SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING SUGGESTED REMINDERS

• US 20160062605A1
• Filed: 08/29/2014
• Published: 03/03/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Agarwal, Shalini, SUBRAMANYA, Amarnag, PELLICER, Edgar Gonzalez
• Granted Patent: US 9,990,610 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

A method for annotating a message executes at a computing device having one or more processors and memory. The memory stores one or more programs configured for execution by the one or more processors. A plurality of messages for a user is analyzed to determine whether a task reminder is derivable for any of the messages. In this way, task reminders are derived for at least a subset of the messages. A user interface for an electronic messaging application is provided. The interface includes a list of objects, one or more of which represents a collapsed state of a message in the message subset and comprises a summary, task reminder, and a dismissal affordance. Responsive dismissal affordance selection, the task reminder and the dismissal affordances are removed from the object.

Claims

1. A method of annotating a message, comprising:

at a computing device having one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs configured for execution by the one or more processors;

analyzing a plurality of messages intended for a user to determine whether a task reminder is derivable from respective messages in the plurality of messages through processing of the respective messages, thereby deriving task reminders for at least a subset of the plurality of messages;

providing a user interface for an electronic messaging application, wherein the user interface includes a list of objects, one or more respective object of the objects in the list of objects representing a collapsed state of a corresponding message in the subset of the plurality of messages and comprising;

(i) a message summary for the corresponding message, (ii) the task reminder derived from the corresponding message, (iii) a dismissal affordance; and

responsive to user selection of the dismissal affordance, removing the task reminder and the dismissal affordance from the respective object.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to user selection of a task reminder of an object in the list of objects;

replacing the collapsed state of the message corresponding to the object with an expanded state of the corresponding message by pushing any objects in the list of objects that are above the object representing the corresponding message up and pushing any objects in the list of objects that are below the object representing the corresponding message down in the user interface;

removing the dismissal affordance; and

facilitating user edits to the task reminder thereby creating a task.

3. The method of claim 2, the method further comprising:

providing a save affordance when the user edits the task reminder; and

responsive to user selection of the save affordance;

replacing the expanded state of the corresponding message with the collapsed state of the corresponding message by pushing any objects in the list of objects that are above the object representing the message down and pushing any objects in the list of objects that are below the object representing the message up in the user interface, and

removing the save affordance.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the corresponding message is part of a chain of messages and the expanded state of the corresponding message includes the chain of messages.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein an object in the list of objects represents a plurality of messages with a common topic.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein each object in the list of objects is one of a task, a message, or a plurality of messages.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the task reminder includes one or more words that are taken from a source independent of the respective message and one or more words that are taken from the respective message.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the task reminder is exclusively taken from the respective message.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the respective object further comprises a confirmation affordance, wherein

the confirmation affordance and the dismissal affordance occupy different portions of the respective object;

the method further comprising;

responsive to user selection of the confirmation affordance, removing the task reminder and the dismissal affordance from the respective object.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the analyzing of a respective message in the plurality of messages comprises:

determining, for each respective predefined candidate task reminder in a plurality of predefined task reminders, whether there is a match between the predefined candidate task reminder and all or a portion of the respective message, wherein

when a match between respective predefined candidate task reminder and all or a portion of the respective message is found, the respective predefined candidate task reminder is deemed to be the task reminder for the respective message.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the match between the predefined candidate task reminder and all or a portion of the respective message includes natural language processing of all or a portion of the respective message.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein a predefined candidate task reminder in the plurality of candidate task reminders is provided by the user.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein a predefined candidate task reminder in the plurality of candidate task reminders is provided by a source independent of the user.

14. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

determining a task assist based at least upon the task reminder, and wherein the collapsed state of the corresponding message further comprises the task assist.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the task assist is a phone number, URL, address, or map location associated with the task reminder, and wherein the task assist is obtained from a source distinct from the plurality of messages.

17. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the one or more programs further comprise instructions for:

responsive to user selection of a task reminder of an object in the list of objects;

replacing the collapsed state of the message corresponding to the object with an expanded state of the corresponding message by pushing any objects in the list of objects that are above the object representing the corresponding message up and pushing any objects in the list of objects that are below the object representing the corresponding message down in the user interface;

removing the dismissal affordance; and

allowing the user to edit the task reminder thereby creating a task.

20. The computing device of claim 15, wherein an object in the list of objects represents a plurality of messages with a common topic.

16. A computing device, comprising:

one or more processors;

memory; and

one or more programs stored in the memory configured for execution by the one or more processors, the one or more programs comprising instructions for;

analyzing a plurality of messages intended for a user to determine whether a task reminder is derivable from respective messages in the plurality of messages through processing of the respective messages, thereby deriving task reminders for at least a subset of the plurality of messages;

providing a user interface for an electronic messaging application, wherein the user interface includes a list of objects, one or more respective object of the objects in the list of objects representing a collapsed state of a corresponding message in the subset of the plurality of messages and comprising;

(i) a message summary for the corresponding message, (ii) the task reminder derived from the corresponding message, (iii) a dismissal affordance;

; and

responsive to user selection of the dismissal affordance, removing the task reminder and the dismissal affordance from the respective object.

18. The computing device of claim 16, wherein the one or more programs further comprise instructions for providing a save affordance when the user edits the task reminder, wherein

responsive to user selection of the save affordance,

replacing the expanded state of the corresponding message with the collapsed state of the corresponding message by pushing any objects in the list of objects that are above the object representing the message down and pushing any objects in the list of objects that are below the object representing the message up in the user interface;

and

removing the save affordance.

19. The computing device of claim 16, wherein the corresponding message is part of a chain of messages and the expanded state of the message includes the chain of messages.

21. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured for execution by a computing device having one or more processors and memory, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:

analyzing a plurality of messages intended for a user to determine whether a task reminder is derivable from respective messages in the plurality of messages through processing of the respective messages, thereby deriving task reminders for at least a subset of the plurality of messages;

providing a user interface for an electronic messaging application, wherein the user interface includes a list of objects, one or more respective object of the objects in the list of objects representing a collapsed state of a corresponding message in the subset of the plurality of messages and comprising;

(i) a message summary for the corresponding message, (ii) the task reminder derived from the corresponding message, (iii) a dismissal affordance;

and

responsive to user selection of the dismissal affordance, removing the task reminders and the dismissal affordance from the respective object.