Task completion in email using third party app

• US 9,313,162 B2
• Filed: 12/13/2012
• Issued: 04/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Kumar, Amit, Sadhukha, Shajib
• Primary Examiner(s): Whipple, Brian P
• Application Number:
  US13/713,279
• Publication Number:
  US 20140172986A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,216 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/046 Interoperability with other network applications or services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/18 Commands or executable codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers

Abstract

Among other things, one or more techniques and/or systems for providing a third party app through an email user interface are provided. That is, an email user interface may provide access to an email comprising email content (e.g., a message regarding meeting for dinner at the Emerald Tavern). The email content may be analyzed to identify an entity referenced by the email content (e.g., an Emerald Tavern entity). A user intent to accomplish a task may be determined based upon the entity. An action that may be performed to accomplish the task, and a third party app capable of performing the action may be presented through the email user interface (e.g., a restaurant reservation app capable of a reservation task). Responsive to selection of the third party app, the third party app may be executed within the email user interface without transitioning a user away from the immersive email experience.

Claims

1. A method for providing predicted actions through an email user interface, comprising:

receiving a prediction of a user intent to accomplish a task based on an entity referenced by email content;

presenting, through the email user interface, a potential action based upon the predicted user intent;

displaying a grouping of third party applications capable of performing the potential action, wherein the grouping of third party applications is displayed so as to indicate the relationship between the third party applications and the presented potential action; and

responsive to a selection of a third party application, executing the third party application, the third party application executed according to a user intent execution context corresponding to at least one of the entity or the presented potential action.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the presenting the potential action further comprises:

selecting a third party application for display based upon supplemental content derived from at least one of information associated with a user device hosting the email user interface, a user profile, or a user preference.

3. The method of claim 1, the entity comprising at least one of a person entity, a business entity, a consumer product entity, a time entity, a location entity, or an object entity.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising:

receiving a prediction of a second user intent to accomplish a second task based upon the entity;

presenting, through the email user interface, a second potential action based upon the predicted second user intent; and

displaying a second grouping of third party applications capable of performing the second potential action, wherein the grouping of third party applications is displayed so as to indicate the relationship between the third party applications and the presented second potential action.

5. The method of claim 1, the executing the third party application comprising:

identifying a parameter used to execute the action;

assigning a value to the parameter based upon the email content;

including the parameter within the user intent execution context; and

passing the user intent execution context to the third party application for execution.

6. The method of claim 1, the task not comprising an email related task provided by the email user interface, and the third party application comprising non-email related functionality.

7. The method of claim 1, the third party application comprising functionality associated with at least one of a consumer good purchase task, a reservation task, an obtain directions task, an access digital content task, a social network task, or an obtain additional information related to the entity task.

8. The method of claim 1, the executing the third party application comprising:

displaying the third party application within a first portion of the email user interface; and

displaying email content within a second portion of the email user interface.

9. The method of claim 1, the executing the third party application comprising:

identifying a parameter used to execute the action;

assigning a value to the parameter based upon supplemental content derived from at least one of information associated with a user device hosting the email user interface, a user profile, or a user preference;

including the parameter within the user intent execution context; and

passing the user intent execution context to the third party application for execution.

10. The method of claim 1, comprising:

determining that the task corresponds to at least one of a threshold amount of information or an importance threshold; and

providing a link to a third party application native version of the third party application that is capable of executing outside of the email user interface.

11. The method of claim 10, comprising:

responsive to a selection of the link, transitioning from executing the third party application within the email user interface to executing the third party application native version outside of the email user interface.

12. The method of claim 11, the third party application native version comprising at least one of a desktop application, a website, a web service, a mobile application, or a tablet application.

13. The method of claim 11, comprising:

passing the user intent execution context to the third party application native version for execution.

14. The method of claim 13, the user intent execution context comprising a parameter having a value derived from at least one of the email content or supplemental content.

15. A system for providing predicted actions through an email user interface, comprising:

at least one processor;

memory, operatively connected to the at least one processor and containing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, perform a method, the method comprising;

receiving a prediction of a user intent to accomplish a task based on an entity referenced by the email content;

presenting, through the email user interface, a potential action based upon the predicted user intent;

displaying a grouping of third party applications capable of performing the potential action, wherein the grouping of third party applications is displayed so as to indicate the relationship between the third party applications and the presented potential action; and

responsive to a selection of a third party application, executing the third party application, the third party application executed according to a user intent execution context corresponding to at least one of the entity or the presented potential action.

16. The system of claim 15, method further comprising:

identifying a parameter used to execute the action;

assigning a value to the parameter based upon the email content;

including the parameter within the user intent execution context; and

passing the user intent execution context to the third party application for execution.

17. The system of claim 15, the method further comprising:

determining that the task corresponds to at least one of a threshold amount of information or an importance threshold; and

providing a link to a third party application native version of the third party application that is capable of executing outside of the email user interface.

18. The system of claim 17, the method further comprising:

responsive to a selection of the link, transitioning from executing the third party application within the email user interface to executing the third party application native version outside of the email user interface; and

passing the user intent execution context to the third party application native version for execution, the user intent execution context comprising a parameter having a value derived from at least one of the email content or supplemental content.

19. A computer-readable storage device encoding computer executable instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, performs a method for providing predicted actions through an email user interface, the method comprising:

receiving a prediction of a user intent to accomplish a task based on an entity referenced by the email content;

presenting, through the email user interface, a potential action based upon the predicted user intent;

displaying a grouping of third party applications capable of performing the potential action, wherein the grouping of third party applications is displayed so as to indicate the relationship between the third party applications and the presented potential action; and

responsive to a selection of a third party application, executing the third party application, the third party application executed according to a user intent execution context corresponding to at least one of the entity or the presented potential action.

20. The computer-readable storage device of claim 19, the email content comprising at least one of calendar content or task content.