Systems and methods for providing suggested reminders

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016062605-A1
Application number	US-201414473590-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 29, 2014
Priority date	Aug 29, 2014
Publication date	Mar 3, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method for annotating a message executes at a computing device having one or more processors and memory. The memory stores one or more programs configured for execution by the one or more processors. A plurality of messages for a user is analyzed to determine whether a task reminder is derivable for any of the messages. In this way, task reminders are derived for at least a subset of the messages. A user interface for an electronic messaging application is provided. The interface includes a list of objects, one or more of which represents a collapsed state of a message in the message subset and comprises a summary, task reminder, and a dismissal affordance. Responsive dismissal affordance selection, the task reminder and the dismissal affordances are removed from the object.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of annotating a message, comprising:
at a computing device having one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs configured for execution by the one or more processors: analyzing a plurality of messages intended for a user to determine whether a task reminder is derivable from respective messages in the plurality of messages through processing of the respective messages, thereby deriving task reminders for at least a subset of the plurality of messages; providing a user interface for an electronic messaging application, wherein the user interface includes a list of objects, one or more respective object of the objects in the list of objects representing a collapsed state of a corresponding message in the subset of the plurality of messages and comprising: (i) a message summary for the corresponding message, (ii) the task reminder derived from the corresponding message, (iii) a dismissal affordance; and responsive to user selection of the dismissal affordance, removing the task reminder and the dismissal affordance from the respective object.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
responsive to user selection of a task reminder of an object in the list of objects:
replacing the collapsed state of the message corresponding to the object with an expanded state of the corresponding message by pushing any objects in the list of objects that are above the object representing the corresponding message up and pushing any objects in the list of objects that are below the object representing the corresponding message down in the user interface;
removing the dismissal affordance; and
facilitating user edits to the task reminder thereby creating a task.

3 . The method of claim 2 , the method further comprising:
providing a save affordance when the user edits the task reminder; and responsive to user selection of the save affordance:
replacing the expanded state of the corresponding message with the collapsed state of the corresponding message by pushing any objects in the list of objects that are above the object representing the message down and pushing any objects in the list of objects that are below the object representing the message up in the user interface, and
removing the save affordance.

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the corresponding message is part of a chain of messages and the expanded state of the corresponding message includes the chain of messages.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein an object in the list of objects represents a plurality of messages with a common topic.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each object in the list of objects is one of a task, a message, or a plurality of messages.

7 . The method of claim 1 wherein the task reminder includes one or more words that are taken from a source independent of the respective message and one or more words that are taken from the respective message.

8 . The method of claim 1 wherein the task reminder is exclusively taken from the respective message.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the respective object further comprises a confirmation affordance, wherein
the confirmation affordance and the dismissal affordance occupy different portions of the respective object; the method further comprising: responsive to user selection of the confirmation affordance, removing the task reminder and the dismissal affordance from the respective object.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the analyzing of a respective message in the plurality of messages comprises:
determining, for each respective predefined candidate task reminder in a plurality of predefined task reminders, whether there is a match between the predefined candidate task reminder and all or a portion of the respective message, wherein when a match between respective predefined candidate task reminder and all or a portion of the respective message is found, the respective predefined candidate task reminder is deemed to be the task reminder for the respective message.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the match between the predefined candidate task reminder and all or a portion of the respective message includes natural language processing of all or a portion of the respective message.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein a predefined candidate task reminder in the plurality of candidate task reminders is provided by the user.

13 . The method of claim 10 , wherein a predefined candidate task reminder in the plurality of candidate task reminders is provided by a source independent of the user.

14 . The method of claim 1 , the method further comprising:
determining a task assist based at least upon the task reminder, and wherein the collapsed state of the corresponding message further comprises the task assist.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the task assist is a phone number, URL, address, or map location associated with the task reminder, and wherein the task assist is obtained from a source distinct from the plurality of messages.

16 . A computing device, comprising:
one or more processors; memory; and one or more programs stored in the memory configured for execution by the one or more processors, the one or more programs comprising instructions for: analyzing a plurality of messages intended for a user to determine whether a task reminder is derivable from respective messages in the plurality of messages through processing of the respective messages, thereby deriving task reminders for at least a subset of the plurality of messages; providing a user interface for an electronic messaging application, wherein the user interface includes a list of objects, one or more respective object of the objects in the list of objects representing a collapsed state of a corresponding message in the subset of the plurality of messages and comprising: (i) a message summary for the corresponding message, (ii) the task reminder derived from the corresponding message, (iii) a dismissal affordance; ; and responsive to user selection of the dismissal affordance, removing the task reminder and the dismissal affordance from the respective object.

17 . The computing device of claim 15 , wherein the one or more programs further comprise instructions for:
responsive to user selection of a task reminder of an object in the list of objects:
replacing the collapsed state of the message corresponding to the object with an expanded state of the corresponding message by pushing any objects in the list of objects that are above the object representing the corresponding message up and pushing any objects in the list of objects that are below the object representing the corresponding message down in the user interface;
removing the dismissal affordance; and
allowing the user to edit the task reminder thereby creating a task.

18 . The computing device of claim 16 , wherein the one or more programs further comprise instructions for providing a save affordance when the user edits the task reminder, wherein
responsive to user selection of the save affordance,
replacing the expanded state of the corresponding message with the collapsed state of the corresponding message by pushing any objects in the list of objects that are above the object representing the message down and pushing any objects in the list of objects that are below the object representing the message up in the user interface; and
removing the save affordance.

19 . The computing device of claim 16 , wherein the corresponding message is part

Assignees

• Google Inc

Inventors

• Agarwal Shalini
• Subramanya Amarnag
• Pellicer Edgar Gonzalez

Classifications

• G06Q10/107 Primary

  Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing] · CPC title

• G06F40/169

  Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes · CPC title

• G06F3/0482

  Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus · CPC title

• G06F3/04847

  Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials · CPC title

• G06F3/04842 Primary

  Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements (G06F3/0482 takes precedence) · CPC title