Method and system for activity based email sorting

• US 20060235933A1
• Filed: 04/19/2005
• Published: 10/19/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Baluja, Shumeet, Rowley, Henry A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,587,461 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/207
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/226 Delivery according to priorities

Abstract

Messages of a user are ranked based on metrics derived from user actions with regard to the messages. Groupings of messages, such as conversations or a set of messages that are determined to be similar, may also be ranked. When new messages are received, their interest to the user is estimated based on rankings of messages and message groupings to which the new message is related. The new messages may be made more or less prominent based on the estimated interest to the user.

Claims

1. A method for providing ranking values to messages, comprising:

associating a ranking value with a received message, the ranking value having an initial value based on one or more ranking factors;

determining at least one interaction metric associated with the received message based on interactions of a user regarding the received message; and

modifying the ranking value in accordance with the at least one interaction metric.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the received message is an email message.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining at least one interaction metric comprises determining a length of time between a time of receipt of the received message and a time that the user performs a predefined action with respect to the received message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining at least one interaction metric comprises determining a number of times the received message has been read by the user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a first one of the one or more ranking factors is based on a collective ranking value of one or more first messages satisfying a first condition.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a first one of the one or more ranking factors is based on respective ranking values of one or more first messages satisfying a first condition.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising satisfying the first condition when the one or more first messages belong to a same conversation as the received message.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising satisfying the first condition when the received message has a respective message similarity score to each of the one or more first messages greater than a predefined similarity score threshold.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising satisfying the first condition when the one or more first messages are received from the same sender.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein:

a second one of the one or more ranking factors is based on ranking values of one or more second messages satisfying a second condition; and

the initial value is based on a weighted combination of at least the first one and the second one of the ranking factors.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

satisfying the first condition when the one or more first messages belong to a same conversation as the received message; and

satisfying the second condition when the received message has a respective message similarity score to each of the one or more second messages greater than a predefined similarity score threshold.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a composite ranking value for a plurality of messages satisfying a first condition.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising modifying the composite ranking value using the modified ranking value for the received message.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising satisfying the first condition when the plurality of messages are associated with a same conversation as the received message.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising satisfying the first condition when the plurality of messages have respective similarity scores to each other greater than a predefined similarity score threshold.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising satisfying the first condition when the plurality of messages are received from the same sender.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein said determining a composite ranking value comprises determining a weighted average ranking value based on a respective ranking value for each at least a subset of the plurality of messages satisfying the first condition.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising determining that the received message satisfies the first condition and wherein at least one of the ranking factors is based on the composite ranking value.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising sorting a plurality of messages in accordance with a respective ranking value for each of the plurality of messages, the plurality of messages including the received message.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising marking the received message when the ranking value exceeds a predefined ranking threshold.

21. A system for providing ranking values to messages, comprising:

a new message processing module to associate a ranking value with a received message, the ranking value having an initial value based on one or more ranking factors; and

a message ranking module to determine at least one interaction metric associated with the received message based on interactions of a user regarding the received message, and modify the ranking value in accordance with the at least one interaction metric.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the message ranking module includes instructions to determine a length of time between a time of receipt of the received message and a time that the user performs a predefined action with respect to the received message.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the message ranking module includes instructions to determine a number of times the received message has been read by the user.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein a first one of the one or more ranking factors is based on respective ranking values of one or more first messages satisfying a first condition.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein:

a second one of the one or more ranking factors is based on ranking values of one or more second messages satisfying a second condition; and

the initial value is based on a weighted combination of at least the first one and the second one of the ranking factors.

26. The system of claim 21, wherein the message ranking module includes instructions to determine a composite ranking value for a plurality of messages satisfying a first condition.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the message ranking module includes instructions to determine a weighted average ranking value based on a respective ranking value for each at least a subset of the plurality of messages satisfying the first condition.

28. The system of claim 21, further comprising a message ordering module to sort a plurality of messages in accordance with a respective ranking value for each of the plurality of messages, the plurality of messages including the received message.

29. The system of claim 21, further comprising a message marking module to mark the received message when the ranking value exceeds a predefined ranking threshold.

30. A computer program product embodied on a computer medium for providing ranking values to messages, the computer program product comprising instructions for:

associating a ranking value with a received message, the ranking value having an initial value based on one or more ranking factors;

determining at least one interaction metric associated with the received message based on interactions of a user regarding the received message; and

modifying the ranking value in accordance with the at least one interaction metric.