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Singh, Sanjeev, Buchheit, Paul T.
• Granted Patent: US 8,150,924 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• 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

A method and system is described for using a conversation-based messaging system. When a messages is received by the system an attempt is made to associate the message with an existing conversation, if any. If there is no existing conversation to which the message belongs, a new conversation is created. The message is then associated with the existing or new conversation and may be provided certain initial attributes. Information about the message including certain indexing information is stored in memory for the respective conversation. The text of message is indexed along with other information and stored in memory for subsequent searching.

Claims

1. A method of using a conversation-based messaging system, comprising:

receiving a message;

identifying an existing conversation, if any, to which the message best matches;

associating the message with the best matching existing conversation, if any, and otherwise associating the message with a new conversation; and

storing information about the message in a first data structure for the respective conversation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each conversation has a respective conversation identifier.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying includes using information other than the subject of the message.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the identification information is selected from the set consisting of temporal information related to the message, sender information, header information of the message, and system supplied information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying includes using a subject of the message and plurality of other identification information selected from the set consisting of temporal information related to the message, sender information, header information of the message, and system supplied information.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data structure maintains an ordered list of the messages according to a date/time value.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first data structure is a linked list.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising

marking a message for deletion from the ordered list.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

deleting the message from the ordered list.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the message satisfies predetermined filter criteria; and

associating at least one attribute to the message if the message satisfies the filter criteria.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising associating with the message at least one initial attribute.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising indexing at least a portion of the message and the at least one initial attribute to create index information about the message and storing the index information in a second data structure.

13. The method of claim 2, wherein the storing includes associating a unique message identifier for the message with the respective conversation identifier in a second data structure which maps message identifiers to respective conversation identifiers.

14. A computer program product, for use with a computer system the computer program product comprising:

instructions for receiving a message;

instructions for identifying an existing conversation, if any, to which the message best matches;

instructions for associating the message with the best matching existing conversation, if any, and otherwise associating the message with a new conversation; and

instructions for storing information about the message in a first data structure for the respective conversation.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein each conversation has a respective conversation identifier.

16. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the instructions for identifying includes instructions for using information other than the subject of the message.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, further including instructions for selecting the identification information from the set consisting of temporal information related to the message, sender information, header information of the message, and system supplied information.

18. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the instructions for identifying includes instructions for using a subject of the message and plurality of other identification information selected from the set consisting of temporal information related to the message, sender information, header information of the message, and system supplied information.

19. The computer program product of claim 14, further including instructions for maintaining in the first data structure an ordered list of the messages according to a date/time value.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, further including instructions for providing the first data structure as a linked list.

21. The computer program product of claim 20, further comprising

instructions enabling a message to be marked for deletion from the ordered list.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising:

instructions for deleting the message from the ordered list.

23. The computer program product of claim 14, further comprising:

instructions for determining whether the message satisfies predetermined filter criteria; and

instructions for associating at least one attribute to the message if the message satisfies the filter criteria.

24. The computer program product of claim 14, further comprising instructions for associating with the message at least one initial attribute.

25. The computer program product of claim 24, further comprising instructions for indexing at least a portion of the message and the at least one initial attribute to create index information about the message and instructions for storing the index information in a second data structure.

26. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the instructions for storing includes instructions for associating a unique message identifier for the message with the respective conversation identifier in a second data structure which maps message identifiers to respective conversation identifiers.

27. A system for processing messages, comprising:

a memory for storing a plurality of conversations, each of the conversations having a respective conversation identifier and one or more messages sharing a common set of characteristics that meet predefined criteria;

a process message module for associating an incoming message with an existing conversation, if any, out of the plurality of conversations which best matches the incoming message, and associating the incoming message with a new conversation if no existing conversation matches the incoming conversation; and

a first data structure for storing information relating the message to the respective conversation identifier; and

a second data structure that stores information about the existing conversation.

28. The system of claim 27, further comprising:

an initial attributes module for assigning at least one initial attribute to the incoming message; and

an index for storing index information pertaining to portions of the incoming message and the at least one initial attribute.

29. The system of claim 27, wherein the incoming message includes a subject and other information about the message and the process message module uses the subject and the other information about the message to identify the existing conversation.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the other information is at least one selected from the set consisting of temporal information related to the message, sender information, header information, and system supplied information.

31. The system of claim 27, wherein the second data structure is an ordered list of the messages according to a date/time value.

32. The system of claim 27, wherein the second data structure is a linked list.

33. A system of using a conversation-based messaging system, comprising:

means receiving a message;

means identifying an existing conversation, if any, to which the message best matches;

means associating the message with the best matching existing conversation, if any, and otherwise associating the message with a new conversation; and

means storing information about the message in a first data structure for the respective conversation.