Email conversation management system

• US 7,814,155 B2
• Filed: 03/31/2004
• Issued: 10/12/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Singh, Sanjeeve, Buchheit, Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): STRANGE, AARON N
• Application Number:
  US10/816,427
• Publication Number:
  US 20050222985A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,386 Days
• Field of Search: 709204-207, 715/739, 715/752, 715/810
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/245 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes

Abstract

A system and method are disclosed for producing a list of conversation as the result of a search query. Messages are received and associated with a conversation. Each of the conversations has a respective conversation identifier and includes one or more messages. Messages, and related message information, are indexed for text searching and information about the message is stored in a memory to associate the message to its respective conversation identifier. The index can be searched to identify one or more messages relevant a search query. At least some of the conversations to which the one or messages belong are identified and produced as the search result.

Claims

1. A method of searching conversations, comprising:

at a server having one or more processors and memory storing programs executed by the one or more processors;

receiving a search query from a client;

identifying a plurality of conversations relevant to the search query, the plurality of conversations including at least two conversations each having two or more messages sharing a common set of characteristics that meet predefined criteria and a respective conversation identifier; and

as a search result to the search query, returning to the client for display, a list of the identified conversations, each conversation in the list being represented as a item in the list of conversations, at least one of the conversations in the list comprising two or more electronic messages from distinct senders.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the plurality of conversations includes identifying a first message relevant to the search query.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the single item representing a respective conversation includes a list of sender identifiers corresponding to senders who have sent messages in the conversation.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the list of sender identifiers are ordered according to their respective message arrival time.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein, at least one sender identifier is represented by an icon or unique character string distinct from names of the senders.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the predefined criteria includes a subject of the two or more messages and information other than the subject, a in-reply-to field, a references field and a message identifier field of the two or more messages.

7. A method of searching messages, comprising:

at a server system having one or more processors and memory storing programs executed by the one or more processors;

searching a message repository to identify two or more messages relevant to a search query, wherein each identified message is associated with a respective conversation of a plurality of conversations, each conversation having a respective conversation identifier, wherein at least one respective conversation of the plurality of conversations comprises two or more messages sharing a common set of characteristics that meet predefined criteria;

identifying the respective conversation identifiers of the conversations associated with the identified messages;

creating a list of two or more conversations, each of the conversations in the list corresponding to a respective identified conversation identifier; and

producing, for display at a client, at least a portion of the list of two or more conversations as a search result, each conversation in the list being represented as a single item in the list of conversations, at least one of the conversations in the list comprising two or more electronic messages from distinct senders.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the single item representing a respective conversation includes a list of sender identifiers corresponding to senders who have sent messages in the conversation.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein, at least one sender identifier is represented by an icon or unique character string distinct from names of the senders.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the predefined criteria includes a subject of the two or more messages and information other than the subject, a in-reply-to field, a references field and a message identifier field of the two or more messages.

11. A computer readable storage medium, storing one or more programs for execution by one or more processors at a server system, the one or more programs comprising:

instructions for receiving a search query from a client;

instructions for identifying a plurality of conversations relevant to the search query, the plurality of conversations including at least two conversations each having two or more messages sharing a common set of characteristics that meet predefined criteria and a respective conversation identifier, wherein the predefined criteria includes a subject of the two or more messages and information other than the subject, a in-reply-to field, a references field and a message identifier field of the two or more messages; and

instructions for returning to the client for display a list of the identified conversations as a search result to the search query, the list of conversations being represented as a set of rows, each conversation in the list being represented as a single row in the set of rows item in the list of conversations, at least one of the conversations in the list comprising two or more electronic messages from distinct senders.

12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions for identifying a plurality of conversations include instructions for identifying a first message relevant to the search query.

13. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein a respective single row the single item representing a respective conversation includes a list of sender identifiers corresponding to senders who have sent messages in the conversation.

14. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the list of sender identifiers are ordered according to their respective message arrival time.

15. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein, at least one sender identifier is represented by an icon or unique character string distinct from names of the senders.

16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the predefined criteria includes a subject of the two or more messages and information other than the subject, a in-reply-to field, a references field and a message identifier field of the two or more messages.

17. A computer readable storage medium, storing one or more programs for execution by one or more processors, the one or more programs comprising:

instructions for searching a message repository to identify two or more messages relevant to a search query, wherein each identified message is associated with a respective conversation of a plurality of conversations, each conversation having a respective conversation identifier, wherein at least one respective conversation of the plurality of conversations comprises two or more messages sharing a common set of characteristics that meet predefined criteria and wherein the predefined criteria includes a subject of the two or more messages and information other than the subject, a in-reply-to field, a references field and a message identifier field of the two or more messages;

instructions for identifying conversation identifiers of the conversations associated with the identified messages;

instructions for creating a list of two or more conversations, each of the two or more conversations corresponding to a respective identified conversation identifier; and

instructions for producing for display the list of two or more conversations as a search result, each conversation in the list being represented as a single item in the list of conversations, at least one of the conversations in the list comprising two or more electronic messages from distinct senders.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the predefined criteria includes a subject of the two or more messages and information other than the subject, a in-reply-to field, a references field and a message identifier field of the two or more messages.