Patent ID: 8190477

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving an array that comprises a plurality of values, wherein each value in the array is indicative of a number of occurrences of a word in a message thread over a time period that corresponds to said each value, wherein the plurality of values in the array are arranged based at least in part upon time periods corresponding to the plurality of values; computing, utilizing a processor, a time-dependent variability value for the word based at least in part upon the plurality of values in the array, wherein the time-dependent variability value for the word is indicative of an alteration in frequency of occurrence of the word in the message thread relative to historic frequency of occurrence of the word in the message thread and wherein the processor computes the time-dependent variability value via the following algorithm: p = ∑ 0 N - 2 ⁢ b i , ⁢ where ⁢ ⁢ b i = ⅇ - k ⁢ ⁢ i ⁢ { ( a i - a i + 1 ) ⁢  a i - a i + 1  a i + 1 , a i + 1 > 0 a i , a i + 1 = 0 , where p is the time-dependent variability value, N is a number of values in the array, a i is the ith value in the array, and k is a constant; and highlighting the word in the message thread based at least in part upon the time-dependent variability value for the word.