Task assistant

1. A method comprising:

identifying a correspondence received by a source associated with a user;

determining, by a processing device, that the correspondence includes a request;

determining, by the processing device, a ranking associated with the request based on one or more characteristics of the request and of the correspondence, wherein determining the ranking comprises calculating a weighted sum of an importance of past correspondence with a contact from whom the correspondence was received, a number of communication channels associated with the contact, an average response time to prior requests from the contact, and a static attribute importance value of the contact;

responsive to the ranking of the request exceeding a threshold, creating an alert associated with the request;

adding the alert to an alert queue at a location in the queue defined by the ranking of the request;

determining whether further correspondence is received by the source within a predefined time interval after a first time at which the correspondence was received; and

responsive to no further corresponding being received within the predefined time interval, sending the alert associated with the request from the alert queue to a client device associated with the user.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying a plurality of sources associated with the user, the plurality of sources to send and receive correspondence; and

monitoring the plurality of sources to identify the correspondence.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining that the correspondence includes a request comprises:

extracting a word chain from the correspondence; and

identifying a syntactic structure of the request in the word chain that matches a predefined request template.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more characteristics comprises at least one of an importance of a contact from whom the correspondence was received, sentiment analysis, a deadline reference in the correspondence, previous actions of the user, frequency of prior correspondence with the contact, response time to prior requests from the contact, a title of the contact, or a name of the contact's company.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving feedback from the user to confirm an importance of a request, modify an importance of a request, or indicate a failure to detect a request in the correspondence.

6. A system comprising:

a memory; and

a processing device, operatively coupled to the memory, the processing device to:

identify a correspondence received by a source associated with a user;

determine that the correspondence includes a request;

determine a ranking associated with the request based on one or more characteristics of the request and of the correspondence, wherein determining the ranking comprises calculating a weighted sum of an importance of past correspondence with a contact from whom the correspondence was received, a number of communication channels associated with the contact, an average response time to prior requests from the contact, and a static attribute importance value of the contact;

responsive to the ranking of the request exceeding a threshold, creating an alert associated with the request;

add the alert to an alert queue at a location in the queue defined by the ranking of the request;

determine whether further correspondence is received by the source within a predefined time interval after a first time at which the correspondence was received; and

responsive to no further corresponding being received within the predefined time interval, send the alert associated with the request from the alert queue to a client device associated with the user.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the processing device further to:

identify a plurality of sources associated with the user, the plurality of sources to send and receive correspondence; and

monitor the plurality of sources to identify the correspondence.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein to determine that the correspondence includes a request, the processing device to:

extract a word chain from the correspondence; and

identify a syntactic structure of the request in the word chain that matches a predefined request template.

9. The system of claim 6 , wherein the one or more characteristics comprises at least one of an importance of a contact from whom the correspondence was received, sentiment analysis, a deadline reference in the correspondence, previous actions of the user, frequency of prior correspondence with the contact, response time to prior requests from the contact, a title of the contact, or a name of the contact's company.

10. The system of claim 6 , wherein the processing device further to:

receive feedback from the user to confirm an importance of a request, modify an importance of a request, or indicate a failure to detect a request in the correspondence.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed, cause a processing device to:

identify a correspondence received by a source associated with a user;

determine that the correspondence includes a request;

determine a ranking associated with the request based on one or more characteristics of the request and of the correspondence, wherein determining the ranking comprises calculating a weighted sum of an importance of past correspondence with a contact from whom the correspondence was received, a number of communication channels associated with the contact, an average response time to prior requests from the contact, and a static attribute importance value of the contact;

responsive to the ranking of the request exceeding a threshold, creating an alert associated with the request;

add the alert to an alert queue at a location in the queue defined by the ranking of the request;

determine whether further correspondence is received by the source within a predefined time interval after a first time at which the correspondence was received; and

responsive to no further corresponding being received within the predefined time interval, send the alert associated with the request from the alert queue to a client device associated with the user.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the instructions further cause the processing device to:

identify a plurality of sources associated with the user, the plurality of sources to send and receive correspondence; and

monitor the plurality of sources to identify the correspondence.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein to determine that the correspondence includes a request, the processing device to:

extract a word chain from the correspondence; and

identify a syntactic structure of the request in the word chain that matches a predefined request template.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the one or more characteristics comprises at least one of an importance of a contact from whom the correspondence was received, sentiment analysis, a deadline reference in the correspondence, previous actions of the user, frequency of prior correspondence with the contact, response time to prior requests from the contact, a title of the contact, or a name of the contact's company.