SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ANALYZING COMMUNICATIONS

• US 20140324854A1
• Filed: 07/09/2014
• Published: 10/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• 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
• Granted Patent: US 9,813,370 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/732
• 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, using at least one processor, a plurality of communications associated with a user;

identifying a plurality of contacts based on the accessed plurality of communications; and

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

2. 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.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising assigning a score to each of the plurality of contacts based on the analysis of the plurality of communications, and wherein ranking the plurality of contacts comprises ranking the plurality of contacts in accordance with the scores assigned to the plurality of contacts.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the scores assigned to the plurality of contacts are based on a plurality of factors associated with the plurality of communications.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the plurality of factors comprise at least one of a frequency of communications between the user and the contact, a reciprocity of communications between the user and the contact, a recency of communications between the user and the contact, a duration of communications between the user and the contact, a rapidity of responses between the user and the contact, or a formality of communications between the user and the contact.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the plurality of factors comprise at least one of a number of reply messages from the user to the contact, a number of messages from the user to the contact, a number of reply messages from the contact to the user, a number of messages from the contact to the user, or a number of messages that co-mention the user and the contact.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising weighting each of the plurality of factors using a corresponding weighted constant.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising applying a larger weighted constant to the number of reply messages from the user to the contact, than to other factors of the plurality of factors.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising applying a smaller weighted constant to the number of messages that co-mention the user and the contact, than to other factors of the plurality of factors.

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

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the listing comprises, for each of the ranked plurality of contacts, at least one of a name of the contact, an address for the contact, a date of the oldest message associated with the contact, a date of the newest message associated with the contact, a score for the contact, or an override option for the contact.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising providing, for each of the plurality of contacts, a selectable option to add the contact to or remove the contact from a contact network for the user.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

assigning a score to each of the plurality of communications; and

adjusting the score based on one or more prioritization factors.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prompting the user to identify the plurality of communications; and

retrieving the plurality of communications based on user input received from the user in response to the prompt.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising inferring, based on the analysis of the plurality of communications, one or more relationships between the user and one or more contacts of the plurality of contacts.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising inferring, based on the analysis of the plurality of communications, a relationship between two or more of the plurality of contacts.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising periodically updating the ranking of the plurality contacts based on additional communications associated with the user.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein periodically updating the ranking of the plurality of contacts comprises at least one of modifying the ranking of two contacts relative to each other or adding a contact to the ranked plurality of contacts.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying one or more additional communications;

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.

20. A system comprising:

a computing device including a processor; and

software instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to;

access a plurality of communications associated with a user;

identify a plurality of contacts based on the accessed plurality of communications; and

rank, based on an analysis of the plurality of communications, the plurality of contacts relative to one another.