AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED SUBJECT RECOMMENDATIONS FOR EMAIL MESSAGES BASED ON EMAIL MESSAGE CONTENT

• US 20090055481A1
• Filed: 08/20/2007
• Published: 02/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/20/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LinkedIn Corporation (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: GOLDBERG, ITZHACK, MIZRACHI, BOAZ, ERERA, SHAI, CARMEL, DAVID
• Granted Patent: US 7,761,524 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

The present invention discloses an email application that includes a subject evaluation engine, which is able to automatically generate a subject heading suggestion for an email message based upon content contained in the email message. The subject evaluation engine can also compare a pre-existing subject heading of the email message against content contained in the email message. User selectable interface elements can be included in the email application for invoking the suggestion and comparison functions of the subject evaluation engine. Further, the subject evaluation can automatically be initiated before an email message is sent, can be used to notify a user when the message'"'"'s subject is inconsistent with the message'"'"'s content, and can suggest one or more replacement subject headings for the current heading.

Claims

1. An email application comprising:

a subject evaluation engine configured to automatically generate a subject heading suggestion for an email message based upon content contained in the email message.

2. The email application of claim 1, further comprising:

a suggestion selector which, when selected by a user, causes the subject evaluation engine to generate a subject heading suggestion, which is able to be accepted by a user, which when accepted the subject heading suggestion is used as a heading for the email message.

3. The email application of claim 2, wherein the subject evaluation engine maintains a history of user responses to subject heading suggestions, which is used to train the subject evaluation engine so that future suggested subject headings are adjusted in accordance with learned user preferences.

4. The email application of claim 1, wherein the subject evaluation engine is further configured to compare a pre-existing subject heading of the email message against content contained in the email message.

5. The email application of claim 4, further comprising:

a subject verification selector which, when selected by a user, causes the subject evaluation engine to compare the pre-existing subject heading against the content contained in the email message and present an indication of whether the pre-existing subject heading and the content are consistent.

6. The email application of claim 5, wherein the subject verification selector is a user selectable graphical user interface (GUI) button.

7. The email application of claim 4, wherein the subject evaluation engine is automatically invoked when a user attempts to send an email message, said application further comprising:

a notification message which is automatically presented before the email message is sent only when a comparison score for comparing the pre-existing subject heading against the content as determined by the subject evaluation engine falls below a previously established threshold, wherein the notification message presents the user with a replacement option to replace the pre-existing subject heading with a subject heading suggestion generated by the subject evaluation engine.

8. The email application of claim 7, wherein when the user selects the replacement option, the email message is sent having a subject heading that is the subject heading suggestion, and wherein when the user selects to not activate the replacement option, the email message is sent having a subject heading that is the pre-existing subject heading.

9. The email application of claim 1, wherein the subject evaluation engine is a client-side software program used in conjunction with an email client program.

10. The email application of claim 1, wherein the subject evaluation engine is a server-side software program used in conjunction with an email server program.

11. The email application of claim 1, further comprising:

a stacked subject line component configured to maintain a plurality of different subject headings for a single email message.

12. The email application of claim 11, wherein one of the subject headings maintained for an email message comprises an original user entered subject heading, and wherein another of the subject headings maintained for the email message comprises a replacement subject heading generated by the subject evaluation engine.

13. The email application of claim 11, further comprising:

an interface configuration option for the email application for permitting a user to configure which of the plurality of different subject headings are to be displayed to a user of an email application interface.

14. An software implemented method comprising:

detecting a subject heading evaluation event for an email subject heading;

analyzing content of an email message to determine a comparison score between the analyzed content and the email subject heading; and

presenting a notification to a user of the results of the analyzing step.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

presenting a notification message in a graphical user interface when the comparison score falls below a previously established threshold, wherein the notification message presents the user with a replacement option to replace the pre-existing subject heading with a subject heading suggestion automatically generated by a software program based upon the content of the email message.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the detected evaluation event is triggered by an attempt to send the email message, said method further comprising:

when the user selects the replacement option, sending the email message having a subject heading that is the subject heading suggestion; and

when the user selects to not activate the replacement option, the email message is sent having a subject heading that is the pre-existing subject heading.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the detected evaluation event is triggered by a user selection of a graphical user interface (GUI) option before the email message is sent, said method further comprising:

when the user selects the replacement option, replacing the pre-existing subject heading of the email message with the subject heading suggestion.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein said steps of claim 14 are steps performed automatically by at least one machine in accordance with at least one computer program having a plurality of code sections that are executable by the at least one machine, said at least one computer program being stored in a machine readable medium.

19. An email application interface comprising:

a subject heading item comprising content that has been automatically generated by a subject evaluation engine that is a software engine, which selectively generates subject headings based upon content contained in an email message; and

at least one user selectable GUI element associated specifically with enabling an operation that is related to the subject evaluation engine whenever the GUI element is selected.

20. The email application interface of claim 19, wherein the at least one GUI element further comprises a stacked subject line component configured to maintain a plurality of different subject headings for a single email message.