Collecting and presenting data including links from communications sent to or from a user

• US 10,768,787 B2
• Filed: 12/05/2016
• Issued: 09/08/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yahoo Assets LLC
• Original Assignee: Oath Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Jacobson, Joshua Robert Russell, Thatcher, Gregory Garland, Kobashikawa, Brian Tadao, Radez, Robin Andrew, Cort, Frank J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu, Toan H
• Application Number:
  US15/368,886
• Publication Number:
  US 20170083190A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,373 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/18 Commands or executable codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

A communication is received over a network from a sender. A method includes identifying, by a computing device, one or more candidates for a phone number in the communication, the one or more candidates including a first candidate; determining, by the computing device, whether the first candidate is an IP address; and in response to determining that the first candidate is not an IP address, storing, in a data repository, the first candidate as a first phone number in a profile of the sender.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, over a network, a communication from a sender;

identifying, by a computing device, one or more candidates for a phone number in the communication, the one or more candidates including a first candidate that matches a phone number pattern;

determining, by the computing device, that the first candidate does not match an IP address pattern;

storing, by the computing device in a data repository, the first candidate as a first phone number in a profile of the sender when the first candidate does not match the IP address pattern; and

ignoring, by the computing device, the first candidate when the first candidate matches the IP address pattern.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the sender is an automated system.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying, in a user interface, the first phone number as being associated with the profile.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying one or more candidates comprises identifying a first string in the communication as the first candidate.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising identifying a second string in the communication as a candidate for a phone number, and determining whether the second string is a combination of date and time.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising identifying a second string in the communication as a candidate for a phone number, and determining whether words preceding the second string contain one or more words indicating that the second string is not a phone number.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising checking words preceding or following the first candidate to determine whether the words indicate that the first candidate is not a phone number.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein checking the words comprises determining whether words preceding the first candidate match at least one of a plurality of predetermined words.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising determining whether the words indicate that the first candidate is not a phone number of the sender.

10. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

memory storing instructions configured to instruct the processor to;

receive, over a network, a communication from a sender;

identify one or more candidates for a phone number in the communication, the one or more candidates including a first candidate that matches a phone number pattern;

determine that the first candidate does not match an IP address pattern;

store the first candidate as a first phone number in a profile for the sender when the first candidate does not match the IP address pattern; and

ignore the first candidate when the first candidate matches the IP address pattern.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the instructions are further configured to instruct the processor to determine a type of phone number for the first candidate, and store the type in the profile as being associated with the first phone number.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the determining whether the first candidate is an IP address comprises matching the first candidate against a regular expression.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the determining whether the first candidate is an IP address comprises checking whether each of parts of the first candidate separated by dots is an octet having a value between 0 and 255.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the instructions are further configured to instruct the processor to identify at least one link in the communication, and display the first phone number and the at least one link in a user interface.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer readable instructions, which when executed, cause a computing device to:

receive, over a network, a communication from a sender;

identify, by the computing device, one or more candidates for a phone number in the communication, the one or more candidates including a first candidate that matches a phone number pattern;

determine, by the computing device, that the first candidate does not match an IP address pattern;

store, by the computing device in a data repository, the first candidate as a first phone number in a profile of the sender when the first candidate does not match the IP address pattern; and

ignore, by the computing device, the first candidate when the first candidate matches the IP address pattern.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the determining whether the first candidate is an IP address comprises checking the first candidate against patterns for IP addresses.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the computing device to determine whether the first candidate is a date and time combination.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein determining whether the first candidate is a date and time combination comprises checking whether the first candidate matches a pattern comprising four digits followed by a dash or a forward slash.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the computing device to identify at least one link in the communication, and display the first phone number and the at least one link in a user interface.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the identifying one or more candidates comprises using a first regular expression, and the determining whether a first candidate is an IP address comprises using a second regular expression to identify strings that are numbers separated by dots.