Name composition assistance in messaging applications

Abstract

A method includes identifying, at an electronic device a candidate name responsive to user input indicating a salutational trigger during composition of a body of a message of a messaging application. Identifying the candidate name including at least one of: parsing a recipient-specific portion of a recipient message address of the message; parsing a display name associated with the recipient message address; parsing a content of the message body; parsing an attachment name associated with an attachment field of the message; identifying the candidate name from a contact record selected from a contacts database based on a recipient-specific portion of a recipient message address of the message; and parsing user-readable content of an application from which composition of the message was triggered. The method further includes facilitating composition of a recipient name in the body of the message based on the candidate name.

1 . A method comprising:
 receiving, by one or more processors, information regarding composition of an electronic message;   identifying, by the one or more processors, a candidate textual element based on an external message context, the external message context including contextual information not directly derived from fields of the electronic message, the contextual information being associated with at least one of a contact database or a messaging application; and   presenting the candidate textual element in a selected one of the fields of the electronic message.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising determining the external message context. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein presenting the candidate textual element in the selected field is done via automated completion of a text string. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein presenting the candidate textual element via automated completion of the text string includes differentiating one or more characters of the text string by using at least one of a visual indicator or a text type. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 identifying, by the one or more processors, an input textual element in a first field of the electronic message;   wherein presenting the candidate textual element in the selected field of the electronic message occurs in a different field than the first field.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising determining, by the one or more processors, an internal message context in response to identifying the input textual element. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the external message context comprises a contact record of a recipient that is indirectly accessed using information from the internal message context. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the contacts database is stored by a client device. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying the candidate textual element includes parsing content of the external message context to identify individual words or combinations or words that are predicted to represent selected words. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying the candidate textual element includes parsing content of the external message context and using the parsed content to perform a lookup to identify a corresponding candidate textual element. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying the candidate textual element includes applying one or more prioritization rules to a set of candidate textual elements. 
     
     
         12 . A method comprising:
 identifying, by one or more processors, a candidate name based on an external message context of an electronic message, the external message context including contextual information not directly obtained from fields of an electronic message being composed, the contextual information being associated with at least one of a contact database or a messaging application; and   automatically presenting, via the messaging application, the identified candidate name in a selected field of the electronic message.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising:
 adding the candidate name to a database;   wherein automatically presenting the candidate name includes presenting the candidate name from the database in the selected field of the electronic message.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising:
 identifying a salutation trigger;   wherein identifying the candidate name is performed in response to identifying the salutation trigger.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein:
 the salutation trigger includes an initial set of letters of a word expected to be a recipient's name.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein identifying the candidate name includes evaluating priority among multiple candidate names based on a candidate name that most closely matches the initial set of letters. 
     
     
         17 . A system to provide name composition assistance in a messaging application, the system comprising one or more processors configured to:
 receive information regarding composition of an electronic message;   identify a candidate textual element based on an external message context, the external message context including contextual information not directly derived from fields of the electronic message, the contextual information being associated with at least one of a contact database or a messaging application; and   present, via the messaging application, the candidate textual element in a selected one of the fields of the electronic message.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein presentation of the candidate textual element in the selected field is done via automated completion of a text string. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein presentation of the candidate textual element via automated completion of the text string includes differentiation of one or more characters of the text string by using at least one of a visual indicator or a text type. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
 identify an input textual element in a first field in the electronic message;   wherein presentation of the candidate textual element in the selected field of the electronic message occurs in a different field than the first field.