TASK COMPLETION IN EMAIL USING THIRD PARTY APP

• US 20160219003A1
• Filed: 03/31/2016
• Published: 07/28/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Kumar, Amit, Sadhukha, Shajib
• Granted Patent: US 10,200,318 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/046 Interoperability with other network applications or services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/18 Commands or executable codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers

Abstract

Among other things, one or more techniques and/or systems for providing a third party app through an email user interface are provided. That is, an email user interface may provide access to an email comprising email content (e.g., a message regarding meeting for dinner at the Emerald Tavern). The email content may be analyzed to identify an entity referenced by the email content (e.g., an Emerald Tavern entity). A user intent to accomplish a task may be determined based upon the entity. An action that may be performed to accomplish the task, and a third party app capable of performing the action may be presented through the email user interface (e.g., a restaurant reservation app capable of a reservation task). Responsive to selection of the third party app, the third party app may be executed within the email user interface without transitioning a user away from the immersive email experience.

Claims

1. A method for providing a third party app through an email user interface, comprising:

analyzing email content, associated with an email user interface, to identify an entity referenced by the email content;

determining a user intent to accomplish a task based upon the entity;

presenting, through the email user interface, an action based upon the user intent;

presenting, through the email user interface, a third party app capable of performing the action to accomplish the task; and

responsive to a selection of the third party app, executing the third party app within the email user interface, the third party app executed according to a user intent execution context corresponding to at least one of the entity or the action.

2. The method of claim 1, the presenting an action comprising:

selecting the third party app for presentation based upon supplemental content derived from at least one of information associated with a user device hosting the email user interface, a user profile, or a user preference.

3. The method of claim 1, the entity comprising at least one of a person entity, a business entity, a consumer product entity, a time entity, a location entity, or an object entity.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising:

determining a second user intent to accomplish a second task based upon the entity;

presenting, through the email user interface, a second action based upon the second user intent; and

presenting, through the email user interface, an additional third party app capable of performing the second action to accomplish the second task.

5. The method of claim 1, the executing the third party app comprising:

identifying a parameter used to execute the action;

assigning a value to the parameter based upon the email content;

including the parameter within the user intent execution context; and

passing the user intent execution context to the third party app for execution.

6. The method of claim 1, the task not comprising an email related task provided by the email user interface, and the third party app comprising non-email related functionality.

7. The method of claim 1, the third party app comprising functionality associated with at least one of a consumer good purchase task, a reservation task, an obtain directions task, an access digital content task, a social network task, or an obtain additional information related to the entity task.

8. The method of claim 1, the executing the third party app comprising:

displaying the third party app within a first portion of the email user interface; and

displaying email content within a second portion of the email user interface.

9. The method of claim 1, the executing the third party app comprising:

identifying a parameter used to execute the action;

assigning a value to the parameter based upon supplemental content derived from at least one of information associated with a user device hosting the email user interface, a user profile, or a user preference;

including the parameter within the user intent execution context; and

passing the user intent execution context to the third party app for execution.

10. The method of claim 1, comprising:

determining that the task corresponds to at least one of a threshold amount of information or an importance threshold; and

providing a link to a third party app native version of the third party app that is capable of executing outside of the email user interface.

11. The method of claim 10, comprising:

responsive to a selection of the link, transitioning from executing the third party app within the email user interface to executing the third party app native version outside of the email user interface.

12. The method of claim 11, the third party app native version comprising at least one of a desktop application, a website, a web service, a mobile app, or a tablet app.

13. The method of claim 11, comprising:

passing the user intent execution context to the third party app native version for execution.

14. The method of claim 13, the user intent execution context comprising a parameter having a value derived from at least one of the email content or supplemental content.

15. A system for providing a third party app through an email user interface, comprising:

a task determination component configured to;

analyze email content, associated with an email user interface, to identify an entity referenced by the email content; and

determine a user intent to accomplish a task based upon the entity; and

an action broker component configured to;

present, through the email user interface, an action based upon the user intent;

present, through the email user interface, a third party app capable of performing the action to accomplish the task; and

responsive to a selection of the third party app, execute the third party app within the email user interface, the third party app executed according to a user intent execution context corresponding to at least one of the entity or the action.

16. The system of claim 15, the action broker component configured to:

identify a parameter used to execute the action;

assign a value to the parameter based upon the email content;

include the parameter within the user intent execution context; and

pass the user intent execution context to the third party app for execution.

17. The system of claim 15, the action broker component configured to:

determine that the task corresponds to at least one of a threshold amount of information or an importance threshold; and

provide a link to a third party app native version of the third party app that is capable of executing outside of the email user interface.

18. The system of claim 17, the action broker component configured to:

responsive to a selection of the link, transition from executing the third party app within the email user interface to executing the third party app native version outside of the email user interface; and

passing the user intent execution context to the third party app native version for execution, the user intent execution context comprising a parameter having a value derived from at least one of the email content or supplemental content.

19. A computer readable medium comprising instructions which when executed at least in part via a processing unit perform a method for providing a third party app through an email user interface, comprising:

analyzing email content, associated with an email user interface, to identify an entity referenced by the email content;

determining a user intent to accomplish a task based upon the entity;

presenting, through the email user interface, an action based upon the user intent;

presenting, through the email user interface, a third party app capable of performing the action to accomplish the task; and

responsive to a selection of the third party app, executing the third party app within the email user interface, the third party app executed according to a user intent execution context corresponding to at least one of the entity or the action.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 19, the email content comprising at least one of calendar content or task content.