Message clustering by contact list

• US 9,049,055 B1
• Filed: 02/07/2012
• Issued: 06/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Pacovsk, Ondej, Aberdeen, Douglas Alexander, Takcsi, Pl
• Primary Examiner(s): Srivastava, Vivek
• Assistant Examiner(s): Garcia-Ching, Karina J
• Application Number:
  US13/368,309
• Time in Patent Office: 1,211 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes

Abstract

Systems and methods for clustering messages are provided. In some aspects, a method includes receiving a set of communications. The set of communications includes a set of messages. Each communication in at least a portion of communications in the set of communications is associated with a set of contacts. The method also includes determining a first contact list based on the set of communications. The method also includes determining a first subset of the set of messages, each message in the first subset of the set of messages being associated with a set of contacts including at least a first threshold number of contacts in the first contact list. The method also includes providing an indication of the first subset of the set of messages.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for clustering messages, the method comprising:

receiving a set of communications, wherein the set of communications includes a set of messages that is a subset of the set of communications, wherein one or more communications in the set of communications is associated with a set of contacts, wherein the set of communications comprises messages of a first type and communications of one or more types, and wherein the set of messages comprises messages of the first type;

receiving, from a user, a request to cluster the set of messages;

determining a first contact list based on the set of communications;

determining a first subset of the set of messages, each message in the first subset of the set of messages being associated with a set of contacts comprising at least a first threshold number of contacts in the first contact list, wherein the first threshold number of contacts in the contact list includes more than one contact;

determining a second contact list based on the set of communications;

determining a second subset of the set of messages, each message in the second subset of the set of messages being associated with a second set of contacts comprising at least the first threshold number of contacts in the first contact list, wherein each of the first subset of the set of messages and the second subset of the set of messages comprises at least a minimum threshold proportion and at most a maximum threshold proportion of the messages in the set of messages, wherein the first subset of the set of messages and the second subset of the set of messages are not mutually exclusive, and wherein an intersection of the first subset of the set of messages and the second subset of the set of messages include at most a second threshold number of messages or a threshold proportion of the messages in the set of messages; and

providing an indication of the first subset of the set of messages.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of messages comprises at least 1000 messages.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of communications comprises one or more of:

email messages, text chat sessions, audio chat sessions, video chat sessions, posts within a social networking service, messages within a social networking service, or shared documents within a document sharing service.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of messages comprises email messages.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of contacts associated with a communication comprises a sender.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of contacts associated with a communication comprises at least one recipient.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of contacts associated with a communication comprises a participant in the communication.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the first contact list based on the set of communications comprises:

detecting plural ones of communications in the set of communications that are associated with a first contact;

determining that at least a threshold proportion of the communications associated with the first contact are also associated with a second contact; and

assigning at least the first contact and the second contact to the first contact list.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising associating the first subset of the set of messages with a label.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising determining a title of the label based on a contact in the first contact list.

11. The method of claim 9, determining a title of the label based on a word in a subject of a message in the first subset of the set of messages.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the first threshold number of contacts in the contact list comprises a predetermined proportion of a total number of contacts in the contact list.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the first type comprises email messages, and wherein the one or more types comprise one or more of:

text chat sessions, audio chat sessions, video chat sessions, posts within a social networking service, messages within a social networking service, or shared documents within a document sharing service.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium for clustering messages, the non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

receive a set of communications, wherein the set of communications includes a set of messages that is a subset of the set of communications, wherein one or more communications in the set of communications is associated with a set of contacts, wherein the set of communications comprises messages of a first type and communications of one or more types, and wherein the set of messages comprises messages of the first type;

receive, from a user, a request to cluster the set of messages;

determine a plurality of contact lists based on the set of communications;

for each contact list in the plurality of contact lists, determine a corresponding subset of the set of messages, each message in the corresponding subset of the set of messages being associated with a set of contacts comprising at least a first threshold number of contacts in the contact list, wherein the first threshold number of contacts in the contact list includes more than one contact, wherein the determined corresponding subsets of the set of messages comprise a first subset of the set of messages and a second subset of the set of messages, wherein each of the first subset of the set of messages and the second subset of the set of messages comprises at least a minimum threshold proportion and at most a maximum threshold proportion of the messages in the set of messages, wherein the first subset of the set of messages and the second subset of the set of messages are not mutually exclusive, and wherein an intersection of the first subset of the set of messages and the second subset of the set of messages include at most a second threshold number of messages or a threshold proportion of the messages in the set of messages; and

provide an indication of the corresponding subsets of the set of messages.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the plurality of contact lists comprises at least four contact lists.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the corresponding subsets of the set of messages are mutually exclusive.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to:

receive a new message in the set of messages, wherein the new message is associated with an identified set of contacts;

determine that the identified set of contacts corresponds to at least one contact list in the plurality of contact lists; and

associate the new message with at least one subset of the set of messages corresponding to the at least one contact list.

16. A system comprising:

an input device configured to;

receive a set of communications, wherein the set of communications includes a set of messages that is a subset of the set of communications, further wherein one or more communications in the set of communications is associated with a set of contacts, wherein the set of communications comprises messages of a first type and communications of one or more types, and wherein the set of messages comprises messages of the first type;

a contact list detection module configured to;

receive, from a user, a request to cluster the set of messages;

detect plural ones of communications in the set of communications that are associated with a first contact,

determine that at least a threshold proportion of the communications associated with the first contact are also associated with a second contact,

assign at least the first contact and the second contact to a contact list, and

provide an indication of the contact list; and

a subset detection module configured to;

receive the contact list from the contact list detection module,

determine a first subset of the set of messages, each message in the first subset of the set of messages being associated with a set of contacts comprising at least a first threshold number of contacts in the contact list, wherein the first threshold number of contacts in the contact list includes more than one contact,

determine a second contact list based on the set of communications;

determine a second subset of the set of messages, each message in the second subset of the set of messages being associated with a second set of contacts comprising at least the first threshold number of contacts in the contact list, wherein each of the first subset of the set of messages and the second subset of the set of messages comprises at least a minimum threshold proportion and at most a maximum threshold proportion of the messages in the set of messages, wherein the first subset of the set of messages and the second subset of the set of messages are not mutually exclusive, and wherein an intersection of the first subset of the set of messages and the second subset of the set of messages include at most a second threshold number of messages or a threshold proportion of the messages in the set of messages; and

provide an indication of the first subset of the set of messages.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the input device comprises a network interface.