SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ANALYZING COMMUNICATIONS

• US 20140324841A1
• Filed: 07/09/2014
• Published: 10/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Isaacs, Ellen, Nardi, Bonnie A., Whittaker, Stephen
• Granted Patent: US 9,705,834 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/723
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2071/0666 worn on the head or face, e.g. combined with goggles or glasses
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 33/004 comprising two separate lenses joined by a flexible bridge
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/26 Visual data mining; Browsing structured data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/284 Relational databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/226 Delivery according to priorities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes

Abstract

The invention provides a system and method for analyzing a collection of communication messages. The communication messages may be any one of a collection of electronic mail messages, voicemail messages, instant messaging dialogues and other forms of communications. The collections of communications, such as electronic mail messages, may be selected by a user and then subsequently processed to determine the identity of any of the user'"'"'s contacts within the communications. The contacts may then be arranged in a relative priority arrangement whereby contacts which have been identified as engaging in prior reciprocal communications with the user are given higher priority. Higher priority may also be given to contacts which engage in more recent communications with the user. Specific contact relationships may be inferred from the communications depending on whether specific contacts are repeatedly mentioned within the communication messages.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

accessing, by at least one computing device comprising a processor, a plurality of communications associated with a user;

analyzing, by the at least one computing device, the plurality of communications to determine a recency of the plurality of communications; and

ranking, based at least in part on the recency of the plurality of communications, a plurality of contacts associated with the plurality of communications relative to one another.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the plurality of communications to determine a recency of the plurality of communications comprises analyzing each of the plurality of communications to determine how recent the communication is.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the plurality of communications to determine a recency of the plurality of communications comprises analyzing each of the plurality of communications to determine whether the communication satisfies a recency threshold.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining whether the communication satisfies a recency threshold comprises determining whether the communication occurred within a predetermined time period in the past.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the predetermined time period is one month.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the plurality of communications to determine a recency of the plurality of communications comprises analyzing each of the plurality of communications to make a binary determination of whether the communication is recent.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising assigning a score to each of the plurality of communications based on a recency of the communication.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein assigning the score to each of the plurality of communications comprises assigning a higher score to a communication if the communication is a relatively recent communication, and assigning a lower score to a communication if the communication is not a relatively recent communication.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising, for each of the plurality of contacts, identifying communications from the plurality of communications that are specific to the contact.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising, for each of the plurality of contacts, calculating an importance score based on the identified communications specific to the contact.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the identified communications specific to the contact each mention the contact or include the contact as a party to the communication.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising ranking the plurality of contacts relative to one another based on one or more additional factors.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising assigning a greater weight to the recency of the plurality of communications than to at least one of the one or more additional factors.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein ranking the plurality of contacts relative to one another comprises:

identifying one or more contacts that have participated in relatively recent communications with the user;

identifying one or more contacts that have not participated in relatively recent communications with the user; and

ranking the one or more contacts that have participated in relatively recent communications with the user higher than the one or more contacts that have not participated in relatively recent communications with the user.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting a listing of the ranked plurality of contacts.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying one or more additional communications;

updating the ranking of the plurality of contacts based on an analysis of the one or more additional communications.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein updating the ranking comprises:

identifying, from the one or more additional communications, one or more additional contacts; and

ranking, based on an analysis of the plurality of communications and the one or more additional communications, the plurality of contacts and the one or more additional contacts relative to one another.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein ranking the plurality of contacts relative to one another comprises ranking the plurality of contacts relative to one another with specific respect to the user.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing, for each of the plurality of contacts, a selectable option to add the contact to or remove the contact from a contact network for the user.

20. A system comprising:

a computing device including a processor; and

software instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to;

access a plurality of communications associated with a user;

analyze the plurality of communications to determine a recency of the plurality of communications; and

ranking, based at least in part on the recency of the plurality of communications, a plurality of contacts associated with the plurality of communications relative to one another.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein analyzing the plurality of communications to determine a recency of the plurality of communications comprises analyzing each of the plurality of communications to determine whether the communication is a recent communication.

22. The system of claim 21, further comprising software instructions that, when executed by the processor, further cause the system to:

assign a score to each of the plurality of communications based on whether the communication is a recent communication;

for each of the plurality of contacts, identify communications from the plurality of communications that are specific to the contact; and

for each of the plurality of contacts, calculate an importance score based on the identified communications specific to the contact.

23. The system of claim 20, further comprising software instructions that, when executed by the processor, further cause the system to:

rank the plurality of contacts relative to one another based on one or more additional factors; and

assign a greater weight to the recency of the plurality of communications than to at least one of the one or more additional factors.

24. The system of claim 20, further comprising software instructions that, when executed by the processor, further cause the system to:

identify one or more contacts that have participated in relatively recent communications with the user;

identify one or more contacts that have not participated in relatively recent communications with the user; and

rank the one or more contacts that have participated in relatively recent communications with the user higher than the one or more contacts that have not participated in relatively recent communications with the user.