Method and apparatus for presenting e-mail threads as semi-connected text by removing redundant material

• US 7,243,125 B2
• Filed: 12/08/2000
• Issued: 07/10/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Wang Baldonado, Michelle Q., Newman, Paula S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Vaughn; William
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen; Thanh T.
• Application Number:
  US09/732,024
• Publication Number:
  US 20020073157A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,405 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 709/218, 709/226, 713/170, 707/3, 382/306, 345/751
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

The method and apparatus of the present invention identifies the logical components of a message, determines the conversational relationships among messages and then structures and formats the core components into a single document to facilitate efficient assimilation of the structure and content of the contained conversations. The message analysis technique delineates the material to be retained and omitted using a combination of a recursive descent analyzer and a single weighted finite state machine for the core process.

Claims

1. A method for presenting email threads, comprising:

identifying logical components of messages in an e-mail thread, comprising;

generating a message tree comprising nodes that recursively divide each message into a main body, nested excerpts from other messages, and lowest level logical components, comprising;

performing a top-down, recursive descent to recursively divide each message into the nodes; and

decomposing each node into the logical components using a weighted finite-state machine, comprising;

building a weight network using a weighted finite state grammar;

identifying a maximally weighted path through the network; and

traversing the maximally weighted path to identify the logical components of the section;

determining relationship between the messages in the thread using the logical components; and

generating a document based upon the relationships by identifying and removing redundant logical components in each of the messages in the thread.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of decomposing comprises:

logically concatenating subsections of the main body that are separated by incorporated excerpts; and

applying the weighted finite state machine to the subsections.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the document includes compressed forms of the messages.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein each of the compressed forms comprises no-extraneous parts of primary text and abbreviated forms of incorporated excerpts.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the document includes replies as annotation forms for each of the messages.

6. A computer controlled display system comprising:

a display for presenting e-mail threads on a viewing area; and

a processor that is adapted to identify logical components of messages in an e-mail thread, comprising;

a message tree that includes nodes that recursively divide each message into a main body, nested excerpts from other messages, and lowest level logical components, comprising;

a top down descent analyzer to perform a top-down, recursive descent analysis to create nodes of the message tree; and

a weighted finite state machine to analyze divided extents using a weight finite state machine;

wherein the processor is further adapted to build a weighted network using a weighted finite state grammar, to identify a maximally weighted path through the weighted finite state machine, and to develop a sub tree by traversing the maximally weighted path;

relationships determined by the processor between each message in the thread using the logical components; and

a medium generated based upon the determined relationships, wherein any redundant logical components in each of the messages in the thread are identified an removed.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the document includes compressed forms of the messages.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein each of the compressed form contain non-extraneous parts of primary text.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the document includes replies annotation forms for each of the messages.

10. A computer-readable storage medium to store computer codes, comprising:

information that presents e-mail threads on a viewing area of a display;

information that identifies logical components of messages in an e-mail thread, comprising;

information that generates a message tree that includes nodes that recursively divide each message into a main body, nested excerpts from other messages, and lowest level logical component, comprising;

information that performs a top-down, recursive descent analysis to create some nodes of the message tree; and

information that analyzes divided extents using a weighed finite state machine, comprising;

information that builds a weighted network using a weighted finite state grammar;

information that identifies a maximally weighted path through the weighted finite stated machine; and

information that develops a sub tree by traversing the maximally weighted path;

information that determines relationships between each message in the thread using the logical components; and

information that generates a medium based upon the determined relationships, wherein any redundant logical components in each of the messages in the thread are identified and removed.

11. The storage medium of claim 10, wherein the medium includes compressed forms of the messages.

12. The storage medium of claim 11, wherein each of the compressed form contains non-extraneous parts of primary text.

13. The storage medium of claim 10, wherein the medium includes replies as annotation forms for each of the messages.

14. A computer system for presenting email threads, comprising:

e-mail threads presented in a medium as semi-connected text; and

a computer processor for;

(a) identifying logical components of messages in an e-mail thread, comprising;

(19) performing a top down descent to recursively divide each message into nodes; and

(2) decomposing each node into the logical components using a weighted finite state machine, comprising;

(i) building a weight network using a weighted finite state grammar;

(ii) identifying a maximally weighted path through the weight finite stated machine; and

(iii) information that develops a subs tree by traversing the maximally weighted path to identify the logical components of the section;

(b) determining relationships between each message in the thread using the logical components; and

(c) generating a medium based upon the determined relationships, wherein any redundant logical components n each of the messages in the thread are identified and removed.