Electronic Communication Messaging

• US 20090077026A1
• Filed: 09/17/2007
• Published: 03/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Yanagihara, Kazuhisa
• Granted Patent: US 8,868,566 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

Systems, methods, and apparatus related to suggesting components of an electronic communication. A component input associated with an electronic communication is received. Suggested recipient address sets of the electronic communication based on previous electronic communications associated with the component input are identified and presented to a user for selection.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

identifying an address set in an electronic communication;

comparing the address set in the electronic communication to historical address sets; and

suggesting one or more historical address sets for the electronic communication based on the comparison.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing the address set in the electronic communication to historical address sets comprises identifying historical address sets that include the address set in the electronic communication as candidate historical address sets.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein suggesting one or more historical address sets for the electronic communication based on the comparison comprises suggesting a subset of the candidate address sets.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein suggesting one or more historical address sets for the electronic communication comprises suggesting one or more historical address sets for the electronic communication generated within a specified period of time.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein suggesting one or more historical address sets for the electronic communication generated within a specified period of time comprises suggesting one or more historical address sets based on a frequency of use.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein suggesting a subset of the candidate address sets comprises suggesting a subset of the candidate address sets based on a recipient type.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein identifying historical address sets that include the address set in the electronic communication as candidate historical address sets comprises identifying a recipient type of the address set and identifying historical address sets of the same recipient type.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a selection of a suggested historical address set; and

updating a usage parameter associated with the selected historical address set.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

determining if the usage parameter exceeds an automated group storage threshold; and

storing the selected historical address set as an automated group if the if the usage parameter exceeds an automated group storage threshold.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

updating usage parameters associated with suggested historical address sets that are not selected;

for each suggested historical address set that is not selected;

determining if the suggested historical address set is stored as an automated group; and

if the suggested historical address set is stored as an automated group, then deleting the automated group if the corresponding usage parameter associated with the suggested historical address set is less than an automated group threshold.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising, for each automated group:

determining recipient addresses defined in the automated group; and

providing the automated group to a computer device associated with the recipient addresses.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing the address set in the electronic communication to historical address sets comprises determining whether any two or more addresses of the address set in the electronic communication match any two or more addresses in a historical address set.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving a selection of a suggested historical address set; and

substituting the selected historical address set for the any two or more matching addresses in the address set in the electronic communication.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing the address set in the electronic communication to historical address sets comprises exclusively matching the address set in the electronic communication to the historical address sets.

15. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving component input associated with an electronic communication; and

automatically determining recipient address sets of the electronic communication based on previous electronic communications associated with the component input.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising presenting one or more recipient address sets for selection by a user for addressing the electronic communication.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein presenting one or more recipient address sets further comprises displaying a drop-down menu to display the one or more recipient address sets.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the electronic communication comprises an e-mail message.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the electronic communication comprises a peer-to-peer communication.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the component input comprises an attachment.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein the component input comprises a subject line input.

22. The method of claim 15, wherein the component input comprises an address set.

23. A system, comprising:

a data store storing historical communication data of electronic communications, the historical communication data comprising associations of two or more electronic communication components, the electronic communication components comprising electronic address, content, or attachments, each association defining communication components identified in electronic communications;

a component suggestion module stored in a computer readable medium and comprising computer executable instructions that upon such execution cause a computer device to;

identify an electronic communication component input in an electronic communication;

compare the electronic communication component input to the historical communication data; and

suggest one or more associations of electronic communication components for use in the electronic communication based on the comparison.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein:

the data store is further configured to store a usage parameter associated with each association of two or more electronic communication components; and

the component suggestion module comprises computer executable instructions that upon such execution cause a computer device to;

determine whether a suggested association of electronic communication components is selected;

update the usage parameters associated with the suggested associations of the electronic communication components;

classify and declassify each association of electronic communication components as an automated group based on the value of the usage parameter; and

store each association of electronic communication components classified as an automated group in an automated group data store.