Method and apparatus for providing a message trail of conversationally related messages

• US 8,380,687 B1
• Filed: 09/19/2008
• Issued: 02/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Veritas Technologies, LLC (Whitehouse Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Symantec Corporation (NortonLifeLock Inc.)
• Inventors: Panchbudhe, Ankur, Bezbaruah, Angshuman, Shah, Veeral, Jotwani, Dinesh
• Primary Examiner(s): Ortiz Ditren, Belix M
• Application Number:
  US12/233,861
• Time in Patent Office: 1,614 Days
• Field of Search: 715/764, 715/752, 709/206, 709/203
• US Class Current: 707/697
• 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

A method and apparatus for providing a message trail of conversationally related messages is described. In one embodiment, the method for providing a message trail of conversationally related messages includes processing a plurality of messages in a message database and identifying at least two conversationally related messages of the plurality of messages.

Claims

1. A method for providing a message trail of conversationally related messages, comprising:

processing a plurality of messages in a message database, wherein processing the plurality of messages comprises examining the plurality of messages within a pre-defined time window;

identifying at least two conversationally related messages of the plurality of messages by applying a natural language algorithm and a concept based clustering algorithm on the plurality of messages, wherein the natural language algorithm comprises at least one of n-grams, shingling, and paragraph-based hashing to identify duplicated text, and wherein the concept based clustering algorithm comprises creating one or more clusters based on message concept; and

generating a message trail from the at least two conversationally related messages of the plurality of messages.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least two conversationally related messages of the plurality of messages comprises at least one received message and at least one sent message.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least two conversationally related messages of the plurality of messages comprises at least one sent message that comprises at least one received message as at least one attachment.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least two conversationally related messages of the plurality of messages comprises at least one received message that comprises at least one sent message as at least one attachment.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the pre-defined time window is based on at least one of at least one sent message or at least one received message.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the plurality of messages further comprises examining a journal to determine at least one message that is within the pre-defined time window of at least one of at least one sent message or the least one received message.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the plurality of messages further comprises examining the message database to determine at least one message that is within the pre-defined time window of at least one of at least one sent message or at least one received message.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein natural language algorithm is configured to identify at least one message having duplicated text from at least one of at least one sent message or at least one received message.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the concept based clustering algorithm is configured to identify at least one message in a same cluster as at least one of at least one sent message or at least one received message.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the at least two conversationally related messages of the plurality of messages further comprises coupling the at least two conversationally related messages to create a message trail.

11. An apparatus for providing a message trail of conversationally related messages, comprising:

a memory comprising a message database comprising a plurality of messages;

a message analyzer configured to;

process the plurality of messages by examining the plurality of messages within a pre-defined time window, and

identify at least two conversationally related messages of the plurality of messages by applying a natural language algorithm and a concept based clustering algorithm on the plurality of messages, wherein the natural language algorithm comprises at least one of n-grams, shingling, and paragraph-based hashing to identify duplicated text, and wherein the concept based clustering algorithm comprises creating one or more clusters based on message concept, and

generate a message trail from the at least two conversationally related messages of the plurality of messages.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the message analyzer creates a message trail from the at least two conversationally related messages.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the message analyzer examines the message database to determine at least one message that is within the pre-defined time window of at least one of at least one sent message or at least one received message.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the natural language algorithm is configured to identify at least one message having duplicated text from at least one of a sent message or a received message.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the concept based clustering algorithm is configured to identify at least one message in a same cluster as at least one of a sent message or a received message.

16. A system for providing a message trail of conversationally related messages, comprising:

a storage, comprising;

a message database comprising a plurality of messages; and

a server, comprising;

a message analyzer configured to;

access the message database,

examine the plurality of messages within a pre-defined time window, and

identify at least two conversationally related messages of the plurality of messages by applying a natural language algorithm and a concept based clustering algorithm on the plurality of messages, wherein the natural language algorithm comprises at least one of n-grams, shingling, and paragraph-based hashing to identify duplicated text, and wherein the concept based clustering algorithm comprises creating one or more clusters based on message concept, and

generate a message trail from the at least two conversationally related messages of the plurality of messages.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the message analyzer creates a message trail from the at least two conversationally related messages.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the message analyzer examines the message database to collect at least one message that is within the pre-defined time window of at least one of at least one received message or at least one sent message.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the natural language algorithm is configured to identify the at least one message having duplicated text from at least one of at least one received message or at least one sent message.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the concept based clustering algorithm is configured to identify at least one message in a same cluster as at least one of at least one received message or at least one sent message.