CN111078065A

CN111078065A - Method, system and readable recording medium for collecting non-reply message

Info

Publication number: CN111078065A
Application number: CN201811293688.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 魏煜娟
Original assignee: Line Corp
Current assignee: Z Intermediate Global Corp
Priority date: 2018-10-18
Filing date: 2018-11-01
Publication date: 2020-04-28
Also published as: KR20200043659A; TW202016769A; TWI825053B

Abstract

The invention discloses a method and a system for collecting an unanswered message and a readable recording medium. The method for collecting the non-reply messages can comprise the following steps: a selection step of selecting more than one message in the received messages as the messages to be replied based on the reply possibility of the user; a collecting step, collecting the message which is judged not to send the corresponding reply in the messages needing to reply as a non-reply message; and a processing step of processing the non-reply message in a manner of distinguishing it from other messages.

Description

Method, system and readable recording medium for collecting non-reply message

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a technique for processing a message, and more particularly, to a technique for collecting an unanswered message from a message to be replied.

Background

Instant messenger (instant messenger) as a common communication tool is software for transmitting and receiving messages or data in real time, and a user can register a conversation object on the instant messenger and transmit and receive messages with an opposite party in a conversation object directory in real time.

Such an instant messaging software function is not only implemented on a Personal Computer (PC), but also popularizes the use of the instant messaging software in a mobile environment of a mobile communication terminal. For example, korean laid-open patent No. 10-2002-.

Generally, for user convenience, instant messenger provides a list in which objects registered on the instant messenger are arranged in order of name and a list in which a conversation window for receiving/transmitting a message is arranged according to the time of receiving/transmitting the message.

Also, notification of a received message is provided in the instant messenger so as to allow the user to easily know the reception of the message.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention can select the non-replied messages which are not replied from the messages which need to be replied to collect.

The invention can process the non-reply message in a mode of distinguishing from other messages, thereby being capable of accessing the non-reply message more easily.

The invention provides an unanswered message collection method, which is executed in a computer system, wherein the computer system comprises at least one processor which is formed by a mode of executing computer readable instructions contained in a memory, and the unanswered message collection method comprises the following steps: selecting, by the at least one processor, one or more messages of the received messages as messages to be replied based on a reply likelihood of a user of the computer system; a collecting step, wherein the at least one processor collects the message which is judged not to send the corresponding reply (reply) in the message to be replied as an unanswered message; and a processing step of processing, by the at least one processor, the unanswered message in a manner distinguished from other messages.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the selecting step may select at least one of the following messages as the message to be replied: judging an article belonging to a question form or a message containing a specific symbol or word by article sentence analysis using natural language processing; at least one message among a prescribed number or more of messages received continuously from the same object; a message containing a specific tag or a term for indicating a user of said computer system; and one or more messages received from one or more dialog windows determined based on a priority based on the usage level of each dialog window.

According to still another embodiment of the present invention, the usage level of each dialog window may be determined by calculating at least one of the number of times of user's entering, the stay time, the dialog ratio, the number of times of dialog starting, the number of times of mention (comment), and the average reply speed of the computer system for each dialog window.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the selecting step may include selecting a message related to the extracted topic from the received messages as the message to be replied based on at least one of a topic (topic) extracted from a conversation record included in a conversation window related to the received message and a topic (topic) extracted from a conversation record transmitted by a user of the computer system.

According to still another embodiment of the present invention, the collecting step may include: and if the user of the computer system does not send any message within a specified time period after the time point of receiving the message needing to be replied, judging the message needing to be replied as the message not needing to be replied.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the collecting step may include: collecting messages directly selected by a user of the computer system among the received messages as the unanswered messages.

According to still another embodiment of the present invention, the processing step may include: the list of the unanswered messages related to the unanswered messages is provided through a separate interface different from a conversation interface for transmitting and receiving messages.

According to still another embodiment of the present invention, the processing step may include: if a specific message is selected from the list of unanswered messages, the specific message is moved to a dialog window containing the specific message and is displayed in the dialog window in a mode of distinguishing the specific message from other messages.

According to still another embodiment of the present invention, the processing step may include: and providing a reminding notice to the non-reply message according to a specified period or each time a new message is added.

The present invention provides a readable recording medium on which a program for executing the above-described unanswered message collection method on a computer is recorded.

The present invention provides a computer system comprising: a memory; and at least one processor configured to execute computer-readable instructions contained in the memory, the at least one processor comprising: a message selection unit that selects one or more messages among the received messages as messages to be replied based on a reply possibility of a user of the computer system; a message collecting part for collecting the message which is judged not to send the corresponding reply in the message needing to reply as a non-reply message; and a message processing unit that processes the unanswered message so as to be distinguished from other messages.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a network environment of an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram for explaining the internal structures of the electronic apparatus and the server according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a diagram showing an example of structural elements of a processor that can be provided in an electronic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a flow chart illustrating an example of a method that may be performed by an electronic device of an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 5 shows an example of a process of selecting a message to reply in an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 6 shows an example of factors that can be used to grasp the degree of use of a dialog window in one embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 7 shows an illustration of a message management table in an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 8 shows an example of an instant messaging software interface screen according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 9 shows an illustration of a message directory collecting unanswered messages according to an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 10 shows an illustration of a dialog window screen displaying an unanswered message and other messages by distinction according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 11 shows an illustration of a menu directory for an unanswered message according to an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 12 shows an illustration of a dialog window screen for displaying a reply message to an unanswered message according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Reference numerals:

110 electronic equipment

120 electronic device

130 electronic device

140 electronic device

150 server

160 server

170 network

211 memory

212 processor

213 communication module

214 input/output interface

215 input/output device

221 memory

222 processor

223 communication module

224 input/output interface

310 message selection part

320 message collecting part

330 message processing part

S410 to S440

S501-S504 steps

701 message identification number

702 message to reply

703 identification number

800 instant messaging software interface screen

801 menu without reply

901 dialog window name

902 at least a portion of the content of the message

903 delete menu

910 message directory

1000 dialog window A

1001 message x

1100 Menu catalog

1101 message x

1202 reply message

Msg.No message identification number

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a technique for processing a message, and more particularly, to a technique for collecting an unanswered message among messages to be replied.

Embodiments including the content specifically disclosed in this specification can select an unanswered message to be replied from the information to be replied for collection, thereby achieving great advantages in terms of convenience, efficiency, resource saving, cost saving, and the like.

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a network environment of an embodiment of the present invention. The network environment in fig. 1 shows an example including a plurality of

electronic devices

110, 120, 130, 140 and a plurality of

servers

150, 160 and a network 170. Such fig. 1 is an example for explaining the present invention, and the number of electronic devices or the number of servers is not limited to fig. 1.

The plurality of

electronic devices

110, 120, 130, 140 may be fixed terminals or mobile terminals embodied by a computer system. For example, the plurality of

electronic devices

110, 120, 130, and 140 may be smart phones (smart phones), mobile phones, navigators, computers, notebook computers, terminals for Digital broadcasting, electronic organizers (PDAs), Portable Multimedia Players (PMPs), Personal tablet computers (PCs), game simulators (game consoles), wearable devices (wearable devices), internet of things (IoT) devices, Virtual Reality (VR) devices, Augmented Reality (AR) devices, and the like. As an example, the electronic device 110 is represented in fig. 1 in the shape of a smartphone, but in embodiments of the present invention, the electronic device 110 may mean one of various physical computer systems that may actually communicate with other

electronic devices

120, 130, 140 and/or

servers

150, 160 over the network 170 using wireless communication means or wired communication means.

The communication method is not limited and includes not only a communication method using a communication network (as an example, a mobile communication network, a cable network, a wireless network, a broadcast network, a satellite network, etc.) which the network 170 may include, but also short-range wireless communication between devices. For example, the network 170 may include any one or more of Personal Area Network (PAN), Local Area Network (LAN), Campus Area Network (CAN), Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), broadband network (BBN), the internet, and the like. The network 170 may include any one or more of a network topology, but is not limited thereto, and the network topology includes a bus network, a star network, a ring network, a mesh network, a star bus network, a tree or hierarchical (hierarchical) network, and the like.

The

servers

150, 160 may be respectively embodied by a computer apparatus or a plurality of computer apparatuses that communicate with a plurality of

electronic devices

110, 120, 130, 140 over a network 170 to provide instructions, code, files, content, services, etc. For example, the server 150 may be a system that provides a first service to the plurality of

electronic devices

110, 120, 130, 140 connected via the network 170, and the server 160 may be a system that provides a second service to the plurality of

electronic devices

110, 120, 130, 140 connected via the network 170. More specifically, the server 150 may provide services (as an example, a messaging service, etc.) provided by respective application programs, which are first services, to the plurality of

electronic devices

110, 120, 130, 140 through the application programs, which are computer programs set to the plurality of

electronic devices

110, 120, 130, 140 to be driven. As another example, the server 160 may provide a second service of transmitting a file for setting and driving the above-described application to the plurality of

electronic devices

110, 120, 130, 140.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram for explaining the internal structures of the electronic apparatus and the server according to an embodiment of the present invention. In fig. 2, the electronic device 110 and the server 150 are described as an example of the electronic device. Also, the other

electronic devices

120, 130, 140 or the server 160 may have the same or similar internal structure as the electronic device 110 or the server 150 described above.

The electronic device 110 and the server 150 may include

memories

211, 221 and

processors

212, 222 and

communication modules

213, 223 and input-

output interfaces

214, 224. The

memories

211, 221, which are non-transitory computer-readable recording media, may include permanent mass storage devices (persistent storage devices) such as Random Access Memories (RAMs), Read Only Memories (ROMs), magnetic disk drives, Solid State Drives (SSDs), flash memories (flash memories), and the like. Among them, a permanent mass storage device such as a ROM, SSD, flash memory, or hard disk drive may be provided in the electronic device 110 or the server 150 as a separate permanent storage device different from the

memories

211 and 221. Also, an operating system and at least one program code (as an example, a code required for a browser provided to the electronic device 110 to be driven or an application provided to the electronic device 110 in order to provide a specific service, etc.) may be stored in the

memories

211 and 221. Such software structural elements may be loaded from a separate computer-readable recording medium different from the

memories

211, 221. Such a separate computer-readable recording medium may include a floppy disk drive, an optical disk, a magnetic tape, a DVD/CD-ROM drive, a memory card, and the like computer-readable recording medium. In another embodiment, the software structural elements may also be loaded into the

memories

211, 221 through the

communication modules

213, 223 instead of the computer-readable recording medium. For example, at least one program can be loaded into the

memory

211, 221 on the basis of a computer program (as an example, the above-described application program) set according to a file provided by a developer or a file distribution system (as an example, the above-described server 160) for distributing an application program setting file through the network 170.

The

processors

212, 222 perform basic computations, logic, and input-output operations, configured to process computer program instructions. The instructions may be provided to the

processors

212, 222 through the

memory

211, 221 or the

communication modules

213, 223. For example, the

processors

212 and 222 are configured to execute instructions received from program codes stored in the recording devices such as the

memories

211 and 221.

The

communication modules

213, 223 may provide functionality to enable the electronic device 110 and the server 150 to communicate with each other via the network 170, and may provide functionality to enable the electronic device 110 and/or the server 150 to communicate with other electronic devices (e.g., the electronic device 120) or other servers (e.g., the server 160). As an example, a request generated by the processor 212 of the electronic device 110 according to the program code of the recording apparatus stored in the memory 211 or the like may be forwarded to the server 150 through the network 170 according to the control of the communication module 213. In contrast, control signals or instructions, contents, files, etc., provided according to the control of the processor 222 of the server 150 may be transmitted to the electronic device 110 through the communication module 213 of the electronic device 110 via the communication module 223 and the network 170. For example, the control signal or instruction, the content, the file, etc. of the server 150 received through the communication module 213 may be forwarded to the processor 212 or the memory 211, and the content or the file, etc. may be stored in a storage medium (the above-mentioned permanent storage device) that may also be provided in the electronic device 110.

The input-output interface 214 may be a unit that interfaces with the input-output device 215. For example, the input device may include a keyboard, mouse, microphone, camera, etc., and the output device may include a display, speaker, tactile feedback device, etc. As another example, the input/output interface 214 may also be a unit of a device forming an interface integrated with input and output functions of a touch panel or the like. The input-output device 215 may also be formed as one unit with the electronic apparatus 110. The input/output interface 224 of the server 150 may be a unit connected to the server 150 or forming an interface with a device (not shown) for input or output that may be provided in the server 150. As a more specific example, in the course of the processor 212 of the electronic device 110 processing instructions of the computer program loaded in the memory 211, a service screen or content made up of data provided by the server 150 or the electronic device 120 may be displayed on the display through the input-output interface 214.

Also, in other embodiments, the electronic device 110 and the server 150 may further include more structural elements than those in fig. 2. However, most of the prior art structural elements need not be explicitly shown. For example, the electronic device 110 may include at least a part of the input/output device 215 or may further include other components such as a transceiver (transceiver), a Global Positioning System (GPS) module, a camera, various sensors, and a database. More specifically, when the electronic device 110 is a smartphone, the electronic device 110 may further include various components such as an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor, a camera module, various physical keys, keys using a touch panel, an input/output port, and a vibrator for vibration, which are generally provided in a smartphone.

Embodiments of a method and system for collecting unanswered messages are described below.

In this specification, an unanswered message may mean an unanswered (reply) message among received messages.

Also, the dialog window may mean an interface screen for providing messages transmitted and received between users, and for example, representative examples of the dialog window are an interface screen for displaying messages received through a communication session set between accounts of a plurality of users in instant messaging software or Social Network Service (SNS), an interface screen for displaying messages transmitted and received with respect to a phone number to and from a corresponding phone number party in a text function such as Short Message Service (SMS) or Multimedia Message Service (MMS), and the like.

In the following, a description will be given of a conversation window of instant messaging software as a specific example, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and any interface based on a conversation generated based on an account, a telephone number, or the like of a user can be applied to the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a diagram showing an example of structural elements that can be provided to a processor of an electronic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and fig. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of a method that can be executed by the electronic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The electronic device 110 of the present embodiment may be provided with an unanswered message collection system embodied by a computer. As an example, the unanswered message collection system may be embodied in a program form that operates independently or may be configured in an in-application (in-app) form of a specific application program to be operable in the specific application program, and may provide a messaging service by being linked with the server 150 according to circumstances.

Based on instructions provided by an application program provided at the electronic device 110, the unanswered message collection system in the electronic device 110 may perform the unanswered message collection method shown in fig. 4.

In order to perform the unanswered message collection method of fig. 4, as shown in fig. 3, the processor 212 of the electronic device 110 may include a message selection part 310, a message collection part 320, and a message processing part 330 as structural elements. According to an embodiment, the structural elements of the processor 212 may be selectively disposed in the processor 212 or excluded from the processor 212. Also, according to an embodiment, in order to embody the function of the processor 212, the structural elements of the processor 212 may be further separated or combined.

Such a processor 212 and the structural elements of the processor 212 can control the electronic device 110 in such a manner that the respective steps S410, S420, S430, S440 of the unanswered message collection method in fig. 4 are performed. For example, the processor 212 and the structural elements of the processor 212 may be embodied in a manner that instructions (instructions) based on the code of an operating system and the code of at least one program may be executed.

Among other things, the plurality of structural elements of the processor 212 may be representations of different functions (differential functions) of the processor 212 that are executed by the processor 212 according to instructions provided by program code stored in the electronic device 110 (as an example, instructions provided by an application program driven at the electronic device 110). For example, the message selection unit 310 may be used to control the functional performance of the processor 212 of the electronic device 110 in accordance with the instruction described above so that the electronic device 110 selects a message.

In step S410, the processor 212 may read a desired instruction from the memory 211 loaded with instructions related to the control of the electronic device 110. In this case, the read above-mentioned instructions may include instructions for controlling the processor 212 to execute steps S420, S430, and S440, which will be described below.

The instant messaging software displays information related to unread messages through a flag (flag) or the like for indicating the number of messages unread by the user, and if the user enters a conversation window, the unread messages included in the conversation window are treated as read messages in a unified manner.

If all messages in the conversation window are processed as read, information related to the unread messages is not displayed, and thus the user cannot be reminded of the messages. In particular, once a message to be replied is also read, it is not possible to recall the message thereafter.

Therefore, in the present invention, a message with a high possibility of reply for the user is selected from among received messages, that is, a function of selecting a message to be replied to which the user can remember is provided.

In step S420, the message selection part 310 selects a specific message (hereinafter, referred to as a "reply required message") according to the reply possibility of the user of the electronic device 110 among the messages received through the conversation window. The message selection part 310 may specify a reply-required message, which is expected to be possible for the user of the electronic device 110 to reply, among messages received through the one-to-talk window or the group chat window.

Fig. 5 shows an example of a process of selecting a message to reply.

As an example, in step S501, the message selection part 310 may select a message in the form of a question as a reply required message by performing sentence analysis on the received message. In other words, the message selection unit 310 can select a message formed of a sentence in question form by sentence analysis using natural language processing (natural language processing). For example, a message to be replied to may be selected by extracting an article of a question structure from a received message, an article having a specific symbol such as a question mark (.

As still another example, in step S502, the message selection part 310 may select messages that are continuously received from the same conversation object as the reply-required messages. When the same conversation object continuously transmits more than a predetermined number of messages, it is determined that the user needs to reply, and at least one message (for example, the message received first or last) of the continuously received messages may be selected as the message to be replied.

As another example, in step S503, the message selection part 310 may select a message containing a specific tag from the received messages as a reply required message. For example, the message selection section 310 may select a message in which mention (comment) of the user of the specified electronic device 110 occurs as a reply-required message using the tag @. In addition to utilizing a reference to a tag, a message containing a name (e.g., name, foreign number, etc.) for representing a user of the electronic device 110 may also be selected. As yet another example, a message may also be selected that contains a word or sentence set by the user in the settings associated with the message to be replied to. For example, in a case where the user sets "line shopping" for his or her own responsibility in the message-to-be-replied-to-message setting, a message including the word "online shopping" may be selected as the message to be replied to.

As still another example, in step S504, the message selection unit 310 selects a received message of a conversation window having the highest priority or a priority level equal to or higher than a set level as a reply required message using the priority level of the user of the electronic device 110 for each conversation window. The priority of each dialog window can be determined based on the degree of use based on the degree of dialog participation of the user, and the degree of use of the dialog window can be grasped by the dialog records included in the dialog window. The score of each dialog window thus calculated can be used to grasp the degree of use required for deciding the priority of each dialog window, for example, how many times or how often the user uses the dialog window or how quickly the user replies, etc., in terms of the score, based on the dialog records contained in the dialog window.

An example of factors that can be used in the score calculation of each dialog window used for grasping the degree of use of the dialog window is shown in fig. 6. As an example of the degree of use, (a) relates to how frequently the user enters the dialog window, and may be calculated by the average number of entries into the dialog window during a prescribed period or the total number of entries into the dialog window during the most recent prescribed period, or the like. As still another example of the degree of use, (b) relates to how long the user stays in the dialog window, and may be calculated by the stay time from the time of entering the dialog window to the time of exiting the dialog window, an average thereof, or the like. As another example of the degree of use, (c) relates to how many times or how frequently the user has conducted conversations in the conversation window, which can be calculated based on the proportion of conversations sent by the user in all conversations sent by the user through all conversation windows of the instant messaging software or the proportion of conversations sent by the user in all conversations in the corresponding conversation window, etc. As another example of the degree of use, (d) relates to how many times the user starts a conversation, and may be calculated by the number of times the user starts a conversation first after a fixed period of time has elapsed after the last conversation, or the proportion of times the user starts a conversation first, or the like. As another example of the degree of use, (e) relates to how frequently the user is mentioned in the dialogue window, which may be calculated by the number of times a tag representing a user's name (e.g., name, foreign number, etc.) appears in the dialogue window, or the like. As another example of the degree of use, (f) relates to how quickly the user replies in the conversation window, which may be calculated by the average speed of the conversation messages the user replies to the received message, or the like. In addition to this, how well the user and the other party have had a conversation, the number of times the multimedia content such as expressions, photos, videos, and the like is used, the degree to which the conversation continues in an uninterrupted manner, and the like can be used as factors for grasping the degree of use of the conversation window. Among the above factors, the degree of use of the dialog window can be grasped by using at least one factor or combining two or more factors. For example, in the dialog windows 1 and 2 in which the user participates, when the total number of times the user has entered the dialog windows 1 and 2 of the user in the last week is 10 times and 25 times, respectively, and the average stay time in the dialog windows 1 and 2 is 10.2 minutes and 1.6 minutes, respectively, the message selection unit 310 can grasp the usage levels of the dialog windows 1 and 2 by calculating the number ((102(10 × 10.2) and 40(25 × 1.6)) obtained by multiplying the total number of times the dialog windows have entered the last week by the average stay time.

The message selection unit 310 can select a received message of a conversation window having a high priority as a reply required message based on the priority based on the degree of use of each conversation window by the user.

Further, the message selecting unit 310 may extract a main conversation topic in the corresponding conversation window based on the previous conversation history included in the conversation window, and select the received message in the corresponding conversation window as the reply required message according to whether the user pays attention to the corresponding conversation body. In this case, whether the user pays attention to the conversation topic of the conversation window may be determined according to the proportion of the conversation sent by the user in the total conversation of the corresponding conversation window, the average speed of the conversation sent by the user to the received message, or the like. For the group chat conversation window, the message to be replied may be selected based on whether or not the other conversation objects except the user reply or a reply ratio, and for example, a message to be replied to a certain ratio or more of the conversation objects in the conversation window may be selected as the message to be replied.

The message selection unit 310 may extract at least one conversation topic of interest to the user based on all conversation records transmitted by the user in all conversation windows of the instant messenger, or may select a message having a content related to a conversation topic of interest to the user among received messages in a conversation window as a reply required message.

The main dialog topic of the dialog window or the focused dialog topic of the user can be extracted by using a known topic analysis method such as a Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) methodology for extracting a subject in an article.

The message selection unit 310 may determine whether or not a new message belongs to a reply required message each time a new message is received, or may periodically select a reply required message for each predetermined period with a message received in the corresponding period as an object.

The message selection unit 310 may select the reply required message by combining two or more of the methods (S501 to 504), and according to the embodiment, may select the reply required message by one or more of the methods (S501 to 504) so as to be different between the one-to-one conversation window and the group chat conversation window according to the characteristics of the conversation windows.

Referring back to fig. 4, in step S430, the message collection part 320 may collect, as an unanswered message, a message that the user of the electronic device 110 does not reply within a prescribed time period after the time point of receiving the corresponding message, among the messages to reply that have been selected in step S420. That is, after receiving the message x, if the message y is input by the user of the electronic device 110 within the n time period, the message y is determined as a reply message to the message x, and if the message y is input by the user of the electronic device 110 after the n time period, the message y may be determined as a new dialogue message unrelated to the message x. In other words, in a case where the user does not reply within n time periods after receiving the message to be replied, the message collection part 320 may collect the corresponding message to be replied as an unanswered message.

The conversation Database (DB) on the instant messenger may store and maintain messages transmitted or received through the instant messenger, and may include information on the conversation Database (DB) about the reply required message identified at step S420. Fig. 7 shows a message management table, and referring to fig. 7, by determining whether (Y/N) belongs to the reply required message 702 for each message, it is possible to store the message identification number (msg.no)701 assigned to each message. In this case, as shown in fig. 7, the message management table may manage all messages sent and received by the user including the sent message (e.g., msg.no 12346), and although not shown, may also manage only messages received by the user of

msg.nos

12345, 12347, 12348, and the like. Referring back to fig. 7, the message management table may be managed by additionally storing an identification number 703 of a message inputted by a user in a reply within N time period together with whether (Y/N) belongs to the message to be replied 702. If multiple messages are sent within n times after receiving a message to be replied, the identification number of one of the messages (e.g., the first message or the last message) or all the identification numbers of the messages may be stored as the identification number 703 of the reply message. Although not shown, as another example, instead of the identification number 703 of the message input by the user in reply within N time periods, it may be stored whether (Y/N) exists within N time periods. The message management table shown in fig. 7 is shown in a manner of also storing information related to a reply message, but may manage only the received message identification number and whether (Y/N) a reply required message 702 belongs to each message, without having the identification number belonging to the reply message and/or the reply message as a separate form factor. The message collection unit 320 may classify, as an unanswered message, a message that belongs to a message to be replied to (Y) but is determined not to have a corresponding reply message among the received messages stored in the conversation database of the instant messenger software, and collect the unanswered message. For example, the message collection unit 320 may classify the message identification number (msg.no 12347) belonging to the (Y) reply required message but not recording the identification number of the corresponding reply message as an unanswered message and collect the unanswered message.

In the above, the manner of automatically selecting the message to be replied and collecting the non-replied message in the message to be replied is described, and besides, a manual manner of directly selecting the message in the dialog window by the user of the electronic device 110 to collect the message selected by the user as the non-replied message may be adopted. When the user cannot directly reply at the time point when the user receives the message, the message to be replied to later can be directly set as an unanswered message by reminding.

In step S440, the message processing unit 330 can process the message collected as the unanswered message in the instant messaging software so as to be distinguished from other messages. For example, the message processing unit 330 may provide the message list collected as the unanswered message through a separate interface different from an interface for transmitting and receiving messages on the instant messenger. For example, referring to fig. 8, an interface screen (e.g., a friend directory screen, a dialog window directory screen, an environment setting screen, etc.) 800 of the instant messaging software may include an unanswered (unanswered) menu 801 for confirming an unanswered message.

In the case where the user selects the unanswered menu 801 in the instant messenger interface screen 800, as shown in fig. 9, a message directory 910 collected as an unanswered message may be provided through a separate page from a conversation window. The message processing unit 330 may provide a message list 910 in which messages are arranged based on the message reception time, and support search functions such as a dialogue window search and a keyword search with the message list 910 as an object. Also, a list of messages collected as unanswered messages in each conversation window may be provided for each conversation window.

Referring to fig. 9, the message list 910 is not only a list for listing messages collected as unanswered messages by an automatic collection method, but also a list for listing messages collected as unanswered messages by a manual collection method, and each item of the message list 910 may have a conversation window name 901 containing a message, at least a part of a content 902 of a message, a deletion menu 903 for deleting a message from the message list 910, and the like.

In the case where the user selects a specific message in the message directory 910, the message processing part 330 may move to a dialog window containing the selected message. For example, if message x "is selected in message directory 910 for confirmation of the contents? ", as shown in fig. 10, it may move to conversation window a (reference numeral 1000) containing message x (reference numeral 1001). In this case, when moving to a specific conversation window through the message directory 910, the message processing section 330 can display the unanswered message so as to be distinguished from other messages within the corresponding conversation window. For example, when the conversation window a (reference numeral 1000) is displayed, it is scrolled in such a manner that the message x (reference numeral 1001) corresponding to the unanswered message selected from the message list 910 is displayed in the center area of the screen, and the message x (reference numeral 1001) can be emphatically displayed. As another example, in order to distinguish the message x (reference numeral 1001) from other messages, a semi-transparent effect of transparent blending (alpha blending) or the like is employed for messages before and after the message x (reference numeral 1001) except the message x (reference numeral 1001) among the messages displayed in the conversation window a (reference numeral 1000), so that the visibility of the message x (reference numeral 1001) can be improved.

Further, the message processing section 330 may provide the menu directory 1100 including a copy menu for copying the message x, a delete menu for deleting the message x from the message directory 910, a reply menu for a user reply to the counterpart who transmitted the message x, a forward menu for forwarding the message x to another conversation object, and the like, in the case where the user selects the message x in the message directory 910.

The user may confirm the unanswered message through a separate interface on the instant messenger, may reply to message x for one of the unanswered messages by moving to conversation window a (reference numeral 1000) containing message x or reply using a reply menu on menu directory 1100. In a state where the message x is selected from the message list 910, if a reply message is input through the reply menu on the conversation window a (reference numeral 1000) including the message x or the menu list 1100, as shown in fig. 12, the message processing section 330 may display the reply message 1202 on the conversation window a (reference numeral 1000) including the message x (reference numeral 1101), in which case the reply message 1202 and the message x (reference numeral 1101) are bundled in one message unit, and may reveal that the reply message 1202 belongs to a reply to the message x (reference numeral 1101).

The unanswered messages contained in the message list 910 can be selectively deleted by the user by using the delete menu 903, and the unanswered messages that the user replies to can be automatically deleted from the message list 910. And, if a preset time (for example, 1 week, etc.) elapses from the time point of collecting the non-reply message as a reference, the non-reply state can be automatically deleted from the message directory 910.

The message processing unit 330 may also be configured to provide a notification of a reminder to the message list 910 collected as an unanswered message at a predetermined cycle or every time a new unanswered message is additionally collected, so as to induce a user to reply to the unanswered message.

While the above description has been made of the case where the unanswered message collection method is executed in the electronic device 110 based on an instruction provided by an application program installed in the electronic device 110, the present invention is not limited thereto, and according to an embodiment, the server 150 may directly execute the unanswered message collection method on the server 150 side in conjunction with the application program installed in the electronic device 110.

Specifically, in order to perform all or a part of the method for collecting the unanswered messages shown in fig. 4, in the server 150, the processor 222 of the server 150 may include a message selecting part, a message collecting part, and a message processing part. According to an embodiment, the message selecting part, the message collecting part and the message processing part may be selectively disposed on the processor 222 or excluded. Also, structural elements of the processor 222 may be split or combined in accordance with embodiments in order to represent functions of the processor 222.

The processor 222 and the components of the processor 222 control the server 150 so as to execute step S420, step S430, and step S440 in fig. 4. For example, the processor 222 and the structural elements of the processor 222 may be embodied in a manner of executing codes of an operating system and instructions based on codes of at least one program included in the memory 221.

The message selection part, the message collection part, and the message processing part provided at the processor 222 of the server 150 perform the steps S420, S430, and S440 of fig. 4 in the same or corresponding manner as the message selection part 310, the message collection part 320, and the message processing part 330 described with reference to fig. 3, and thus detailed description of the structural elements of the processor 222 will be omitted.

Thus, according to the invention, the unanswered messages which are not replied can be selected from the messages which need to be replied for collection, the unanswered messages can be processed in a mode of distinguishing from other messages, and the reminding notice of the unanswered messages is provided, so that the unanswered messages can be accessed more easily.

The devices and components described above may be embodied in hardware components, software components, and/or a combination of hardware components and software components, such as a processor, a controller, an Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU), a digital signal processor (digital signal processor), a microcomputer, a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), a Programmable Logic Unit (PLU), a microprocessor, or any other device that can execute instructions and recover, and the devices and components described in the embodiments may be embodied by using one or more general purpose computers or special purpose computers. The processing device may run an Operating System (OS) and one or more software applications running on the OS. Also, the processing device may access, store, manipulate, process, and generate data in response to the execution of the software. For ease of understanding, there is a case where one processing device is used, but one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that a processing device may include a plurality of processing elements (processing elements) and/or various types of processing elements. For example, the processing device may include multiple processors or a processor and a controller. Further, another processing configuration (processing configuration) such as a parallel processor (parallel processor) can be realized.

The software may include a computer program (computer program), code, instructions (instructions), or a combination of one or more of them, may configure the processing device to be operable on demand, or may send instructions to the processing device independently or collectively (collectively). The software and/or data may be embodied in any type of machine, component, physical device, computer storage medium, or device for interpretation by or to provide instructions or data to a processing device. The software is distributed on computer systems connected by a network, and can be stored or operated by a distributed method. The software and data may be stored in more than one computer-readable recording medium.

The method in the embodiments is embodied in the form of program instructions that can be executed by various computer units and recorded in a computer-readable recording medium. In this case, the medium may be a medium that continuously stores a program executable by the computer or that temporarily stores for execution or download. The medium may be a single or a combination of a plurality of hardware, and may be various recording units or storage units, and is not limited to a medium directly connected to a computer system, and may be distributed over a network. Examples of the medium include magnetic media such as a hard disk, a flexible disk, and a magnetic tape, photo-lithographic recording media such as a compact disc-read only memory (CD-ROM) and a Digital Versatile Disc (DVD), magneto-optical media such as a floptical disk (floptical disk), and media capable of storing program instructions such as a read only memory, a random access memory, and a flash memory. Examples of the other media include an application store that provides an application program, a website that provides various other software, and a recording medium or a storage medium that performs processing on a server or the like.

While the embodiments of the present invention have been described with reference to the limited embodiments and the accompanying drawings, those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains will be able to effect various modifications and changes in light of the above description. For example, the techniques described may be performed in a different order than the methods described, or components of the systems, structures, devices, circuits, etc. described may be combined or assembled in a different manner than the methods described, or other components may be substituted or substituted with other components or equivalent technical solutions to achieve suitable results.

Therefore, other embodiments, other examples, and technical solutions equivalent to the scope of the present invention also belong to the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. An unanswered message collection method, executed in a computer system,

the computer system includes at least one processor configured to execute computer-readable instructions contained in a memory,

the method for collecting the messages without reply comprises the following steps:

selecting, by the at least one processor, more than one of the received messages as a message to be replied based on a reply likelihood based on a user of the computer system;

a collecting step, wherein the message which is judged to be not sent with the corresponding reply in the message to be replied is collected as an unanswered message through the at least one processor; and

a processing step of processing, by the at least one processor, the unanswered message in a manner that is differentiated from other messages.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the selecting step selects at least one of the following messages as the message to be replied:

judging an article belonging to a question form or a message containing a specific symbol or word by article sentence analysis using natural language processing;

at least one message among a prescribed number or more of messages received continuously from the same object;

a message containing a specific tag or a term representing a user of the computer system; and

more than one message received from more than one dialogue window determined based on the priority based on the usage degree of each dialogue window.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the usage level of each dialog window is determined by calculating at least one of the number of user entries, the stay time, the dialog ratio, the number of dialog starts, the number of mentions, and the average reply speed of the computer system for each dialog window.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said selecting step comprises the steps of: selecting a message related to the extracted topic in the received messages as the message to be replied on the basis of at least one of a topic extracted from a conversation record contained in a conversation window related to the received message and a topic extracted from a conversation record transmitted by a user of the computer system.

5. The method for collecting replied messages according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the collecting step comprises the steps of: and if the user of the computer system does not send any message within a specified time period after the time point of receiving the message needing to be replied, judging the message needing to be replied as the message not needing to be replied.

6. The method for collecting replied messages according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the collecting step comprises the steps of: collecting messages selected directly by a user of the computer system among the received messages as the unanswered messages.

7. The method for collecting replied messages according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the processing step comprises the steps of: providing an unanswered message catalog relating to the unanswered messages through a separate interface different from a conversation interface used for messaging.

8. The method of collecting unanswered messages according to claim 7, wherein said processing step comprises the steps of: and if a specific message is selected from the list of the messages which are not replied, moving to a conversation window containing the specific message, and displaying the specific message and other messages in a mode of distinguishing the specific message from the other messages in the conversation window.

9. The method for collecting replied messages according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the processing step comprises the steps of: and providing a reminding notice to the non-replied message according to a specified period or each time a new message is added.

10. A readable recording medium characterized in that a program for executing the non-reply message collection method according to any one of claims 1 to 9 on a computer is recorded.

11. A computer system, characterized in that,

including at least one processor configured in a manner to execute computer-readable instructions contained in memory,

the at least one processor comprises:

a message selection unit that selects one or more messages among the received messages as messages to be replied based on a reply possibility by a user of the computer system;

a message collecting part for collecting the message which is judged not to send the corresponding reply in the message to be replied as the non-replied message; and

and a message processing unit that processes the unanswered message so as to be distinguished from other messages.

12. The computer system according to claim 11, wherein the message selection section selects at least one of the following messages as the message to be replied:

13. The computer system according to any one of claims 11 to 12, wherein the message selection section selects a message related to the extracted subject from among the received messages as the reply-required message based on at least one of a subject extracted from a conversation record included in a conversation window related to the received message and a subject extracted from a conversation record transmitted from a user of the computer system.

14. The computer system according to any one of claims 11 to 13, wherein the message collection section judges the message to be replied as the unanswered message if the user of the computer system does not send any message within a prescribed time period after the time point of receiving the message to be replied.

15. The computer system according to any one of claims 11 to 14, wherein the message processing section provides an unanswered message catalog relating to the unanswered message through a separate interface different from a conversation interface for sending and receiving messages.

16. The computer system according to any one of claims 11 to 15, wherein the message processing section provides a reminder notification to the unanswered message.