EMAIL ASSISTANT FOR EFFICIENTLY MANAGING EMAILS

• US 20140280616A1
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Published: 09/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Ramanathan, Rajesh, Edelen, James, Burlin, Britta
• Granted Patent: US 11,470,036 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]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes

Abstract

Technologies are generally described for providing an email assistant for sorting through emails received at an email application. The email assistant may prioritize emails and group high and low priority emails separately to enable a user to quickly view and manage an email inbox. The email assistant may also provide suggestions on how to sort and manage emails in the inbox of the email application. The email assistant may observe a user'"'"'s pattern of interactions with types of emails, and prioritize emails and suggest actions based on the user'"'"'s interactions. The email assistant may be configured to automatically sort emails and provide management suggestions based on a detected scenario such as a user'"'"'s return after a period of time away, a large influx of emails, and presence detection.

Claims

1. A method to be executed at least in part in a computing device for providing an email assistant for sorting and managing emails, the method comprising:

detecting a plurality of emails received through an email application;

prioritizing the emails into two or more groups;

grouping the prioritized emails in respective folders; and

displaying a suggestion pane providing suggested actions for managing the folders of prioritized emails.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

analyzing a user'"'"'s pattern of interactions with received emails; and

determining a number of groups and prioritizing the emails into the groups based on the analysis of the user'"'"'s pattern of interactions.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein prioritizing the emails into the groups comprises:

determining one or more characteristics associated with each email, the characteristics including a sender, a subject, and a domain name of the sender; and

identifying a user action associated with an email of similar characteristics, the user action including one or more of deleting, ignoring, delaying a response to, flagging, saving, and replying to the email of similar characteristics.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the two or more groups include a group of high priority emails and a group of low priority emails.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

displaying a folder of low priority emails in a separate section from a folder of high priority emails on a user interface of the email application, wherein the folder of low priority emails hides the low priority emails from view.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

providing an expansion control for expanding the folder of low priority emails to display the low priority emails.

7. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

displaying the folder of low priority emails and the folder of high priority emails in separate sections presented on a toolbar of the email application; and

upon receiving a selection one of the folder of low priority emails and the folder of high priority emails on the toolbar, displaying a list of emails included in the selected folder.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

providing a control for a bulk action associated with the folder of low priority emails to delete the emails included in the folder of low priority emails.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

enabling the user to move a selected email from the folder of low priority emails to the folder of high priority emails.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically displaying the suggestion pane based on one of;

a number of emails, detection of a user'"'"'s return after a period of time away, detection of a change in the user'"'"'s presence status, and a predefined time during a day.

11. The method of claim 1, the suggested actions comprise one or more of:

a bulk action to delete emails in a selected group, an action to view a list of emails included in a selected group, an action to view a list of emails sharing a common characteristic, and no action.

12. A computing device for providing an email assistant for sorting and managing emails, the computing device comprising:

a memory;

a display; and

a processor coupled to the memory and the display, the processor configured to provide a user interface associated with an email application, wherein the email application is configured to;

detect a plurality of emails received through an email application;

analyze a user'"'"'s pattern of interactions with received emails;

determine a number of groups for the received emails and prioritize the emails into two or more groups based on the analysis of the user'"'"'s pattern of interactions;

group the prioritized emails in respective folders; and

display a suggestion pane providing suggested actions for managing the folders of prioritized emails based on the analysis of the user'"'"'s pattern of interactions.

13. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the email application is further configured to:

perform a suggested action automatically based on the analysis of the user'"'"'s pattern of interactions.

14. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the email application is further configured to:

display a control for a suggested action on each email listed within a folder of emails.

15. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the email application is further configured to:

provide a control for a bulk action associated with at least one of the folders on the suggestion pane; and

upon user activation of the control for the bulk action, display a confirmation of the bulk action.

16. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the email application is further configured to enable user interaction with the user interface through one or more of:

a touch input, a gesture input, a keyboard input, a mouse input, a pen input, a voice command, and an eye-tracking input.

17. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the email application is one of a hosted service accessed through a browser executed on the computing device and a locally installed application executed on the computing device.

18. A computer-readable memory device with instructions stored thereon for providing an email assistant for sorting and managing emails, the instructions comprising:

analyzing a user'"'"'s pattern of interactions with received emails;

detecting a plurality of emails received through an email application;

determining a number of groups and prioritizing the emails into two or more groups based on the analysis of the user'"'"'s pattern of interactions;

grouping the prioritized emails in respective folders; and

displaying a suggestion pane providing suggested actions for managing the folders of prioritized emails based on one of;

a number of emails, detection of a user'"'"'s return after a period of time away, detection of a change in the user'"'"'s presence status, and a predefined time during a day.

19. The computer-readable memory device of claim 18, wherein the instructions further comprise:

displaying different viewing and sorting suggestions based on a client device used for viewing a user interface of the email application.

20. The computer-readable memory device of claim 19, wherein the instructions further comprise:

activating the email assistant at predefined times configurable by a user.