Natural language personal information management

• US 20070282595A1
• Filed: 06/06/2006
• Published: 12/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Tunning, Brian R., Gridley, Evan J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,423,347 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3329 Natural language query formulation or dialogue systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/284 Lexical analysis, e.g. tokenisation or collocates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting

Abstract

A PIM application provides a single page natural language interface for entering and managing PIM data. The natural language interface may receive a natural language entry as a text character string. The entry may be associated with a task, calendar, contact or other PIM data type. The received entries are processed (for example, parsed) to determine the PIM data type and other information. The original entry is not discarded from the natural language interface as a result of processing. After processing one or more received natural language entries, the entries remain in the natural language interface to be viewed and managed. The entry is maintained so it can be managed with other natural language entries provided in the interface.

Claims

1. A method for managing data, comprising:

receiving a first natural language entry from a user into a portion of an interface;

processing the first natural language entry to identify one or more fields within the entry; and

receiving a second natural language entry in the portion of the interface, wherein the first natural language entry is maintained in the interface during said step of receiving the second natural language entry.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of receiving includes:

receiving a text entry.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first natural language entry includes an indicator associated with a data type.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the indicator is associated with a task.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of processing includes:

determining that the first natural language entry is associated with a PIM data type.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of processing includes:

performing preliminary parsing on the first natural language entry by code on a client computer.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of processing includes:

transmitting the first natural language entry to a remote parsing service.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of processing includes:

receiving meta data associated with fields of the first natural language entry.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of providing the first natural language entry includes:

displaying the first natural language entry in the interface; and

processing an edit to the entry received into the interface.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the interface is provided as part of a personal information management tool.

11. One or more processor readable storage devices having processor readable code embodied on said processor readable storage devices, said processor readable code for programming one or more processors to perform a method comprising:

identifying user data in a natural language entry within a user interface;

storing the user data by an application associated with the interface; and

managing the natural language entry in the user interface after the user data is stored.

12. One or more processor readable storage devices according to claim 11, wherein said step of identifying includes:

identifying a data type associated with the natural language entry.

13. One or more processor readable storage devices according to claim 11, wherein said step of storing includes:

storing at least a portion of the natural language entry in a format associated with a data type.

14. One or more processor readable storage devices according to claim 11, wherein said step of storing includes:

transmitting the natural language entry to be stored at a remote data store.

15. One or more processor readable storage devices according to claim 11, wherein said step of managing the natural language entry includes:

displaying the natural language entry in a list of one or more natural language entries within the interface.

16. One or more processor readable storage devices according to claim 11, wherein the application is a personal information management application.

17. An apparatus for processing data, comprising:

a communication interface;

a storage device; and

one or more processors in communication with said storage device and said communication interface, said one or more processors perform a method comprising,

identifying personal information management data in a natural language entry within a user interface,

storing the personal information management data in a native data format of a personal information management tool, and

processing the stored personal information management data in response to an event associated with the natural language entry in the user interface.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein said step of processing includes:

receiving input through the user interface to edit the natural language entry; and

changing the stored personal information management data in response to receiving the input.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein said step of processing includes:

detecting a time associated with a natural language entry has transpired; and

processing the stored personal information management data in response to detecting the time has transpired.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein said step of storing the personal information management data includes transmitting the personal information management data to a remote data store, said step of processing the stored personal information management data in response to an event includes transmitting updated personal information management data to the data store.