Reply email clarification

• US 9,455,944 B2
• Filed: 03/26/2014
• Issued: 09/27/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Rakshit, Sarbajit K.
• Primary Examiner(s): DENNISON, JERRY B
• Application Number:
  US14/225,735
• Publication Number:
  US 20140207890A1
• Time in Patent Office: 916 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/274 Converting codes to words; Guess-ahead of partial word inputs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/289 Phrasal analysis, e.g. finite state techniques or chunking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/412 Layout analysis of documents structured with printed lines or input boxes, e.g. business forms or tables
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/416 Extracting the logical structure, e.g. chapters, sections or page numbers; Identifying elements of the document, e.g. authors
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/02 using automatic reactions or user delegation, e.g. automatic replies or chatbot-generated messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes

Abstract

A method and system for clarifying reply communications is provided. The method includes receiving an email comprising first data and generating a reply email including reply data associated with the email. Email reply check functionality is enabled and a first group of sentences comprising every sentence from the first data within the recent history section of the reply email is identified. A second group of sentences comprising every sentence from the reply data of the reply email is identified and the first group of sentences is validated with respect to the second group of sentences. Discrepancies between the first group of sentences with respect to the second group of sentences are determined and presented user via an alert based interface and a resulting modified reply email is generated.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computer processor of a computing device for a user, an email comprising first data;

generating, by said computer processor in response to a command and reply data from said user, a reply email associated with said email, said reply email comprising said reply data and said first data;

enabling, by said computer processor, email reply check functionality;

identifying from a body and a subject section of a recent history section of said reply email, by said computer processor in response to said enabling, a first group of sentences comprising every sentence from said first data within said recent history section of said reply email;

identifying from a body and a subject section of a reply section the reply email, by said computer processor in response to said enabling, a second group of sentences comprising every sentence from said reply data of said reply email;

validating, by said computer processor, said first group of sentences with respect to said second group of sentences via a phrase percentage matching method;

determining, by said computer processor based on results of said validating, discrepancies between said first group of sentences with respect to said second group of sentences, wherein said discrepancies comprise subject item text from said email that have not been addressed in said reply email;

generating, by said computer processor, an alert based interface, presenting said discrepancies;

presenting, by said computer processor to said user via said alert based interface, an editing option associated with addressing said discrepancies;

receiving, by said computer processor from said user, a replacement sentence associated with said first group of sentences; and

generating, by said computer processor, a modified reply email, wherein said generating said modified replay email comprises replacing one of said first group of sentences with said replacement sentence.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

second validating, by said computer processor, said replacement sentence with respect to said first group of sentences via said phrase percentage matching method;

determining, by said computer processor based on results of said second validating, that said replacement sentence in reply to a sentence of said first group of sentences; and

transmitting, by said computer processor to an original composer of said email, said modified reply email.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

dividing, by said computer processor in response to said enabling, said first group of sentences into first categories comprising questions and non-questions; and

dividing, by said computer processor in response to said enabling, said second group of sentences into second categories comprising questions and non-questions.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing at least one support service for at least one of creating, integrating, hosting, maintaining, and deploying computer-readable code in said computing system, wherein the code in combination with the computing system is capable of performing;

said receiving, said generating, said enabling, said identifying said first plurality of character strings, said identifying said second plurality of character strings, said comparing, said determining, and said performing.

5. A computer program product, comprising a computer readable hardware storage device storing a computer readable program code, said computer readable program code comprising an algorithm that when executed by a computer processor of a computing device implements a method, said method comprising:

receiving, by said computer processor for a user, an email comprising first data;

generating, by said computer processor in response to a command and reply data from said user, a reply email associated with said email, said reply email comprising said reply data and said first data;

enabling, by said computer processor, email reply check functionality;

identifying from a body and a subject section of a recent history section of said reply email, by said computer processor in response to said enabling, a first group of sentences comprising every sentence from said first data within said recent history section of said reply email;

identifying from a body and a subject section of a reply section the reply email, by said computer processor in response to said enabling, a second group of sentences comprising every sentence from said reply data of said reply email;

validating, by said computer processor, said first group of sentences with respect to said second group of sentences via a phrase percentage matching method;

determining, by said computer processor based on results of said validating, discrepancies between said first group of sentences with respect to said second group of sentences, wherein said discrepancies comprise subject item text from said email that have not been addressed in said reply email;

generating, by said computer processor, an alert based interface, presenting said discrepancies;

presenting, by said computer processor to said user via said alert based interface, an editing option associated with addressing said discrepancies;

receiving, by said computer processor from said user, a replacement sentence associated with said first group of sentences; and

generating, by said computer processor, a modified reply email, wherein said generating said modified replay email comprises replacing one of said first group of sentences with said replacement sentence.

6. The computer program product of claim 5, wherein said method further comprises:

second validating, by said computer processor, said replacement sentence with respect to said first group of sentences via said phrase percentage matching method;

determining, by said computer processor based on results of said second validating, that said replacement sentence in reply to a sentence of said first group of sentences; and

transmitting, by said computer processor to an original composer of said email, said modified reply email.

7. The computer program product of claim 5, wherein said method further comprises:

dividing, by said computer processor in response to said enabling, said first group of sentences into first categories comprising questions and non-questions; and

dividing, by said computer processor in response to said enabling, said second group of sentences into second categories comprising questions and non-questions.

8. A computing device comprising a computer processor coupled to a computer-readable memory unit, said memory unit comprising instructions that when executed by the computer processor implements a method comprising:

receiving, by said computer processor for a user, an email comprising first data;

generating, by said computer processor in response to a command and reply data from said user, a reply email associated with said email, said reply email comprising said reply data and said first data;

enabling, by said computer processor, email reply check functionality;

identifying from a body and a subject section of a recent history section of said reply email, by said computer processor in response to said enabling, a first group of sentences comprising every sentence from said first data within said recent history section of said reply email;

identifying from a body and a subject section of a reply section the reply email, by said computer processor in response to said enabling, a second group of sentences comprising every sentence from said reply data of said reply email;

validating, by said computer processor, said first group of sentences with respect to said second group of sentences via a phrase percentage matching method;

determining, by said computer processor based on results of said validating, discrepancies between said first group of sentences with respect to said second group of sentences, wherein said discrepancies comprise subject item text from said email that have not been addressed in said reply email;

generating, by said computer processor, an alert based interface, presenting said discrepancies;

presenting, by said computer processor to said user via said alert based interface, an editing option associated with addressing said discrepancies;

receiving, by said computer processor from said user, a replacement sentence associated with said first group of sentences; and

generating, by said computer processor, a modified reply email, wherein said generating said modified replay email comprises replacing one of said first group of sentences with said replacement sentence.

9. The computing device of claim 8, wherein said method further comprises:

second validating, by said computer processor, said replacement sentence with respect to said first group of sentences via said phrase percentage matching method;

determining, by said computer processor based on results of said second validating, that said replacement sentence in reply to a sentence of said first group of sentences; and

transmitting, by said computer processor to an original composer of said email, said modified reply email.