IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,748,911
Granted Patent B2
US 12,748,911 · App. 18/070,183 · Granted Sep 29, 2026

Method and apparatus for inbound message summarization

Inventors: Martin C. Lefebvre (Los Altos, CA); Lucas Wiman (Mountain View, CA)
Assignee: HMBay Patents LLC
G06F40/10G06Q10/107
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,748,911
App. No.
18/070,183
Filed
Nov 28, 2022
Granted
Sep 29, 2026
Kind
B2
Art Unit
2178
USPC
715/234
Abstract

Method for displaying a message summary by analyzing the message to identify a sending institution and a message type. A message cluster is determined from the sending institution and repository of messages for multiple users. Extracted items can be identified in the message using the message type. Then the message summary can be generated using the extracted items, the message cluster, and the message structure. These summaries can be used to efficiently summarize a large volume of messages compactly.

Claims (48)

1 . A computer-implemented method for causing display of an individual message summary for an individual message, the method comprising:

analyzing the individual message sent to a user by an institution with which the user is a registered user and has a relationship, and selecting a message cluster template, from among multiple message cluster templates, to use for displaying the message summary, including analyzing the institution that sent the individual message and a message type indicated by words in text of the individual message;

wherein the message cluster template is configured to summarize individual messages and attachments to the individual messages in a plurality of messages for a plurality of recipients from a plurality of institutions, including to extract information from a particular individual message and format a summary of the particular individual message;

generating a message summary of the particular individual message applying the message cluster template using the message type and at least one of message structure, extracted items from the message text, and extracted items from an attachment to the individual message; and

causing display of the message summary of the particular individual message on the computer.

2 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 for causing display of a message summary for the individual message, wherein the message structure is an HTML structure, the method further comprising:

extracting items from the message text using the HTML structure.

3 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 for causing display of a message summary for the individual message, the method further comprising:

generating and causing display on the computer of an action button to track a shipment as part of the message summary, wherein the action button, when selected, uses information from the individual message to initiate tracking of the shipment.

4 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 for causing display of the individual message summary for an individual message, the method further comprising:

generating and causing display on the computer of an action button to pay a bill as part of the message summary, wherein the action button, when selected, uses information from the individual message to initiate payment of the bill.

5 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 for causing display of a message summary for the individual message, the method further comprising:

generating and causing display on the computer of an action button to pay a bill as part of the message summary, wherein the action button, when selected, uses information from the individual message to initiate payment of the bill, including a payment method associated with an account name extracted from the individual message.

6 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 for causing display of a message summary for the individual message, wherein the message summary is based on the items extracted from the attachment to the individual message, in lieu of text of the individual message, the method further comprising:

generating and causing display on the computer of an action button to view the text of the individual message.

7 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 for causing display of a message summary for the individual message, the method further comprising:

generating and causing display of a filter control; and

accepting selection of a message type filter and causing display of a plurality of message summaries for messages of a selected type.

8 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 for causing display of a message summary for the individual message, the method further comprising:

generating and causing display of a filter control; and

accepting selection of an institution and account filter and causing display of a plurality of message summaries for individual messages from a selected institution and account.

9 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 for causing display of a message summary for the individual message, the method further comprising:

extracting a reference item from each in a plurality of messages from a plurality of institutions, the reference item including at least one of a tracking number, a customer number, a ticket number, a transaction number, or a confirmation number; and

generating and causing display on the computer of a thread of multiple message summaries that share the reference item.

10 . A non-transitory computer readable medium holding instructions that, when executed on hardware, cause the hardware to implement a method of causing display of a message summary for an individual message, the method comprising:

analyzing the individual message sent to a user by an institution with which the user is a registered user and has a relationship, and selecting a message cluster template, from among multiple message cluster templates, to use for causing display of the message summary, including analyzing the institution that sent the individual message and a message type indicated by words in text of the individual message;

wherein the message cluster template is configured to summarize individual messages in a plurality of messages for a plurality of recipients from a plurality of institutions, including to extract information from a particular message and format a summary of the particular individual message;

generating a message summary applying the message cluster template using the message type and at least one of message structure, extracted items from the message text, and extracted items from an attachment to the individual message; and

causing display of the message summary on the computer.

11 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 , further including instructions for a method of causing display of a message summary for the individual message, wherein the message structure is an HTML structure, the method further comprising:

extracting items from the message text using the HTML structure.

12 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 , further including instructions for a method of causing display of a message summary for the individual message, the method further comprising:

generating and causing display on the computer of an action button to track a shipment as part of the message summary, wherein the action button, when selected, uses information from the individual message to initiate tracking of the shipment.

13 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 , further including instructions for a method of causing display of a message summary for the individual message, the method further comprising:

generating and causing display on the computer of an action button to pay a bill as part of the message summary, wherein the action button, when selected, uses information from the individual message to initiate payment of the bill.

14 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 , further including instructions for a method of causing display of a message summary for the individual message, the method further comprising:

generating and causing display on the computer of an action button to pay a bill as part of the message summary, wherein the action button, when selected, uses information from the individual message to initiate payment of the bill, including a payment method associated with an account name extracted from the individual message.

15 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 , further including instructions for a method of causing display of a message summary for the individual message, wherein the message summary is based on the items extracted from the attachment to the individual message, in lieu of text of the individual message, the method further comprising:

generating and causing display on the computer of an action button to view the text of the message.

16 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 , further including instructions for a method of causing display of a message summary for the individual message, the method further comprising:

generating and causing display of a filter control; and

accepting selection of a message type filter and causing display of a plurality of message summaries for messages of a selected type.

17 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 , further including instructions for a method of causing display of a message summary for the individual message, the method further comprising:

generating and causing display of a filter control; and

accepting selection of an institution and account filter and causing display of a plurality of message summaries for messages from a selected institution and account.

18 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 , further including instructions for a method of causing display of a message summary for the individual message, the method further comprising:

extracting a reference item from each in a plurality of messages from a plurality institutions, the reference item including at least one of a tracking number, a customer number, a ticket number, a transaction number, or a confirmation number; and

generating and causing display on the computer of a thread of multiple message summaries that share the reference item.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 14, 2026
From: CONNEXIVE, INC.
To: HMBAY PATENTS LLC
Reel/Frame 074367/0921 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 14, 2026
From: LEFEBVRE, MARTIN CLAUDE; WIMAN, LUCAS
To: CONNEXIVE, INC.
Reel/Frame 074367/0871 →
Continuity (4)
Continuation 16357257 · Mar 18, 2019
Continuation 13743207 · Jan 16, 2013
Provisional Application 61621092 · Apr 6, 2012
Related Publication 20230334221A1 · Oct 19, 2023
References Cited (60)
US 5903880A · Biffar · 1999 [cited by applicant]
US 6278996B1 · Richardson et al. · 2001 [cited by applicant]
US 7184939B1 · Trowbridge et al. · 2007 [cited by applicant]
US 7788262B1 · Shirwadkar · 2010 [cited by applicant]
US 7814155B2 · Buchheit et al. · 2010 [cited by applicant]
US 8311942B1 · Mason · 2012 [cited by applicant]
US 8355967B2 · DeBie et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 8458271B2 · Best · 2013 [cited by examiner]
US 8683566B1 · Gailloux et al. · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 8738477B2 · Lefebvre · 2014 [cited by examiner]
US 8762285B2 · Davis · 2014 [cited by examiner]
US 8793185B1 · Hollier et al. · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 8862675B1 · Coomer et al. · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 8903924B2 · Jensen et al. · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 9002725B1 · Carobus · 2015 [cited by examiner]
US 9584343B2 · Brezina · 2017 [cited by examiner]
US 20020091829A1 · Wood et al. · 2002 [cited by applicant]
US 20020198849A1 · Piikivi · 2002 [cited by applicant]
US 20030028603A1 · Aktas · 2003 [cited by examiner]
US 20040167820A1 · Melick et al. · 2004 [cited by applicant]
US 20050027779A1 · Schinner · 2005 [cited by applicant]
US 20050038863A1 · Onyon et al. · 2005 [cited by applicant]
US 20050049924A1 · DeBettencourt et al. · 2005 [cited by applicant]
US 20050138552A1 · Venolia · 2005 [cited by examiner]
US 20050203970A1 · McKeown et al. · 2005 [cited by applicant]
US 20060006226A1 · Fitzgerald et al. · 2006 [cited by applicant]
US 20060080338A1 · Seubert et al. · 2006 [cited by applicant]
US 20060230039A1 · Shull et al. · 2006 [cited by applicant]
US 20070011258A1 · Khoo · 2007 [cited by applicant]
US 20070156732A1 · Surendran et al. · 2007 [cited by applicant]
US 20070168228A1 · Lawless · 2007 [cited by applicant]
US 20070208868A1 · Kidd et al. · 2007 [cited by applicant]
US 20080104185A1 · Oliver et al. · 2008 [cited by applicant]
US 20080282159A1 · Vanderwende · 2008 [cited by examiner]
US 20080288382A1 · Smith et al. · 2008 [cited by applicant]
US 20090006233A1 · Chemtob · 2009 [cited by applicant]
US 20090177484A1 · Davis et al. · 2009 [cited by applicant]
US 20090177754A1 · Brezina · 2009 [cited by examiner]
US 20090259612A1 · Hanson · 2009 [cited by applicant]
US 20100161466A1 · Gilder · 2010 [cited by examiner]
US 20100268778A1 · Kim et al. · 2010 [cited by applicant]
US 20110067036A1 · Hickford et al. · 2011 [cited by applicant]
US 20110093367A1 · Stapleton · 2011 [cited by applicant]
US 20110162047A1 · Reeves et al. · 2011 [cited by applicant]
US 20110172989A1 · Moraes · 2011 [cited by applicant]
US 20110209196A1 · Kennedy · 2011 [cited by applicant]
US 20110213657A1 · O'Malley et al. · 2011 [cited by applicant]
US 20120117161A1 · Best · 2012 [cited by examiner]
US 20120191585A1 · Lefebvre · 2012 [cited by examiner]
US 20130018964A1 · Osipkov · 2013 [cited by examiner]
US 20130024525A1 · Brady · 2013 [cited by examiner]
US 20130232159A1 · Daya et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
Faulring, et al., “A Demonstration of the RADAR Personal Assistant,” Association of the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, Journal, 2008, 2 pages. [cited by applicant]
Freed, et al., “RADAR: A Personal Assistant that Learns to Reduce Email Overload,” Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, Journal, 2008, 7 pages. [cited by applicant]
Garlan, et al., The RADAR Architecture for Personal Cognitive Assitance, International Journal of Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering, World Scientific Publishing Company, Journal, 20 pages. [cited by applicant]
Kushmerick, et al., “Activity-Centric Email: A Machine Learning Approach,” Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, Journal, 2006, 4 pages. [cited by applicant]
Bergman, et al., A Personal Email Assistant, Lab Report, Aug. 2002, 23 pages, HPL-2002-236, Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, CA, USA. [cited by applicant]
Faulring, et al., Agent-Assisted Task Management that Reduces Email Overload, Journal, Feb. 2010, 10 pages, ACM 978-1-60558-515-41002, IUI'10, Hong Kong, China. [cited by applicant]
U.S. Appl. No. 16/171,322, filed Oct. 25, 2018, 20190295155, Sep. 26, 2019, Abandoned. [cited by applicant]
U.S. Appl. No. 13/353,305, filed Jan. 18, 2012, U.S. Pat. No. 10,115,154, Oct. 30, 2018, Issued. [cited by applicant]