FACILITATING RETRIEVAL OF INFORMATION WITHIN A MESSAGING ENVIRONMENT

• US 20080209309A1
• Filed: 05/07/2008
• Published: 08/28/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cort, Frank J., Torgemane, Henri P.J., Zhang, Chen, Ramakrishnan, T.S.
• Granted Patent: US 9,111,260 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

Techniques and mechanisms are provided that allow participants in an electronic messaging conversation (e.g. email or instant message) to retrieve information related to words and phrases in the electronic messaging conversation without leaving the electronic messaging environment. An electronic messaging environment is provided that includes user interface tools that allow a user to (1) select text within the EM conversation, (2) submit the text to an information retrieval service, such as a search engine, and (3) display the results generated by the information retrieval service. To facilitate the selection of relevant text, certain “suggested words” within the conversation may automatically be highlighted by the instant messaging client. Various techniques are provided for customizing which words are suggested, which sources are searched, and which search terms are used.

Claims

1. A client computer for retrieving information in an electronic messaging (EM) environment, the client computer comprising:

one or more processors;

memory, operatively coupled to the one or more processors, storing instructions;

an EM client executing on the client computer;

wherein said instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of;

determining whether any text within an EM conversation qualifies as a suggested word for a user in the EM conversation based, at least in part, on at least one of;

(a) whether the text belongs to a user-customized set of suggested words associated with a user,

(b) whether a particular user that sent the text to the EM conversation identified the text as a suggested word, or

(c) whether the text qualifies a suggested word for a second participant in the EM conversation;

displaying to the user any text within the EM conversation that qualifies as a suggested word in a manner that visually distinguishes the suggested word from text of the EM conversation that does not qualify as a suggested word;

in response to user input received by the EM client, causing the EM client to initiate an operation to retrieve information related to one or more words selected from the EM conversation; and

in response to receiving results of said operation, causing the EM client to generate a display that reflects the results.

2. The client computer of claim 1 wherein:

the user input is second user input received after first user input; and

said instructions include additional instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to perform the step of, prior to receiving the second user input, receiving the first user input that selects the one or more words from unhighlighted text of the EM conversation.

3. The client computer of claim 1 wherein:

the user input selects text that has been highlighted as a suggested word; and

the step of causing the EM client to initiate an operation to retrieve information related to one or more words includes causing the EM client to initiate an operation to retrieve information related to the suggested word.

4. The client computer of claim 3 wherein:

the set of suggested words are organized in categories; and

said instructions include additional instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to perform the step of determining that the text qualifies a suggested word based on a subscription, of a user of the client computer, to a category that includes said suggested word.

5. The client computer of claim 3 wherein:

suggested words are specified in packages; and

said instructions include additional instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to perform the step of determining that the text qualifies a suggested word based on a subscription, of a user of the client computer, to a package that includes said suggested word.

6. The client computer of claim 5 wherein the package is a user-customized package that specifies to the client computer which words a particular user wants treated as suggested words.

7. The client computer of claim 6 wherein the package contains at least one regular expression used to specify a pattern;

wherein words within the EM conversation are treated as suggested words when the words match the pattern specified by the regular expression.

8. The client computer of claim 4 wherein:

the operation to retrieve information is performed based, at least in part, on the category that includes said suggested word;

the category is associated with a search source; and

the operation to retrieve information includes retrieving information from said search source.

9. The client computer of claim 5 wherein:

the operation to retrieve information is based, at least in part, on the package that includes said suggested word;

the package is associated with a search source; and

the operation to retrieve information includes retrieving information from said search source.

10. The client computer of claim 3 wherein the suggested word is associated with a search source, and the operation to retrieve information includes retrieving information from said search source.

11. The client computer of claim 1 wherein the operation to retrieve information is based, at least in part, on one or more words of the EM conversation, other that the one or more selected words.

12. The client computer of claim 4 wherein:

said instructions include additional instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to perform the step of determining the level, of a plurality of possible levels, of the subscription of the user to the category that includes the suggested word; and

the EM client determines that the text qualifies a suggested word based, in part, on the level of the subscription of the user of the EM client to the category that includes said suggested word.

13. The client computer of claim 1 wherein:

the EM conversation is one of an instant messaging conversation or an email conversation; and

the EM client is one of an instant messaging client or an email client.

25. The client computer of claim 1 wherein the EM client determines that a word in the EM conversation qualifies as a suggested word in response to the user demarcating the word with a special start tag and end tag.

26. The client computer of claim 1 wherein the EM client determines that a word in the EM conversation qualifies as a suggested word in response to the user pressing a particular key combination to start the word, and a particular key combination to end the word.

27. The client computer of claim 1 wherein, if a particular word qualifies as a suggested word for any participant in the EM conversation, then the particular word qualifies as a suggested word for all participants in the EM conversation.

28. The client computer of claim 1 wherein said instructions include additional instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to perform the step of receiving input that indicates that the user has opted in to share a set of suggested words associated with said second participant.

14. A client computer for retrieving information in an electronic messaging (EM) environment, the client computer comprising:

one or more processors;

memory, operatively coupled to the one or more processors, storing instructions;

wherein said instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of;

in response to first user input received by an EM client, causing the EM client to initiate a first operation to retrieve, from a first set of one or more sources, first information related to a first set of one or more words selected from an EM conversation displayed by the EM client;

in response to receiving results of said first operation, the EM client generating a display that reflects the results of said first operation;

in response to second user input received by the EM client, causing the EM client to initiate a second operation to retrieve, from a second set of one or more sources, second information related to a second set of one or more words selected from the EM conversation displayed by the EM client; and

in response to receiving results of said second operation, the EM client generating a display that reflects the results of said second operation,

wherein the first set of one or more sources is different than the second set of one or more sources.

15. The client computer of claim 14 wherein:

the first set of one or more sources are used for the first operation based on the first set of one or more words being associated with a first category; and

the second set of one or more sources is used for the second operation based on the second set of one or more words being associated with a second category.

16. The client computer of claim 14 wherein:

the first set of one or more sources are used for the first operation based on the first set of one or more words being associated with a first subscribed package; and

the second set of one or more sources is used for the second operation based on the second set of one or more words being associated with a second subscribed package.

17. The client computer of claim 15 wherein:

search terms used during the first operation are based, at least in part, on the first set of one or more words belonging to the first category; and

search terms used during the second operation are based, at least in part, on the second set of one or more words belonging to the second category.

18. The client computer of claim 16 wherein:

search terms used during the first operation are based, at least in part, on the first set of one or more words belonging to the first package; and

search terms used during the second operation are based, at least in part, on the second set of one or more words belonging to the second package.

19. A client computer for retrieving information in an electronic messaging (EM) environment, the client computer comprising:

one or more processors;

memory, operatively coupled to the one or more processors, storing instructions;

wherein said instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of;

displaying an EM conversation at an EM client,

wherein within the EM conversation displayed by the EM client, a set of one or more words is not associated with any link;

receiving first user input at the EM client;

in response to the first user input, causing the EM client to select said set of one or more words;

while the set of one or more words is selected, receiving second user input at the EM client; and

in response to the second user input, causing the EM client to initiate an operation to retrieve, from a set of one or more sources, information related to the set of one or more words.

20. The client computer of claim 19 wherein:

prior to receiving the first user input, the set of one or more words is displayed in the EM conversation without any highlighting; and

after receiving the first user input, the set of one or more words is displayed within the EM conversation with highlighting.

21. The client computer of claim 19 wherein the step of causing the EM client to initiate an operation to retrieve information includes sending at least one of the words in the set of one or more words to a search engine.

22. The client computer of claim 19 wherein the step of receiving first user input includes receiving user input produced by:

pushing a mouse button down at the start of target text,

holding the mouse button down while dragging a cursor to the end of the target text, and then

releasing the mouse button.

23. The client computer of claim 19 wherein said instructions include additional instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to perform the step of:

causing the EM client to display an information retrieval control in an inactive state prior to receiving the first user input;

causing the EM client to display the information retrieval control in an active state in response to receiving the first user input; and

receiving the second user input through said information retrieval control.

24. The client computer of claim 19 wherein:

the EM conversation includes one or more words that are highlighted as suggested words; and

said set of one or more words do not include any words that are highlighted as suggested words.

29. A system for retrieving information in an electronic messaging (EM) environment, the system comprising:

a client computer;

an electronic messaging (EM) client executing on the client computer;

a server computer;

wherein the server computer is configured to perform a particular operation, wherein the particular operation is to retrieve information related to one or more words selected from an EM conversation displayed by the EM client;

wherein the client computer is configured to perform the following steps;

determining whether any text within the EM conversation qualifies as a suggested word for a user in the EM conversation based, at least in part, on at least one of;

(a) whether the text belongs to a user-customized set of suggested words associated with a user,

(b) whether a particular user that sent the text to the EM conversation identified the text as a suggested word, or

(c) whether the text qualifies a suggested word for a second participant in the EM conversation;

displaying to the user any text within the EM conversation that qualifies as a suggested word in a manner that visually distinguishes the suggested word from text of the EM conversation that does not qualify as a suggested word;

in response to user input received by an EM client, causing the EM client to initiate the particular operation; and

in response to receiving results of the particular operation, causing the EM client to generate a display that reflects the results.

30. A server for retrieving information in an electronic messaging (EM) environment, the server comprising:

one or more processors;

memory, operatively coupled to the one or more processors, storing instructions;

wherein said instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a particular operation in response to a request from a client computer, wherein the particular operation is retrieving information related to one or more words selected from an EM conversation displayed by an EM client that is executing on the client computer;

wherein the client computer is configured to;

determine whether any text within the EM conversation qualifies as a suggested word for a user in the EM conversation based, at least in part, on at least one of;

(a) whether the text belongs to a user-customized set of suggested words associated with a user,

(b) whether a particular user that sent the text to the EM conversation identified the text as a suggested word, or

(c) whether the text qualifies a suggested word for a second participant in the EM conversation;

display to the user any text within the EM conversation that qualifies as a suggested word in a manner that visually distinguishes the suggested word from text of the EM conversation that does not qualify as a suggested word;

in response to user input received by the EM client, cause the EM client to initiate the particular operation; and

in response to receiving results of the particular operation, cause the EM client to generate a display that reflects the results.