System and method for searching and retrieving related messages

• US 7,412,437 B2
• Filed: 12/29/2003
• Issued: 08/12/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kerr, Bernard J., Rohall, Steven L., Gruen, Daniel M., Moody, Paul B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Uyen T.
• Application Number:
  US10/745,588
• Publication Number:
  US 20050144157A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,688 Days
• Field of Search: 707/4, 707/3, 707/5, 707/104.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A system and method is provided which utilizes a threading service to offer enhanced features for a document management system including an email system. Various enhanced email features may be provided through one or more of the following components: a delete module, a reply module, a profile module, and a search module. The delete module enables a user to delete a selected message, a set of related messages, or the whole set except for the selected message. The reply module enables a user to send a reply message to all addresses associated and involved with an entire set of related messages. The profile module enables a dynamic interest profile to contain all relevant information from an outgoing message and a set of messages related to the outgoing message. The search module enables search results to include documents which match the user'"'"'s query as well as documents related to the documents which match the user'"'"'s query.

Claims

1. A method for searching a plurality of electronic messages exchanged between a plurality of users in one or more conversation threads, the method comprising:

receiving a search query including search terms from a user;

searching the plurality of electronic messages to identify one or more electronic messages that satisfy the search query, wherein the one or more electronic messages that satisfy the search query are included within one or more conversation threads;

identifying one or more additional electronic messages that are included in the one or more conversation threads that include the one or more electronic messages that satisfy the search query wherein the one or more additional electronic messages do not contain said search terms; and

presenting a search result to the user, wherein the search result includes (i) a listing of the one or more electronic messages that satisfy the search query, and (ii) indicia associated with individual ones of the one or more electronic messages that satisfy the search query, wherein the indicia associated with a given electronic message that satisfies the search query identify the one or more additional electronic messages that are included in the one or more conversation threads that include the given electronic message that satisfies the search query.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the indicia are selectable and the presentation of the search result is expandable such that selection of the indicia associated with the given electronic message by the user results in the expansion of the presented search result to include the one or more additional electronic messages that are included in the one or more conversation threads that include the given electronic message that satisfies the search result.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein when the user selects the indicia to expand the search result to include the one or more additional electronic messages, the search result further comprises, for each of the respective one or more additional electronic messages included in the search result, an indication to the user whether the respective electronic message satisfies the search query.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said indicia comprise one or more embedded links to the one or more additional electronic messages that are included in the one or more conversation threads that include the given electronic message that satisfies the search query.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying one or more additional electronic messages that are included in the one or more conversation threads that include the one or more electronic messages that satisfy the search query comprises submitting a query to a threading service that tracks relationships between electronic messages.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic messages comprise email messages.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a conversation thread includes an initial electronic message that begins the conversation thread, a series of additional electronic messages that reply to the initial electronic message, and further electronic messages that reply to one or more of the electronic messages included in the series of additional electronic messages that reply to the initial electronic message.

8. A method for searching a plurality of electronic messages exchanged between a plurality of users in one or more conversation threads, the method comprising:

receiving a search query including search terms from a user;

searching the plurality of electronic messages to identify one or more electronic messages that satisfy the search query, wherein the one or more electronic messages that satisfy the search query are included within one or mere conversation threads;

identifying one or more additional electronic messages that are included in the one or more conversation threads that include the one or more electronic messages that satisfy the search query wherein the one or more additional electronic messages do not contain said search terms; and

presenting a search result to the user, wherein the search result includes, for individual ones of the one or more electronic messages that satisfy the search query, the one or more additional electronic messages that are included in the one or more conversation threads that include the individual ones of the one or more electronic messages that satisfy the search query.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the search result includes, for a given conversation thread that includes at least one of the one or more electronic messages that satisfy the search query, an initial electronic message, wherein the initial electronic message was temporally the first message in the given conversation thread.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising presenting an indication to the user whether the initial electronic message satisfies the search query.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising, in response to a user selection of a selectable indicia associated with the initial electronic message, collapsing the search result by removing the electronic messages included in the given conversation thread from the search result, with the exception of the initial electronic message.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising presenting, for each electronic message in the given conversation thread, an indication whether the electronic message satisfies the search query.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein a conversation thread includes an initial electronic message that begins the conversation thread, a series of additional electronic messages that reply to the initial electronic message, and further electronic messages that reply to one or more of the electronic messages included in the series of additional electronic messages that reply to the initial electronic message.