Ranking messages in an electronic messaging environment

• US 8,095,612 B2
• Filed: 09/18/2009
• Issued: 01/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: MailRank, Inc. (Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cowan, David, Kurzweil, Ethan, Cham, James
• Primary Examiner(s): EL CHANTI, HUSSEIN A
• Application Number:
  US12/562,472
• Publication Number:
  US 20100077041A1
• Time in Patent Office: 844 Days
• Field of Search: 709206-207, 709223-224
• US Class Current: 709/207
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

The present invention provides methods and systems to score messages exchanged over a network. The methods and systems may gather message interactions of a recipient. A message originating from a sender and destined for the recipient may be received at an email client. A sender score of the message may be determined based on one or more of sender information, the gathered message interactions, and one or more attributes associated with the message. The message may be marked with the determined score in a user interface associated with the email client.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying message interactions of a plurality of recipients for a plurality of messages, the messages from a plurality of senders;

determining for each of the senders, a measure of importance of the sender to each recipient of a message from the sender, based upon the gathered interactions;

determining for each of the plurality of senders a global importance score, wherein the global importance score of each sender is based upon the determined measure of importance of the sender to each of the plurality of recipients of messages from the sender, and a global importance score of each of the plurality of recipients of messages from the sender;

receiving from one of the senders, a message destined for at least one of the recipients; and

associating the message with a rank based upon the determined global importance score of the sender.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising forwarding the associated message to the at least one recipient.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the message interaction of a recipient comprises identifying at least one of:

the responses of the recipient to a plurality of messages from a plurality of senders;

feedback from the recipient on the measure of importance of the sender to the recipient;

feedback from the recipient on the global importance score of the sender; and

the attributes of the message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the measure of importance of the sender to each recipient is based on frequency and recency of the identified message interactions.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the measure of importance of the sender is set to a predetermined value.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the global importance score of the recipient is set to a predetermined value.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the global importance score of the recipient is based upon the determined measure of importance of the sender to the recipient, and a global importance score of the sender.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining for each of the plurality of senders a global importance score, further comprises for each sender:

for each recipient of a message from the sender, weighting the determined measure of importance of the sender to each recipient by the recipient'"'"'s global importance score;

summing the weighted measures of importance for the sender to a tally for the sender; and

determining the global measure of importance score of the sender from tally for the sender.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the global measure of importance score is a percentile of the tally for the sender with respect to the tally for other senders.

10. A system for scoring messages exchanged over a network, the system comprising:

a ranking server configured to;

receive information identifying messages interactions of a recipient for a plurality of messages from a plurality of senders;

determine for each of the senders, a measure of importance of the sender to the recipient, based upon the gathered interactions;

determine for each of the plurality of senders a global importance score, wherein the global importance score of each sender is based upon the determined measure of importance of the sender to each of the plurality of recipients of messages from the sender, the recipient one of the plurality of recipients, and a global importance score of each of the plurality of recipients of messages from the sender; and

store the global importance score of each sender in association with sender information.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the ranking server is configured to:

associate with a message a rank, the message to at least the recipient, the message from a sender, the sender one of the plurality of senders, the rank based upon the determined global importance score of the sender.

12. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

a plug-in for an email client, the plug-in stored in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, the plug-in configured to identify message interactions of a recipient for a plurality of messages, the messages from a plurality of senders.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the plug-in for an email client identifies at least one of:

the responses of the recipient to a plurality of messages from a plurality of senders;

feedback from the recipient on the measure of importance of the sender to the recipient;

feedback from the recipient on the global importance score of the sender; and

the attributes of the message.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the ranking server determines the measure of importance of the sender to each recipient based on frequency and recency of the identified message interactions.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the ranking server sets the measure of importance of the sender to a predetermined value.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the ranking server sets the global importance score of the recipient to a predetermined value.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the ranking server determines the global importance score of the recipient based upon the measure of importance of the sender, and a global importance score of the sender.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein determining for each of the plurality of senders a global importance score, further comprises for each sender:

for each recipient of a message from the sender, weighting the determined measure of importance of the sender to each recipient by the recipient'"'"'s global importance score;

summing the weighted measures of importance for the sender to a tally for the sender; and

determining the global measure of importance score of the sender from tally for the sender.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the global measure of importance score is a percentile of the tally for the sender with respect to the tally for other senders.

20. A computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer system, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and a computer program embedded therein, the computer program comprising:

a plug-in for an email client configured for;

identifying message interactions of a recipient for a plurality of messages, the messages from a plurality of senders;

associating a message with a rank, the message from one of the senders sent to at least one of the recipients, the rank provided from a ranking server, wherein the rank is determined based on a global importance score for each of the plurality of senders, wherein the global importance score of the sender is based upon a measure of importance of each of the plurality of senders to each of the plurality of recipients of messages from each of the plurality of senders, and a global importance score of the recipient; and

provide the message with the associated rank to the email client for presentation to the recipient.

21. A computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer system, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and a computer program embedded therein, the computer program comprising:

a ranking server configured for;

receiving identified message interactions of a plurality of recipients for a plurality of messages, the messages from a plurality of senders; and

determining a rank for a message, the message from a sender destined for a recipient, wherein the ranking server is configured to determine the rank based on a global importance score for each of the plurality of senders, wherein the global importance score of the sender is based upon a measure of importance of each of the plurality of senders to each of the plurality of recipients of messages from each of the plurality of senders, and a global importance score of the recipient.