Systems and methods for prioritizing messages on a mobile device

• US 8,977,304 B2
• Filed: 04/27/2012
• Issued: 03/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Mobile Communications Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Mobile Communications AB (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Ramanujam, Srivatsan, O'Rorke, Paul Vincent
• Primary Examiner(s): WASHINGTON, ERIKA ALISE
• Application Number:
  US13/823,302
• Publication Number:
  US 20130288722A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,047 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 455/466
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/226 Delivery according to priorities
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

A method, performed by a mobile communication device, may include receiving a message; extracting one or more features associated with the message; and determining a priority level for the message, based on the extracted one or more features, using a model that relates the extracted one or more features to an expected response time for the message. The method may further include determining a context associated with the user of the mobile communication device; modifying the priority level based on the determined context; and providing the message to a list of messages based on the modified priority level. Additionally, the user may be provided with a notification tone associated with the modified priority level.

Claims

1. A method, performed by a computer device, comprising:

extracting, by the computer device, one or more features from messages received by a mobile communication device;

obtaining, by the computer device, information about a user context associated with a user of the mobile communication device;

obtaining, by the computer device, information about one or more user actions associated with the messages, wherein the information includes information about a response time associated with a particular message, wherein the response time corresponds to an amount of time between when the user received the particular message and when the user responded to the particular message;

generating, by the computer device, a priority function that relates a particular response time to a particular priority level, wherein generating the priority function includes;

determining a mean response time for the messages;

associating a medium priority level, for the priority function, with response times within a standard deviation of the mean response time;

associating a high priority level, for the priority function, with response times shorter than the response times within the standard deviation of the mean response time; and

associating a low priority level, for the priority function, with response times longer than the response times within the standard deviation of the mean response time;

generating, by the computer device, a model associated with the user, wherein the model relates the extracted one or more features to a priority level based on the obtained information about the one or more user actions, based on the obtained information about the user context, and based on the generated priority function; and

using, by the computer device, the generated model to determine a priority level for a message received by the mobile communication device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the extracted one or more features include one or more of:

information about a contact associated with a particular message, or

information about a content included in the particular message.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the information about the content included in the particular message includes one or more of:

information identifying parts of speech included in the particular message,

information identifying named entities included in the particular message,

information identifying particular characters included in the particular message, or

information identifying a header associated with the particular message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the information about one or more user actions associated with the messages further includes one or more of:

information identifying how long the user viewed a particular message,

information identifying whether the user deleted the particular message,

information identifying whether the user labeled the particular message with a particular label, or

information identifying whether the user moved the particular message to a particular folder.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the information about the user context associated with the messages includes one or more of:

information about whether the mobile communication device is associated with continuous motion, or

information about whether the mobile communication device is associated with stop-and-go motion.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the messages include one or more of a short message format message, an instant message, a telephone message, an email message, or a social media feed.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the model associated with the user includes:

generating a first model for a first type of message received by the mobile communication device;

generating a second model for a second type of message based on the generated first model; and

using the generated second model to determine a priority level for a particular second type of message received by the mobile communication device.

8. A method performed by a mobile communication device, the method comprising:

receiving, by the mobile communication device, a message;

extracting, by the mobile communication device, one or more features associated with the message;

determining, by the mobile communication device, a priority level for the message, based on the extracted one or more features, using a model that relates the extracted one or more features to an expected response time for the message, wherein the model is generated by a process that includes;

determining a mean response time for messages received by the mobile communication device over a period of time;

associating a medium priority level for messages with response times within a standard deviation of the mean response time;

associating a high priority level for messages with response times shorter than the response times within the standard deviation of the mean response time; and

associating a low priority level for messages with response times longer than the response times within the standard deviation of the mean response time;

determining, by the mobile communication device, a context associated with a user of the mobile communication device;

modifying, by the mobile communication device, the priority level based on the determined context; and

providing, by the mobile communication device, the message to a list of messages based on the modified priority level.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein one or more features associated with the message include one or more of:

information about a contact associated with the message,

information about parts of speech included in the message,

information about named entities included in the message,

information about particular characters included in the message,

information about a header associated with the message, or

information about when the message was received.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

selecting a time profile for the message based on the extracted one or more features; and

changing the priority level over time based on the selected time profile.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

determining a particular notification for the message based on the determined priority level and based on the determined context;

determining whether to provide the particular notification based on the determined context; and

providing the particular notification via an output device of the mobile communication device, in response to determining that the particular notification is to be provided.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving, from the user, a selection of a speed and privacy setting for determining priority levels for messages; and

selecting one or more of the extracted one or more features to send to a prioritization server device, to determine the priority level for the message, based on the received selection of the privacy and speed setting.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving, from the user, a selection of at least one criterion to use to organize different types of messages, wherein the criterion includes at least one of;

organizing the different types of messages based on contacts associated with the different types of messages,

organizing the different types of messages based on a type of message associated with the different types of messages, or

combining the different types of messages into a single list.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the message includes a short message format message, an instant message, a telephone message, an email message, or a social media feed.

15. A mobile communication device comprising:

logic configured to;

receive a message;

extract one or more features associated with the message;

determine a priority level for the message, based on the extracted one or more features, using a model that relates the extracted one or more features to an expected response time for the message, wherein the model includes logic configured to;

determine a mean response time for messages received over a period of time;

associate a medium priority level for messages with response times within a standard deviation of the mean response time;

associate a high priority level for messages with response times shorter than the response times within the standard deviation of the mean response time; and

associate a low priority level for messages with response times longer than the response times within the standard deviation of the mean response time;

determine a context associated with a user of the mobile communication device;

modify the priority level based on the determined context; and

include the message in a list of messages based on the modified priority level.

16. The mobile communication device of claim 15, wherein the logic is further configured to:

determine whether a feature associated with the message is associated with the determined context; and

lower the priority level in response to determining that the feature associated with the message is not associated with the determined context.

17. The mobile communication device of claim 15, wherein the logic is further configured to:

select a time profile for the message based on the extracted one or more features; and

change the priority level over time based on the selected time profile.

18. The mobile communication device of claim 15, wherein the logic is further configured to:

determine a particular notification for the message based on the determined priority level and based on the determined context;

determine whether to provide the particular notification based on the determined context; and

provide the particular notification via an output device of the mobile communication device, in response to determining that the particular notification is to be provided.

19. The mobile communication device of claim 15, wherein the logic is further configured to:

receive, from the user, a selection of a speed and privacy setting for determining priority levels for messages; and

select one or more of the extracted one or more features to send to a prioritization server device, to determine the priority level for the message, based on the received selection of the privacy and speed setting.