Keyword-driven assistance

• US 7,444,328 B2
• Filed: 10/13/2005
• Issued: 10/28/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Starbuck, Bryan T
• Primary Examiner(s): LeRoux; Etienne P
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kearney; Jerrod L
• Application Number:
  US11/249,200
• Publication Number:
  US 20060277210A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,111 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/3, 707/4, 707/100, 707/104, 707/5, 715/515
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access

Abstract

Embodiments of keyword-driven assistance are presented herein. Keyword assistance techniques are described which may be utilized to assist a user in finding particular electronically-stored items of instance. For example. one such technique may be utilized to perform searches of items based on a common meaning of the items as indicated by keywords of the items. The searches may be performed automatically such that a user interface which includes a display of a message may search for items which have similar meaning to the displayed message. In another example, a user interface may include a notes portion such that portions of the messages of particular interest to a user may be saved and organized based on closeness of keywords contained in the portions. A variety of other assistive techniques are also described.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

outputting a user interface having a user-selectable portion and a plurality of panes, wherein the user interface comprises;

a first pane that is configured to display a plurality of items;

a second pane that is configured to display a user-selected message; and

a third pane that is configured to display one or more hyperlinks associated with one or more of a plurality of items displayed in the first pane,

wherein the first, second and third pane are displayed simultaneously in a window on the user interface;

displaying, in the first pane, a plurality of items;

selecting a message from the plurality of items in the first pane and displaying the message in the second pane;

data mining the plurality of items and the message to locate keywords and map closeness of the keywords, one to another,

wherein the closeness involves criteria that define relevancy between the message and each of the items;

automatically searching the plurality of items based on keywords from the data mining that are contained in the message currently being displayed in the second pane to determine one or more keywords having a closeness that exceeds a threshold, wherein the one or more determined keywords facilitate the identification of one or more of the plurality of items displayed in the first pane that are relevant to the message;

identifying, in the message displayed in the second pane, the one or more determined keywords; and

displaying, in the third pane, one or more hyperlinks associated with the one or more determined keywords contained in the message that are selectable to navigate to one or more of the identified one or more of the plurality of items displayed in the first pane that are relevant to the message, wherein at least one of the one or more hyperlinks comprise a determined keyword.

2. The method as described in claim 1, wherein the closeness involves criteria that define relevancy of one to another of the plurality of items.

3. The method as described in claim 1, wherein:

the user interface includes an entry portion that is configured to accept one or more keywords; and

the automatically searching is further performed based on the one or more keywords and the message currently being displayed.

4. The method as described in claim 1, wherein the plurality of items and the message are data mined by:

forming a single dictionary of keywords for the plurality of items and the message; and

forming a dictionary of keywords for each of the plurality of items and the message.

5. The method as described in claim 1, wherein the automatically searching is performed for the message and the plurality of items that are configured as email, instant messages, contacts, appointments, documents, newsgroups and web pages that are accessible via a client device that outputs the user interface.

6. The method as described in claim 1, wherein the automatically searching is performed for items available remotely via a network.

7. The method as described in claim 1, further comprising arranging results of the searches into one or more keyword hierarchies based on keywords contained in the message and the respective items.

8. The method as described in claim 7, wherein the arranging includes:

forming a plurality of groupings of the keywords based on the mapped closeness; and

combining the plurality of groupings until a predetermined number of groupings remain.

9. One or more computer-readable media comprising computer executable instructions recorded thereon that, when executed, direct a computer to perform a method, the method comprising:

generating a folders pane that is configured to display at least one folder and a plurality of items;

generating a display pane that is configured to display a message communicated over a network, wherein a message is selected for display, in the display pane, from a plurality of items displayed in the folders pane;

executing an analysis module to data mine the message currently being displayed in the display pane and the plurality of items displayed in the folders pane to locate keywords and map closeness of the keywords, one to another,

wherein the mapping of the closeness involves determining criteria that define relevancy between the message currently being displayed in the display pane and each of the other items displayed in the folders pane,

wherein keywords having a closeness that exceeds a threshold are determined, the determined keywords being a subset of a plurality of words contained in the message displayed in the display pane,

wherein the determined keywords facilitate the identification of one or more of the plurality of items displayed in the folders pane that are relevant to the message displayed in the display pane;

generating a search pane having an entry portion configured to accept one or more optional additional keywords and perform a search based on the determined keywords in the message currently being displayed in the display pane and the one or more optional additional keywords, the search pane further configured to have a display portion containing one or more hyperlink, wherein each of the one or more hyperlink is selectable to navigate to one or more of the plurality of items displayed in the folders pane that are relevant to;

the message currently being displayed in the display pane, and

the one or more optional additional keywords entered in the entry portion of the search pane,

wherein in the event at least one of the one or more optional additional keywords entered in the entry portion of the search pane are relevant to at least one of the plurality of the folders pane, at least one of the one or more hyperlink comprise at least one of the one or more optional additional keywords entered in the entry portion of the search pane,

wherein the folders pane, display pane and search pane are displayed simultaneously in a window on a user interface.

10. The method as described in claim 9, wherein the search is performed for items stored locally on the computer and for items available remotely over a network.

11. The method as described in claim 9, wherein the entry portion accepts the one or more keywords that are selected by a user from the message currently being displayed in the display pane.

12. The method as described in claim 9, wherein:

the method further comprises outputting a user-selectable portion that, when selected, maps closeness of keywords, one to another, that are contained in a plurality of items stored on the computer; and

the search pane is not configured to perform the search on said items available remotely over a network until the user-selectable portion is selected.

13. The method as described in claim 9, wherein the method further comprises generating a notes pane that is configured to include portions of messages copied from the display pane.

14. One or more computer-readable media comprising computer executable instructions recorded thereon that, when executed, direct a computer to perform a method, the method comprising:

generating a folders pane configured to display at least one folder and a plurality of items;

generating a display pane configured to display messages communicated over a network, wherein a message is selected for display in the display pane from a plurality of items displayed in the folders pane;

generating a notes pane displayed concurrently with the display pane, the notes pane configured to include portions of messages copied from the display pane, the notes pane further configured to have a display portion containing one or more hyperlink, wherein each of the one or more hyperlink is selectable to navigate to one or more of a plurality of items displayed in the folders pane, wherein the folders pane, display pane and notes pane are displayed simultaneously in a window on a user interface; and

generating an analysis module configured to data mine portions of the user interface, the portions of the user interface comprising;

a message currently being displayed in the display pane;

portions of messages currently being displayed in the notes pane; and

a plurality of items currently being displayed in the folders pane,

wherein the data mining comprises;

locating keywords common among the portions of the user interface;

mapping the closeness of the keywords, one to another;

determining keywords having a closeness that exceeds a threshold; and

associating the one or more hyperlinks in the display portion of the notes pane with the determined keywords.

15. The method as described in claim 14, wherein the portions copied from the display pane are displayable in the notes pane after deletion of respective said messages.

16. The method as described in claim 14, further comprising organizing the portions of the messages in the notes pane based on keywords contained in the portions of the messages in the notes pane.

17. The method as described in claim 16, wherein the portions of the messages are organized in keyword hierarchies.