System and method for targeting information based on message content in a reply

• US 9,596,195 B1
• Filed: 07/30/2013
• Issued: 03/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Sheinberg, Alan B., Chen, Stanley
• Primary Examiner(s): Gilles, Jude Jean
• Application Number:
  US13/954,073
• Time in Patent Office: 1,323 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 709/207, 709/214, 709/203, 709/212, 709/227, 709/231, 709/219
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0244 Optimization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0278 Product appraisal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/18 Commands or executable codes

Abstract

A method of presenting information to a party through a messaging application is described. Responsive to receipt of a communication from a party (e.g., the first user), a reply is sent. The communication and the reply is presented in an interface to the sender. The messaging system determines matching content that is relevant to one or both of the communication and the reply and determines a quality of the match. Determining the quality of the match may include determining a score for an advertisement based on the advertisement'"'"'s responsiveness to content identified in the reply message that was sent. Based on a determination that the quality is above a threshold, the matching content is presented along with the communication and the reply.

Claims

1. A method performed by one or more processing devices, the method comprising:

identifying, by the one or more processing devices, text of a communication that was sent from a first user account for delivery to a second user account;

identifying, by the one or more processing devices, text of a reply to the communication, the reply having been generated by the second user account for delivery to the first user account;

determining, by the one or more processing devices, content that has a threshold relevance to one or more of the communication or the reply to the communication through analysis of one or more of the text of the communication or the text of the reply to the communication; and

causing, by the one or more processing devices, a presentation of the determined content and the reply in a graphical user interface, with the determined content positioned proximate to the reply in the graphical user interface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining content that has the threshold relevance comprises:

determining content that has the threshold relevance based on keywords derived from one or more of the communication or the reply.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the content comprises an advertisement.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the content comprises active content.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining content that has the threshold relevance comprises:

determining reply content associated with the reply; and

determining content that has the threshold relevance based on the reply content.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining content that has the threshold relevance comprises:

determining reply content associated with the reply and communication content associated with the communication; and

applying a weighting to a criteria defining a contribution of the reply content to the reply and the communication content to the communication; and

determining, based on applying, content that has the threshold relevance.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein causing the presentation of the determined content and the reply in the graphical user interface comprises:

sending data for the graphical user interface to a device of a user account that sent the reply.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein causing the presentation of the determined content and the reply in the graphical user interface comprises presenting the determined content and the reply at a display of a first computer, wherein the first computer is logged into the first user account.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the reply generated by the second user account for delivery to the first user account has already been received by the first user account.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein causing the presentation of the determined content and the reply in the graphical user interface comprises presenting the determined content and the reply at a display of a second computer, wherein the second computer is logged into the second user account.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein causing the presentation of the determined content and the reply in the graphical user interface includes causing the determined content to be positioned proximate to the reply in a graphical user interface at a display of a second computer that is logged into the second user account, while the reply is being drafted by a user of the second user account at the second computer.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein determining content that has a threshold relevance to one or more of the communication or the reply to the communication includes determining content that has a threshold relevance to the communication and the reply to the communication through analysis of the text of the communication and the text of the reply to the communication.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein analysis of one or more of the text of the communication or the text of the reply to the communication includes identifying text associated with a first time period and identifying text associated with a second time period that is more recent than the first time period, and assigning text associated with the second time period a higher relevance weight than text associated with the first time period.

8. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that are executable by one or more processing devices to perform operations comprising:

identifying, by the one or more processing devices, text of a communication that was sent from a first user account for delivery to a second user account;

identifying, by the one or more processing devices, text of a reply to the communication, the reply having been generated by the second user account for delivery to the first user account;

determining, by the one or more processing devices, content that has a threshold relevance to one or more of the communication or the reply to the communication through analysis of one or more of the text of the communication or the text of the reply to the communication; and

causing, by the one or more processing devices, a presentation of the determined content and the reply in a graphical user interface, with the determined content positioned proximate to the reply in the graphical user interface.

9. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 8, wherein determining content that has the threshold relevance comprises:

determining content that has the threshold relevance based on keywords derived from one or more of the communication or the reply.

10. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 8, wherein the content comprises an advertisement.

11. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 8, wherein the content comprises active content.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 8, wherein determining content that has the threshold relevance comprises:

determining reply content associated with the reply; and

determining content that has the threshold relevance based on the reply content.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 8, wherein determining content that has the threshold relevance comprises:

determining reply content associated with the reply and communication content associated with the communication;

applying a weighting to a criteria defining a contribution of the reply content to the reply and the communication content to the communication; and

determining, based on applying, content that has the threshold relevance.

14. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 8, wherein causing the presentation of the determined content and the reply in the graphical user interface comprises:

sending data for the graphical user interface to a device of a user account that sent the reply.

15. An electronic system comprising:

one or more processing devices; and

one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that are executable by the one or more processing devices to perform operations comprising;

identifying, by the one or more processing devices, text of a communication that was sent from a first user account for delivery to a second user account;

identifying, by the one or more processing devices, text of a reply to the communication, the reply having been generated by the second user account for delivery to the first user account;

determining, by the one or more processing devices, content that has a threshold relevance to one or more of the communication or the reply to the communication through analysis of one or more of the text of the communication or the text of the reply to the communication; and

causing, by the one or more processing devices, a presentation of the determined content and the reply in a graphical user interface, with the determined content positioned proximate to the reply in the graphical user interface.

16. The electronic system of claim 15, wherein determining content that has the threshold relevance comprises:

determining content that has the threshold relevance based on keywords derived from one or more of the communication or the reply.

17. The electronic system of claim 15, wherein the content comprises an advertisement.

18. The electronic system of claim 15, wherein the content comprises active content.

19. The electronic system of claim 15, wherein determining content that has the threshold relevance comprises:

determining reply content associated with the reply; and

determining content that has the threshold relevance based on the reply content.

20. The electronic system of claim 15, wherein determining content that has the threshold relevance comprises:

determining reply content associated with the reply and communication content associated with the communication;

applying a weighting to a criteria defining a contribution of the reply content to the reply and the communication content to the communication; and

determining, based on applying, content that has the threshold relevance.