Method and apparatus for processing messages based on interactive history and context between sender and recipient

• US 20080126112A1
• Filed: 11/29/2006
• Published: 05/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Xu, Tian
• Granted Patent: US 8,200,692 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

Techniques for processing messages based on interactive history and context between a sender and a recipient are described herein. In one embodiment, a process includes, but is not limited to, in response to a message to be received by a recipient from a sender over a network, determining one or more previous transactions associated with the sender and the recipient, the one or more previous transactions being recorded during course of operations performed within an entity associated with the recipient, and generating a list of one or more candidates of interactive history links based on the determined one or more previous transactions, such that the recipient is able to select one or more of the candidates of interactive history links to be performed for responding the message of the sender. Other methods and apparatuses are also described.

Claims

1. A machine-implemented method, comprising:

in response to a message to be received by a recipient from a sender over a network, determining one or more previous transactions associated with the sender and the recipient, the one or more previous transactions being recorded during course of operations performed within an entity associated with the recipient; and

generating a list of one or more candidates of interactive history links based on the determined one or more previous transactions, such that the recipient is able to select one or more of the action candidates to be performed for responding the message of the sender.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining one or more previous transactions comprises:

performing a first search within a business context database to identify first previous transactions associated with the sender with respect to the entity; and

performing a second search based on the identified first previous transactions to identify second previous transactions associated with the recipient, wherein the list of action candidates is generated based on the second previous transactions associated with sender and recipient.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the second search is performed only if the first previous transactions are identified, wherein if the first previous transactions cannot be identified:

performing a third search within the business context database to identify third previous transactions associated with the recipient; and

performing a fourth search based on the identified third previous transactions to identify fourth previous transactions associated with the sender, wherein the list of action candidates is generated based on the fourth previous transactions associated with sender and recipient.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

presenting the second and fourth previous transactions to the recipient to enable the recipient to select at least a portion of the second and fourth previous transactions; and

generating a first transaction context based on a selection of the recipient, the first transaction context representing one or more related links associated the sender linked with at least a portion of the action candidates.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising generating a second transaction context in response to accessing the second and fourth searches, the second transaction context having one or more links related to at least a portion of the action candidates, and the one or more links be associated with one or more events triggered by the recipient.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising determining one or more roles of the recipient within the entity, wherein the second transaction context is generated based on the determined one or more roles of the recipient.

7. The method of claim 2, further comprising generating a transaction context associated with the message based on an identification (ID) of the sender extracted from the message, and wherein the action candidates are linked to at least a portion of content of the transaction context.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the entity is an enterprise entity, and wherein information of the previous transactions is provided from an enterprise information system (EIS) associated with the enterprise entity, the EIS system including at least an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

14. The machine-readable medium of claim 3, wherein the method further comprises determining one or more roles of the recipient within the entity, wherein the second transaction context is generated based on the determined one or more roles of the recipient.

9. A machine-readable medium having instructions stored therein, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform a method, the method comprising:

in response to a message to be received by a recipient from a sender over a network, determining one or more previous transactions associated with the sender and the recipient, the one or more previous transactions being recorded during course of operations performed within an entity associated with the recipient; and

generating a list of one or more action candidates based on the determined one or more previous transactions, such that the recipient is able to select one or more of the action candidates to be performed for responding the message of the sender.

10. The machine-readable medium of claim 9, wherein determining one or more previous transactions comprises:

performing a first search within a business context database to identify first previous transactions associated with the sender with respect to the entity; and

performing a second search based on the identified first previous transactions to identify second previous transactions associated with the recipient, wherein the list of action candidates is generated based on the second previous transactions associated with sender and recipient.

11. The machine-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the second search is performed only if the first previous transactions are identified, wherein if the first previous transactions cannot be identified:

performing a third search within the business context database to identify third previous transactions associated with the recipient; and

performing a fourth search based on the identified third previous transactions to identify fourth previous transactions associated with the sender, wherein the list of action candidates is generated based on the fourth previous transactions associated with sender and recipient.

12. The machine-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises:

presenting the second and fourth previous transactions to the recipient to enable the recipient to select at least a portion of the second and fourth previous transactions; and

generating a first transaction context based on a selection of the recipient, the first transaction context representing one or more related links associated the sender linked with at least a portion of the action candidates.

13. The machine-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises generating a second transaction context in response to accessing the second and fourth searches, the second transaction context having one or more links related to at least a portion of the action candidates, and the one or more links be associated with one or more events triggered by the recipient.

15. The machine-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the method further comprises generating a transaction context associated with the message based on an identification (ID) of the sender extracted from the message, and wherein the action candidates are linked to at least a portion of content of the transaction context.

16. The machine-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the entity is an enterprise entity, and wherein information of the previous transactions is provided from an enterprise information system (EIS) associated with the enterprise entity, the EIS system including at least an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

17. A data processing system, comprising:

a processing logic, in response to a message to be received by a recipient from a sender over a network, to determine one or more previous transactions associated with the sender and the recipient, the one or more previous transactions being recorded during course of operations performed within an entity associated with the recipient; and

an action generator coupled to the processing logic to generate a list of one or more action candidates based on the determined one or more previous transactions, such that the recipient is able to select one or more of the action candidates to be performed for responding the message of the sender.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising:

a first search engine coupled to the processing logic to search within a business context database to search first previous transactions associated with the sender with respect to the entity; and

a second search engine coupled to the processing logic to search based on the identified first previous transactions to identify second previous transactions associated with the recipient, wherein the list of action candidates is generated based on the second previous transactions associated with sender and recipient.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising:

a user interface to present the first and second previous transactions to the recipient to enable the recipient to select at least a portion of the first and second previous transactions; and

a first context generator to generate a first transaction context based on a selection of the recipient, the first transaction context representing one or more related links associated the sender linked with at least a portion of the action candidates.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising a second context generator to generate a second transaction context in response to accessing the second database, the second transaction context having one or more links related to at least a portion of the action candidates, and the one or more links be associated with one or more events triggered by the recipient.