ASSOCIATING CONTEXTUAL INFORMATION WITH ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS

• US 20170006094A1
• Filed: 06/30/2015
• Published: 01/05/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Abou Mahmoud, Alaa, Valecha, Vinod A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,954,945 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/1408 by using cryptography for digital transmission H04L9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/1052 Security improvement
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

A method for associating contextual information with an electronic communication. The method includes a computer processor monitoring one or more activities of a user of a computing device, and determining contextual information respectively associated with the one or more monitored activities of the user, wherein contextual information includes information describing the one or more monitored activities. The method further includes identifying the user initiating an electronic communication and a time that the user of the computing device initiates the electronic communication. The method further includes determining at least one of the one or more monitored activities that occur within a window of time, relative to the time that the user of the computing device initiates the electronic communication, and storing the contextual information respectively associated with the at least one of the one or more monitored activities that occurred within the window of time in association with the electronic communication.

Claims

1. A method for associating contextual information with an electronic communication, the method comprising:

monitoring, by one or more computer processors, one or more activities of a user of a computing device;

determining, by one or more computer processors, contextual information respectively associated with the one or more monitored activities of the user, wherein contextual information includes information describing the one or more monitored activities;

identifying, by one or more computer processors, the user of the computing device initiating an electronic communication and a time that the user of the computing device initiates the electronic communication;

determining, by one or more processors, at least one of the one or more monitored activities that occur within a window of time, relative to the time that the user of the computing device initiates the electronic communication; and

storing, by one or more computer processors, the contextual information respectively associated with the at least one of the one or more monitored activities that occurred within the window of time in association with the electronic communication.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein contextual information comprises information related to the electronic communication including:

a subject, an author, a uniform resource locator, a bookmark, a time duration of an activity, a name of an activity, a name of an output of an activity, meta-data, a blog, a file name, a name of a news article, and social media data.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

modifying, by one or more computer processors, the contextual information related to the electronic communication based, at least in part, on at least one user preference and one or more user inputs associated with at least one of;

editing the contextual information, filtering the contextual information, ranking the contextual information; and

wherein the ranking is based on at least one of;

one or more user preferences, one or more weighting factors, and a time of an activity of the user.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

editing, by one or more processors, the ranked contextual information, wherein editing further includes at least one of;

delaying, by one or more processors, a transmission of the electronic communication;

deleting, by one or more processors, a piece of contextual information; and

determining, by one or more processors, an updated ranking of contextual information related to the electronic communication based on at least one of;

modifying the window of time, deleting one or more pieces of ranked contextual information, and one or more user preferences.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein storing the contextual information further comprises at least one of:

embedding the contextual information within the electronic communication, creating a cross-reference relating a storage location of the contextual information and a storage location of the electronic communication, linking the contextual information to the electronic communication, and transmitting the contextual information to another computing device; and

wherein a storage location includes at least one of a log file and a database, that reside on at least one of;

the computing device of the user, a cloud-based storage location, a web-based storage location, a local server, an off-line server, an enterprise system, and a different computing device which receives the electronic communication.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein transmitting the contextual information to another computing device occurs as at least one of:

synchronously, asynchronously, and both synchronously and asynchronously.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

encrypting, by one or more computer processors, the stored contextual information, wherein the encryption of the stored contextual information is based on at least one of;

the electronic communication, a password, an electronic signature, and an encryption key.

8. A computer program product for associating contextual information with an electronic communication, the computer program product comprising:

one or more computer readable storage media and program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable storage media, the program instructions comprising;

program instructions to monitor one or more activities of a user of a computing device;

program instructions to determine contextual information respectively associated with the one or more monitored activities of the user, wherein contextual information includes information describing the one or more monitored activities;

program instructions to identify the user of the computing device initiating an electronic communication and a time that the user of the computing device initiates the electronic communication;

program instructions to determine at least one of the one or more monitored activities that occur within a window of time, relative to the time that the user of the computing device initiates the electronic communication; and

program instructions to store the contextual information respectively associated with the at least one of the one or more monitored activities that occurred within the window of time in association with the electronic communication.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein contextual information comprises information related to the electronic communication including:

a subject, an author, a uniform resource locator, a bookmark, a time duration of an activity, a name of an activity, a name of an output of an activity, meta-data, a blog, a file name, a name of a news article, and social media data.

10. The computer program product of claim 8, further comprising:

program instructions to modify the contextual information related to the electronic communication based, at least in part, on at least one user preference and one or more user inputs associated with at least one of;

editing the contextual information, filtering the contextual information, ranking the contextual information; and

wherein the ranking is based on at least one of;

one or more user preferences, one or more weighting factors, and a time of an activity of the user.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, further comprising:

program instructions to edit the ranked contextual information, wherein editing further includes at least one of;

program instructions to delay a transmission of the electronic communication;

program instructions to delete a piece of contextual information; and

program instructions to determine an updated ranking of contextual information related to the electronic communication based on at least one of;

modifying the window of time, deleting one or more pieces of ranked contextual information, and one or more user preferences.

12. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein program instructions to store the contextual information further comprises at least one of:

embed the contextual information within the electronic communication, create a cross-reference relating a storage location of the contextual information and a storage location of the electronic communication, link the contextual information to the electronic communication, and transmit the contextual information to another computing device; and

wherein a storage location includes at least one of a log file and a database, that reside on at least one of;

the computing device of the user, a cloud-based storage location, a web-based storage location, a local server, an off-line server, an enterprise system, and a different computing device which receives the electronic communication.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein transmitting the contextual information to another computing device occurs as at least one of:

synchronously, asynchronously, and both synchronously and asynchronously.

14. The computer program product of claim 8, further comprising:

program instructions to encrypt the stored contextual information, wherein the encryption of the stored contextual information is based on at least one of;

the electronic communication, a password, an electronic signature, and an encryption key.

15. A computer system for associating contextual information with an electronic communication, the computer system comprising:

one or more computer processors;

one or more computer readable storage media;

program instructions stored on the computer readable storage media for execution by at least one of the one or more computer processors, the program instructions comprising;

program instructions to monitor one or more activities of a user of a computing device;

program instructions to determine contextual information respectively associated with the one or more monitored activities of the user, wherein contextual information includes information describing the one or more monitored activities;

program instructions to identify the user of the computing device initiating an electronic communication and a time that the user of the computing device initiates the electronic communication;

program instructions to determine at least one of the one or more monitored activities that occur within a window of time, relative to the time that the user of the computing device initiates the electronic communication; and

program instructions to store the contextual information respectively associated with the at least one of the one or more monitored activities that occurred within the window of time in association with the electronic communication.

16. The computer system of claim 15, wherein contextual information comprises information related to the electronic communication including:

a subject, an author, a uniform resource locator, a bookmark, a time duration of an activity, a name of an activity, a name of an output of an activity, meta-data, a blog, a file name, a name of a news article, and social media data.

17. The computer system of claim 15, further comprising:

program instructions to modify the contextual information related to the electronic communication based, at least in part, on at least one user preference and one or more user inputs associated with at least one of;

editing the contextual information, filtering the contextual information, ranking the contextual information; and

wherein the ranking is based on at least one of;

one or more user preferences, one or more weighting factors, and a time of an activity of the user.

18. The computer system product of claim 17, further comprising:

program instructions to edit the ranked contextual information, wherein editing further includes at least one of;

program instructions to delay a transmission of the electronic communication;

program instructions to delete a piece of contextual information; and

program instructions to determine an updated ranking of contextual information related to the electronic communication based on at least one of;

modifying the window of time, deleting one or more pieces of ranked contextual information, and one or more user preferences.

19. The computer system of claim 15, wherein program instructions to store the contextual information further comprises at least one of:

embed the contextual information within the electronic communication, create a cross-reference relating a storage location of the contextual information and a storage location of the electronic communication, link the contextual information to the electronic communication, and transmit the contextual information to another computing device; and

wherein a storage location includes at least one of a log file and a database, that reside on at least one of;

the computing device of the user, a cloud-based storage location, a web-based storage location, a local server, an off-line server, an enterprise system, and a different computing device which receives the electronic communication.

20. The computer system of claim 19, wherein transmitting the contextual information to another computing device occurs as at least one of:

synchronously, asynchronously, and both synchronously and asynchronously.