Method and apparatus to use a statistical model to classify electronic communications
A method and apparatus to use a statistical model to classify electronic communications is disclosed. In one embodiment, an incoming electronic communication is analyzed in view of a preformulated statistical model to determine whether the communication is to be classified within at least one predetermined category. In one embodiment, the statistical model includes a set of features relating to an electronic communication.
1 ) A method comprising:
defining a set of one or more features, including characteristics of an electronic communication.
defining a statistical model comprising of one or more of the features;
populating the statistical model with weighted probabilities for each of the one or more features, based on one or more predetermined categories;
reducing an electronic communication to a corresponding representation of features based upon the statistical model; and
classifying the electronic communication into one of the one or more categories represented by the statistical model.
2 ) The method of claim 1 , wherein the characteristics of an electronic communication are structural elements.
3 ) The method of claim 2 , wherein the structural elements comprise formatting, routing or rendering controls associated with the electronic communication.
4 ) The method of claim 1 , wherein the structural elements are communication routing elements.
5 ) The method of claim 4 , wherein the routing elements are RFC822 email headers associated with the electronic communication.
6 ) The method of claim 2 , wherein the structural elements are grammatical language constructs.
7 ) The method of claim 2 , wherein the structural elements are Universal Resource Identifiers (URIs).
8 ) The method of claim 2 , wherein the structural elements are content encoding formats.
9 ) The method of claim 2 , wherein the structural elements are communication construction controls.
10 ) The method of claim 2 , wherein the structural elements are content packaging formats.
11 ) The method of claim 1 , wherein the characteristics are structural anomalies of the electronic communication.
12 ) The method of claim 11 , wherein structural anomalies are violations of applicable RFC standards applicable to the electronic communication.
13 ) The method of claim 11 , wherein structural anomalies are methods that change the expected rendering of the electronic communication.
14 ) The method of claim 1 , wherein reducing an electronic communication to a corresponding representation of comprises includes determining the features from the statistical model that are present in the electronic communication.
15 ) The method of claim 14 , wherein one or more feature present in the electronic communication are associated with one or more preconfigured statistical probabilities and associated with one or more predetermined categories.
16 ) The method of claim 15 , further including generating a confidence level for the communication based on the statistical probabilities of the features present in the electronic communication.
17 ) The method of claim 16 , wherein the confidence level is used to classify the electronic communication in one or more of the categories represented by the statistical model.
18 ) The method of claim 17 , further includes providing a user with a capability to associate at least one predetermined action to take on the electronic communication based on the generated confidence level.
19 ) The method of claim 1 wherein the electronic communication is an electronic document.
20 ) The method of claim 1 wherein the electronic communication is an e-mail.
21 ) The method of claim 1 wherein the electronic communication is an electronic conversation between one or more parties.
22 ) The method of claim 1 wherein the electronic communication is an image.
23 ) A machine-readable medium having stored thereon a set of instructions which when executed cause a system to perform a method comprising of:
defining a set of one or more features, including characteristics of an electronic communication.
defining a statistical model comprising of one or more of the features;
populating the statistical model with weighted probabilities for each of the one or more features, based on one or more predetermined categories;
reducing an electronic communication to a corresponding representation of features based upon the statistical model; and
classifying the electronic communication into one of the one or more categories represented by the statistical model.
24 ) A system comprising:
a processor;
a network interface coupled to the processor; and
a means for defining a set of one or more features, including characteristics of an electronic communication.
a means for defining a statistical model comprising of one or more of the features;
a means for populating the statistical model with weighted probabilities for each of the one or more features, based on one or more predetermined categories;
means for reducing an electronic communication to a corresponding representation of features based upon the statistical model; and
a means for classifying the electronic communication into one of the one or more categories represented by the statistical model.