Condensing Email Threads via Duplicate Content Removal
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Solution Overview
Problem
Large communications threads often repeat text, making them cumbersome to manage, requiring significant storage space, and potentially leading to storage capacity issues that lock users out of their email accounts.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method that identifies and removes duplicate content from communications threads, retaining one instance and storing additional instances with reference links, thereby condensing the thread and reducing storage needs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If repeated content is retained in communications threads, then information completeness is maintained, but thread size and storage requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a condensed copy of repeated content and stores references to it. Instead of keeping multiple full copies of repeated text in the thread, the system stores a single condensed version and uses references/links to represent the other instances, thereby reducing thread size while preserving information accessibility
Solution Approach 2:
The patent embeds reference links within the condensed thread that point to the full repeated content. The reference acts as a nested container that provides access to the complete information when needed, allowing the thread to maintain information completeness through nested reference structures
2Quantity of substance
If repeated content is removed from communications threads, then storage space is reduced, but information accessibility deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces reference links as intermediary elements that connect the condensed thread to the full repeated content. These references act as mediators that allow users to access complete information without the repeated content being physically present in the thread, thus reducing storage while maintaining accessibility
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a condensed copy that includes references to the full content rather than the full content itself. This copying approach allows storage reduction while preserving the ability to retrieve complete information through the reference mechanism
3Ease of operation
If communications threads are condensed, then ease of management is improved, but thread complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts repeated content from multiple locations in the thread and consolidates it into a single instance. This extraction process simplifies the thread structure by removing redundancy, making the thread easier to manage and navigate despite the added condensing mechanism
Data Source
AI summary
A computer implemented method and system for condensing a communications thread which includes monitoring, using a computer, a communications thread. Multiple instances of a repeated portion of content of the communications thread are identified. One instance of the repeated portion of content of the communications thread is retained. One or more additional instances of the repeated portion of content is removed and stored. A reference link in the communications thread is associated to the repeated portion of content. The communications thread is condensed, wherein the condensed communications thread includes the one instance of the repeated portion of content, and the reference link.