SYSTEMS AND METHODS TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE DURING USER INPUT

• US 20120166999A1
• Filed: 03/02/2012
• Published: 06/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/08/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Xobni Corp. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Thatcher, Gregory Garland, Jacobson, Joshua Robert Russell, Cort, Frank J., Smith, Adam Michael
• Granted Patent: US 9,819,765 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/780
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/313 Selection or weighting of terms for indexing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3322 using system suggestions G06F16/3325 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3326 using relevance feedback from the user, e.g. relevance feedback on documents, documents sets, document terms or passages
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3334 Selection or weighting of terms from queries, including natural language queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/337 Profile generation, learning or modification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0237 using prediction or retrieval techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04895 Guidance during keyboard input operation, e.g. prompting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/02 using automatic reactions or user delegation, e.g. automatic replies or chatbot-generated messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 : Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals

Abstract

Systems and methods to provide assistance for completion during user input. In one embodiment, a method includes automatically generating profiles for persons identified in messages, such as incoming and outgoing emails. When a user is typing an input, the profiles are used to identify suggestions for the completion of the user input.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

scanning, by a computer, a set of messages of a user sent to or received from a plurality of persons;

extracting information from the messages to form search queries;

communicating, over a network, with a plurality of servers in an automated way to extract data, the extracting comprising querying the servers using the search queries;

generating a plurality of profiles for the persons, each profile of the plurality of profiles comprising a portion of the extracted data, a name of a respective person from one of the messages, and at least one of a social network profile name and a link to a social network profile for the respective person;

in response to an incomplete input in an input field, identifying a set of persons in the plurality of profiles that match the incomplete input; and

presenting to the user one or more suggestions to complete the incomplete input based on the set of persons.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the search queries is selected from the group consisting of a name, a social network profile name, a physical address, an email address, and a telephone number.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein each profile further comprises at least one of a business association and a job title of the respective person.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of messages includes messages received at a user terminal for the user and messages sent by the user from the user terminal.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the names of the persons is identified via the computer automatically querying a server over a computer network.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the server is one of:

a web server engine, an online directory, a social network server, and a media sharing website.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more suggestions are a first set of suggestions, and the method further comprises:

obtaining a second set of suggestions from a message compose window; and

presenting the first and second sets of suggestions in a window.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first and second sets of suggestions are presented as separate lists.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the messages are email messages.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more suggestions are presented for selection on a browser running on a user terminal remote from the computer.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein each profile of the plurality of profiles further comprises information about the respective person that is available online during creation or updating of the profile for the respective person as a result received from a web search engine or an online directory in response to a search query.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein each profile of the plurality of profiles further comprises information about the respective person that is publicly available on a social network site during creation or updating of the profile for the respective person.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying the set of persons comprises matching the incomplete input to at least one field of the plurality of profiles other than a name field.

14. A user terminal, comprising:

a storage device to store a set of messages for a user;

a profile builder to scan the set of messages, and to identify names of persons from the messages to generate a plurality of profiles for the persons, each profile of the plurality of profiles comprising a name of a respective person, an address for the respective person, a plurality of telephone numbers for the respective person, and a plurality of email addresses for the respective person; and

a profile presenter to identify, in response to an incomplete input in an input field presented on the user terminal, a set of persons in the plurality of profiles that match the incomplete input, to present one or more suggestions to complete the incomplete input based on the set of persons, and to replace the incomplete input with a suggestion selected by the user from the one or more suggestions, the profile presenter to identify the set of persons by matching the incomplete input to a plurality of fields in the profiles, wherein the incomplete input is matched to at least one field of the plurality of fields.

15. The user terminal of claim 14, wherein the profile builder and the profile presenter are implemented via at least one processor and a memory storing a set of instructions for the processor.

16. The user terminal of claim 14, wherein at least a portion of the profile builder and the profile presenter is implemented via an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA).

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-readable instructions, which when executed, cause a system to:

scan, by at least one processor, a set of messages of a user sent to or received from a plurality of persons;

identify names of the persons to generate a plurality of profiles for the persons, each profile of the plurality of profiles comprising a name of a respective person, an address for the respective person, and at least one of;

a date of the last message sent to or received from the respective person, and a total number of messages sent to or received from the respective person;

in response to an incomplete input in an input field, identify a set of persons in the plurality of profiles that match the incomplete input, the identifying comprising matching the incomplete input to a plurality of fields in the profiles, wherein the plurality of fields includes at least one of;

a person'"'"'s name, a domain name, and a segment of an email address; and

present one or more suggestions to complete the incomplete input based on the set of persons.

18. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the plurality of fields further includes at least one of a social network profile name and a link to a social network profile.

19. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the instructions further cause the system to, in response to the user selecting a suggestion from the one or more suggestions, replace the incomplete input with an address corresponding to the suggestion selected by the user.