Presenting and manipulating electronic mail conversations

• US 8,185,589 B2
• Filed: 10/26/2004
• Issued: 05/22/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Sundararajan, Narasimhan, Mayans, Jason C.
• Primary Examiner(s): MACILWINEN, JOHN MOORE JAIN
• Application Number:
  US10/973,547
• Publication Number:
  US 20060053204A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,765 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: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads

Abstract

The present invention extends to methods, systems, data structures, and computer program products for organizing electronic mail messages into conversations. Electronic mail conversation items store attribute values representing attributes of corresponding electronic mail conversations and included electronic mail messages. Attributes of an electronic mail conversation can be changed by changing stored attribute values. Receiving an electronic mail message can cause an existing electronic mail conversation to be updated or a new electronic mail conversation to be created. When it is indicated that an operation is to be performed on an electronic mail conversation, a corresponding related operation can be performed on all electronic mail messages included in the electronic mail conversation. Attribute values of an electronic mail conversation can be presented along with portions of included electronic mail messages at a user-interface.

Claims

1. At a computer system, a method for performing an electronic mail conversation operation, the method comprising:

an act of receiving an indication from a user that an ignore operation is to be performed on both a received electronic mail message and a corresponding electronic mail conversation, such that the received message and any electronic mail messages determined to be part of the conversation are to be ignored;

an act of identifying one or more electronic mail messages included in an electronic mail conversation item that represents the electronic mail conversation, the identifying including scanning each of the folders in a user'"'"'s mailbox for electronic mail messages that are related by subject to the received electronic mail message, wherein scanning includes scanning for both previously sent messages in a sent items folder and scanning for previously received messages in at least one other mailbox folder, the electronic mail conversation item including a plurality of conversation attribute values that represent the attributes of the electronic mail conversation including an identification of each message associated with the conversation and corresponding one or more participants of each message and a recipient delta field identifying a list of entities that were added or removed from each message that has been identified as being associated with the conversation, and wherein the electronic mail conversation item is responsively updated whenever any electronic mail message corresponding to the electronic mail conversation is received, and by at least updating the conversation attribute values to ensure that every participant and received message corresponding to the electronic mail conversation is reflected in the electronic mail conversation item;

an act of accessing the identified one or more electronic mail messages included in the electronic mail conversation;

an act of performing the ignore operation on each of the identified one or more electronic mail messages, such that the received electronic mail message, any previously sent or received email messages and any subsequently sent or received electronic mail messages identified by the scan as part of the conversation are moved to an ignored conversations folder;

and

an act of displaying the electronic mail conversation including the conversation'"'"'s corresponding messages, the displayed conversation including the following in a single application window;

a topic header, at least a portion of each message contributed to the conversation including an indication of who sent the message, each message including a URL link to any additional message body text, a participant change indication proximally placed next to each message where a participant was added or removed from the conversation including an identification of the participant who was added or removed, a number of messages indicator indicating the number of messages in the conversation, a timespan indicator indicating how long the conversation has existed, an active participants indicator indicating the participants that have contributed to the conversation and a most active participant indicator indicating the conversation participant that has contributed the most number of messages to the conversation.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of receiving an indication that an operation is to be performed on an electronic mail conversation comprise an act of receiving an electronic mail message.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of identifying one or more electronic mail messages included in the electronic mail conversation item comprises an act of matching GUIDs included in electronic mail message headers to a GUID included in a conversation item.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of identifying one or more electronic mail messages included in the electronic mail conversation item comprises an act of scanning links from the conversation item representing the electronic mail conversation to the one or more electronic mail messages.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of accessing the identified one or more electronic mail messages comprises an act of accessing electronic mail messages having a GUID that matches the GUID of the conversation item representing the electronic mail conversation.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of accessing the identified one or more electronic mail messages comprises an act of accessing links from the conversation item representing the electronic mail conversation to message items representing the one or more electronic mail messages.

7. At a computer system, a method for presenting message conversation data, the method comprising:

an act of receiving a command to present message conversation data for an electronic mail conversation that includes one or more electronic mail messages;

an act of accessing an electronic mail conversation item that represents the electronic mail conversation, the electronic mail conversation item including a plurality of conversation attribute values that represent the attributes of the electronic mail conversation including an identification of each message associated with the conversation and corresponding one or more participants of each message and a recipient delta field identifying a list of entities that were added or removed from each message that has been identified as being associated with the conversation, and wherein the electronic mail conversation item is responsively updated and persisted whenever any electronic mail message corresponding to the electronic mail conversation is received, and by at least updating the conversation attribute values to ensure that every participant in the electronic mail conversation and every received message corresponding to the conversation is reflected in the electronic mail conversation item;

an act of retrieving persisted conversation attribute values from the electronic mail conversation item;

an act of presenting the retrieved conversation attribute values along with portions of the one or more electronic mail messages;

an act of receiving an indication from a user that the received electronic mail message and any electronic mail messages determined to be part of the conversation are to be ignored;

an act of scanning each of the folders in the user'"'"'s mailbox for electronic mail messages that are related by subject to the received electronic mail message, wherein scanning includes scanning for both previously sent messages in a sent items folder and scanning for previously received messages in at least one other mailbox folder;

an act of moving the received electronic mail message, any previously sent or received email messages and any subsequently sent or received electronic mail messages identified by the scan as part of the conversation to an ignored conversations folder;

and

an act of displaying the electronic mail conversation including the conversation'"'"'s corresponding messages, the displayed conversation including the following in a single application window;

a topic header, at least a portion of each message contributed to the conversation including an indication of who sent the message, each message including a URL link to any additional message body text, a participant change indication proximally placed next to each message where a participant was added or removed from the conversation including an identification of the participant who was added or removed, a number of messages indicator indicating the number of messages in the conversation, a timespan indicator indicating how long the conversation has existed, an active participants indicator indicating the participants that have contributed to the conversation and a most active participant indicator indicating the conversation participant that has contributed the most number of messages to the conversation.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the act of receiving a command to present message conversation data for an electronic mail conversation comprises an act of receiving user input representing a conversation command.

9. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the act of receiving a command to present message conversation data for an electronic mail conversation comprises an act of receiving an automated conversation command.

10. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the act of receiving a command to present message conversation data for an electronic mail conversation comprises an act of receiving a query for message conversation data.

11. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the act of accessing an electronic mail conversation item comprises an act of accessing a data structure from an item store.

12. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the act of retrieving persisted conversation attribute values from the electronic mail conversation item comprises an act of sending conversation data to a message client.

13. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the act of retrieving persisted conversation attribute values from the electronic mail conversation item comprises an act of receiving conversation data from a message server.

14. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the act of retrieving persisted conversation attribute values from the electronic mail conversation item comprises an act of retrieving one or more attribute values selected from among a topic value, a number of messages value, a duration value, a participants value, a most active participant value, a started by value, a start time value, and a depth value.

15. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the act of retrieving persisted conversation attribute values from the electronic mail conversation item comprises an act of retrieving one or more attribute values for an electronic mail message included in the electronic mail conversation.

16. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein the act of retrieving one or more attribute values for an electronic mail message included in the electronic mail conversation comprises an act of retrieving one or more attribute values selected from among a sent time value, a sender value, a summary value, a link value, and a recipient delta value.

17. The method as recited in claim 7 wherein, the act of presenting the retrieved conversation attribute values along with portions of the one or more electronic mail messages comprises an act of presenting attribute values from a data structure stored in an item store.

18. The method as recited in claim 17 wherein, the act of presenting attribute values from a data structure stored in an item store comprises an act of presenting one or more attribute values selected from among a topic value, a number of messages value, a duration value, a participants value, a most active participant value, a started by value, a start time value, and a depth value.

19. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the act of presenting the retrieved conversation attribute values along with portions of the one or more electronic mail messages comprises an act of presenting one or more attribute values for an electronic mail message included in the electronic mail conversation.

20. The method as recited in claim 19, wherein the act of presenting one or more attribute values for an electronic mail message included in the electronic mail conversation comprises an act of presenting one or more attribute values selected from among a sent time value, a sender value, a summary value, a link value, and a recipient delta value.

21. A computer program product for use at a computer system, the computer program product for implementing a method for presenting message conversation data, the computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable storage device having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the computer system to perform the method of claim 7.

22. The computer program product as recited in claim 21, wherein computer-executable instructions that when executed cause the computer system to receive a command to present message conversation data for an electronic mail conversation comprise computer-executable instructions that when executed cause the computer system to receive user input representing a conversation command.

23. The computer program product as recited in claim 21, wherein computer-executable instructions that when executed cause the computer system to receive a command to present message conversation data for an electronic mail conversation comprise computer-executable instructions that when executed cause the computer system to receive a query for message conversation data.

24. The computer program product as recited in claim 21, wherein computer-executable instructions that when executed cause the computer system to access an electronic mail conversation item comprise computer-executable instructions that when executed cause the computer system to access a data structure from an item store.

25. The computer program product as recited in claim 21, wherein computer-executable instructions that when executed cause the computer system to retrieve persisted conversation attribute values from the electronic mail conversation item comprise computer-executable instructions that when executed cause the computer system to retrieve one or more attribute values selected from among a topic value, a number of messages value, a duration value, a participants value, a most active participant value, a started by value, a start time value, and a depth value.

26. The computer program product as recited in claim 21, wherein computer-executable instructions that when executed cause the computer system to retrieve persisted conversation attribute values from the electronic mail conversation item comprise computer-executable instructions that when executed cause the computer system to retrieve one or more attribute values for an electronic mail message selected from among a sent time value, a sender value, a summary value, a link value, and a recipient delta value.

27. The computer program product as recited in claim 21, wherein computer-executable instructions that when executed cause the computer system to present the retrieved conversation attribute values along with portions of the one or more electronic mail messages comprise computer-executable instructions that when executed cause the computer system to present one or more attribute values selected from among a topic value, a number of messages value, a duration value, a participants value, a most active participant value, a started by value, a start time value, and a depth value.

28. The computer program product as recited in claim 21, wherein computer-executable instructions that when executed cause the computer system to present the retrieved conversation attribute values along with portions of the one or more electronic mail messages comprise computer-executable instructions that when executed cause the computer system to present one or more attribute values for an electronic mail message selected from among a sent time value, a sender value, a summary value, a link value, and a recipient delta value.

29. A computer program product for use at a computer system, the computer program product for implementing a method for performing an electronic mail conversation operation, the computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable storage devices having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the computer system to perform the method, the method comprising:

an act of receiving an indication from a user that an ignore operation is to be performed on both a received electronic mail message and a corresponding electronic mail conversation, such that the received message and any electronic mail messages determined to be part of the conversation are to be ignored;

an act of identifying one or more electronic mail messages included in an electronic mail conversation item that represents the electronic mail conversation, the identifying including scanning each of the folders in a user'"'"'s mailbox for electronic mail messages that are related by subject to the received electronic mail message, wherein scanning includes scanning for both previously sent messages in a sent items folder and scanning for previously received messages in at least one other mailbox folder, the electronic mail conversation item including a plurality of conversation attribute values that represent the attributes of the electronic mail conversation including an identification of each message associated with the conversation and corresponding one or more participants of each message and a recipient delta field identifying a list of entities that were added or removed from each message that has been identified as being associated with the conversation, and wherein the electronic mail conversation item is responsively updated whenever any electronic mail message corresponding to the electronic mail conversation is received, and by at least updating the conversation attribute values to ensure that every participant and received message corresponding to the electronic mail conversation is reflected in the electronic mail conversation item;

an act of accessing the identified one or more electronic mail messages included in the electronic mail conversation;

an act of performing the ignore operation on each of the identified one or more electronic mail messages, such that the received electronic mail message, any previously sent or received email messages and any subsequently sent or received electronic mail messages identified by the scan as part of the conversation are moved to an ignored conversations folder;

an act of receiving a request to present the electronic mail conversation item to the electronic mail user at a user interface;

an act of dynamically generating a hypertext markup language (HTML) body for at least one of the email messages in the conversation item in response to the received request to present the conversation item, the HTML body being generated using at least some of the plurality of conversation attribute values included in the electronic mail conversation item;

an act of displaying the electronic mail conversation including the conversation'"'"'s corresponding messages in a single application window, the displayed conversation including;

a topic header, at least a portion of each message contributed to the conversation including an indication of who sent the message, each message including a URL link to any additional HTML message body text, wherein any additional HTML message text beyond a threshold amount is discarded, a participant change indication proximally placed next to each message where a participant was added or removed from the conversation including an identification of the participant who was added or removed, a number of messages indicator indicating the number of messages in the conversation, a timespan indicator indicating how long the conversation has existed, an active participants indicator indicating the participants that have contributed to the conversation and a most active participant indicator indicating the conversation participant that has contributed the most number of messages to the conversation.