Automatic electronic message filtering method and apparatus
Disclosed are systems and methods for improving interactions with and between computers in electronic messaging and/or providing systems supported by or configured with personal computing devices, servers and/or platforms. The disclosed systems and methods provide systems and methods for generating electronic message filters and for using electronic message filters comprising item category filtering criteria and having an automatically-determined expiration. The discloses systems and methods filter electronic messages using the item category filtering criteria while an electronic message filter remains active as determined using the automatically-determined expiration information.
1. A method comprising:
extracting, by a computing device, information from a first electronic message directed to a user;
identifying, by the computing device and using the extracted information, a first item referenced in the first electronic message, the identifying comprising analyzing the extracted information to identify the first item;
determining, by the computing device, an item category for the identified first item, the determining comprising using the identified first item to search a data store associating the identified first item and the item category;
generating, by the computing device, an electronic message filter, the electronic message filter generation comprising using the determined item category as electronic message filtering criteria for the electronic message filter, the electronic message filter further having a filter action;
automatically determining, by the computing device, expiration information indicating a time frame for applicability of the electronic message filter, the determining comprising using a trained statistical machine model corresponding to the item category and the user to determine the expiration information;
using, by the computing device, the electronic message filter in a time frame in accordance with the determined expiration information, the using comprising:
identifying a second electronic message directed to the user, the identifying comprising determining, using information extracted from the second electronic message, that the second electronic message references a second item belonging to the item category; and
performing the filtering action with the second electronic message.
2. The method of claim 1 , the first item and the second item are a same item and both the first item and the second item are associated with the item category used as electronic message filtering criteria for the electronic message filter.
3. The method of claim 1 , the first item and the second item are different items and both the first item and the second item are associated with the item category used as electronic message filtering criteria for the electronic message filter.
4. The method of claim 1 , the extracted information identifying the first item further indicating an acquisition of the first item and the expiration information estimating the time frame to expire before another acquisition by the user of any item belonging to the item category.
5. The method of claim 2 , the first electronic message being selected by the user, and the electronic message filter generation being performed in response to user-selection of the first electronic message.
6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
providing, by the computing device, a filter creation user interface comprising an item category field displaying the item category and an expiration field displaying the expiration information;
receiving, by the computing device, information comprising user-supplied expiration information; and
modifying, by the computing device, the expiration information using the user-supplied expiration information.
7. The method of claim 5 , the first electronic message being opened by the user.
8. The method of claim 1 , the generating further comprising:
receiving, by the computing device, a filter creation request from the user;
providing, by the computing device, a filter creation user interface comprising an item category field and an expiration field.
9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising displaying an item category designation in the item category field in response to user selection of an item category.
10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising displaying an item category designation in the item category field, the item category designation being determined based on an item referenced in a user-selected electronic message.
11. The method of claim 8 , further comprising displaying the expiration information in the expiration field in response to an identification of an item category, the expiration information being determined using the trained statistical model corresponding to the user and the item category.
12. The method of claim 8 , the filter creation user interface comprising other filter criteria fields in addition to the item category field, and the electronic message filtering criteria comprising, in addition to the item category, filter criteria input by the user using at least one of the other filter criteria fields.
13. The method of claim 1 , the using further comprising:
after identifying that the second electronic message references an item belonging to the item category:
searching an electronic message filter repository for the electronic message filter corresponding to the user and the item category; and
determining, using the expiration information associated with the electronic message filter that the electronic message filter is active.
14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
collecting a corpus of electronic messages referencing an item belonging to the item category, the corpus of electronic messages being collected across a number of users including the user;
generating, for each user of the number, training data comprising a number of features; and
using the training data to generate the trained statistical model corresponding to the item category.
15. The method of claim 12 , automatically determining the expiration information further comprising:
using the training data generated for the user as input to the trained statistical model and receiving the expiration information as output of the trained statistical model in response.
16. The method of claim 12 , the number of features comprising period, amount, phase and accuracy features.
17. The method of claim 1 , the item category corresponding to an item category of an item category taxonomy.
18. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium tangibly encoded with computer-executable instructions that when executed by a processor associated with a computing device perform a method comprising:
extracting information from a first electronic message directed to a user;
identifying, using the extracted information, a first item referenced in the first electronic message, the identifying comprising analyzing the extracted information to identify the first item;
determining an item category for the identified first item, the determining comprising using the identified first item to search a data store associating the identified first item and the item category;
generating the electronic message filter, an electronic message filter generation comprising using the determined item category as electronic message filtering criteria for the electronic message filter, the electronic message filter further having a filter action;
automatically determining expiration information indicating a time frame for applicability of the electronic message filter, the determining comprising using a trained statistical machine model corresponding to the item category and the user to determine the expiration information;
using the electronic message filter in a time frame in accordance with the determined expiration information, the using comprising:
identifying a second electronic message directed to the user, the identifying comprising determining, using information extracted from the second electronic message, that the second electronic message references a second item belonging to the item category; and
performing the filtering action with the second electronic message.
19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 , the extracted information identifying the first item further indicating an acquisition of the first item and the expiration information estimating the time frame to expire before another acquisition by the user of any item belonging to the item category.
20. A method comprising:
generating, at a computing device, an electronic message filter associated with a user, the electronic message filter comprising item category filtering criteria and a filter action;
automatically determining, by the computing device, expiration information indicating a time frame for applicability of the electronic message filter, the determining comprising using a trained statistical machine model corresponding to the item category to determine the expiration information;
using, by the computing device, the electronic message filter in a time frame in accordance with the determined expiration information, the using comprising:
identifying an electronic message directed to the user, the identifying comprising determining, using information extracted from the electronic message, that the electronic message references an item belonging to the item category; and
performing the filtering action on the electronic message.