IP Library Granted Patent US 11,372,870
Granted Patent B2
US 11,372,870 · App. 17/223,233 · Granted Jun 28, 2022

Mining email inboxes for suggesting actions

Inventors: Ingmar Weber (Barcelona, ES); Yoelle Maarek (Haifa, IL); Yehuda Arie Koren (Zichron Yaakov, IL)
Assignee: YAHOO ASSETS LLC
G06F16/2465G06N20/00G06Q10/107
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,372,870
App. No.
17/223,233
Granted
Jun 28, 2022
Kind
B2
Abstract

Embodiments are directed towards automatically learning user behavioral patterns when interacting with messages and based on the learned patterns, suggesting one or more predicted actions that a user might take in response to receiving subsequent message. One or more classifiers are trained and employed to predict one or more actions that a user might take in response to receiving the message. In one embodiment, the one or more predicted actions are provided suggested to the user as an action the user might take on the message. Messages may be rank ordered within a given suggested action based on a confidence level of the prediction.

Claims (50)

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a computing device, a message in an inbox of a user, said message sent from a sender and comprising content;

analyzing the message via the computing device, and based on said analysis, determining a feature vector, said feature vector representing said content of said message;

determining, via the computing device, a type of said message based on said feature vector;

applying, via the computing device, a classifier to said message using said feature vector, said classifier being specific to said type of message;

determining, via the computing device, a set of actions based on said application of the classifier, each action being a predicted action said classifier identifies as a future action said user will take on said message; and

causing display, via the computing device, in association with said inbox, of an interface object in association with said message, said interface object enabling selection of said set of actions.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

generating an interface object for each action in the set of actions; and

causing display of each interface object within the inbox in association with the message.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said classifier is a vertical classifier that accounts for activities the user has taken on other messages of said type.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

determining that the user is not a new user, and has not received messages from the sender previously, and employing based on the determination, said vertical classifier.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein said classifier is a horizontal classifier that accounts for activities other users have taken on other messages of said type.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

determining whether the user is a new user, and if that is true, then employing said horizontal classifier.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein said classifier is a vertical pair-wise classifier that accounts for activities the user has taken on other messages from said sender.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

determining whether the user has received messages from said sender previously, and if that is true, then employing said vertical pair-wise classifier.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein each action in said set of actions is weighted based on a level of confidence determined by said classifier.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the actions in the set of actions is directed towards preserving a conversation associated with the message.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium tangibly encoded with computer-executable instructions, that when executed by a computing device, perform a method comprising:

receiving, at the computing device, a message in an inbox of a user, said message sent from a sender and comprising content;

analyzing the message via the computing device, and based on said analysis, determining a feature vector, said feature vector representing said content of said message;

determining, via the computing device, a type of said message based on said feature vector;

applying, via the computing device, a classifier to said message using said feature vector, said classifier being specific to said type of message;

determining, via the computing device, a set of actions based on said application of the classifier, each action being a predicted action said classifier identifies as a future action said user will take on said message; and

causing display, via the computing device, in association with said inbox, of an interface object in association with said message, said interface object enabling selection of said set of actions.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , further comprising:

generating an interface object for each action in the set of actions; and

causing display of each interface object within the inbox in association with the message.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein said classifier is a vertical classifier that accounts for activities the user has taken on other messages of said type.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , further comprising:

determining that the user is not a new user, and has not received messages from the sender previously, and employing based on the determination, said vertical classifier.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein said classifier is a horizontal classifier that accounts for activities other users have taken on other messages of said type.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , further comprising:

determining whether the user is a new user, and if that is true, then employing said horizontal classifier.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein said classifier is a vertical pair-wise classifier that accounts for activities the user has taken on other messages from said sender.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , further comprising:

determining whether the user has received messages from said sender previously, and if that is true, then employing said vertical pair-wise classifier.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein each action in said set of actions is weighted based on a level of confidence determined by said classifier.

20. A computing device comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for tangibly storing thereon program logic for execution by the processor, the program logic comprising:

logic executed by the processor for receiving, at the computing device, a message in an inbox of a user, said message sent from a sender and comprising content;

logic executed by the processor for analyzing the message via the computing device, and based on said analysis, determining a feature vector, said feature vector representing said content of said message;

logic executed by the processor for determining, via the computing device, a type of said message based on said feature vector;

logic executed by the processor for applying, via the computing device, a classifier to said message using said feature vector, said classifier being specific to said type of message;

logic executed by the processor for determining, via the computing device, a set of actions based on said application of the classifier, each action being a predicted action said classifier identifies as a future action said user will take on said message; and

logic executed by the processor for causing display, via the computing device, in association with said inbox, of an interface object in association with said message, said interface object enabling selection of said set of actions.

Assignments (6)
PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT (FIRST LIEN) Recorded Sep 29, 2022
From: YAHOO ASSETS LLC
To: ROYAL BANK OF CANADA, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 061571/0773 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 16, 2021
From: YAHOO AD TECH LLC (FORMERLY VERIZON MEDIA INC.)
To: YAHOO ASSETS LLC
Reel/Frame 058982/0282 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 6, 2021
From: YAHOO! INC.
To: YAHOO HOLDINGS, INC.
Reel/Frame 055833/0109 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 6, 2021
From: WEBER, INGMAR; MAAREK, YOELLE; KOREN, YEHUDA ARIE
To: YAHOO! INC.
Reel/Frame 055833/0582 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 6, 2021
From: YAHOO HOLDINGS, INC.
To: OATH INC.
Reel/Frame 055834/0001 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 6, 2021
From: OATH INC.
To: VERIZON MEDIA INC.
Reel/Frame 055834/0435 →