Systems and methods for interactively analyzing communication chains based on messages

• US 8,862,670 B1
• Filed: 01/26/2007
• Issued: 10/14/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Micro Focus LLC (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Stratify, Inc. (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Ancin, Hakan, Bayer, David, Maddalli, Kumar, Thomas, Joy
• Primary Examiner(s): Gorney, Boris
• Application Number:
  US11/627,890
• Time in Patent Office: 2,818 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 715/734
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/234 for tracking messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services

Abstract

A pool of messages, e.g., e-mails and/or other electronic documents that each correspond to a communication from a sender to a recipient, is analyzed to identify communication chains between a source and a target. Sender and recipient identifiers extracted from the messages are used to detect direct and indirect communication links between pairs of entities. Information related to the identified communication chains can be presented to a user via an interactive network graph that supports iterative analysis of the communication-chain data.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method of analyzing messages, the method comprising:

receiving a first user input, the first user input specifying a pool of messages to be analyzed, each message having metadata associated therewith, the metadata for each message identifying at least one sender and at least one recipient of that message;

receiving a second user input, the second user input identifying a sender of at least one of the messages in the pool of messages as a source and identifying a recipient of at least one of the messages in the pool of messages as a target;

in response to the first and second user input, directing an analysis module to identify one or more communication chains from the source to the target based on the pool of messages, wherein at least one of the communication chains is an indirect chain that includes at least one sender or recipient identified as an intermediary between the source and the target and wherein the analysis module identifies the communication chains by successively detecting communication chains with an increasing number of intermediaries up to a maximum number of intermediaries;

receiving, from the analysis module, a report indicating the communication chains that were identified; and

displaying the report.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the acts of receiving the first and second user inputs, directing the analysis module, receiving the report, and displaying the report are performed by a client computer system, wherein the analysis module is in a server computer system, and wherein:

the acts of providing the first input data and providing the second input data include transmitting the first input data and the second input data via a network to the server computer system;

the act of directing the analysis module includes transmitting an instruction to the server computer system via the network; and

the act of receiving the report includes receiving the report from the server computer system via the network.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

in response to a third user input, modifying the displayed report.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the displayed report includes a source node corresponding to the source, a target node corresponding to the target and a respective intermediary node corresponding to each intermediary and wherein modifying the displayed report includes changing a position of at least one of the nodes.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein modifying the displayed report includes showing additional information on the displayed report.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the third user input identifies a source, target or intermediary from the displayed report and the additional information includes a list of messages sent by or received by the identified source, target, or intermediary.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the third user input identifies a link between a sender and a recipient in the displayed report and the additional information includes a list of messages related to the identified link.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing one or more filter criteria to the analysis module;

directing the analysis module to update the report using the one or more filter criteria;

receiving the updated report from the analysis module; and

displaying the updated report.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the one or more filter criteria include a time sequence filter applied to messages between senders and recipients in the same one of the communication chains.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the one or more filter criteria include one or more of a time criterion, a content criterion, an analysis context criterion, or a message type criterion.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the first input data includes one or more filter criteria to be applied to a plurality of messages to select the pool of messages.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the one or more filter criteria include one or more of a time criterion, a content criterion, an analysis context criterion, or a message type criterion.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the pool of messages includes messages of at least one type selected from a group consisting of electronic mail messages, voice mail messages, instant messages, electronic representations of letters, electronic representations of memoranda, and messages corresponding to meetings.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the displayed report includes a network graph having:

a source node corresponding to the source, the source node being disposed at a first endpoint on a primary axis;

a target node corresponding to the target, the target node being disposed at an second endpoint on the primary axis;

a respective intermediary node corresponding to each intermediary, the intermediary nodes being disposed between the source node and the target node; and

directed edges interconnecting the source, intermediary, and target nodes to represent each identified communication chain,

the intermediary nodes being disposed in one or more groups of nodes such that all of the intermediary nodes in a same one of the groups have a same level of separation from the source, wherein the intermediary nodes in a group at a lower level of separation from the source are disposed closer to the source than the intermediary nodes in a group at a higher level of separation.

15. A system for analyzing messages, the system comprising:

a user input device;

a display subsystem; and

a processor communicatively coupled to the user input device and the display subsystem, the processor including a user input module, a communication module, and an output module,

the user input module being configured to receive user input from the user input device, the user input including a first user input specifying a pool of messages to be analyzed, wherein each message has metadata associated therewith, the metadata for each message identifying at least one sender and at least one recipient of that message;

the user input module being further configured to receive a second user input identifying a sender of at least one of the messages in the pool of messages as a source and identifying a recipient of at least one of the messages in the pool of messages as a target;

the communication module being configured to communicate first and second input data corresponding to the first and second user input to an analysis module, to direct the analysis module to identify one or more communication chains from the source to the target based on the pool of messages, wherein at least one of the communication chains is an indirect chain that includes at least one sender or recipient identified as an intermediary between the source and the target and wherein the analysis module identifies the communication chains by successively detecting communication chains with an increasing number of intermediaries up to a maximum number of intermediaries, and to receive from the analysis module a report indicating the communication chains that were identified; and

the output module being configured to display the report to a user via the display subsystem.

16. The system of claim 15 further comprising a network interface device, wherein the analysis module is in a server computer system and wherein the communication module is further configured to communicate via the network interface device with the server computer system.

17. The system of claim 15 wherein the user input module is further configured to receive a third user input specifying a modification to the displayed report and the output module is further configured to display a modified report in response to the third user input.

18. The system of claim 15 wherein:

the user input module is further configured to receive a third user input specifying a modification to the displayed report;

the communication module is further configured to communicate third input data corresponding to the third user input to the analysis module and to receive from the analysis module a modified report; and

the output module is further configured to display the modified report to the user.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the third user input specifies one or more filter criteria to be used in updating the report.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the one or more filter criteria include one or more of a time criterion, a content criterion, an analysis context criterion, or a message type criterion.

21. The system of claim 15 wherein the first user input specifies one or more filter criteria to be applied to a plurality of messages such that the pool of messages includes only messages from the plurality of messages that satisfy the one or more filter criteria.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein the one or more filter criteria include one or more of a time criterion, a content criterion, an analysis context criterion, or a message type criterion.

23. A computer implemented method of analyzing messages, the method comprising:

receiving a first user input, the first user input specifying a pool of messages to be analyzed, each message having metadata associated therewith, the metadata for each message identifying at least one sender and at least one recipient of that message;

receiving a second user input, the second user input identifying a sender of at least one of the messages in the pool of messages as a source and identifying a recipient of at least one of the messages in the pool of messages as a target;

in response to the first and second user input, directing an analysis module to identify one or more communication chains from the source to the target based on the pool of messages, wherein at least one of the communication chains is an indirect chain that includes at least one sender or recipient identified as an intermediary between the source and the target and wherein the analysis module identifies the communication chains by;

extending a first possible message path one link forward from the sender, thereby defining an intermediate sender set, or extending a second possible message path one link backward from the recipient, thereby defining an intermediate recipient set;

after extending one of the first or second possible message paths, detecting an overlap between one or more entities in the intermediate sender set and one or more entities in the intermediate recipient set, wherein a communication chain is completed in the event that the overlap is found; and

repeating the extending and detecting until a maximum communication chain length is reached;

receiving, from the analysis module, a report indicating the communication chains that were identified; and

displaying the report.

24. A system for analyzing messages, the system comprising:

a user input device;

a display subsystem; and

a processor communicatively coupled to the user input device and the display subsystem, the processor including a user input module, a communication module, and an output module,

the user input module being configured to receive user input from the user input device, the user input including a first user input specifying a pool of messages to be analyzed, wherein each message has metadata associated therewith, the metadata for each message identifying at least one sender and at least one recipient of that message;

the user input module being further configured to receive a second user input identifying a sender of at least one of the messages in the pool of messages as a source and identifying a recipient of at least one of the messages in the pool of messages as a target;

the communication module being configured to communicate first and second input data corresponding to the first and second user input to an analysis module, to direct the analysis module to identify one or more communication chains from the source to the target based on the pool of messages, wherein at least one of the communication chains is an indirect chain that includes at least one sender or recipient identified as an intermediary between the source and the target and wherein the analysis module identifies the communication chains by;

extending a first possible message path one link forward from the sender, thereby defining an intermediate sender set, or extending a second possible message path one link backward from the recipient, thereby defining an intermediate recipient set;

after extending one of the first or second possible message paths, detecting an overlap between one or more entities in the intermediate sender set and one or more entities in the intermediate recipient set, wherein a communication chain is completed in the event that the overlap is found; and

repeating the extending and detecting until a maximum communication chain length is reached; and

the output module being configured to display the report to a user via the display subsystem.