Method and apparatus for generating a new event directly from a document

• US 8,819,034 B2
• Filed: 12/14/2005
• Issued: 08/26/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Vanden Heuvel, David, May, Darrell Reginald, Hardy, Michael Thomas, Luu, Lap
• Primary Examiner(s): REYES, MARIELA D
• Application Number:
  US11/302,261
• Publication Number:
  US 20070150513A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,177 Days
• Field of Search: 707/755, 707/758
• US Class Current: 707/755
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/123 Storage facilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/134 Hyperlinking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/205 Parsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/284 Lexical analysis, e.g. tokenisation or collocates
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/295 Named entity recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1097 Task assignment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/046 Interoperability with other network applications or services

Abstract

The application relates to the field of communications and more particularly to an apparatus and method of generating a new event from a document. In accordance with one aspect of the present application, recognized date/time references contained in a document allow a new event to be created. Such date/time references are automatically recognized and highlighted in the document. Selecting the highlighted information generates a menu selection, offering a user the ability to create a new event into which the date/time information will be inserted, along with other information extracted from the document. Specific date/time information in a document is simply correlated to a known date/time format in a lookup table, while relative terms like “tomorrow”, “today” or days of the week (ie. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc.) are recognized by a date/time detector module and translated into a specific date/time. Using an embodiment of the present application, a new event can be readily generated.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying a temporal expression in an electronic message;

generating a user-selectable hyperlink corresponding with the temporal expression which was identified;

displaying a body of the electronic message in response to the identifying, the body including the hyperlink;

receiving, during the displaying of the body, an input that indicates selection of the hyperlink;

displaying a data entry interface based on receipt of the input, the data entry interface configured with a temporal field that is populated with the temporal expression;

receiving, during the displaying of the data entry interface, another input that indicates acceptance of information in the data entry interface, the information including the temporal expression; and

storing, in response to the another input, an event based on the information.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising mapping text in the electronic message to another field of the data entry interface.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein mapping text comprises associating a subject of the electronic message with a subject field of the data entry interface.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein mapping text comprises associating at least one of a sender of the electronic message and a recipient of the electronic message with an attendee field of the data entry field.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying comprises identifying a format of the temporal expression, and matching the format to an entry in a lookup table.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising extracting the entry from the lookup table, and inserting the entry into the temporal field of the data entry interface.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the temporal field is populated with the temporal expression based on an inferred date.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying comprises, processing the electronic message using a lexical analyzer and a parser to identify a format of the temporal expression.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying comprises processing the electronic message to identify a relative date expression in the electronic message.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein processing comprises processing the electronic message using a lexical analyzer and a parser to identify the relative date expression in the electronic message.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the relative date expression includes at least one of today, tomorrow, yesterday, morning, noon, afternoon, evening, and night.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic message is one of an email, a peer-to-peer personal identification number (PIN) message, a short message service (SMS) message, a multimedia messaging service (MMS) message, and an instant message (IM).

13. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying comprises identifying a plurality of temporal expressions in the electronic message.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein for each of the plurality of temporal expression identified, the body includes an associated distinct user-selectable hyperlink.

15. The method of claim 14, comprising displaying a further data entry interface based on receipt of selection of one of the hyperlinks associated with one of the plurality of temporal expressions, the further data entry interface configured with a temporal field that is populated with the one of the plurality of temporal expressions, receiving, during the displaying of the further data entry interface, input that indicates acceptance of information in the data entry interface, the information including the one of the plurality of temporal expressions, and storing, in response to the input, a further event based on the information.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the event is one of a calendar event and a task event.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying a temporal expression comprises identifying a date and time expression.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the temporal expression comprises a date expression.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising, after receipt of the input that indicates selection of the hyperlink and before displaying the data entry interface, displaying a menu with a choice to create the event.

20. An electronic communication device processing a user-composed electronic message, the system comprising:

a display;

an input device;

a microprocessor configured for identifying a temporal expression in an electronic message, generating a user-selectable hyperlink corresponding with the temporal expression which was identified, displaying a body of the electronic message in response to the identifying, the body including the hyperlink, during the displaying of the body, an input that indicates receipt of selection of the hyperlink, displaying a data entry interface based on receipt of the input, the data entry interface configured with a temporal field that is populated with the temporal expression, receiving, during the displaying of the data entry interface, another input that indicates acceptance of information in the data entry interface, the information including the temporal expression, and storing, in response to receipt of the another input, an event based on the information.

21. The electronic communication device of claim 20, wherein the electronic communication device is one of a server and a wireless device.

22. The electronic communication device of claim 20, wherein the microprocessor is further configured for mapping text in the electronic message to another field of the data entry interface.

23. The electronic communication device of claim 22, wherein mapping text comprises associating a subject of the electronic message with a subject field of the data entry interface.

24. The electronic communication device of claim 22, wherein mapping text comprises associating at least one of a sender of the electronic message and a recipient of the electronic message with an attendee field of the data entry interface.

25. The electronic communication device of claim 20, wherein identifying comprises identifying a format of the temporal expression, and matching the format to an entry in a lookup table.

26. The electronic communication device of claim 25, wherein the microprocessor is further configured for extracting the entry from the lookup table, and inserting the entry into the temporal field of the data entry interface.

27. The electronic communication device of claim 20, wherein the temporal field is populated with the temporal expression based on an inferred date.

28. The electronic communication device of claim 20, wherein identifying comprises, processing the electronic message using a lexical analyzer and a parser to identify the format of the temporal expression.

29. The electronic communication device of claim 20, wherein identifying comprises processing the electronic message to identify a relative date expression in the electronic message.

30. The electronic communication device of claim 29, wherein processing comprises processing the electronic message using a lexical analyzer and a parser to identify the relative date expression in the electronic message.

31. The electronic communication device of claim 29, wherein the relative date expression includes at least one of today, tomorrow, yesterday, morning, noon, afternoon, evening, and night.

32. The electronic communication device of claim 20, wherein the electronic message is one of an email, a peer-to-peer personal identification number (PIN) message, a short message service (SMS) message, a multimedia messaging service (MMS) message, and an instant message (IM).

33. The electronic communication device of claim 20, wherein identifying comprises identifying a plurality of temporal expressions in the electronic message.

34. The electronic communication device of claim 33, wherein for each of the plurality of temporal expressions identified, the body includes an associated distinct user-selectable hyperlink.

35. The electronic communication device of claim 34, wherein the microprocessor is further configured for displaying a further data entry interface based on receipt of selection of one of the distinct hyperlinks associated with one of the temporal expressions, the further data entry interface configured with a temporal field that is populated with the one of the plurality of temporal expressions, receiving, during the displaying of the further data entry interface, input that indicates acceptance of information in the data entry interface, the information including the one of the plurality of temporal expressions, and storing, in response to the input, a further event based on the information.

36. The electronic communication device of claim 20, wherein the event is one of a calendar event and a task event.

37. The electronic communication device of claim 20, wherein the temporal expression comprises a date and time expression.

38. The electronic communication device of claim 20, wherein the temporal expression comprises a date expression.

39. The electronic communication device of claim 20, wherein the microprocessor is further configured for, after receipt of the input that indicates selection of the hyperlink and before displaying the date entry interface, displaying a menu with a choice to create the event.