System and method for analyzing communications

• US 9,813,370 B2
• Filed: 07/09/2014
• Issued: 11/07/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• 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
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Jimmy H
• Application Number:
  US14/327,164
• Publication Number:
  US 20140324854A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,217 Days
• 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 dialogs 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, wherein the plurality of communications comprises multiple communication types;

identifying a plurality of contacts based on the plurality of communications, wherein each communication of the plurality of communications is associated with one or more contacts of the plurality of contacts;

analyzing the plurality of communications based on a plurality of prioritized factors, wherein each factor of the plurality of prioritized factors is associated with a priority weight;

based on analyzing the plurality of communications based on the plurality of prioritized factors, determining a cumulative score for each contact of the plurality of contacts that represents an importance of a relationship between the user and each contact of the plurality of contacts; and

ranking the plurality of contacts relative to one another based on the importance of the relationship between the user and each of the plurality of contacts.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a higher cumulative score for a first contact from among the plurality of contacts represents a greater importance of the relationship between the user and the first contact, and a lower cumulative score for a second contact represents a lesser importance of the relationship between the user and the second contact.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the cumulative score for each contact of the plurality of contacts comprises determining a score for each factor of the plurality of prioritized factors and applying a weighted constant to each score for each factor in accordance with the associated priority weight for each factor.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein one factor of the plurality of prioritized factors is prioritized higher than another factor of the plurality of prioritized factors.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the plurality of prioritized factors comprises 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 1, wherein the plurality of prioritized factors comprises 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 1, wherein the multiple communication types comprises two or more of email messages, instant messages, voicemail messages, or telephone logs.

8. The method of claim 6, 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 6, 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:

accessing one or more additional communications; and

adjusting the cumulative score for at least one contact of the plurality of contacts based on an analysis of the one or more additional communications.

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, wherein the importance of each relationship between the user and each contact of the plurality of contacts is further based on a type of relationship between the user and each contact of the plurality of contacts.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising inferring, based on analyzing 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:

at least one processor; and

at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions thereon that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to;

access a plurality of communications associated with a user, wherein the plurality of communications comprises multiple communication types;

identify a plurality of contacts based on the plurality of communications, wherein each communication of the plurality of communications is associated with one or more contacts of the plurality of contacts;

analyze the plurality of communications based on a plurality of prioritized factors, wherein each factor of the plurality of prioritized factors is associated with a priority weight;

based on analyzing the plurality of communications based on the plurality of prioritized factors, determine a cumulative score for each contact of the plurality of contacts that represents an importance of a relationship between the user and each contact of the plurality of contacts; and

rank the plurality of contacts relative to one another based on the importance of the relationship between the user and each of the plurality of contacts.