SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ANALYZING COMMUNICATIONS

• US 20140324887A1
• Filed: 07/10/2014
• 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 9,819,629 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/748
• 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, using at least one processor, a plurality of communications associated with a user;

identifying, based on the accessed plurality of communications, a plurality of contacts corresponding to the accessed plurality of communications; and

inferring, based on an analysis of the accessed plurality of communications, a relationship between the user and one or more of the identified plurality of contacts.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying one or more communications of the plurality of communications associated with the user that correspond to the one or more of the identified plurality of contacts.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining an amount of the one or more communications associated with the user that correspond to the one or more identified plurality of contacts; and

wherein inferring a relationship between the user and the one or more of the identified plurality of contacts is further based on the determined amount of the one or more communications associated with the user that correspond to the one or more identified plurality of contacts.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising assigning a strength to the inferred relationship between the user and the one or more identified plurality of contacts based on the determined amount of communications per a time period that are associated with the user and correspond to the one or more identified plurality of contacts.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising increasing the strength of the inferred relationship between the user and the one or more identified plurality of contacts as the amount of communications per the time period that are associated with the user and correspond to the one or more identified plurality of contacts increases.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising decreasing the strength of the inferred relationship between the user and the one or more identified plurality of contacts as the amount of communications per the time period that are associated with the user and correspond to the one or more identified plurality of contacts decreases.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising arranging the one or more identified plurality of contacts, within a contact layout display associated with the user based on the inferred relationship between the user and the one or more identified plurality of contacts.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein arranging the one or more identified plurality of contacts within a contact layout display is further based on the strength of the relationship between the user and the one or more identified plurality of contacts.

9. A method comprising:

accessing, using at least one processor, a plurality of communications associated with a user;

identifying, based on the accessed plurality of communications, a plurality of contacts related to the accessed plurality of communications; and

inferring, based on an analysis of the accessed plurality of communications, a relationship between two or more of the plurality of contacts.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

identifying, based on the accessed plurality of communications, a second plurality of contacts related to the accessed plurality of communications; and

inferring, based on the analysis of the accessed plurality of communications, a lack of a relationship between two or more of the plurality of contacts.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising associating the two or more of the plurality of contacts with a group based on the inferred relationship between the two or more of the plurality of contacts.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising arranging the two or more of the plurality of contacts proximate to one another within a contact layout based on the inferred relationship between the two or more of the plurality of contacts.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving a request from the user to create a new communication;

receiving user input, from the user, to add a first contact from the two or more of the plurality of contacts as a recipient to the new communication; and

adding, without further user intervention, a second contact from the two or more of the plurality of contacts as a recipient to the new communication.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising determining, based on the analysis of the accessed plurality of communications, a strength of the inferred relationship between the two or more of the plurality of contacts.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the strength of the inferred relationship is further based on a frequency at which the two or more of the plurality of contacts are related to communications from among the plurality of communications.

16. A method comprising:

accessing, using at least one processor, a plurality of communications associated with a user;

identifying, based on the accessed plurality of communications, a group related to the accessed plurality of communications; and

inferring, based on an analysis of the accessed plurality of communications, a relationship between the user and the identified group.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising arranging contacts within the group in a contact layout, wherein each contact within the group is arranged to be visually grouped with other contacts within the group.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising determining a strength of the inferred relationship between the user and the identified group based on the analysis of the accessed plurality of communications.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the strength of the inferred relationship between the user and the identified group is further based on the amount of forwarded messages the user sends to the group.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the strength of the inferred relationship between the user and the identified group is further based on the amount of messages received by the user from one or more contacts within the group.