Inbox Parsing Engine for Email Offer Extraction

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Solution Overview

Problem

Users face difficulties in managing and discovering email marketing offers due to high volumes of emails, leading to frustration and potential loss of interested offers and customers, as they must manually sift through numerous emails to find relevant deals.

Innovation Solution

A marketplace-like presentation system that parses and extracts offers from electronic mail, using an inbox parsing and extractor engine to flag and extract key information such as offer images, URLs, prices, and expiration dates, presenting them in a user-friendly interface, allowing users to browse and transact on offers more conveniently.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of operation

If users manually sift through numerous email marketing offers, then they can find relevant deals, but it becomes difficult and frustrating due to high email volumes

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveease of finding offersVSAvoidtime to sift through emails
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system extracts offer information from email content and presents it in a simplified marketplace interface, separating the essential offer details from the full email context. This extraction reduces the time users spend sifting through emails while maintaining access to relevant deal information.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces an intermediary system that sits between the email inbox and the user, automatically parsing emails and presenting offer information in a consolidated marketplace view. This intermediary eliminates the need for users to manually open and review each email while still providing access to all offer details.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Loss of information

If users open each individual email to read about offers, then they can discover deals, but the volume of emails makes this process frustrating

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvediscovery of offersVSAvoidprocess of reviewing emails
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of informationVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The system segments offer information from email content and organizes it into distinct, browsable units in a marketplace interface. This segmentation allows users to view offer details without navigating through full email threads, making the discovery process easier while preventing information loss.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent transforms the one-dimensional email inbox view into a multi-dimensional marketplace interface where offers are organized by category, price, and relevance. This dimensional change allows users to discover offers through multiple navigation paths without manually opening each email.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

3Loss of time

If users quickly dismiss emails based on subject lines, then they can reduce time spent, but they may miss interesting offers embedded within

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvetime reviewing emailsVSAvoidmissed offers
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of timeVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary parsing and analysis of email content to identify and extract offer information before the user needs to review it. This preliminary action ensures that no offers are missed while minimizing the time users spend reviewing emails, as all offers are pre-processed and organized for quick browsing.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

4Ease of operation

If users unsubscribe from email marketing offers to reduce frustration, then they receive fewer emails, but merchants lose potential customers

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveemail managementVSAvoidcustomer conversion
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces an intermediary marketplace system that consolidates email offers into a single, easy-to-navigate interface. This intermediary maintains the connection between users and merchants by providing a streamlined way to access offers, preventing user frustration and unsubscribe behavior while preserving customer conversion opportunities.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The system provides multiple functions in a single interface: browsing offers, comparing deals, and accessing merchant information. This multi-functionality consolidates what would otherwise require multiple email openings into one unified view, improving ease of operation while maintaining high conversion potential.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Data Source

PatentUS10719845B2Marketplace-like presentation system
Publication Date: 2020.07.21 PAYPAL INC
  • US10719845B2 patent drawing
  • US10719845B2 patent drawing
  • US10719845B2 patent drawing

AI summary

Systems and methods for providing a marketplace-like presentation system include a system provider device that receives, through communication over a network with a user device, a request to create a marketplace-like presentation system account. The system provider device may then provide a means for parsing and extracting information (e.g., in the form of an inbox parsing and extractor engine) from email marketing offers in a user webmail account, wherein the means for parsing and extracting interfaces a webmail provider including the user webmail account and a user interface (UI) application, and wherein the means for parsing and extracting extracts information from the email marketing offers. Thereafter, the system provider device may present a marketplace-like interface view displayed via the UI application, wherein the marketplace-like interface view includes at least one listing having the extracted offer information.