Method and system for prioritizing communications based on interpersonal relationships

• US 20060026298A1
• Filed: 07/30/2004
• Published: 02/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Ma, Wei-Ying, Chen, Zheng, Zhang, Benyu, Zeng, Hua-Jun
• Granted Patent: US 7,917,587 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/240
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

A method and system for calculating the importance of persons based on interpersonal relationships and prioritizing communications based on importance of participants in the communications is provided. A prioritization system identifies relationships between persons and identifies the importance of a person to other persons based on these relationships. After the prioritization system identifies the importance of persons, the prioritization system can prioritize communications based on the importance of the senders or recipients.

Claims

1. A method in a computer system for determining priority of a communication, the method comprising:

identifying relationships between people; and

calculating the priority of the communication based on the identified relationships of a participant in the communication.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein an identified relationship is a participant relationship.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the participant relationship is based on an electronic mail message.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the calculating of the priority is based on frequency at which a sender of the communication is a recipient of communications.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the calculating of the priority includes counting number of times a person is a recipient of a communication.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the calculating of the priority includes generating a recipient link matrix representing links from a sender to recipients of communications and performing a link-based ranking.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the ranking algorithm is based on a page ranking algorithm.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein an identified relationship is a distribution relationship.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein a distribution relationship is based on electronic mail distribution lists.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the calculating of the priority is based on number of distribution lists that the sender of the communication is a member of and number of members of those distribution lists.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein the calculating of the priority includes generating a distribution list matrix representing links between members of the same distribution list and performing a link-based ranking.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the link-based ranking is based on a page ranking algorithm.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein an identified relationship is an organizational relationship.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein an identified relationship is based on reporting relationship between a sender of the communication and a recipient of the communication.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the calculating of the priority is based on distance between the sender and the recipient within the organization.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the calculating of the priority is further based on number of people with the same distance from the recipient.

17. The method of claim 14 wherein the calculating of the priority is based on importance of a participant defined as

$a_j$

( i ) = 1 len ⁡

( i , j ) ·



{ k | len ⁡

( k , j ) = len ⁡

( i , j ) } 

where a_j(i) represents the importance of person i to person j and len(i,j) represents the reporting distance from person i to person j.

18. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a computer system to set a priority of an electronic mail message, by a method comprising:

providing electronic mail messages having senders and recipients;

calculating an importance of a sender of the electronic mail message based on number of the provided electronic mail messages for which the sender was a recipient; and

establishing the priority of the electronic mail message based on the importance of the sender.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18 wherein the provided electronic mail messages include electronic mail messages received by a single person.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 18 wherein the provided electronic mail messages include electronic mail messages received by more than one person.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 18 wherein the calculating of the importance includes generating a recipient link matrix representing links from a sender to recipients of an electronic mail message and performing a link-based ranking.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 18 wherein the link-based ranking is page ranking-based.

23. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a computer system to set a priority of an electronic mail message, by a method comprising:

providing distribution lists having members;

calculating an importance of a sender of the electronic mail message based on number of the provided distribution lists for which the sender is a member; and

establishing the priority of the electronic mail message based on the importance of the sender.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 23 wherein the distribution list is an electronic mail distribution list.

25. The computer-readable medium of claim 23 wherein the calculating of importance is based on number of members of the distribution lists of which the sender is a member.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 23 wherein the calculating of an importance includes generating a distribution list matrix representing links between members of the same distribution list and performing a link-based ranking.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 26 wherein the link-based ranking is page ranking-based.

28. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a computer system to set a priority of an electronic mail message, by a method comprising:

providing organizational information of an organization indicating relationships between members of the organization;

calculating an importance of a sender of the electronic mail message based on a relationship between a sender and a recipient of the electronic mail message as indicated by the organization information; and

establishing the priority of the electronic mail message based on the importance of the sender.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 28 wherein the relationship is based on relative positions of members of the organization.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 29 wherein the calculating of importance is based on a distance between the sender and the recipient within the organization.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 30 wherein the calculating of importance is further based on number of people with the same distance from the recipient.

32. The computer-readable medium of claim 30 wherein the calculating of the importance is based on

$a_j$

( i ) = 1 len ⁡

( i , j ) ·



{ k | len ⁡

( k , j ) = len ⁡

( i , j ) } 

where a_j(i) represents the importance of member i to member j and len(i,j) represents the reporting distance from member i to member j.

33. A computer system for prioritizing communications, comprising:

a component that identifies interpersonal relationships;

a component that calculates importance of persons based on identified interpersonal communications; and

a component that orders communications based on importance of persons participating in the communication.

34. The computer system of claim 33 wherein a relationship is a participant relationship.

35. The computer system of claim 34 wherein the participant relationship is represented as links between persons and the component that calculates importance applies a link-based ranking algorithm.

36. The computer system of claim 33 wherein a relationship is a distribution relationship.

37. The computer system of claim 36 wherein the distribution relationship is represented as links between persons and the component that calculates importance applies a link-based ranking algorithm.

38. The computer system of claim 33 wherein a relationship is an organizational relationship.

39. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a computer system to calculate importance of a person by a method of:

identifying interpersonal relationships;

representing the identified interpersonal relationships as links between persons; and

applying a link-based ranking algorithm to the links to calculate the importance of a person.

40. The computer-readable medium of claim 39 wherein the interpersonal relationship is a participant relationship.

41. The computer-readable medium of claim 39 wherein the interpersonal relationship is a distribution relationship.