EMAIL MANAGEMENT BASED ON USER BEHAVIOR

• US 20100205259A1
• Filed: 02/11/2009
• Published: 08/12/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/11/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Walter, Jason D., Gillum, Eliot C., Bidgoli, Mehrdad, Vitaldevara, Krishna C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,255,468 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

Methods for assisting email users manage email messages received in an email account. An event is triggered by an action performed by an email user with respect to an email message in an email account. The event identifies an entity associated with the email message (e.g., sender address, domain, keyword, etc.). A determination is made whether to assist the user manage their email based on a heuristic. The heuristic assigns weights based on prior events associated with the same entity to determine whether the user is interested in receiving emails from the sender. Based on the heuristics, the method may add the sender to the user'"'"'s block-list or unsubscribe the user from a mailing list.

Claims

1. A method for assisting email users manage email messages received in an email account, comprising:

receiving an event triggered by an action performed by an email user with respect to an email message in an email account, the email message having a characteristic;

determining to assist the email user manage the email account based on a heuristic, wherein the determination is based on the action performed by the email user on the email message the triggered the event and prior actions performed by the email user associated with the same characteristic;

selecting to perform an action on behalf of the email user; and

implementing the action.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein a characteristic associated with an email message includes at least one of the following:

the sender'"'"'s email address, the sender'"'"'s domain, a keyword, a topic, an Internet Protocol address, a company, a Uniform Resource Locator, and an unsubscribe mechanism.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the heuristic comprises assigning an assistance weight to the event and determining to perform an action if the assistance weight exceeds a predetermined value.

4. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein the step of assigning an assistance weight comprises at least one of assigning a weight based on:

a number of email messages associated with the same entity that have been previously junked by the user;

a number of email messages associated with the same entity that the user has previously submitted an unsubscribe request;

a number of email messages associated with the same entity that have been previously deleted by the user;

a number of email messages associated with the same entity that have been previously rescued by the user;

a number of email messages associated with the same entity that have been previously marked as a phishing scam by the user;

a number of email messages associated with the same entity that have been replied to by the user;

a number of email messages associated with the same entity that have been forwarded by the user;

or

a number of email messages associated with the same entity that have been read by the user.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of:

notifying the user that the selected action has been implemented.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of selecting to perform an action comprises the step of:

selecting to add the entity associated with the event on a block-list associated with the email user.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the step of implementing the selected action comprises the step of:

adding the entity associated with the event to the block-list associated with the email user.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the step of adding the characteristic associated with the event to the user'"'"'s block-list comprises the steps of:

providing a user interface prompting the email user for permission to add the characteristic associated with the event to the user'"'"'s block-list; and

if the user grants permission, adding the characteristic associated with the event to the user'"'"'s block-list.

9. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the step of adding the characteristic associated with the event to the user'"'"'s block-list comprises the steps of:

adding the characteristic associated with the event to the user'"'"'s block-list;

notifying the email user via a user interface that the characteristic has been added to the user'"'"'s block list;

providing the email user the opportunity to remove the characteristic from the user'"'"'s block-list in the event that the characteristic was added to the user'"'"'s block-list in error; and

removing the characteristic from the user'"'"'s block-list if the email user indicates the characteristic was added to the user'"'"'s block-list in error.

10. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the step of selecting to perform an action on behalf of the user comprises selecting one of the following actions:

adding the sender'"'"'s email address to a block-list associated with the email user;

adding the sender'"'"'s domain to a block-list associated with the email user;

adding a keyword to a block-list associated with the email user;

adding an Internet Protocol address to a block-list associated with the email user;

adding a Uniform Resource Locator to a block-list associated with the email user;

adding a company to a block-list associate with the email user;

adding a topic to a block-list associated with the email user; and

adding an unsubscribe mechanism to a block-list associated with the email user.

11. A method for assisting email users manage email messages received in their email account, comprising:

receiving an event triggered by a user action associated with an email message in an email account, the email message identifying a sender of the email message;

identifying a conflict between the user action associated with the email message that triggered the event and prior user actions associated with the same sender based on a heuristic; and

prompting the user to confirm that the user action that triggered the event should be implemented.

12. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the heuristic comprises assigning an assistance weight based on the received event and performing an action if the assistance weight exceeds a predetermined value.

13. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein the step of assigning an assistance weight comprises at least one of assigning a weight based on:

a number of email messages associated with the sender that have been previously junked by the user;

a number of email messages associated with the sender that the user has previously submitted an unsubscribe request;

a number of email messages associated with the sender that have been previously deleted by the user;

a number of email messages associated with the sender that have been previously rescued by the user;

a number of email messages associated with the sender that have been previously marked as a phishing scam by the user;

a number of email messages associated with the sender that have been read by the user;

or

if a number of email messages associated with the sender have been read by the user, an amount of time the user has spent reading each email message.

14. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein a user action that triggered the event includes a user action from at least one of the following user actions:

deleting an email message, marking an email message as junk, marking an email message as a phishing scam, moving an email message into a junk folder, reading an email message, marking an email message as not spam, and requesting to unsubscribe from a mailing list.

15. The method as recited in claim 11, further comprising:

receiving input from the user confirming that the user action should be implemented; and

based on the step of receiving input, implementing the user action.

16. A method for assisting email users manage email messages received in their email account, comprising:

receiving an event triggered by a user action associated with an email message in an email account, the email message contains data that identifies the sender of the email message;

determining that the email user is not interested in receiving future emails from the sender based on a heuristic that makes a determination based on prior user actions associated with the same sender; and

based on said determining step, implementing an action.

17. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein the heuristic comprises assigning an assistance weight upon receiving the event and performing an action if the assistance weight exceeds a predetermined value.

18. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein the step of assigning an assistance weight comprises at least one of assigning a weight based on:

a number of email messages associated with the sender that have been previously junked by the user;

a number of email messages associated with the sender that the user has previously submitted an unsubscribe request;

a number of email messages associated with the sender that have been previously deleted by the user;

a number of email messages associated with the sender that have been previously rescued by the user;

a number of email messages associated with the sender that have been previously marked as a phishing scam by the user;

a number of email messages associated with the sender that have been read by the user; and

if a number of email messages associated with the sender have been read by the user, an amount of time the user has spent reading each email message.

19. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein the step of implementing an action comprises implementing one of the following actions:

adding the sender to a block-list associated with the user;

if the email message includes a list-unsubscribe header, unsubscribing the user from a mailing list;

removing a sender from a safe-list associated with the user.

20. The method as recited in claim 17, further comprising the step of:

notifying the user that the action has been implemented.