Generating contact suggestions

• US 9,311,415 B2
• Filed: 04/18/2014
• Issued: 04/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/05/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Roth, Maayan, Merom, Ron, Ben-David, Assaf, Leichtberg, Ari J., Leiser, Natan, Horn, Ilan M., Flysher, Guy, Matias, Yossi, Deutscher, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoang, Son T
• Application Number:
  US14/256,762
• Publication Number:
  US 20140222815A1
• Time in Patent Office: 725 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90324 using system suggestions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes

Abstract

In some implementations, a method includes, at a computing device, identifying a first recipient of a draft electronic communication prepared by a user. A is score is obtained for a second recipient using respective messages in a plurality of historical messages in a user account associated with the user. The second recipient is a sender or receiver of the respective messages. There is suggested to a user, second recipient for the draft electronic communication in accordance with a condition that both the first recipient and the second recipient shared a single electronic communication and the score for the second recipient satisfies a predefined score threshold. The single electronic communication was communicated at a time prior to identifying the first recipient.

Claims

1. A method of generating a contact suggestion, comprising:

at a computing device having one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs to be executed by the one or more processors to perform the method, wherein the method comprises;

identifying a first recipient of a draft electronic communication prepared by a user;

obtaining a score for a second recipient based at least in part on a number of respective messages in a plurality of historical messages in a user account associated with the user, wherein

the second recipient is a sender or receiver of the respective messages, and

the obtaining giving more score weight to individual messages in the respective messages originating from the first recipient and received by the second recipient than individual messages in the respective messages from the second recipient to the first recipient; and

suggesting, to the user, the second recipient for the draft electronic communication in accordance with

a first condition that both the first recipient and the second recipient shared at least one single message in the respective messages; and

a second condition that the obtained score for the second recipient satisfies a predefined score threshold, wherein the at least one single message was communicated at a time prior to identifying the first recipient.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

suggesting, to the user, a removal of a third recipient of the draft electronic communication in accordance with a determination that removal of the third recipient improves the score of the second recipient.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

suggesting, to the user, a replacement of the first recipient with the second recipient in accordance with the condition that both the first recipient and the second recipient are listed as autocomplete suggestions at a time when the user entered the first recipient and wherein the score for the second recipient is greater than a score for the first recipient obtained using the plurality of historical messages.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the draft electronic communication is one of:

an email message, a chat message, a voicemail message, a calendar invitation, a document sharing invitation, a document sharing communication, a video communication, a social network communication.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the second recipient is suggested further in accordance with a direction of a single message of the at least one single message.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the second recipient is suggested further in accordance with a date of transmission of a single message of the at least one single message, wherein a contribution of the single message to the score is weighted by an interaction weight that decays over time.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the second recipient is suggested further in accordance with a frequency of communication between the first recipient and the second recipient.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the second recipient is suggested further in accordance with an importance level associated with the second recipient.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

suggesting a third recipient concurrently with the second recipient.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein a single message of the at least one single message is a different type of communication from the draft electronic communication.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing (i) information identifying the second recipient to be displayed concurrently with (ii) a portion of the draft electronic communication.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first recipient is specified by the user.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein second recipient is suggested to the user automatically without human intervention.

14. A computing device for generating a contact suggestion, comprising:

one or more processors and memory, wherein at least one of the one or more processors and the memory is implemented at least partially by hardware;

one or more programs stored in the memory, the one or more programs comprising instructions, executed by the one or more processors, for;

identifying a first recipient of a draft electronic communication prepared by a user;

obtaining a score for a second recipient based at least in part on a number of respective messages in a plurality of historical messages in a user account associated with the user, wherein

the second recipient is a sender or receiver of the respective messages, and

the obtaining giving more score weight to individual messages in the respective messages originating from the first recipient and received by the second recipient than individual messages in the respective messages from the second recipient to the first recipient; and

suggesting, to the user, the second recipient for the draft electronic communication in accordance with

a first condition that both the first recipient and the second recipient shared at least one single message in the respective messages; and

a second condition that the obtained score for the second recipient satisfies a predefined score threshold, wherein the at least one single message was communicated at a time prior to identifying the first recipient.

15. The computing device of claim 14, wherein the second recipient is suggested further in accordance with a direction of a single message of the at least one single message.

16. The computing device of claim 14, wherein the second recipient is suggested further in accordance with a date of transmission of a single message of the at least one single message, wherein a contribution of the single message to the score is weighted by an interaction weight that decays over time.

17. The computing device of claim 14, wherein a single message of the at least one single message is a different type of communication from the draft electronic communication.

18. The computing device of claim 14, wherein the one or more programs further comprise instructions for:

causing (i) information identifying the second recipient to be displayed concurrently with (ii) a portion of the draft electronic communication.

19. The computing device of claim 14, wherein the first recipient is specified by the user.

20. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured for execution by one or more processors of a computing device, the one or more programs comprising instructions to be executed by the one or more processors so as to:

identify a first recipient of a draft electronic communication prepared by a user;

obtain a score for a second recipient based at least in part on a number of respective messages in a plurality of historical messages in a user account associated with the user, wherein

the second recipient is a sender or receiver of the respective messages, and

the instructions to obtain giving more score weight to individual messages in the respective messages originating from the first recipient and received by the second recipient than individual messages in the respective messages from the second recipient to the first recipient; and

suggest, to the user, the second recipient for the draft electronic communication in accordance with

a first condition that both the first recipient and the second recipient shared at least one single message in the respective messages; and

a second condition that the obtained score for the second recipient satisfies a predefined score threshold, wherein the at least one single message was communicated at a time prior to identifying the first recipient.