Analyzing email threads

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016283071-A1
Application number	US-201514671468-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 27, 2015
Priority date	Mar 27, 2015
Publication date	Sep 29, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

An emotion function chain may be generated from an email thread and displayed to a user in one or more windows on a computer display of a computer system. An email content analyzer may extract emotion indicators from the body of an email within the email thread. Using the emotion indicators, an attitude factor for an email may be determined. The attitude factors determined from each email within the email thread may be pictorially depicted in the emotion function chain. In response to a user interaction with a pictorial depiction of an attitude factor within the emotion function chain, a second window may generated to display the body of the email used to calculate the attitude factor interacted with.

First claim

1 .- 9 . (canceled)

10 . A computer program product for displaying an emotion function chain from an email thread, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, wherein the computer readable storage medium is not a transitory signal per se, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to perform a method comprising:
receiving, at an email content analyzer on an email application hosted by a computer system, an email thread comprising at least a first email and a second email; extracting, in response to receiving the email thread, a first set of emotion indicators from a body of the first email and a second set of emotion indicators from a body of the second email; determining, based upon the first set and the second set of emotion indicators, a first attitude factor for the first email and a second attitude factor for the second email; displaying in a first window on a computer display of the computer system, based upon the first attitude factor and the second attitude factor, an emotion function chain including a pictorial depiction of the attitude factor for the first email and a pictorial depiction of the attitude factor for the second email; and displaying, in a second window on the computer display, the body of the first email in response to a user interaction with the pictorial depiction of the attitude factor for the first email.

11 . The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein the first set of emotion indicators from the first email are one or more words from the body of the first email and the second set of emotion indicators from the second email are one or more words from the body of the second email.

12 . The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein displaying the body of the first email includes visually differentiating the first set of emotion indicators identified in the first email from the body of the first email.

13 . The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein the receiving the email thread includes receiving the first email and the second email based on a sender class.

14 . The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein a first sender of the first email and a second sender of the second email are grouped into a category, wherein the category is based upon a common attribute of the first sender and the second sender.

15 . The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein determining the attitude factor includes:
receiving weight values for each emotion indicator using an emotion indicator dictionary; calculating, using the emotion indicators and the weight values, a probability of an emotion value of the first email and a probability of an emotion value of the second email; and determining, based upon the probability of the emotion value of the first email and the second email, the attitude factor for the first email and the attitude factor for the second email.

16 . A computer system for displaying an emotion function chain from an email thread, the computer system comprising:
a memory; and a processor in communication with the memory, wherein the processor is configured to perform a method, the method comprising: receiving, at an email content analyzer on an email application hosted by the computer system, an email thread comprising at least a first email and a second email; extracting, in response to receiving the email thread, a first set of emotion indicators from a body of the first email and a second set of emotion indicators from a body of the second email; determining, based upon the first set and the second set of emotion indicators, a first attitude factor for the first email and a second attitude factor for the second email; displaying in a first window on a computer display of the computer system, based upon the first attitude factor and the second attitude factor, an emotion function chain including a pictorial depiction of the attitude factor for the first email and a pictorial depiction of the attitude factor for the second email; and displaying, in a second window on the computer display, the body of the first email in response to a user interaction with the pictorial depiction of the attitude factor for the first email.

17 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the first set of emotion indicators from the first email are one or more words from the body of the first email and the second set of emotion indicators from the second email are one or more words from the body of the second email.

18 . The system of claim 16 , wherein displaying the body of the first email includes visually differentiating the first set of emotion indicators identified in the first email from the body of the first email.

19 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the second email is a reply to the first email, the first email and the second email being nonconsecutive in the email thread.

20 . The system of claim 16 , wherein determining the attitude factor includes:
receiving weight values for each emotion indicator using an emotion indicator dictionary; calculating, using the emotion indicators and the weight values, a probability of an emotion value of the first email and a probability of an emotion value of the second email; and determining, based upon the probability of the emotion value of the first email and the second email, the attitude factor for the first email and the attitude factor for the second email.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Bai Song
• Chi Ming Qun
• Huang Hui
• Liu Hui
• Shi xiang xing
• Yi Ang

Classifications

• G06F3/0484 Primary

  for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range · CPC title

• H04L51/22

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L51/216 Primary

  Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads · CPC title

• H04L51/42 Primary

  Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes · CPC title