Methods and devices for generating an action item summary

• US 9,015,034 B2
• Filed: 05/15/2012
• Issued: 04/21/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Borg, Carl Magnus, Olsson, Lars Johan Anders, Neumann, John Cross
• Primary Examiner(s): Han, Qi
• Application Number:
  US13/472,295
• Publication Number:
  US 20130311167A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,071 Days
• Field of Search: 704/1, 704/9, 704/2, 704/3, 704/10
• US Class Current: 704/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting

Abstract

Methods and devices for generating an action item summary are described. In one example embodiment, the present application describes a processor-implemented method. The method includes: receiving a request for creation of an action item, the action item comprising a record of a proposed future action; obtaining context information associated with the action item; storing the action item and context information; and generating a sentence describing the action item based on the context information associated with the action item.

Claims

1. A processor-implemented method performed at an electronic device, the method comprising:

receiving, via an input interface associated with the electronic device, a request for creation of an action item, the action item comprising a record of a proposed future action;

obtaining context information associated with the action item;

storing the action item and context information in a memory associated with the electronic device;

generating a sentence describing the action item based on the context information associated with the action item;

detecting a reminder condition; and

in response to detecting the reminder condition, displaying the sentence on a display of the electronic device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the context information includes one or more context items, each context item defining context information of a separate context type.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the context information includes a context item specifying a reason for creating the action item.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein generating a sentence describing the action item based on the context information associated with the action item comprises:

generating a sentence which includes the context item specifying the reason for creating the action item and which includes a causal conjunction before the context item specifying the reason for creating the action item.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

displaying a prompt requesting input of the reason for creating the action item.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying an action item type associated with the action item, and

wherein generating the sentence comprises generating a verb for inclusion in the sentence based on the action item type.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein, if the action item type associated with the action item is a video, then the verb is ‘

watch’

.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the context information includes a context item specifying one or more persons associated with the action item.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein generating a sentence describing the action item based on the context information associated with the action item comprises:

generating a sentence which includes the context item specifying the one or more persons and which also includes a preposition preceding the context item specifying the one or more persons.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the context information includes a context item specifying timing information associated with the action item and wherein generating a sentence describing the action item based on the context information associated with the action item comprises generating a sentence which includes the timing information.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the context information includes a context item specifying a location associated with the action item and wherein generating a sentence describing the action generating a sentence which includes the location.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the action item based on the context information associated with the action item comprises generating a sentence which includes the location information.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the action item is associated with and wherein generating a sentence describing the action item based on the context information associated with the action item comprises including a content identifier as an object of the sentence.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the request for creation of an action item is a request to create an action item based on stored content and wherein the content identifier is automatically generated based on metadata associated with the stored content.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the context information includes two or more context items, each context item defining context information of a separate context type and wherein generating a sentence describing the action item based on the context information associated with the action item comprises generating the sentence based on the two or more context items.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying the sentence together with content associated with the action item.

17. An electronic device comprising:

a processor;

a display coupled with the processor; and

a memory coupled with the processor, the memory comprising processor-executable instructions which, when executed, cause the processor to;

receive a request for creation of an action item, the action item comprising a record of a proposed future action;

obtain context information associated with the action item;

store the action item and context information; and

generate a sentence describing the action item based on the context information associated with the action item detect a reminder condition; and

in response to detecting the reminder condition, display the sentence on the display.

18. The electronic device of claim 17, wherein the context information includes one or more context items, each context item defining context information of a separate context type.

19. The electronic device of claim 17, wherein the context information includes a context item specifying a reason for creating the action item.

20. The electronic device of claim 19, wherein generating a sentence describing the action item based on the context information associated with the action item comprises:

generating a sentence which includes the context item specifying the reason for creating the action item and which includes a causal conjunction before the context item specifying the reason for creating the action item.

21. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising computer executable instructions for:

receiving, via an input interface associated with an electronic device, a request for creation of an action item, the action item comprising a record of a proposed future action;

obtaining context information associated with the action item;

storing the action item and context information in a memory associated with the electronic device;

generating a sentence describing the action item based on the context information associated with the action item;

detecting a reminder condition; and

in response to detecting the reminder condition, displaying the sentence on a display of the electronic device.