Organizing electronic mail messages into conversations

• US 20060085502A1
• Filed: 09/09/2004
• Published: 04/20/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Sundararajan, Narasimhan, Mayans, Jason C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,150,926 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• 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

The present invention extends to methods, systems, data structures, and computer program products for organizing electronic mail messages into conversations. Electronic mail conversation items store attribute values representing attributes of corresponding electronic mail conversations and included electronic mail messages. Attributes of an electronic mail conversation can be changed by changing stored attribute values. Receiving an electronic mail message can cause an existing electronic mail conversation to be updated or a new electronic mail conversation to be created. When it is indicated that an operation is to be performed on an electronic mail conversation, a corresponding related operation can be performed on all electronic mail messages included in the electronic mail conversation. Attribute values of an electronic mail conversation can be presented along with portions of included electronic mail messages at a user-interface.

Claims

1. At a computer system, a method for updating message conversation data, the method comprising:

an act of receiving an electronic mail message;

an act of linking the received electronic mail message to a corresponding electronic mail conversation item that represents an electronic mail conversation, the electronic mail conversation item including a plurality of conversation attribute values that represent the attributes of the electronic mail conversation;

an act of persisting the link between the received electronic mail message and the corresponding electronic mail conversation item; and

an act of changing one or more conversation attribute values to appropriately reflect the attributes of the electronic mail conversation in response to receiving the received electronic mail message.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of receiving an electronic mail message comprises an act of receiving an electronic mail message that is to be stored in a mailbox for subsequent retrieval by an electronic mail user.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of receiving an electronic mail message comprises an act of receiving an electronic mail message that is to be forwarded for delivery to another electronic mail user.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of linking the received electronic mail message to a corresponding electronic mail conversation item comprises an act of storing a URL for the electronic mail message in the conversation item.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of linking the received electronic mail message to a corresponding electronic mail conversation item comprises an act of determining that a GUID in a header of the electronic mail message matches a GUID contained in the conversation message item.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of linking the received electronic mail message to a corresponding electronic mail conversation item comprises an act of linking the received electronic mail message to a data structure that stores per message data for each electronic mail message included in the electronic mail conversation.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of linking the received electronic mail message to a corresponding electronic mail conversation item comprises an act of linking the received electronic mail message in system memory to a corresponding electronic mail conversation item.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of persisting the link between the received electronic mail message and the corresponding electronic mail conversation item comprises an act of storing the link in an item store.

9. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the act of storing the link in an item store comprises an act of storing a Uniform Resource Locator in an item store.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of persisting the link between the received electronic mail message and the corresponding electronic mail conversation item comprises an act of persisting the link such that the link can subsequently be accessed to access the received electronic mail message.

11. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of changing one or more conversation attribute values to appropriately reflect the attributes of the electronic mail conversation comprises an act of updating data fields in the conversation item.

12. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the act of updating data fields in the conversation item comprises updating a data field selected from among a most active data field, an active participants data field, a duration data field, and a depth data field.

13. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of changing one or more conversation attribute values to appropriately reflect the attributes of the electronic mail conversation comprises an act of adding per message data fields for the received mail electronic message to the conversation item.

14. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein the act of adding per message data fields for the received electronic message comprises an act of calculating a recipient delta value for the received message.

15. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the act of updating data fields in the conversation item comprises:

an act of determining that the received electronic message is the first electronic mail message in the electronic mail conversation; and

an act of storing one or more of an ID value, topic value, started by value and start time value in a corresponding data field of the conversation item.

16. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

an act of determining the conversation item is included in a Conversations folder.

17. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

an act of creating the conversation item in a Conversations folder.

18. One or more computer-readable media having stored thereon an electronic mail conversation item data structure, the electronic mail conversation item data structure comprising:

an identifier field storing an identifier value that identifies an electronic mail conversation; and

a participants field storing one or more participant values that identify one or more corresponding participants that are participating in the electronic mail conversation identified by the identifier value stored in the identifier field.

19. The one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon an electronic mail conversation item data structure as recited in claim 18, wherein the identifier field comprises:

a globally unique identifier field storing a globally unique identifier value that uniquely identifies the electronic mail conversation such that the electronic mail conversation can be differentiated from other electronic mail conversations.

20. The one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon an electronic mail conversation item data structure as recited in claim 18, the electronic mail conversation item data structure further comprising

a depth field storing a depth value that represents the nesting depth of reply electronic mail messages included in the electronic mail conversation identified by the identifier value stored in the identifier field.

21. The one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon an electronic mail conversation item data structure as recited in claim 18, the electronic mail conversation item data structure further comprising:

a duration field storing a duration value that represents the duration of the electronic mail conversation identified by the identifier value stored in the identifier field.

22. The one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon an electronic mail conversation item data structure as recited in claim 18, the electronic mail conversation item data structure further comprising:

a most active field storing a most active value that identifies a most active participant in the electronic mail conversation identified by the identifier value stored in the identifier field.

23. The one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon an electronic mail conversation item data structure as recited in claim 18, the electronic mail conversation item data structure further comprising

a topic field storing a topic value that identifies the topic of the electronic mail conversation identified by the identifier value stored in the identifier field;

a started by field storing a started by value that identifies a participant that started the electronic mail conversation identified by the identifier value stored in the identifier field;

a start time field storing a start time value that identifies at time the electronic mail conversation identified by the identifier value stored in the identifier field was started;

a most recent field storing a most recent value that identifies a participant that most recently included en electronic mail message in the electronic mail conversation identified by the identifier value stored in the identifier field was started; and

a number of messages field storing a number of messages value that represents the number of electronic mail messages included in the electronic mail conversation identified by the identifier value stored in the identifier field.

24. The one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon an electronic mail conversation item data structure as recited in claim 18, the electronic mail conversation item data structure further comprising

a link field storing one or more link values that link the electronic mail conversation identified by the identifier value stored in the identifier field to one or more electronic mail messages included the electronic mail conversation identified by the identifier value stored in the identifier field.

25. The one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon an electronic mail conversation item data structure as recited in claim 24, wherein the link field comprises:

a URL field storing one or more URL values that link the electronic mail conversation identified by the identifier value stored in the identifier field to one or more electronic mail messages included the electronic mail conversation identified by the identifier value stored in the identifier field.

26. One or more computer-readable media having stored thereon an electronic mail conversation item data structure, the electronic mail conversation item data structure comprising:

an identifier field storing an identifier value that identifies an electronic mail conversation; and

an message field storing message conversation data for an electronic message included in the electronic mail conversation identified by the identifier value stored in the identifier field, the message field comprising;

a recipient delta field storing a recipient delta value that identifiers any difference between recipients of the electronic mail message and recipients of a corresponding parent electronic mail message included in the electronic mail conversation identified by the identifier value stored in the identifier field.

27. The one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon an electronic mail conversation item data structure as recited in claim 26, the message field further comprising:

a sent time field storing a sent time value that represents the time the electronic mail message included in the electronic mail conversation identified by the identifier value stored in the identifier field was sent;

a sender field storing a sender value that identifies the sender of the electronic mail message included in the electronic mail conversation identified by the identifier value stored in the identifier field;

a summary text field storing a summary text value that represents a summary of the content of the electronic mail message included in the electronic mail conversation identified by the identifier value stored in the identifier field; and

a conversation index field storing a conversation index value that represents the position of the electronic message relatively to other electronic messages included in the electronic mail conversation identified by the identifier value stored in the identifier field.

28. The one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon an electronic mail conversation item data structure as recited in claim 26, the message field further comprising:

a link field storing a link value that links the electronic mail conversation identified by the identifier value stored in the identifier field to the electronic mail message that is included in the electronic mail conversation identified by the identifier value stored in the identifier field.

29. The one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon an electronic mail conversation item data structure as recited in claim 28, wherein the link field comprises:

a URL field storing a URL value that links the electronic mail conversation identified by the identifier value stored in the identifier field to the electronic mail message that is included in the electronic mail conversation identified by the identifier value stored in the identifier field.

30. The one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon an electronic mail conversation item data structure as recited in claim 26, the electronic mail conversation item data structure further comprising:

a second message field storing message conversation data for a second electronic message included in the electronic mail conversation identified by the identifier value stored in the identifier field, the second message field comprising;

a second recipient delta field storing a second recipient delta value that identifies any difference between recipients of the second electronic mail message and recipients of a corresponding second parent electronic mail message included in the electronic mail conversation identified by the identifier value stored in the identifier field.

31. The one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon an electronic mail conversation item data structure as recited in claim 30, the electronic mail conversation item data structure further comprising:

one or more additional per message fields storing per message conversation data for a corresponding one or more additional electronic messages included in the electronic mail conversation identified by the identifier value stored in the identifier field, each of the one or more additional per message fields comprising;

a corresponding recipient delta field storing a corresponding recipient delta value that identifies any difference between recipients of the corresponding electronic mail message and recipients of a corresponding additional parent electronic mail message that is included in the electronic mail conversation identified by the identifier value stored in the identifier field.

32. The one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon an electronic mail conversation item data structure as recited in claim 31, each of the one or more additional per message fields further comprising:

a corresponding URL field storing a corresponding URL value that links the electronic mail conversation identified by the identifier value stored in the identifier field to a corresponding electronic mail message that is included in the electronic mail conversation identified by the identifier value stored in the identifier field.

33. A computer program product for use at a computer system, the computer reprogram product for implementing a method for updating message conversation data, the computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the computer system to perform the following:

receive an electronic mail message;

link the received electronic mail message to a corresponding electronic mail conversation item that represents an electronic mail conversation, the electronic mail conversation item including a plurality of conversation attribute values that represent the attributes of the electronic mail conversation;

persist the link between the received electronic mail message and the corresponding electronic mail conversation item; and

change one or more conversation attribute values to appropriately reflect the attributes of the electronic mail conversation in response to receiving the received electronic mail message.

34. The computer program product as recited in claim 33, wherein computer-executable instructions that when executed cause the computer system to receive an electronic mail message comprise computer-executable instructions that when executed cause the computer system to receive an electronic mail message that is to be stored in a mailbox for subsequent retrieval by an electronic mail user.

35. The computer program product as recited in claim 33, wherein computer-executable instructions that when executed cause the computer system to link the received electronic mail message to a corresponding electronic mail conversation item that represents an electronic mail conversation comprise computer-executable instructions that when executed cause the computer system to store a URL for the electronic mail message in the conversation item.

36. The computer program product as recited in claim 33, wherein computer-executable instructions that when executed cause the computer system to link the received electronic mail message to a corresponding electronic mail conversation item that represents an electronic mail conversation comprise computer-executable instructions that when executed cause the computer system to determine that a GUID in a header of the electronic mail message matches a GUID contained in the conversation message item.

37. The computer program product as recited in claim 33, wherein computer-executable instructions that when executed cause the computer system to persist the link between the received electronic mail message and the corresponding electronic mail conversation item comprise computer-executable instructions that when executed cause the computer system to store the link in an item store.

38. The computer program product as recited in claim 33, wherein computer-executable instructions that when executed cause the computer system to of change one or more conversation attribute values to appropriately reflect the attributes of the electronic mail conversation comprise computer-executable instructions that when executed cause the computer system to update a data field selected from among a most active data field, an active participants data field, a duration data field, and a depth data field.

39. The computer program product as recited in claim 33, wherein computer-executable instructions that when executed cause the computer system to of change one or more conversation attribute values to appropriately reflect the attributes of the electronic mail conversation comprise computer-executable instructions that when executed cause the computer system to:

determine that the received electronic message is the first electronic mail message in the electronic mail conversation; and

store one or more of an ID value, topic value, started by value and start time value in a corresponding data field of the conversation item.

40. The computer program product as recited in claim 33, further comprising computer-executable instructions that when executed cause the computer system to:

determine the conversation item is included in a Conversations folder.

41. The computer program product as recited in claim 33, further comprising computer-executable instructions that when executed cause the computer system to:

create the conversation item in a Conversations folder.