Email conversation management system

• US 8,626,851 B2
• Filed: 09/28/2010
• Issued: 01/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Buchheit, Paul, Singh, Sanjeeve
• Primary Examiner(s): STRANGE, AARON N
• Application Number:
  US12/892,842
• Publication Number:
  US 20110016189A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,197 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 conversations 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 to a search query. At least some of the conversations to which the one or more messages belong are identified and produced as the search result.

Claims

1. A server system, for searching conversations, comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory storing one or more programs to be executed by the one or more processors;

the one or more programs comprising instructions for;

receiving a search query from a client; and

responsive to the search query;

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 meets predefined criteria and a respective conversation identifier; and

returning to the client for display, as a search result to the search query,

(i) a list of the identified conversations, each conversation in the list being represented as a single item, at least one conversation in the list of identified conversations comprising two or more electronic messages; and

(ii) a representation of a count of electronic messages included in the at least one conversation.

2. The server system of claim 1, wherein the instructions for identifying the plurality of conversations include instructions for identifying a first message relevant to the search query.

3. The server system of claim 1, wherein the instructions for returning the list of the identified conversations include instructions for formatting for presentation each conversation in the list in a single line.

4. The server system 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 respective conversation.

5. The server system of claim 4, wherein the list of sender identifiers is ordered according to their respective message arrival time.

6. The server system of claim 4, wherein, at least one sender identifier in the list of sender identifiers is represented by an icon or unique character string distinct from corresponding names of the senders.

7. The server system of claim 1, wherein the predefined criteria include a subject of the two or more messages and information other than the subject, an in-reply-to field, a references field and a message identifier field of the two or more messages.

8. A server system, for searching messages, comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory storing one or more programs to be executed by the 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 meets predefined criteria; and

responsive to the search query;

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 conversation identifier; and

producing, for display at a client, as a search result;

(i) at least a portion of the list of two or more conversations, each conversation in the list being represented as a single item in the list of conversations, at least one conversation of the conversations in the list comprising two or more electronic messages from distinct senders; and

(ii) a representation of a count of electronic messages included in the at least one conversation.

9. The server system of claim 8, wherein the list of two or more conversations is formatted for display in a single line.

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

11. The server system of claim 10, wherein, at least one sender identifier in the list of sender identifiers is represented by an icon or unique character string distinct from corresponding names of the senders.

12. The server system of claim 8, wherein the predefined criteria include a subject of the two or more messages and information other than the subject, an in-reply-to field, a references field, and a message identifier field of the two or more messages.

13. A server system, for searching messages, comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory storing one or more programs to be executed by the one or more processors;

the one or more programs comprising instructions for;

receiving a search query from a client; and

responsive to the search query;

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 meets predefined criteria and a same conversation identifier; and

returning to the client for display, as a search result to the search query,

(i) a list of the identified conversations, each conversation in the list being represented as a single item in the list of conversations, at least one conversation in the list of identified conversations comprising two or more electronic messages; and

(ii) a representation of a count of electronic messages included in the at least one conversation.

14. The server system of claim 13, wherein identifying the the plurality of conversations includes identifying a first message relevant to the search query.

15. The server system of claim 13, wherein each conversation in the list of identified conversations is formatted for presentation in a single line.

16. The server system of claim 13, wherein the single item representing a respective conversation in the list of identified conversations includes a list of sender identifiers corresponding to senders who have sent messages in the conversation.

17. The server system of claim 16, wherein the list of sender identifiers is ordered according to their respective message arrival time.

18. The server system of claim 16, wherein, at least one sender identifier is represented by an icon or unique character string distinct from names of the senders.

19. The server system of claim 13, wherein the predefined criteria include a subject of the two or more messages and information other than the subject, an in-reply-to field, a references field, and a message identifier field of the two or more messages.