Systems and methods for prioritizing messages on a mobile device

• US 9,538,342 B2
• Filed: 01/29/2015
• Issued: 01/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Mobile Communications Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Ramanujam, Srivatsan, O'Rorke, Paul Vincent
• Primary Examiner(s): WASHINGTON, ERIKA ALISE
• Application Number:
  US14/608,719
• Publication Number:
  US 20150141066A1
• Time in Patent Office: 705 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/226 Delivery according to priorities
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

A method, performed by a mobile communication device, may include receiving a message; extracting one or more features associated with the message; and determining a priority level for the message, based on the extracted one or more features, using a model that relates the extracted one or more features to an expected response time for the message. The method may further include determining a context associated with the user of the mobile communication device; modifying the priority level based on the determined context; and providing the message to a list of messages based on the modified priority level. Additionally, the user may be provided with a notification tone associated with the modified priority level.

Claims

1. A method, performed by a computing device, comprising:

determining, by the computing device, a mean response time for messages received by the computing device;

associating, by the computing device, a first priority level with response times below a range associated with the mean response time;

associating, by the computing device, a second priority level with response times within the range;

associating, by the computing device, a third priority level with response times above the range;

associating, by the computing device, a message feature with at least one of the first, second, or third priority levels;

receiving, by the computing device, a message;

determining, by the computing device, that the message includes the message feature; and

assigning, by the computing device, one of the first, second, or third priority levels to the message, based on determining that the message includes the message feature,

wherein the range corresponds to a range of times within a standard deviation of the mean response time.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the message feature may include one or more of:

information about a contact associated with the message, or

information about a content included in the message.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the information about the content included in the message includes one or more of:

information identifying parts of speech included in the message,

information identifying named entities included in the message,

information identifying particular characters included in the message, or

information identifying a header associated with the message.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating information relating to one or more user actions with the determined message feature; and

wherein assigning one of the first, second, or third priority levels to the message is further based on the associated information relating to one or more user actions.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the information relating to the one or more user actions includes one or more of:

information identifying how long the user viewed a message associated with the determined message feature,

information identifying whether the user deleted the message associated with the determined message feature,

information identifying whether the user labeled the message associated with the determined message feature, or

information identifying whether the user moved the message associated with the determined message feature.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining information relating to user context associated with the received message; and

wherein assigning the one of the first, second, or third priority levels to the message is further based on the determined information relating to the user context.

7. The method of claim 6, the information relating to the user context includes one or more of:

information identifying whether the computing device is in a work location,

information identifying whether the computing device is in a home location,

information identifying whether the computing device is in continuous motion, or

information identifying whether the computing device is associated with stop-and-go motion.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining a particular notification for the received message based on the assigned priority level;

determining whether to provide the particular notification based on the information relating to the user context; and

providing the particular notification via an output device of the computing device, in response to determining that the particular notification is to be provided.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the received message include one or more of a short message format message, an instant message, a telephone message, an email message, or a social media feed message.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the determined mean response time is different for different types of messages.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting a time profile for the message based on the message feature; and

changing the priority level over time based on the selected time profile.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the received message into a message list based on the assigned priority level; and

displaying messages in the message list as a plurality of overlapping cards based on priority levels assigned to the messages in the message list.

13. A mobile communication device comprising:

logic configured to;

determine a mean response time for messages received by the communication device;

associate a first priority level with response times below a range associated with the mean response time;

associate a second priority level with response times within the range;

associate a third priority level with response times above the range;

associate a message feature with at least one of the first, second, or third priority levels;

receive a message;

determine that the message includes the message feature; and

assign one of the first, second, or third priority levels to the message, based on determining that the message includes the message feature,

wherein the range corresponds to a range of times within a standard deviation of the mean response time.

14. The mobile communication device of claim 13, wherein the logic is further configured to:

select a time profile for the message based on the message feature; and

change the priority level over time based on the selected time profile.

15. The mobile communication device of claim 13, wherein the logic is further configured to:

store the received message into a message list based on the assigned priority level; and

display messages in the message list as a plurality of overlapping cards based on priority levels assigned to the messages in the message list.

16. A method, performed by a mobile communication device, comprising:

generating, by the mobile communication device, a priority function that relates a particular message response time to a particular priority level;

associating, by the mobile communication device, a message feature with a particular priority level based on response times for messages associated with the message feature;

receiving, by the mobile communication device, a message;

determining, by the mobile communication device, that the message includes the message feature;

determining information relating to user context associated with the received message; and

assigning, by the mobile communication device, the particular priority level to the message, based on determining that the message includes the message feature and based on the determined information relating to the user context,

wherein the information relating to the user context includes one or more of;

information identifying whether the computing device is in a work location,

information identifying whether the computing device is in a home location,

information identifying whether the computing device is in continuous motion, or

information identifying whether the computing device is associated with stop-and-go motion.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the priority function assigns a first priority level to messages with response times below a range associated with a mean response time, a second priority level to messages with response times within the range, and a third priority level to messages with response times above the range.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the priority function includes a series of priority levels that decrease with increasing response times.