Method and system for collecting and presenting historical communication data

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9275118-B2
Application number	US-18049508-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 25, 2008
Priority date	Jul 25, 2007
Publication date	Mar 1, 2016
Grant date	Mar 1, 2016

Abstract

Among other disclosures, a method may include collecting historical communication data and personal data relating to a portion of a plurality of communications, a sender of one or more of the communications or one or more recipients of the communications. The method may include depositing the collected data into a repository of historical communication data and personal data. The method may include presenting one or more items in the repository, in response to user behavior.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
collecting historical data related to a plurality of existing communications;
tracking, via a computing device, an interaction by a user with a communication from the plurality of existing communications that includes one or more of: opening the communication, viewing the communication, and receiving the communication; and
presenting, based on the user interaction with the communication, at least a portion of the historical data to the user via the computing device, wherein presenting the historical data includes simultaneously displaying: contact information for an entity associated with the communication with which the user interacts, a list of contacts associated with the entity, a list of prior communications between the user and the entity, and communication statistics, wherein displaying the communication statistics includes displaying a graph comprising a plurality of times when communications were received from the entity and a relative volume of communications received at each of the plurality of times, and wherein displaying of the list of contacts associated with the entity comprises ranking each contact in the list of contacts based on a volume of communications between the respective contact and the user and displaying the contacts in the list of contacts in order of their respective rank;
wherein displaying the list of prior communications between the user and the entity further includes:
grouping a first subset of the prior communications together into a first conversation thread;
grouping a second subset of the prior communications together into a second conversation thread;
analyzing the first conversation thread and the second conversation thread and assigning a first rank to the first conversation thread and a second rank to the second conversation thread, the first rank being higher than the second rank, wherein assigning the first and second ranks is based on determining, from the analysis of the first conversation thread and the second conversation thread, that the first conversation thread contains communications that are work-related and the second conversation thread contains communications that are social in nature; and
displaying the first conversation thread ahead of the second conversation thread in the list of prior communications based on the first rank and the second rank.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the user interaction with the communication further includes one or more of performing a search, selecting a person's name, selecting a communication summary, and selecting an attribute associated with the historical data.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the historical data is collected from one or more of: e-mail body text, e-mail meta data, e-mail header information, e-mail attachments, web search engines, people search engines, social networks, e-mail clients, instant messages, personal web pages, telephone directories, scanned business card data, text messages, picture sharing websites, video sharing websites, personal profile pages, telephone communications, customer relationship management systems, airline flight data, on-line retailer data, news feeds, and stock quotes.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein collecting the historical data includes directly requesting information from one or more of a sender of a communication from the plurality of communications and a recipient of one or more of the plurality of communications.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the historical data is displayed within one or more of: an e-mail client, a web browser, an instant message window, a panel, and a pop-up window.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the historical data is presented using one or more display methods selected from the group comprising highlighting, underlining, adding hyper links, adding text, adding images, adding video, and adding attachments.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the historical data includes one or more of: contact information, communication summaries, conversation threads, attachments to communications, related contacts, travel information, weather information, and information related to on-line retail purchases.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the communication statistics further include one or more of: lengths of communications, subject matter of communications, titles of communications, participants in communications, sources of communications, response times of communications, and types of communications.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
sharing at least a portion of the historical data among a network of participants.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , wherein different amounts of the historical data are shared with each participant based on preference settings.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, from the user via the computing device, a selection from the presented historical data; and
automatically generating a communication in response to the user selection.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein presenting the historical data further includes simultaneously displaying: statistics regarding communications between the user and the entity, and a list of files exchanged between the user and the entity.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the entity is selected from the group consisting of: a person, an automated system, and a business entity.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the prior communications are grouped together in the conversation thread based on a subject common to the communications in the conversation thread.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein assigning the first and second ranks is further based on determining, from the analysis of the first conversation thread and the second conversation thread, that the first conversation thread contains more communications than the second communication thread.

16. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing computer readable instructions, which when executed cause a system to:
collect historical data related to a plurality of existing communications;
track an interaction by a user with a communication from the plurality of existing communications that includes one or more of: opening the communication, viewing the communication, and receiving the communication; and
present, based on the user interaction with the communication, at least a portion of the historical data to the user, wherein presenting the historical data includes simultaneously displaying: contact information for an entity associated with the communication with which the user interacts, a list of contacts associated with the entity, a list of prior communications between the user and the entity, and communication statistics, wherein displaying the communication statistics includes displaying a graph comprising a plurality of times when communications were received from the entity and a relative volume of communications received at each of the plurality of times, and wherein displaying of the list of contacts associated with the entity comprises ranking each contact in the list of contacts based on a volume of communications between the respective contact and the user and displaying the contacts in the list of contacts in order of their respective rank;
wherein displaying the list of prior communications between the

Assignees

• Brezina Matthew
• Smith Adam
• Yahoo Inc

Inventors

• Brezina Matthew
• Smith Adam

Classifications

• H04M2215/0104

  Augmented, consolidated or itemised billing statement, e.g. additional billing information, bill presentation, layout, format, e-mail, fax, printout, itemised bill per service or per account, cumulative billing, consolidated billing · CPC title

• G06F16/38

  Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually · CPC title

• H04M15/745

  Customizing according to wishes of subscriber, e.g. friends or family · CPC title

• H04M2215/0108

  Customization according to wishes of subscriber, e.g. customer preferences, friends and family, selecting services or billing options, Personal Communication Systems [PCS] · CPC title

• G06F16/248

  Presentation of query results · CPC title