Methods and systems of electronic message derivation

• US 7,657,603 B1
• Filed: 07/13/2006
• Issued: 02/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Veritas Technologies, LLC (Whitehouse Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Clearwell Systems Inc (Gen Digital Inc.)
• Inventors: He, Yongqiang, Rangan, Venkat, Kumar, Mohan
• Primary Examiner(s): Srivastava; Vivek
• Assistant Examiner(s): LEE, BRYAN Y
• Application Number:
  US11/457,241
• Time in Patent Office: 1,300 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206
• US Class Current: 709/206
• 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

Abstract

A system for processing e-mail messages receives, from an e-mail repository, a transactional e-mail message comprising message attribute data. The system places the transactional e-mail message in an e-mail thread in response to the message attribute data of the transaction e-mail message. The system determines whether one or more derived e-mail messages are included in the transactional e-mail message. If one or more derived e-mail messages are included, the system determines derived message attribute data of the one or more derived e-mail messages. The system then places the derived e-mail message in the e-mail thread in response to the derived message attribute data of the derived e-mail message.

Claims

1. A method of generating e-mail threads for e-discovery investigation performed by a computer system executing one or more computer programs processing e-mail messages obtained from a plurality of mailboxes stored in an e-mail repository, the method comprising:

receiving, at the computer system, a plurality of transactional e-mail messages from the plurality of mailboxes stored in the e-mail repository, the plurality of transactional e-mail messages including a first transactional e-mail message retrieved from a first mailbox in the e-mail repository and a second transactional e-mail message retrieved from a second mailbox in the e-mail repository, each of the plurality of transactional e-mail messages comprising message attribute data;

generating information representing an inverted index for the plurality of transactional e-mail messages using the computer system in response to indexing the message attribute data of each of the plurality of transactional e-mail messages;

determining, using the computer system, whether each of the plurality of transactional e-mail messages forms part of at least one existing e-mail thread maintained by the computer system based on the information representing an inverted index for the plurality of transactional e-mail messages;

if the computer system identifies at least one existing e-mail thread to which a transactional e-mail message in the plurality of transactional e-mail messages belongs,

determining placement of the transactional e-mail message using the computer system in an existing e-mail thread identified by the computer system for the transactional e-mail message in response to the message attribute data of the transactional e-mail message, and

placing the transactional e-mail message in the e-mail thread identified for the transactional e-mail message using the computer system based on the determined placement of the transactional e-mail message in the identified e-mail thread;

if the computer system fails to identify at least one existing e-mail thread to which the transactional e-mail message in the plurality of transactional e-mail messages belongs,

constructing an e-mail thread using the computer system for the transactional e-mail message,

determining placement of the transactional e-mail message using the computer system as an originating e-mail message in the e-mail thread constructed for the transactional e-mail message in response to the message attribute data of the transactional e-mail message, and

placing the transactional e-mail messages as the originating e-mail message in the e-mail thread constructed for the transactional e-mail message using the computer system based on the determined placement of the transactional e-mail message in the constructed e-mail thread;

determining, using the computer system, whether a derived e-mail message is included in the plurality of transactional e-mail messages;

if the computer system determines that a derived e-mail message is included in the plurality of transactional e-mail messages, determining, using the computer system, derived message attribute data of the derived e-mail message in response to extracting information from message attribute data of one or more of the plurality of transactional e-mail messages to create the derived e-mail message;

storing information associated with the derived e-mail message in the information representing an inverted index;

identifying, using the computer system, one or more potential parents of the derived e-mail message based on the information representing an inverted index;

determining, using the computer system, whether the derived e-mail message and the one or more potential parents of the derived e-mail message form part of at least one existing e-mail thread maintained by the computer system based on the information representing an inverted index;

if the computer system identifies at least one existing e-mail thread to which the derived e-mail message and the one or more potential parents of the derived e-mail message belong,

determining placement of the derived e-mail message using the computer system in an existing e-mail thread identified by the computer system for the derived e-mail message in response to the derived message attribute data of the derived e-mail message, and

placing the derived e-mail message using the computer system in the e-mail thread identified for the derived e-mail message based on the determined placement of the derived e-mail message in the identified e-mail thread;

if the computer system fails to identify at least one existing e-mail thread to which the derived e-mail message and the one or more potential parents of the derived e-mail message belongs,

constructing an e-mail thread for the derived e-mail message using the computer system,

determining placement of the derived e-mail messages as an originating e-mail message in the e-mail thread constructed by the computer system for the derived e-mail message in response to the derived message attribute data of the derived e-mail message, and

placing the derived e-mail message as the originating message in the e-mail thread constructed for the derived e-mail message using the computer system based on the determined placement of the derived e-mail message in the constructed e-mail thread; and

generating information using the computer system for a graphical user interface displayable on a display device that enables an e-discovery investigator to access via the graphical user interface transactional e-mail messages and derived e-mail messages organized by a set of e-mail threads maintained by the computer system.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein determining, using the computer system, whether a derived e-mail message is included in the plurality of transactional e-mail messages comprising determining, using the computer system, that the derived e-mail message is not a transactional e-mail message received from the e-mail repository.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving, at the computer system, the plurality of transactional e-mail messages from the e-mail repository comprises receiving, at the computer system, the plurality of transactional e-mail messages from a group consisting of:

an e-mail server and an e-mail storage file.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising associating an e-mail rank using the computer system with each of the plurality of transactional e-mail messages in response to the message attribute data of the transactional e-mail message, the e-mail rank indicative of a quantification of the message attribute data.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising associating an e-mail rank using the computer system with the derived e-mail message in response to the derived message attribute data of the derived e-mail message, the e-mail rank indicative of a quantification of the derived message attribute data.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the message attribute data or the derived message attribute data comprises at least one of a sender identifier, a plurality of recipient identifiers, a time sent, a time received, header information, a subject, a message body, attachment information, and a signature.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein placing the transactional e-mail message using the computer system in the identified or constructed e-mail thread further comprises:

placing the transactional e-mail message using the computer system in the identified or constructed e-mail thread in response to a sender identifier associated with the transactional e-mail message.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein placing the derived e-mail message using the computer system in the identified e-mail thread further comprises placing the derived e-mail message using the computer system in the identified e-mail thread in response to one or more the plurality of transactional e-mail messages.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein placing the derived e-mail message using the computer system in the identified e-mail thread further comprises:

determining, using the computer system, in response to the derived message attribute data whether the derived e-mail message is substantially similar to an e-mail message already in the identified e-mail thread; and

deleting using the computer system the derived e-mail message from further processing by the computer system in response to a determination that the derived e-mail message is substantially similar to an e-mail message already in the identified e-mail thread.

10. A system for processing a plurality of e-mail messages stored in a plurality of mailboxes from an e-mail repository to generate e-mail threads for e-discovery investigation, the system comprising:

a database configured to store;

an inverted index associated with a plurality of e-mail messages, and

information associated with one or more e-mail threads;

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor and configured to store processor-executable instructions that configure to processor to;

receive a plurality of transactional e-mail messages from the plurality of mailboxes in the e-mail repository including a first transactional e-mail message retrieved from a first mailbox and a second transactional e-mail message retrieved from a second mailbox, each of the plurality of transactional e-mail messages from the plurality of mailboxes comprising message attribute data;

storing information in the inverted index in response to indexing the message attribute data of each of the plurality of transactional e-mail messages;

determine whether each of the plurality of transactional e-mail messages forms part of at least one existing e-mail thread maintained by the processor in the database based on the inverted index for the plurality of e-mail messages;

if the processor identifies at least one existing e-mail thread to which a transactional e-mail in the plurality of transactional e-mail message belongs,

determine placement of the transactional e-mail message in an existing e-mail thread identified by the processor for the transactional e-mail message in response to the message attribute data of the transactional e-mail message, and

place the transactional e-mail message in the e-mail thread identified by the processor based on the determined placement of the transactional e-mail message in the identified e-mail thread;

if the processor fails to identify at least one existing e-mail thread to which the transactional e-mail message in the plurality of transactional e-mail messages belongs,

construct an e-mail thread for the transactional e-mail message and store information associated with the constructed e-mail thread in the database,

determine placement of the transactional e-mail message in the e-mail thread constructed by the processor for the transactional e-mail message in response to the message attribute data of the transactional e-mail message, and

place the transactional e-mail message in the e-mail thread constructed by the processor based on the determined placement of the transactional e-mail message;

determine whether a derived e-mail message is included in the plurality of transactional e-mail messages;

if the processor determines that a derived e-mail message is included in the plurality of transactional e-mail messages, determine derived message attribute data of the derived e-mail message in response to extracting information from message attribute data of one or more of the plurality of transactional e-mail messages to create the derived e-mail message,

storing information in the inverted index in response to indexing the derived message attribute data of the derived e-mail message;

identify one or more potential parents of the derived e-mail message based on the inverted index for the plurality of e-mail messages;

determine whether the derived e-mail message and the one or more potential parents of the derived e-mail message form part of at least one existing e-mail thread maintained by the processor based on the inverted index for the plurality of e-mail messages;

if the processor identifies at least one existing e-mail thread to which the derived e-mail message and the one or more potential parents of the derived e-mail message belongs,

determine placement of the derived e-mail message in the e-mail thread identified by the processor in response to the derived message attribute data of the derived e-mail message, and

place the derived e-mail message in the e-mail thread identified for the derived e-mail message based on the determined placement of the derived e-mail message in the identified e-mail thread; and

if the processor fails to identify at least one existing e-mail thread to which the derived e-mail message and the one or more potential parents of the derived e-mail message belongs,

construct an e-mail thread for the derived e-mail messages and store information associated with the constructed e-mail thread in the database,

determine placement of the derived e-mail messages as an originating e-mail message in the e-mail thread constructed by the processor for the derived e-mail message in response to the derived message attribute data of the derived e-mail message, and

place the derived e-mail message as the originating message in the e-mail thread constructed for the derived e-mail message based on the determined placement of the derived e-mail message in the constructed e-mail thread; and

generate information for a graphical user interface displayable on a display device that enables an e-discovery investigator to access via the graphical user interface transactional e-mail messages and derived e-mail messages organized by the one or more e-mail threads maintained by the processor in the database.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the derived e-mail message is not a transactional e-mail message received from the e-mail repository.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein the e-mail repository comprises an e-mail server and an e-mail storage file.

13. The system of claim 10 wherein the processor is further configured to associate an e-mail rank with each of the plurality of transactional e-mail messages in response to the message attribute data of the transactional e-mail message, the e-mail rank indicative of a quantification of the message attribute data.

14. The system of claim 10 wherein the processor is further configured to associate an e-mail rank with the derived e-mail message in response to the derived message attribute data of the derived e-mail message, the e-mail rank indicative of a quantification of the message attribute data.

15. The system of claim 10 wherein the message attribute data or the derived message attribute data comprises at least one of a sender identifier, a plurality of recipient identifiers, a time sent, a time received, header information, a subject, a message body, attachment information, and a signature.

16. The system of claim 10 wherein the processor is further configured to:

place the transactional e-mail message in the identified or constructed e-mail thread in response to a sender identifier associated with the transactional e-mail message.

17. The system of claim 10 wherein the processor is further configured to place the derived e-mail message in the identified e-mail thread in response to one or more of the plurality of transactional e-mail messages.

18. The system of claim 10 wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine in response to the derived message attribute data whether the derived e-mail message is substantially similar to an e-mail message already in the identified e-mail thread, and

delete the derived e-mail message from further processing by the processor in response to a determination that the derived e-mail message is substantially similar to an e-mail message already in the identified e-mail thread.

19. A computer program product stored on a computer readable storage medium for a computer system having a processor for generating e-mail threads for e-discovery investigation by processing a plurality of e-mail messages stored in a plurality of mailboxes from an e-mail repository, the computer program product comprising:

code for receiving a plurality of transactional e-mail messages from the plurality of mailboxes in the e-mail repository including a first transactional e-mail message retrieved from a first mailbox and a second transactional e-mail message retrieved from a second mailbox, each of the plurality of transactional e-mail messages from the plurality of mailboxes comprising message attribute data;

code for generating information representing an inverted index for the plurality of transactional e-mail messages in response to indexing the message attribute data of each of the plurality of transactional e-mail messages;

code for determining whether each of the plurality of transactional e-mail messages forms part of at least one existing e-mail thread maintained by the processor based on the information representing an inverted index for the plurality of transactional e-mail messages;

code for, if at least one existing e-mail thread is identified to which a transactional e-mail message in the plurality of transactional e-mail messages belongs,

determining placement of the transactional e-mail message in an existing e-mail thread identified for the transactional e-mail message in response to the message attribute data of the transactional e-mail message, and

placing the transactional e-mail message in the e-mail thread identified for the transactional e-mail message based on the determined placement of the transactional e-mail message in the identified e-mail thread;

code for, if at least one existing e-mail thread is not identified to which the transactional e-mail message in the plurality of transactional e-mail messages belongs,

constructing an e-mail thread for the transactional e-mail message,

determining placement of the transactional e-mail message as an originating e-mail message in the e-mail thread constructed for the transactional e-mail message in response to the message attribute data of the transactional e-mail message, and

placing the transactional e-mail messages as the originating e-mail message in the e-mail thread constructed for the transactional e-mail message based on the determined placement of the transactional e-mail message in the constructed e-mail thread;

code for determining whether a derived e-mail message is included in the plurality of transactional e-mail messages;

code for, if a derived e-mail message is included in the plurality of transactional e-mail messages, determining derived message attribute data of the derived e-mail message in response to extracting information from message attribute data of one or more of the plurality of transactional e-mail messages to create the derived e-mail message;

code for storing information associated with the derived e-mail message in the information representing an inverted index;

code for identifying one or more potential parents of the derived e-mail message based on the information representing an inverted index;

code for determining whether the derived e-mail message and the one or more potential parents of the derived e-mail message form part of at least one existing e-mail thread maintained by the computer system based on the information representing an inverted index;

code for, if at least one existing e-mail thread is identified to which the derived e-mail message and the one or more potential parents of the derived e-mail message belong,

determining placement of the derived e-mail message in an existing e-mail thread identified for the derived e-mail message in response to the derived message attribute data of the derived e-mail message, and

placing the derived e-mail message in the e-mail thread identified for the derived e-mail message based on the determined placement of the derived e-mail message in the identified e-mail thread;

code for, if at least one existing e-mail thread is not identified to which the derived e-mail message and the one or more potential parents of the derived e-mail message belong,

constructing an e-mail thread for the derived e-mail message,

determining placement of the derived e-mail messages as an originating e-mail message in the e-mail thread constructed for the derived e-mail message in response to the derived message attribute data of the derived e-mail message, and

placing the derived e-mail message as the originating message in the e-mail thread constructed for the derived e-mail message based on the determined placement of the derived e-mail message in the constructed e-mail thread; and

code for generating information for a graphical user interface displayable on a display device that enables an e-discovery investigator to access via the graphical user interface transactional e-mail messages and derived e-mail messages organized by a set of e-mail threads maintained by the processor.

20. The computer program product of claim 19 wherein the code for determining whether a derived e-mail message is included in the plurality of transactional e-mail messages comprising code for determining that the derived e-mail message is not a transactional e-mail message received from the e-mail repository.

21. The computer program product of claim 19 wherein the code for receiving the plurality of transactional e-mail messages from the e-mail repository comprises code for receiving the plurality of transactional e-mail messages from a group consisting of:

an e-mail server and an e-mail storage file.

22. The computer program product of claim 19 further comprising code for associating an e-mail rank with each of the plurality of transactional e-mail messages in response to the message attribute data of the transactional e-mail message, the e-mail rank indicative of a quantification of the message attribute data.

23. The computer program product of claim 19 further comprising code for associating an e-mail rank with the derived e-mail message in response to the derived message attribute data of the derived e-mail message, the e-mail rank indicative of a quantification of the derived message attribute data.

24. The computer program product of claim 19 wherein the message attribute data or the derived message attribute data comprises at least one of a sender identifier, a plurality of recipient identifiers, a time sent, a time received, header information, a subject, a message body, attachment information, and a signature.

25. The computer program product of claim 19 wherein the code for placing the transactional e-mail message in the indentified or constructed e-mail thread further comprises:

code for placing the transactional e-mail message in the identified or constructed e-mail thread in response to a sender identifier associated with the transactional e-mail message.

26. The computer program product of claim 19 wherein the code for placing the derived e-mail message in the identified e-mail thread further comprises code for placing the derived e-mail message in the identified e-mail thread in response to one or more of the plurality of transactional e-mail messages.

27. The computer program product of claim 19 wherein the code for placing the derived e-mail message in the identified e-mail thread further comprises:

code for determining in response to the derived message attribute data whether the derived e-mail message is substantially similar to an e-mail message already in the e-mail thread; and

code for deleting the derived e-mail message from further processing in response to a determination that the derived e-mail message is substantially similar to an e-mail message already in the identified e-mail thread.