Smartfilter in messaging

• US 20070198483A1
• Filed: 02/21/2006
• Published: 08/23/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Chen, Hui, Kromann, Paul, Li, John, Garoutte-Carson, Colen
• Granted Patent: US 7,650,333 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

The subject application relates to a system(s) and/or methodology that facilitate filtering any set of items in a quick and efficient manner including messages and optionally calendar, notes, and task items. More specifically, as a filter string (input) is entered, it can be immediately compared to properties associated with a selected set of items to filter. As a result, the set of items can be dynamically filtered based on the input entered according to a one-to-one match of the filter string with any selected item or message property. Message properties can include sender, subject, and body of a message. Any items that match the input can be presented to the user in the form of a list. As additional input is entered, the list may dynamically change as more input or less input is received. Thus, any items that match the input appear on the list.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates dynamic filtering of a set of items and providing filtered views of desired items comprising:

a receiving component that receives alphanumeric input;

a comparison component that dynamically performs a one-to-one matching between current alphanumeric input and one or more item properties to determine whether at least a subset of the items include content that matches the current alphanumeric input, wherein the items comprise messages; and

a display component that dynamically presents any items that match the current alphanumeric input on a device screen.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the comparison component dynamically performs the one-to-one matching for a plurality of permutations of the current alphanumeric input.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the items comprise at least one of calendar items, notes, tasks, documents, and photos.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the comparison component dynamically performs at least one of exact matching, out-of-order matching, and sub-string matching between the current alphanumeric input and one or more item properties.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the item properties for message items comprise at least one of sender, subject, body, priority, and headers/footers.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the messages comprise email, SMS, and instant messages.

7. The system of claim 1 further comprises an input component that provides the alphanumeric input, wherein the input component comprises a keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, a stylus, an ink stylus, and a voice recognition component.

8. The system of claim 1 further comprises a filtered view storage that maintains one or more lists of matched items.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein each matched item comprises a visually enhanced view of the current filter string as found in the matched item.

10. The system of claim 1 further comprises a refresh component that facilitates updating items displayed on the device screen as input is received and filtered against the set of items.

11. A method that facilitates dynamically providing a filtered view of a set of items based on input that is entered comprising:

receiving a filter string comprising alphanumeric content;

dynamically filtering one or more permutations of the filter string on a set of items to determine whether the filter string matches one or more item properties, whereby the items comprise messages; and

dynamically displaying available match results based on the one or more permutations of the filter string.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the dynamic filtering is performed by a one-to-one matching between a current filter string and one or more item properties to determine whether at least a subset of the items include content that matches the current filter string.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the items further comprise at least one of calendar items, notes, tasks, documents, and images.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein dynamically filtering the set of items further comprises determining at least one of the following between one or more permutations of the filter string and the set of items:

an exact match, an out-of-order match, a whole word match, and a sub-string match.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein dynamically displaying any match results comprises continuously refreshing the match results on the device screen as the filter string changes and is re-filtered against the item properties.

16. The method of claim 11 further comprises visually enhancing the filter string as it appears in the match result to indicate a current filter string.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein visually enhancing the filter string comprises at least one of the following:

forming a box around the filter string, circling, highlighting, and changing a color, font, or font size of the filter string.

18. The method of claim 11 further comprises at least one of the following:

dynamically displaying at least a subset of content of a match result that matches the filter string on the device screen; and

truncating at least a portion of content in the match result to make the filter string visible in the match result on the device screen.

19. The method of claim 11 further comprises storing one or more lists of match results for later retrieval or use.

20. A system that facilitates dynamic filtering of a set of items and providing filtered views of desired items comprising:

means for receiving alphanumeric input;

means for dynamically performing a one-to-one matching between current alphanumeric input and one or more item properties to determine whether at least a subset of the items include content that matches the current alphanumeric input, wherein the items comprise messages; and

means for dynamically presenting any items that match the current alphanumeric input on a device screen.