System and method for analyzing communications

• US 9,705,834 B2
• Filed: 07/09/2014
• Issued: 07/11/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Isaacs, Ellen, Nardi, Bonnie A., Whittaker, Stephen
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Jimmy H
• Application Number:
  US14/327,202
• Publication Number:
  US 20140324841A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,098 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2071/0666 worn on the head or face, e.g. combined with goggles or glasses
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 33/004 comprising two separate lenses joined by a flexible bridge
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/26 Visual data mining; Browsing structured data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/284 Relational databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/226 Delivery according to priorities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes

Abstract

The invention provides a system and method for analyzing a collection of communication messages. The communication messages may be any one of a collection of electronic mail messages, voicemail messages, instant messaging dialogues and other forms of communications. The collections of communications, such as electronic mail messages, may be selected by a user and then subsequently processed to determine the identity of any of the user'"'"'s contacts within the communications. The contacts may then be arranged in a relative priority arrangement whereby contacts which have been identified as engaging in prior reciprocal communications with the user are given higher priority. Higher priority may also be given to contacts which engage in more recent communications with the user. Specific contact relationships may be inferred from the communications depending on whether specific contacts are repeatedly mentioned within the communication messages.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

accessing, by at least one computing device comprising a processor, a plurality of communications exchanged between a user and a plurality of contacts;

analyzing, by the at least one computing device, the plurality of communications to determine a recency of each communication of the plurality of communications by determining how old each communication of the plurality of communications is relative to at least one other communication from the plurality of communications;

adjusting a priority score for each contact of the plurality of contacts based on the recency corresponding to one or more communications associated with each contact; and

ranking the plurality of contacts associated with the plurality of communications relative to one another based at least in part on the priority assigned to each contact.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining how old each communication of the plurality of communications is relative to at least one other communication from the plurality of communications comprises identifying a date within a date field of each communication.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising

analyzing, by the at least one computing device, the plurality of communications to determine a duration of one or more communications of the plurality of communications;

adjusting the priority score for each contact of the plurality of contacts based on the duration of one or more communications associated with each contact; and

adjusting the ranking of the plurality of contacts associated with the plurality of communications.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether a communication from the plurality of communications satisfies a recency threshold by determining whether the communication occurred within a predetermined time period in the past.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising excluding the communication from the analysis of the plurality of communications to determine the recency of the plurality of communications based on a determination that the communication does not satisfy the recency threshold.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the plurality of communications to determine the recency for each communication of the plurality of communications comprises analyzing each of the plurality of communications to make a binary determination of whether the communication is recent.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising assigning a score to each of the plurality of communications based on the recency of the communication.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein assigning the score to each of the plurality of communications comprises assigning a higher score to a communication if the communication is a relatively recent communication, and assigning a lower score to a communication if the communication is not a relatively recent communication.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising, for each of the plurality of contacts, identifying communications from the plurality of communications that are specific to each of the contacts to identify the set of communications associated with each contact of the plurality of contacts.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising, for each contact of the plurality of contacts, calculating an importance score based on the identified communications specific to each of the contacts.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the identified communications specific to a contact each mention the contact or include the contact as a party to the communication.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising ranking the plurality of contacts relative to one another based on one or more additional factors.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising assigning a greater weight to the recency of the plurality of communications than to at least one of the one or more additional factors.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein ranking the plurality of contacts relative to one another comprises:

identifying one or more contacts that have participated in relatively recent communications with the user;

identifying one or more contacts that have not participated in relatively recent communications with the user; and

ranking the one or more contacts that have participated in relatively recent communications with the user higher than the one or more contacts that have not participated in relatively recent communications with the user.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting a listing of the ranked plurality of contacts.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying one or more additional communications;

updating the ranking of the plurality of contacts based on an analysis of the one or more additional communications.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein updating the ranking comprises:

identifying, from the one or more additional communications, one or more additional contacts; and

ranking, based on an analysis of the plurality of communications and the one or more additional communications, the plurality of contacts and the one or more additional contacts relative to one another.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein ranking the plurality of contacts relative to one another comprises ranking the plurality of contacts relative to one another with specific respect to the user.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing, for each of the plurality of contacts, a selectable option to add each contact to or remove each contact from a contact network for the user.

20. A system comprising:

a computing device including at least one processor; and

at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions thereon that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to;

access a plurality of communications exchanged between a user and a plurality of contacts;

analyze the plurality of communications to determine a recency of the plurality of communications by determining how old each communication of the plurality of communication is relative to at least one other communication from the plurality of communications;

adjust a priority score for each contact of the plurality of contacts based on the recency corresponding to one or more communications associated with each contact; and

rank the plurality of contacts associated with the plurality of communications relative to one another based at least in part on the priority assigned to each contact.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein determining how old each communication of the plurality of communications is relative to at least one other communication from the plurality of communications comprises identifying a date within a date field of each communication.

22. The system of claim 21, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the system to:

assign a score to each of the plurality of communications based on recency of the communication;

for each contact of the plurality of contacts, identify communications from the plurality of communications that are specific to the contact to identify the set of communications for each contact; and

for each contact of the plurality of contacts, calculate an importance score based on the score assigned to each of the identified communications specific to the contact.

23. The system of claim 20, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the system to:

rank the plurality of contacts relative to one another based on one or more additional factors; and

assign a greater weight to the recency of the plurality of communications than to at least one of the one or more additional factors.

24. The system of claim 20, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the system to:

identify one or more contacts that have participated in relatively recent communications with the user;

identify one or more contacts that have not participated in relatively recent communications with the user; and

rank the one or more contacts that have participated in relatively recent communications with the user higher than the one or more contacts that have not participated in relatively recent communications with the user.