Email Conversation Management System

• US 20110016188A1
• Filed: 09/28/2010
• Published: 01/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Paul Buchheit, Sanjeeve Singh
• Inventors: Singh, Sanjeeve, Buchheit, Paul
• Granted Patent: US 8,700,717 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/245 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes

Abstract

A system and method are disclosed for producing a list of conversations as the result of a search query. Messages are received and associated with a conversation. Each of the conversations has a respective conversation identifier and includes one or more messages. Messages, and related message information, are indexed for text searching and information about the message is stored in a memory to associate the message to its respective conversation identifier. The index can be searched to identify one or more messages relevant to a search query. At least some of the conversations to which the one or more messages belong are identified and produced as the search result.

Claims

1. A method of searching conversations, comprising:

at a server having one or more processors and memory storing programs executed by the one or more processors;

receiving a search query from a client;

identifying a conversation relevant to the search query, the conversation having two or more messages sharing a common set of characteristics that meet predefined criteria and a respective conversation identifier; and

returning to the client for display, as a search result to the search query, conversation information corresponding to the identified conversation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the conversation includes identifying a first message relevant to the search query.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the information corresponding to the identified conversation is formatted for presentation in a single line.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the information corresponding to the identified conversation includes a list of sender identifiers corresponding to senders who have sent messages in the conversation.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the list of sender identifiers are ordered according to their respective message arrival time.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein, at least one sender identifier in the list of sender identifiers is represented by an icon or unique character string distinct from corresponding names of the senders.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the predefined criteria includes a subject of the two or more messages and information other than the subject, a in-reply-to field, a references field and a message identifier field of the two or more messages.

8. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium, storing one or more programs for execution by one or more processors at a server system, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:

receiving a search query from a client;

identifying a conversation relevant to the search query, the conversation having two or more messages sharing a common set of characteristics that meet predefined criteria and a respective conversation identifier; and

returning to the client for display as a search result to the search query, conversation information corresponding to the identified conversation.

9. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions for identifying the conversation include instructions for identifying a first message relevant to the search query.

10. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, further comprising instructions for formatting for presentation the information corresponding to the identified conversation in a single line.

11. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the information corresponding to the identified conversation includes a list of sender identifiers corresponding to senders who have sent messages in the conversation.

12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11, further comprising instructions for ordering the list of sender identifiers according to their respective message arrival time.

13. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11, further comprising instructions for representing one or more sender identifiers in the list of sender identifiers by an icon or unique character string distinct from corresponding names of the senders.

14. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the predefined criteria includes a subject of the two or more messages and information other than the subject, a in-reply-to field, a references field and a message identifier field of the two or more messages.

15. A method of searching messages, comprising:

at a server having one or more processors and memory storing programs executed by the one or more processors;

receiving a search query from a client;

searching a message repository to identify two or more messages relevant to the search query, wherein each identified message is associated with a respective conversation of a plurality of conversations, each conversation having a respective conversation identifier, wherein at least one respective conversation of the plurality of conversations comprises two or more messages sharing a common set of characteristics that meet predefined criteria;

identifying the respective conversation identifiers of the conversations associated with the identified messages; and

returning to the client for display as a search result to the search query, conversation information corresponding to the identified conversation identifiers.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the information corresponding to the identified conversation identifiers is formatted for presentation in a single line.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the conversation information corresponding to the identified conversation identifiers includes a list of sender identifiers corresponding to senders who have sent messages in the conversation.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein, at least one sender identifier in the list of sender identifiers is represented by an icon or unique character string distinct from corresponding names of the senders.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the predefined criteria includes a subject of the two or more messages and information other than the subject, a in-reply-to field, a references field and a message identifier field of the two or more messages.

20. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium, storing one or more programs for execution by one or more processors at a server system, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:

receiving a search query from a client;

searching a message repository to identify two or more messages relevant to the search query, wherein each identified message is associated with a respective conversation of a plurality of conversations, each conversation having a respective conversation identifier, wherein at least one respective conversation of the plurality of conversations comprises two or more messages sharing a common set of characteristics that meet predefined criteria;

identifying the respective conversation identifiers of the conversations associated with the identified messages; and

returning to the client for display as a search result to the search query, conversation information corresponding to the identified conversation identifiers.

21. The computer readable storage medium of claim 20, further comprising instructions for formatting for presentation the information corresponding to the identified conversation in a single line.

22. The computer readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the conversation information corresponding to the identified conversation identifiers includes a list of sender identifiers corresponding to senders who have sent messages in the conversation.

23. The computer readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein, at least one sender identifier in the list of sender identifiers is represented by an icon or unique character string distinct from corresponding names of the senders.

24. The computer readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the predefined criteria includes a subject of the two or more messages and information other than the subject, a in-reply-to field, a references field and a message identifier field of the two or more messages.