Message value indicator

• US 8,713,122 B2
• Filed: 11/10/2005
• Issued: 04/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Snap, Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Barnes, Thomas H., Walton, Carol S., Canelones, Dawn M.
• Primary Examiner(s): LIN, KENNY S
• Application Number:
  US11/272,515
• Publication Number:
  US 20070106738A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,092 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 709/207
• US Class Current: 709/207
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/08 Annexed information, e.g. attachments
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/23 Reliability checks, e.g. acknowledgments or fault reporting

Abstract

The Email Value Indicator comprises a computer implemented system and method for indicating the value of an email message. The system and method comprise collecting message values assigned to the email message; calculating a composite message value based on the collected message values; and inserting the composite message value into the email message. In additional embodiments, the system and method further comprises the steps of displaying the composite message value in an email reader, sorting the email message based on the composite message value, and calculating the composite message value based on selected message values.

Claims

1. A method for indicating a relevance of an email, the method comprising the steps of:

a computer receiving from a first recipient of the email a first report of a measure of relevance of the email to the first recipient as assigned by the first recipient;

the computer receiving from a second recipient of the email a second report of a measure of relevance of the email to the second recipient as assigned by the second recipient;

the computer calculating an average measure of relevance value of the email by averaging the first and second measures of relevance of the email assigned by the first and second recipients of the email, respectively, wherein the average measure of relevance value indicates an average degree of relevance of the email to the first recipient and to the second recipient; and

the computer inserting an icon into a subject line of the email to represent the average measure of relevance value and directing display of the email in an email reader of a third recipient of the email

in an order position in the email reader of the third recipient relative to other emails in the email reader of the third recipient, wherein the order position is based in part on the average measure of relevance value of the email for which the average measure of relevance value was calculated.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

the computer receiving and storing the first measure of relevance and the second measure of relevance, the first measure of relevance and the second measure of relevance selected by the first recipient and the second recipient respectively from a predefined group of numbers, each of the numbers representing one of;

a different one of a plurality of different degrees of relevance of the email to a recipient, whether the email is SPAM, whether the email might contain a virus, and whether the recipient wants to be removed from an email list.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the steps of:

the computer subsequently receiving a plurality of additional measures of relevance from a respective plurality of additional recipients of the email; and

the computer calculating a new average measure of relevance value based on the first measure of relevance, the second measure of relevance, and the plurality of additional measures of relevance.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising the steps of:

the computer performing a statistical analysis of the first measure of relevance, the second measure of relevance, and the plurality of additional measures of relevance; and

the computer sending a calculation of the statistical analysis to a sender of the email.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

the computer receiving a definition of a group of people who are empowered to evaluate relevance of emails;

the computer subsequently receiving third and fourth measures of relevance from third and fourth recipients of the email, the first, second and third recipients being members of the group, the fourth recipient not being a member of the group, and in response, the computer calculating a new average measure of relevance value based on the first, second and third measures of relevance but not the fourth measure of relevance, the new average measure of relevance value indicating an average degree of relevance of the email.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the computer receiving, by the third recipient, a second email that has a second average measure of relevance value;

the computer receiving, by the third recipient, a third email that has a third average measure of relevance value that is greater than the second average measure of relevance value indicating that the third email is more relevant than the second email; and

the computer positioning the third email ahead of the second email.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the computer, in response to inserting the average measure of relevance value into the email, inserting characters into the subject line of the email on the email reader indicating the email has been rated.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the computer, for each email recipient of the email, receiving a corresponding measure of relevance, each corresponding measure of relevance being a number selected by a recipient of the email, the number corresponding to a factor of relevance, wherein the factor of relevance is included in the calculation of the average measure of relevance value of the email.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

the computer receiving, for each email recipient of the email, a corresponding average measure of relevance, each average measure of relevance calculated in response to receipt of the number selected by the recipient and a calculation of an average of all message relevance values received for an email up to and including a last email.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

the computer, responsive to receiving each updated average measure of relevance, ordering a list of emails, at least in part, in accordance with relative average measures of relevance of the emails.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

wherein, each recipient of the email receives an average measure of relevance value displayed in the subject line of the email in an email reader of the recipient.

12. A computer system for indicating a relevance of an email, the computer system comprising:

one or more processors, one or more computer-readable memories, one or more computer-readable storage devices, and program instructions stored on the one or more storage devices for execution by the one or more processors via the one or more memories, the program instructions comprising;

program instructions for receiving from a first recipient of the email a first report of a measure of relevance of the email to the first recipient as assigned by the first recipient;

program instructions for receiving from a second recipient of the email a second report of a measure of relevance of the email to the second recipient as assigned by the second recipient;

program instructions for calculating an average measure of relevance value of the email by averaging the first and second measures of relevance of the email assigned by the first and second recipients of the email, respectively, wherein the average measure of relevance value indicates an average degree of relevance of the email to the first recipient and to the second recipient; and

program instructions for inserting an icon into a subject line of the email to represent the average measure of relevance value and directing display of the email in an email reader of a third recipient of the email in an order position in the email reader of the third recipient relative to other emails in the email reader of the third recipient, wherein the order position is based in part on the average measure of relevance value of the email for which the average measure of relevance value was calculated.

13. The computer system of claim 12, further comprising:

program instructions for receiving and storing the first measure of relevance and the second measure of relevance, the first measure of relevance and the second measure of relevance selected by the first recipient and the second recipient respectively from a predefined group of numbers, each of the numbers representing one of;

a different one of a plurality of different degrees of relevance of the email to a recipient, whether the email is SPAM, whether the email might contain a virus, and whether the recipient wants to be removed from an email list.

14. The computer system of claim 13, further comprising:

program instructions for subsequently receiving a plurality of additional measure of relevance from a respective plurality of additional recipients of the email; and

program instructions for calculating a new average measure of relevance value based on the first measure of relevance, the second measure of relevance, and the plurality of additional measures of relevance.

15. The computer system of claim 14, further comprising:

program instructions for performing a statistical analysis of the first measure of relevance, the second measure of relevance, and the plurality of additional measures of relevance; and

program instructions for sending a calculation of the statistical analysis to a sender of the email.

16. The computer system of claim 12, further comprising:

program instructions for receiving a definition of a group of people who are empowered to evaluate relevance of emails;

program instructions for subsequently receiving third and fourth measures of relevance from third and fourth recipients of the email, the first, second and third recipients being members of the group, the fourth recipient not being a member of the group, and in response, the computer calculating a new average measure of relevance value based on the first, second and third measure of relevance but not the fourth measure of relevance, the new average measure of relevance value indicating an average degree of relevance of the email.

17. The computer system of claim 12, further comprising:

program instructions for receiving, by the third recipient, a second email that has a second average measure of relevance value;

program instructions for receiving, by the third recipient, a third email that has a third average measure of relevance value that is greater than the second average measure of relevance value indicating that the third email is more relevant than the second email; and

program instructions for positioning the third email ahead of the second email.

18. The computer system of claim 12, further comprising:

program instructions, in response to inserting the average measure of relevance value into the email, inserting characters into the subject line of the email on the email reader indicating the email has been rated and sending the email to an originator of the email.

19. A computer program product for indicating a relevance of an email, the computer program product comprising:

one or more computer-readable storage devices and program instructions stored on the one or more storage devices, the program instruction comprising;

program instructions for receiving from a first recipient of the email a first report of a measure of relevance of the email to the first recipient as assigned by the first recipient;

program instructions for receiving from a second recipient of the email a second report of a measure of relevance of the email to the second recipient as assigned by the second recipient;

program instructions for calculating an average measure of relevance value of the email by averaging the first and second measures of relevance of the email assigned by the first and second recipients of the email, respectively, wherein the average measure of relevance value indicates an average degree of relevance of the email to the first recipient and to the second recipient; and

program instructions for inserting an icon into a subject line of the email to represent the average measure of relevance value and directing display of the email in an email reader of a third recipient of the email in an order position in the email reader of the third recipient relative to other emails in the email reader of the third recipient, wherein the order position is based in part on the average measure of relevance value of the email for which the average measure of relevance value was calculated.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, further comprising:

program instructions for receiving and storing the first measure of relevance and the second measure of relevance, the first measure of relevance and the second measure of relevance selected by the first recipient and the second recipient respectively from a predefined group of numbers, each of the numbers representing one of;

a different one of a plurality of different degrees of relevance of the email to a recipient, whether the email is SPAM, whether the email might contain a virus, and whether the recipient wants to be removed from an email list.

21. The computer program product of claim 20, further comprising:

program instructions for receiving a plurality of additional measures of relevance from a respective plurality of additional recipients of the email; and

program instructions for calculating a new average measure of relevance value based on the first measure of relevance, the second measure of relevance, and the plurality of additional measure of relevance.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising:

program instructions for performing a statistical analysis of the first measure of relevance, the second measure of relevance, and the plurality of additional measure of relevance; and

program instructions for sending a calculation of the statistical analysis to a sender of the email.

23. The computer program product of claim 19, further comprising:

program instructions for receiving a definition of a group of people who are empowered to evaluate relevance of emails;

program instructions for subsequently receiving third and fourth measures of relevance from third and fourth recipients of the email, the first, second and third recipients being members of the group, the fourth recipient not being a member of the group and in response, to calculate a new average measure of relevance value based on the first, second and third measure of relevance but not the fourth measure of relevance, the new average measure of relevance value-indicating an average degree of relevance of the email.

24. The computer program product of claim 19 further comprising:

program instructions for receiving, by the third recipient, a second email that has a second average measure of relevance value;

program instructions for receiving, by the third recipient, a third email that has a third average measure of relevance value that is greater than the second average measure of relevance value indicating that the third email is more relevant than the second email; and

program instructions for positioning the third email ahead of the second email.

25. The computer program product of claim 19, further comprising:

program instructions for inserting, in response to inserting the average measure of relevance value into the email, characters into the subject line of the email on the email reader indicating the email has been rated and to send the email to an originator of the email.