Smart Reply and Draft Roaming for Email Systems

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing email systems face challenges in efficiently synchronizing data between client devices and servers, particularly when upgrading from one synchronization mechanism to another, which can be time-consuming and disrupt user experience.

Innovation Solution

The implementation of a smart reply system that allows users to reply to emails without downloading the full content, combined with a draft roaming system that enables access to draft emails across different devices, and a synchronization system that seamlessly switches between different protocols, minimizing disruption.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If the service synchronizes all application data when upgrading from the first synchronization mechanism to the second synchronization mechanism, then the upgrade can be completed successfully, but the synchronization process takes a great deal of time and causes disruption in the user experience

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveupgrade completionVSAvoidsynchronization time
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the synchronization process by identifying and separating already-synchronized data from unsynchronized data. The system divides the data synchronization task into portions: data synchronized with the first mechanism is excluded from re-synchronization, while only the remaining unsynchronized data is synchronized with the second mechanism. This segmentation dramatically reduces the total synchronization time during protocol upgrades.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

2Ease of operation

If the user downloads the full content of an e-mail message including large attachments to generate a reply, then the user can access all message content, but the download time and data usage increase significantly

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvemessage accessVSAvoiddownload time
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts only the necessary portion of the e-mail message content (the text body) that the user needs to generate a reply, while leaving the full content (including large attachments) on the server. The smart reply system allows users to work with the extracted text portion locally, and when sending the reply, the system automatically retrieves only the specific attachment data needed from the server, rather than downloading the entire message content.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

3Productivity

If the service maintains full e-mail messages and attachments on the server for smart reply, then users can reply without downloading full content, but the server must manage and retrieve specific data portions efficiently

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvereply generation speedVSAvoidserver data management
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by pre-processing e-mail messages into separable components (text body and attachment data) and storing them in an organized manner on the server. When a user initiates a smart reply, the system has already prepared the message structure, allowing it to quickly extract and transmit only the necessary text portion to the client and retrieve only the specific attachment data needed for the reply, without requiring complex real-time data manipulation.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentEP3535934B1E-mail with smart reply and roaming drafts
Publication Date: 2025.04.16 MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING LLC
  • EP3535934B1 patent drawingFigure 1A
  • EP3535934B1 patent drawingFigure 1B
  • EP3535934B1 patent drawingFigure 2

AI summary

An electronic mail computing system has a smart reply system that that enables a smart reply feature that surfaces a user input mechanism that allows a user to reply to an e-mail message without downloading full content of the e-mail message to the user's client computing system. A draft roaming system interacts with the client computing system to allow a plurality of different user devices to access a draft electronic mail message, and interacts with the smart reply system so a draft can be generated using the smart reply feature.