System and method for analyzing communications of user messages to rank users and contacts based on message content

• US 6,832,245 B1
• Filed: 11/30/2000
• Issued: 12/14/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Isaacs, Ellen, Nardi, Bonnie A., Whittaker, Stephen
• Primary Examiner(s): Dharia, Rupal
• Assistant Examiner(s): WILLETT, STEPHAN F
• Application Number:
  US09/726,912
• Time in Patent Office: 1,475 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 709/207, 709/240, 706/47, 706/48, 707/7, 365/752
• US Class Current: 709/206
• 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 for analyzing one or more user'"'"'s communication messages that contain communications from a plurality of user contacts, the method comprising:

a) accessing a plurality of communication messages; and

b) processing the plurality of communication messages, wherein the processing of the plurality of communication messages includes;

b1) determining identities of the plurality of user contacts;

b2) assigning rankings to each of the plurality of user contacts based on the plurality of communication messages; and

b3) determining relationships that may exist between or among the contacts, and relationships that may exist between the one or more users and the contacts;

wherein contacts that engage in frequent communications with the user are assigned higher rankings and contacts that engage in less frequent communications with the user are assigned lower rankings.

2. A method for analyzing one or more user'"'"'s communication messages that contain communications from a plurality of user contacts, the method comprising:

a) accessing a plurality of communication messages; and

b) processing the plurality of communication messages, wherein the processing of the plurality of communication messages includes;

b1) determining identities of the plurality of user contacts;

b2) assigning rankings to each of the plurality of user contacts based on the plurality of communication messages; and

b3) determining relationships that may exist between or among the contacts, and relationships that may exist between the one or more users and the contacts;

wherein contacts that engage in more recent communications with the user are assigned higher rankings and contacts that engage in less recent communications with the user are assigned lower rankings.

3. A method for analyzing one or more user'"'"'s communication messages that contain communications from a plurality of user contacts, the method comprising:

a) accessing a plurality of communication messages; and

b) processing the plurality of communication messages, wherein the processing of the plurality of communication messages includes;

b1) determining identities of the plurality of user contacts;

b2) assigning rankings to each of the plurality of user contacts based on the plurality of communication messages; and

b3) determining relationships that may exist between or among the contacts, and relationships that may exist between the one or more users and the contacts;

wherein processing the plurality of communication messages includes assigning higher priority to contacts who engage in reciprocal communications with the user.

4. A method for analyzing one or more user'"'"'s communication messages that contain communications from a plurality of user contacts, the method comprising:

a) accessing a plurality of communication messages; and

b) processing the plurality of communication messages, wherein the processing of the plurality of communication messages includes;

b1) determining identities of the plurality of user contacts;

b2) assigning rankings to each of the plurality of user contacts based on the plurality of communication messages; and

b3) determining relationships that may exist between or among the contacts, and relationships that may exist between the one or more users and the contacts;

wherein processing the plurality of communication messages includes determining if a contact has engaged in reciprocal communications with the user.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

assigning higher priority to contacts who engage in frequent reciprocal communications with the user.

6. A method for analyzing one or more user'"'"'s communication messages that contain communications from a plurality of user contacts, the method comprising:

a) accessing a plurality of communication messages; and

b) processing the plurality of communication messages, wherein the processing of the plurality of communication messages includes;

b1) determining identities of the plurality of user contacts;

b2) assigning rankings to each of the plurality of user contacts based on the plurality of communication messages; and

b3) determining relationships that may exist between or among the contacts, and relationships that may exist between the one or more users and the contacts;

wherein processing the plurality of communication messages includes employing voice recognition techniques to convert voicemail messages to text in order to extract contact information from the communication messages.

7. A method for processing user communication files to determine identities of contacts within the communication files, to prioritize the relative importance of the contacts identified and to establish any relationships between the contacts, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of communication files, wherein the communication files include a plurality of different contacts;

reviewing the plurality of communication files to determine contact identities, contact priorities and relationships; and

providing an analysis of the communication files, wherein the analysis provides the identities of contacts identified in the communication files, the relative importance of contacts relative to one another and any relationships between two or more contacts;

wherein reviewing the plurality of communication files includes parsing the plurality of communication files to determine whether prior reciprocal communications exists between a particular contact and the user.

8. A method for identifying a user'"'"'s potential contacts, prioritizing these potential contacts and determining any relationships between these potential contacts based on a plurality of stored messages, the method comprising:

a) analyzing the plurality of stored messages, the analyzing step including;

1) identifying the potential contacts within the stored messages;

2) determining the relative importance of the identified potential contacts; and

3) determining any established relationships between the potential contacts mentioned in the stored messages; and

b) receiving from the user approvals of the potential contacts that have been identified and prioritized;

wherein the relative importance of contacts is based on one or more of;

a frequency of communications between the contacts and the user,

a recency of the communications between the contacts and the user; and

a reciprocity of the communications between the contacts and the user.

9. A method for identifying a user'"'"'s potential contacts, prioritizing these potential contacts and determining any relationships between these potential contacts based on a plurality of stored messages, the method comprising:

a) analyzing the plurality of stored messages, the analyzing step including;

1) identifying the potential contacts within the stored messages;

2) determining the relative importance of the identified potential contacts; and

3) determining any established relationships between the potential contacts mentioned in the stored messages; and

b) receiving from the user approvals of the potential contacts that have been identified and prioritized;

wherein the relative importance of contacts is based on the following equation;