The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 18, 1999
Filed:
May. 30, 1997
Applicant:
Inventors:
Kimberly A Knowles, Lebanon, NJ (US);
David Dolan Lewis, Philadelphia, PA (US);
Assignee:
AT&T Corp, Middletown, NJ (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G06F / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
39520036 ; 707513 ; 707501 ; 345356 ;
Abstract
Current tools for processing e-mail and other messages do not adequately recognize and manipulate threads, i.e., conversations among two or more people carried out by exchange of messages. The present invention utilizes the textual context and characteristics of messages in order to provide a more reliable and effective way to construct message threads. In accordance with the present invention, statistical information retrieval techniques are used in conjunction with textual material obtained by 'filtering' of messages to achieve a significant level of accuracy at identifying when one message is a reply to another.