Automatically augmenting message exchange threads based on tone of message

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11762865-B2
Application number	US-202117497264-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 8, 2021
Priority date	May 17, 2016
Publication date	Sep 19, 2023
Grant date	Sep 19, 2023

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, systems, and computer-readable media are provided for automatically augmenting message exchange threads based on a detected tone of messages exchanged between participants. In various implementations, a message contributed to a message exchange thread involving one or more message exchange clients by a participant may be determined. In various implementations, an idle chatter score associated with the message may be calculated. In various implementations, either a conversational response to the message or content responsive to a search query generated based on the message may be selectively incorporated into the message exchange thread based at least in part on the idle chatter score. In some implementations, a search query suitability score associated with the message may also be calculated.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method implemented using one or more processors, comprising:
determining, from a message exchange thread involving one or more message exchange clients, a message contributed to the message exchange thread by a participant, wherein the message is directed by the participant to a personal assistant module participating in the message exchange thread as part of a conversation between the participant and the personal assistant module;
analyzing the message to calculate an idle chatter score associated with the message, wherein the idle chatter score represents a similarity between the message and previous conversational content known to be idle chatter;
obtaining content responsive to a search query generated based on the message;
calculating a search query suitability score associated with the message, wherein the search query suitability score is calculated based on the content responsive to the search query;
comparing the idle chatter score with the search query suitability score;
based on the comparing, selecting, as new content to be incorporated into the message exchange thread by the personal assistant module as a response to the message, either a conversational response to the message or at least some of the content responsive to the search query; and
incorporating, as a message from the personal assistant module, the new content into the message exchange thread.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the incorporating comprises inserting the response into a transcript of the message exchange thread that is displayed in a graphical user interface of a message exchange client operating on a given client computing device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein calculating the idle chatter score comprises providing the message as input to a machine learning model, wherein the machine learning model provides, as output, the idle chatter score.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the machine learning model is trained on at least one positive training example, wherein the at least one positive training example includes an instance in which one or more participants of a prior message exchange thread responded positively to incorporation of a conversational response to a prior message of the prior message exchange thread or incorporation of content responsive to a prior search query generated based on the prior message.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the search query suitability score is based at least in part on presence of one or more surfaced search results that are responsive to the search query.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the search query suitability score is further calculated based at least in part on one or more known entities or entity types mentioned in the message.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the new content comprises a graphical element that is operable by a second participant to incorporate an automatically-generated conversational response to the message.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the search query suitability score is calculated based on one or more of:
absence or presence of navigational search results in the content responsive to the search query;
absence or presence of paid search results in the content responsive to the search query; or
absence or presence of a direct answer to the message in the content responsive to the search query.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the search query suitability score is calculated based on a measure of popularity of at least some of the content responsive to the search query.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the search query suitability score is calculated based on a measure of pertinence of the content responsive to the search query to a detected tone of the message exchange thread.

11. A system comprising one or more processors and memory storing instructions that, in response to execution of the instructions, cause the one or more processors to:
determine, from a message exchange thread involving one or more message exchange clients, a message contributed to the message exchange thread by a participant, wherein the message is directed by the participant to a personal assistant module participating in the message exchange thread as part of a conversation between the participant and the personal assistant module;
analyze the message to calculate an idle chatter score associated with the message, wherein the idle chatter score represents a similarity between the message and previous conversational content known to be idle chatter;
obtain content responsive to a search query generated based on the message;
calculate a search query suitability score associated with the message, wherein the search query suitability score is calculated based on the content responsive to the search query;
compare the idle chatter score with the search query suitability score;
based on the comparison of the idle chatter score with the search query suitability score, select, as new content to be incorporated into the message exchange thread by the personal assistant module as a response to the message, either a conversational response to the message or at least some of the content responsive to the search query; and
incorporate, as a message from the personal assistant module, the new content into the message exchange thread.

12. The system of claim 11 , further comprising instructions to insert the response into a transcript of the message exchange thread that is displayed in a graphical user interface of a message exchange client operating on a given client computing device.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the idle chatter score is calculated based on being applied as input across a machine learning model, wherein the machine learning model generates, as output, the idle chatter score.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the machine learning model is trained on at least one positive training example, wherein the at least one positive training example includes an instance in which one or more participants of a prior message exchange thread responded positively to incorporation of a conversational response to a prior message of the prior message exchange thread or incorporation of content responsive to a prior search query generated based on the prior message.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the search query suitability score is based at least in part on presence of one or more surfaced search results that are responsive to the search query.

16. The system of claim 11 , wherein the search query suitability score is further calculated based at least in part on one or more known entities or entity types mentioned in the message.

17. The system of claim 11 , wherein the new content comprises a graphical element that is operable by a second participant to incorporate an automatically-generated conversational response to the message.

18. The system of claim 11 , wherein the search query suitability score is calculated based on one or more of:
absence or presence of navigational search results in the content responsive to the search query;
absence or presence of paid search results in the content responsive to the search query; or
absence or presence of a direct answer to the message in the content responsive to the search query.

19. The system of claim 11 , wherein the search query suitability score is calculated based on a measure of popularity of at least some of the content responsive to the search query.

20. At least one non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, in response to execution of

Assignees

• Google Llc

Inventors

• Kogan David
• Yuan Wangqing
• Chen Wei
• Horling Bryan
• Itz Michael

Classifications

• G06F16/35 Primary

  Clustering; Classification · CPC title

• H04W4/14 Primary

  Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD] · CPC title

• G06F40/30 Primary

  Semantic analysis · CPC title

• G06F16/3329 Primary

  Natural language query formulation · CPC title

• G06F16/24578 Primary

  using ranking · CPC title