IP Library Granted Patent US 8,897,438
Granted Patent B2
US 8,897,438 · App. 13/244,001 · Granted Nov 25, 2014

Message forwarding based on sender and recipient relationship

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,897,438
App. No.
13/244,001
Granted
Nov 25, 2014
Kind
B2
Abstract

Techniques for message forwarding based on a relationship between a sender and a recipient are described herein. In one embodiment, a process includes, but is not limited to, in response to a message from a sender over a network, identifying a list of candidate recipients to handle the message based on roles of the candidate recipients within an organization in view of the sender, and forwarding the message to a recipient selected from the list of the candidate recipient to enable the selected recipient to handle the message. Other methods and apparatuses are also described.

Claims (40)

1. A method, comprising:

determining, in response to a message from a sender over a network, a type of relationship between the sender and a recipient, wherein the determining the type is performed based on at least information obtained from an enterprise resource management system;

identifying a role of the sender, wherein the role is identified based on a previous transaction associated with the sender and based on at least information obtained from the enterprise resource management system;

determining whether a match exists between the determined type of relationship and the identified role;

forwarding, to a first device associated with the recipient, the message including a profile of the sender, when the match exists;

searching the enterprise resource management system with a search engine to identify a list of candidate recipients, when the match does not exists, wherein the searching queries for the list of candidate recipients are based on at least the determined type of relationship, and wherein the enterprise resource management system comprises at least one database including responsibilities associated with the list of candidate recipients, sender profiles, sender history, and one or more rules to facilitate matching the sender with a second device associated with the recipient selected from the list of candidate recipients; and

forwarding the message to the second device to enable the selected recipient to handle the message, wherein the determining the type, the identifying, the determining whether, the forwarding, and the searching are performed by at least one processor.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining a sender profile based on the message, wherein the candidate recipients are identified further based on the sender profile.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising generating a context associated with the sender based on the sender profile, the context to be forwarded to the recipient along with the message.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising determining the type of relationship between the sender and the candidate recipients based on one or more previous transactions between the sender and an organization and handled by the candidate recipients.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising creating a role map representing roles of the candidate recipients in view of the relationship between the organization and sender information extracted from the sender profile, wherein the selected recipient is selected based on a priority represented by the role map.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising identifying one or more responsible users from the candidate recipients based on responsibilities of the candidate recipients within the organization based on coverage of services of different regions.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising selecting one or more users from the identified responsible users based on previous contacts with the sender, if there are more than one identified responsible users.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising selecting a user as a final recipient from the identified responsible users having previous contact with the sender, wherein the selected user is a most frequent contact user with the sender.

9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising selecting a user as a final recipient from the identified responsible users if there is no responsible users having previous contact with the sender, the final recipient having a highest rating on job performance.

10. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions therein, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform a method, the method comprising:

determining, in response to a message from a sender over a network, a type of relationship between the sender and a recipient, wherein the determining the type is performed based on at least information obtained from an enterprise resource management system;

identifying a role of the sender, wherein the role is identified based on a previous transaction associated with the sender and based on at least information obtained from the enterprise resource management system;

determining whether a match exists between the determined type of relationship and the identified role;

forwarding, to a first device associated with the recipient, the message including a profile of the sender, when the match exists;

searching the enterprise resource management system with a search engine to identify a list of candidate recipients, when the match does not exists, wherein the searching queries for the list of candidate recipients are based on at least the determined type of relationship, and wherein the enterprise resource management system comprises at least one database including responsibilities associated with the list of candidate recipients, sender profiles, sender history, and one or more rules to facilitate matching the sender with a second device associated with the recipient selected from the list of candidate recipients; and

forwarding the message to the second device to enable the selected recipient to handle the message.

11. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the method further comprises determining a sender profile based on the message, wherein the candidate recipients are identified further based on the sender profile.

12. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the method further comprises generating a context associated with the sender based on the sender profile, the context to be forwarded to the recipient along with the message.

13. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the method further comprises determining the type of relationship between the sender and the candidate recipients based on one or more previous transactions between the sender and an organization and handled by the candidate recipients.

14. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the method further comprises creating a role map representing roles of the candidate recipients in view of the relationship between the organization and sender information extracted from the sender profile, wherein the selected recipient is selected based on a priority represented by the role map.

15. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the method further comprises identifying one or more responsible users from the candidate recipients based on responsibilities of the candidate recipients within the organization based on coverage of services of different regions.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the method further comprises selecting one or more users from the identified responsible users based on previous contacts with the sender, if there are more than one identified responsible users.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the method further comprises selecting a user as a final recipient from the identified responsible users having previous contact with the sender, wherein the selected user is a most frequent contact user with the sender.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the method further comprises selecting a user as a final recipient from the identified responsible users if there is no responsible users having previous contact with the sender, the final recipient having a highest rating on job performance.

19. A system, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including code which when executed by the at least one processor provides operations comprising:

determining, in response to a message from a sender over a network, a type of relationship between the sender and a recipient, wherein the determining the type is performed based on at least information obtained from an enterprise resource management system;

identifying a role of the sender, wherein the role is identified based on a previous transaction associated with the sender and based on at least information obtained from the enterprise resource management system;

determining whether a match exists between the determined type of relationship and the identified role;

forwarding, to a first device associated with the recipient, the message including a profile of the sender, when the match exists;

searching the enterprise resource management system with a search engine to identify a list of candidate recipients, when the match does not exists, wherein the searching queries for the list of candidate recipients are based on at least the determined type of relationship, and wherein the enterprise resource management system comprises at least one database including responsibilities associated with the list of candidate recipients, sender profiles, sender history, and one or more rules to facilitate matching the sender with a second device associated with the recipient selected from the list of candidate recipients; and

forwarding the message to the second device to enable the selected recipient to handle the message.

20. The system of claim 19 , further comprising a sender oriented database coupled to the search engine, wherein the search engine is configured to access the sender oriented database to determine a sender profile based on the message, wherein the candidate recipients are identified further based on the sender profile.

Assignments (2)
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Aug 26, 2014
From: SAP AG
To: SAP SE
Reel/Frame 033625/0223 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 30, 2011
From: FARRENKOPF, ECKHARD; SAAGER, DIRK; EICHHORST, ANDRE; XU, TIAN
To: SAP AG
Reel/Frame 027001/0588 →