Method and apparatus for filtering email

• US 7,856,479 B2
• Filed: 12/20/2006
• Issued: 12/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Bellegarda, Jerome R., Silverman, Kim E. A., Naik, Devang
• Primary Examiner(s): SHAW, PELING ANDY
• Application Number:
  US11/643,304
• Publication Number:
  US 20070106742A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,462 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 709/207, 707/5, 707/7, 706/45
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking

Abstract

A method and apparatus for filtering messages comprising determining a first semantic anchor corresponding to a first group of messages, for example, legitimate messages and a second semantic anchor corresponding to a second group of messages, for example, unsolicited messages. Determining a vector corresponding to an incoming message; comparing the vector corresponding to the incoming message with at least one of the first semantic anchor and the second semantic anchor to obtain a first comparison value and a second comparison value; and filtering the incoming message based on the first comparison value and the second comparison value.

Claims

1. A method for filtering messages with a data processing system having a processor and memory, the method comprising:

storing in the memory a first semantic representation corresponding to a first group of messages and a second semantic representation corresponding to a second group of messages using at least one matrix stored in the memory, wherein the first group of messages are defined as legitimate messages and the second group of messages are defined as unsolicited messages;

determining a mathematical representation corresponding to an incoming message;

comparing the mathematical representation corresponding to the incoming message with at least one of the first semantic representation and the second semantic representation to obtain at least one of a first comparison value and a second comparison value;

designating the incoming message as ambiguous through classifying the incoming message between the first and second groups based on at least one of the first comparison value and the second comparison value; and

prompting a user to determine whether the ambiguous message is legitimate or unsolicited in response to the designating, wherein the user is permitted to discard the ambiguous message, and wherein the message is included into a training email corpus in response to the user'"'"'s determination, and wherein the first semantic representation and the second representation are calculated using latent semantic analysis.

2. A method as in claim 1, wherein the method further comprises receiving an input to perform one of:

(a) discarding the incoming message designated as ambiguous or (b) including the incoming message as part of a training message corpus.

3. A method as in claim 2, wherein the second semantic representation and the first semantic representation are mathematical vectors obtained respectively from previously received unsolicited messages of a training message corpus and previously received messages defined not to be unsolicited messages of the training message corpus.

4. A method as in claim 3, wherein the training message corpus is used to obtain a matrix W comprising a word distribution factor.

5. A method as in claim 4, wherein the matrix W is used to generate the first semantic representation and the second semantic representation using singular value decomposition.

6. A method as in claim 1, wherein the first group of messages, the second group of messages and the incoming message comprise messages from at least one of email messages, email attachments, and computer programs.

7. A method as in claim 1, wherein determining a mathematical representation corresponding to an incoming message comprises using singular value decomposition to generate the mathematical representation corresponding to the incoming message.

8. A method as in claim 1, wherein comparing the mathematical representation corresponding to the incoming message with at least one of the first semantic representation and the second semantic representation comprises determining an angle between the mathematical representation corresponding to the incoming message and at least one of the first semantic representation and the second semantic representation.

9. A method as in claim 1, wherein comparing the mathematical representation corresponding to the incoming message with at least one of the first semantic representation and the second semantic representation comprises comparing the length of a normal between the first semantic representation and the mathematical representation corresponding to the incoming message, and the length of a normal between the second semantic representation and the mathematical representation corresponding to the incoming message.

10. A method as in claim 1, wherein comparing the mathematical representation corresponding to the incoming message with at least one of the first semantic representation and the second semantic representation to obtain a first comparison value and a second comparison value comprises permitting a user to decide whether the incoming message is from the first group of messages or from the second group of messages when the first comparison value is substantially equal to the second comparison value.

11. A method as in claim 10, wherein designating the incoming message based on the first comparison value and the second comparison value comprises at least one of automatically filtering the incoming messages, and tagging the incoming message.

12. A method as in claim 11, wherein tagging the incoming message comprises at least one of tagging the incoming message with a first tag for a message corresponding with the first group of messages, tagging the incoming message with a second tag for a message corresponding with the second group of messages, and tagging the incoming message with a third tag when the first comparison value is substantially equal to the second comparison value.

13. An article of manufacture comprising:

a machine-accessible medium including instructions that, when executed by a machine, causes the machine to perform operations comprising;

storing a first semantic representation corresponding to a first group of messages and a second semantic representation corresponding to a second group of messages using at least one matrix, wherein the first group of messages are defined as legitimate messages and the second group of messages are defined as unsolicited messages;

determining a mathematical representation corresponding to an incoming message;

comparing the mathematical representation corresponding to the incoming message with at least one of the first semantic representation and the second semantic representation to obtain at least one of a first comparison value and a second comparison value;

designating the incoming message as ambiguous through classifying the incoming message between the first and second groups based on at least one of the first comparison value and the second comparison value; and

prompting a user to determine whether the ambiguous message is legitimate or unsolicited in response to the designating, wherein the user is permitted to discard the ambiguous message, and wherein the message is included into a training email corpus in response to the user'"'"'s determination, and wherein the first semantic representation and the second representation are calculated using latent semantic analysis.

14. An article of manufacture as in claim 13, wherein the method further comprises receiving an input to perform one of:

(a) discarding the incoming message designated as ambiguous or (b) including the incoming message as part of a training message corpus.

15. An article of manufacture as in claim 14, wherein said instructions for obtaining the second semantic representation and the first semantic representation include further instructions for obtaining mathematical vectors respectively from previously received unsolicited messages of a training message corpus and previously received messages defined not to be unsolicited messages of the training message corpus.

16. An article of manufacture as in claim 15, wherein said instructions for obtaining vectors using a training message corpus comprises further instructions for obtaining a matrix W comprising a word distribution factor.

17. An article of manufacture as in claim 16, wherein said instructions for obtaining matrix W comprises further instructions for generating the first semantic representation and the second semantic representation using singular value decomposition.

18. An article of manufacture as in claim 13, wherein said first group of messages, said second group of messages and said incoming message comprise messages from at least one of email messages, email attachments, and computer programs.

19. An article of manufacture as in claim 13, wherein said instructions for determining a mathematical representation corresponding to an incoming message comprises further instruction for using singular value decomposition to generate the mathematical representation corresponding to the incoming message.

20. An article of manufacture as in claim 13, wherein said instructions for comparing the mathematical representation corresponding to the incoming message with at least one of the first semantic representation and the second semantic representation comprises further instructions for determining an angle between the mathematical representation corresponding to the incoming message and at least one of the first semantic representation and the second semantic representation.

21. An article of manufacture as in claim 13, wherein said instructions for comparing the mathematical representation corresponding to the incoming message with at least one of the first semantic representation and the second semantic representation comprises further instructions for comparing the length of a normal between the first semantic representation and the mathematical representation corresponding to the incoming message, and the length of a normal between the second semantic representation and the mathematical representation corresponding to the incoming message.

22. An article of manufacture as in claim 13, wherein said instructions for comparing the mathematical representation corresponding to the incoming message with at least one of the first semantic representation and the second semantic representation to obtain a first comparison value and a second comparison value comprises further instructions for permitting a user to decide whether the incoming message is from the first group of messages or from the second group of messages when the first comparison value is substantially equal to the second comparison value.

23. An article of manufacture as in claim 22, wherein said instructions for designating the incoming message based on the first comparison value and the second comparison value comprises further instructions for at least one of automatically filtering the incoming messages, and tagging the incoming message.

24. An article of manufacture as in claim 23, wherein said instructions for tagging the incoming message comprises further instructions for at least one of, tagging the incoming message with a first tag for a message corresponding with the first group of messages, tagging the incoming message with a second tag for a message corresponding with the second group of messages, and tagging the incoming message with a third tag when the first comparison value is substantially equal to the second comparison value.

25. A computer system comprising:

a bus;

a data storage device coupled to said bus;

a processor coupled to said data storage device;

a singular value decomposition unit communicatively coupled to the processor; and

wherein the data storage device stores a first semantic representation corresponding to a first group of messages and a second semantic representation corresponding to a second group of messages using at least one matrix, wherein the first group of messages are defined as legitimate messages and the second group of messages are defined as unsolicited messages;

an incoming email conversion unit communicatively coupled to the singular value decomposition unit to determine a mathematical representation corresponding to an incoming message;

a logic unit communicatively coupled to the incoming email conversion unit and the singular value decomposition unit to compare the mathematical representation corresponding to the incoming message with at least one of the first semantic representation and the second semantic representation to obtain at least one of a first comparison value and a second comparison value, and to designate the incoming message as ambiguous through classifying the incoming message between the first and second groups based on at least one of the first comparison value and the second comparison value, and wherein the logic unit is configured to prompt a user to determine whether the ambiguous message is legitimate or unsolicited in response to the designating, wherein the user is permitted to discard the ambiguous message, and wherein the message is included into a training email corpus in response to the user'"'"'s determination, and wherein the first semantic representation and the second representation are calculated using latent semantic analysis.

26. A computer system as in claim 25, wherein the second semantic representation and the first semantic representation are vectors obtained respectively from previously received unsolicited messages of a training message corpus and previously received messages defined not to be unsolicited messages of the training message corpus.

27. A computer system as in claim 26, wherein the training message corpus is used to obtain a matrix W comprising a word distribution factor.

28. A computer system as in claim 27, wherein the matrix W is used to generate the first semantic representation and the second semantic representation using singular value decomposition.

29. A computer system as in claim 25, wherein the first group of messages, the second group of messages and the incoming message comprise messages from at least one of email messages, email attachments, transcribed audio messages, and computer programs.

30. A computer system as in claim 25, wherein an incoming email conversion unit communicatively coupled to the singular value decomposition unit to determine a mathematical representation corresponding to an incoming message comprises the incoming email conversion unit using singular value decomposition to generate the mathematical representation corresponding to the incoming message.

31. A computer system as in claim 25, wherein the logic unit communicatively coupled to the incoming email conversion unit and the singular value decomposition unit to compare the mathematical representation corresponding to the incoming message with at least one of the first semantic representation and the second semantic representation to obtain a first comparison value and a second comparison value comprises the logic unit to determine an angle between the mathematical representation corresponding to the incoming message and at least one of the first semantic representation and the second semantic representation.

32. A computer system as in claim 25, wherein the logic unit communicatively coupled to the incoming email conversion unit and the singular value decomposition unit to compare the mathematical representation corresponding to the incoming message with at least one of the first semantic representation and the second semantic representation to obtain a first comparison value and a second comparison value comprises the logic unit to compare the length of a normal between the first semantic representation and the mathematical representation corresponding to the incoming message, and the length of a normal between the second semantic representation and the mathematical representation corresponding to the incoming message.

33. A computer system as in claim 25, wherein the logic unit communicatively coupled to the incoming email conversion unit and the singular value decomposition unit to compare the mathematical representation corresponding to the incoming message with at least one of the first semantic representation and the second semantic representation to obtain a first comparison value and a second comparison value comprises the logic unit to permit a user to decide whether the incoming message is from the first group of messages or from the second group of messages when the first comparison value is substantially equal to the second comparison value.

34. A computer system as in claim 33, wherein the logic unit to designate the incoming message based on the first comparison value and the second comparison value comprises the logic unit to at least one of automatically filter the incoming messages, and to tag the incoming message.

35. A computer system as in claim 34, wherein the logic unit to tag the incoming message comprises at least one of the logic unit to tag the incoming message with a first tag for a message corresponding with the first group of messages, the logic unit to tag the incoming message with a second tag for a message corresponding with the second group of messages, and the logic unit to tag the incoming message with a third tag when the first comparison value is substantially equal to the second comparison value.