INTERACTIVE PREVIEW TEASERS IN COMMUNICATIONS

• US 20170060824A1
• Filed: 08/26/2015
• Published: 03/02/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Sunderland, Mark, De La Brena, David, Wadhwani, Amit, Wood, Matthew, Desai, Aditi
• Granted Patent: US 10,191,891 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/134 Hyperlinking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/205 Parsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/174 Facial expression recognition

Abstract

Technologies are described for rich visualization of embedded objects, attachments, and links within emails and similar forms of online conversations. In some examples, the embedded objects, attachments, and links may be analyzed and parsed to generate teasers, which may include enhanced images, summary information, and comparable features. The teasers may be presented within a body of an email or in a dedicated area of a conversation user interface and include interactive features such as presentation of detailed information upon selection without opening and processing individual emails.

Claims

1. A computing device to provide rich visualization of embedded objects, attachments, and links within emails through teasers, the computing device comprising:

a memory configured to store instructions; and

one or more processors coupled to the memory, the one or more processors configured to execute, in conjunction with the instructions stored in the memory, a communication application and a teaser module integrated with the communication application, wherein the teaser module is configured to;

detect one or more of an attachment, an embedded object, and a link within an email message;

analyze the one or more of the attachment, the embedded object, and the link to determine teaser components; and

construct a teaser from the teaser components, wherein the teaser includes interactive features; and

wherein the communication application is configured to;

present the email message with the teaser, wherein the teaser is presented in one of a body of the email message and a dedicated portion of a conversation user interface.

2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the teaser module is configured to analyze the one or more of the attachment, the embedded object, and the link by parsing one or more of a content, one or more properties, and metadata associated with the one or more of the attachment, the embedded object, and the link.

3. The computing device of claim 2, wherein the teaser module is further configured to analyze the one or more of the attachment, the embedded object, and the link by retrieving online information associated with the one or more of the attachment, the embedded object, and the link.

4. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the teaser module is configured to construct the teaser from the teaser components by performing facial recognition analysis on an image teaser component, retrieving information associated with a recognized person, and generating the teaser using the image of the recognized person and the retrieved information.

5. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the teaser module is configured to construct the teaser from the teaser components by performing salient region analysis on an image teaser component and generating the teaser using a salient region of the image.

6. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the teaser module is configured to construct the teaser from the teaser components by analyzing textual and graphical content of a document or a website and generating the teaser using a summary of the textual content and one or more representative graphical objects.

7. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the interactive features include one or more of presentation of additional information if the teaser or a portion of the teaser is selected, activation a corresponding link, and activation of an application associated with the one or more of the attachment, the embedded object, and the link.

8. The computing device of claim 7, wherein the teaser module is configured to present additional information, activate the corresponding link, or activate the application associated with the one or more of the attachment, the embedded object, and the link without opening the email message in a separate user interface.

9. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the attachment includes one of an image, a graphic file, a document, an audio object, and a video object.

10. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the embedded object includes one of an image, a graphic file, a document, an audio object, and a video object.

11. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the link provides a location for one of a webpage, a document, an online resource, and one or more files.

12. A method executed at least in part in a computing device to provide rich visualization of embedded objects, attachments, and links within emails through teasers, the method comprising:

detecting one or more of an attachment, an embedded object, and a link within an email message;

analyzing the one or more of the attachment, the embedded object, and the link to determine teaser components;

constructing a teaser from the teaser components; and

presenting the email message with the teaser, wherein the teaser includes interactive features.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein analyzing the one or more of the attachment, the embedded object, and the link to determine teaser components comprises one or more of:

parsing one or more of a content, one or more properties, and metadata associated with the one or more of the attachment, the embedded object, and the link; and

retrieving online information associated with the one or more of the attachment, the embedded object, and the link.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein constructing a teaser from the teaser components comprises one or more of:

performing facial recognition analysis on an image teaser component, retrieving information associated with a recognized person, and generating the teaser using the image of the recognized person and the retrieved information;

performing salient region analysis on an image teaser component and generating the teaser using a salient region of the image; and

analyzing textual and graphical content of a document or a website and generating the teaser using a summary of the textual content and one or more representative graphical objects.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the attachment and the embedded object include one of an image, a graphic file, a document, an audio object, and a video object, and the link provides a location for one of a webpage, a document, an online resource, and one or more files.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

presenting the interactive features to enable temporary or persistent display of detailed information associated with the teaser.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

employing one or more of a graphical scheme, a highlighting scheme, a textual scheme, a color scheme, and a shading scheme to present the teaser and an association between the teaser and the one or more of the attachment, the embedded object, and the link within the email message.

18. A computer readable memory device with instructions stored thereon to provide rich visualization of embedded objects, attachments, and links within communications through teasers, the instructions comprising:

detecting one or more of an attachment, an embedded object, and a link within one or more communications in a conversation;

analyzing the one or more of the attachment, the embedded object, and the link to determine teaser components;

constructing a teaser from the teaser components, wherein the teaser includes interactive features; and

presenting the conversation with the teaser.

19. The computer readable memory device of claim 18, wherein the teaser is presented in one of a body of a corresponding communication and a dedicated portion of a conversation user interface.

20. The computer readable memory device of claim 19, wherein the one or more communications include one or more of email messages, text messages, video messages, online conference recordings, desktop sharing sessions, and application sharing sessions.