Associating one or more terms in a message trail with a task entry

• US 9,690,773 B1
• Filed: 12/27/2016
• Issued: 06/27/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Tomkins, Andrew, Ravikumar, Shanmugasundaram, Agarwal, Shalini, Pang, Bo, Li, Mark Yinan
• Primary Examiner(s): Hang, Vu B
• Application Number:
  US15/391,693
• Time in Patent Office: 182 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/30 of unstructured textual data document management systems G06F16/93
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/313 Selection or weighting of terms for indexing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3334 Selection or weighting of terms from queries, including natural language queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/253 Grammatical analysis; Style critique
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/268 Morphological analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/279 Recognition of textual entities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/30 Semantic analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/55 Rule-based translation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/58 Use of machine translation, e.g. for multi-lingual retrieval, for server-side translation for client devices or for real-time translation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1093 Calendar-based scheduling for persons or groups

Abstract

Methods and apparatus related to determining an association between a message trail and a task entry of a user and associating an n-gram with the task entry, wherein the n-gram is based on one or more messages of the message trail. A similarity score between the n-gram and one or more aspects of the associated task entry may be determined. The similarity score may be utilized, for example, to determine when to associate the n-gram with the task entry and/or how to utilize the associated n-gram with the task entry.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining, by one or more processors, that one or more electronic messages sent or received by a user relate to a task;

creating, by one or more of the processors, a task entry of the user in one or more computer readable media,

wherein creating the task entry is in response to identifying that the electronic messages relate to the task, and

wherein the task entry is created to include values determined based on content of the electronic messages;

by one or more of the processors subsequent to creating the task entry;

identifying one or more additional electronic messages, the additional electronic messages sent or received by the user subsequent to the electronic messages;

determining that the additional electronic messages are associated with the task entry of the user;

determining that additional content of the additional electronic messages conflicts with a given value of the values of the task entry;

based on determining that the additional content conflicts with the given value of the task entry, altering the task entry in the computer readable media by adding, to the task entry, an additional value determined based on the additional content.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein altering the task entry by adding the additional value to the task entry comprises:

replacing the given value with the additional value in the task entry.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein replacing the given value with the additional value comprises:

determining that the given value is stored in association with a particular information field of the task entry; and

replacing the given value with the additional value based on determining that the additional value is associated with the particular information field with which the given value is stored in association.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

based on determining that the additional content conflicts with the given value, providing a user interface prompt for presentation to the user via a client device of the user;

receiving an indication of an affirmative user input directed to the user interface prompt;

wherein replacing the given value with the additional value occurs in response to receiving the affirmative user input.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein altering the task entry by adding the additional value to the task entry comprises:

identifying a particular information field of the task entry with which the given value is stored in association; and

storing the additional value in association with the particular information field.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising, subsequent to storing the additional value in association with the particular information field of the task entry:

identifying user input provided in an interface of an application that enables modification of the task entry, wherein the user input is generated in response to interaction by the user with a user interface input device of a computing device of the user;

determining a suggestion that is based on the additional value to provide for presentation to the user in response to the user input; and

in response to the user input, providing the determined suggestion for presentation to the user in the interface.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving an indication of a selection, by the user, of the suggestion; and

in response to receiving the indication of the selection, replacing the given value with the additional value in the task entry.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the user input is directed to modification of the particular information field, and wherein determining the suggestion that is based on the additional value is based on the additional value being stored in association with the particular information field and the user input being directed to modification of the particular information field.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional content is a message term.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the additional value conforms to the message term.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional electronic messages and the electronic messages form a message trail and wherein determining that the additional electronic messages are associated with the task entry of the user is based on the additional electronic messages and the electronic messages forming the message trail.

12. A system comprising:

memory storing instructions;

one or more processors configured to execute the instructions, wherein in executing the instructions one or more of the processors are to;

determine that one or more electronic messages sent or received by a user relate to a task;

create a task entry of the user in one or more computer readable media,

wherein in creating the task entry one or more of the processors are to create the task entry in response to identifying that the electronic messages relate to the task, and

wherein the task entry is created to include values determined based on content of the electronic messages;

subsequent to creating the task entry;

identify one or more additional electronic messages, the additional electronic messages sent or received by the user subsequent to the electronic messages;

determine that the additional electronic messages are associated with the task entry of the user;

determine that additional content of the additional electronic messages conflicts with a given value of the values of the task entry;

based on determining that the additional content conflicts with the given value of the task entry, alter the task entry in the computer readable media by adding, to the task entry, an additional value determined based on the additional content.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein in altering the task entry by adding the additional value to the task entry, one or more of the processors are to:

replace the given value with the additional value in the task entry.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein in replacing the given value with the additional value one or more of the processors are to:

determine that the given value is stored in association with a particular information field of the task entry; and

replace the given value with the additional value based on determining that the additional value is associated with the particular information field with which the given value is stored in association.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein in executing the instructions one or more of the processors are further to:

based on determining that the additional content conflicts with the given value, provide a user interface prompt for presentation to the user via a client device of the user; and

receive an indication of an affirmative user input directed to the user interface prompt;

wherein in replacing the given value with the additional value, one or more of the processors are to replace the given value with the additional value in response to receiving the affirmative user input.

16. A method, comprising:

determining, by one or more processors, that one or more electronic messages sent or received by a user relate to a task;

creating, by one or more of the processors, a task entry of the user in one or more computer readable media,

wherein creating the task entry is in response to identifying that the electronic messages relate to the task, and

wherein the task entry is created to include values determined based on content of the electronic messages;

by one or more of the processors subsequent to creating the task entry;

identifying one or more additional electronic messages, the additional electronic messages sent or received by the user subsequent to the electronic messages;

determining that the additional electronic messages are associated with the task entry of the user;

determining that there is a conflict between additional content of the additional electronic messages and a given value of the values of the task entry;

based on determining that there is a conflict;

providing, for presentation to the user via a client device of the user, a user interface prompt that indicates the conflict.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving an indication of an affirmative user input directed to the user interface prompt; and

in response to receiving the affirmative user input;

replacing, in the task entry, the given value with an additional value determined based on the additional content.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein determining that there is a conflict between the additional content and the given value of the task entry comprises:

determining that the given value is stored in association with a particular information field of the task entry; and

determining that there is a conflict based on determining that the additional value is associated with the particular information field with which the given value is stored in association.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving an indication of an affirmative user input directed to the user interface prompt; and

in response to receiving the affirmative user input;

storing the additional value in association with a particular information field of the task entry with which the given value is stored in association.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the additional electronic messages and the electronic messages form a message trail and wherein determining that the additional electronic messages are associated with the task entry of the user is based on the additional electronic messages and the electronic messages forming the message trail.