System, method, and storage medium for hierarchical management of mobile device notifications

• US 10,172,141 B2
• Filed: 02/02/2017
• Issued: 01/01/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hwang, Inseok, Liu, Su, Rozner, Eric J., Sze, Chin Ngai
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Congvan
• Application Number:
  US15/423,363
• Publication Number:
  US 20180220427A1
• Time in Patent Office: 698 Days
• Field of Search: 455450, 455512, 455518
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements

Abstract

A system includes a notification controller including one or more processors, and a memory storing code that is executable by the notification controller to determine a context for a plurality of mobile devices. The system further determines, for the context, a hierarchical ranking for the plurality of mobile devices, wherein a first mobile device of the plurality of mobile devices is higher-ranked than at least one second mobile device of the plurality of mobile devices, and communicates a command selected by a higher-ranked first mobile device to modify one or more notification settings of the at least one second mobile device that is lower-ranked than the first mobile device. Methods and a program product corresponding to the system are also included.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a notification controller comprising one or more processors; and

a memory storing code that is executable by the notification controller to;

determine a context for a plurality of mobile devices;

determine, for the context, a hierarchical ranking for the plurality of mobile devices wherein a first mobile device of the plurality of mobile devices is higher-ranked than at least one second mobile device of the plurality of mobile devices; and

communicate a command selected by the higher-ranked first mobile device to modify a detectability of one or more notification settings of the at least one second mobile device that is lower-ranked than the first mobile device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the code is further executable to modify a magnitude of the detectability of the one or more notification settings.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the notification controller determines the hierarchical ranking based on a predetermined relationship between a first user that uses the higher-ranked first mobile device and second users that each use one of the at least one second mobile devices.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the predetermined relationship of the first user and the second users is selected from the group consisting of a management-employee relationship, a presenter-audience relationship, a teacher-student relationship, supervisor-supervisee relationship, and a proprietor-guest relationship.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the code is further executable by the notification controller to:

alter the command to modify the one or more notification settings in response to determining that a notification from the at least one second mobile device falls below a predetermined threshold of detectability at the higher-ranked mobile device that selects the command.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the notification controller alters the command to modify the one or more notification settings to include an optimized volume setting for the context.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the command to modify the one or more notification settings includes one or more notification settings selected from the group consisting of notification volume, notification brightness, and notification vibration.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the code is further executable by the notification controller to:

provide the command for selection by the higher-ranked first mobile device based on current notification settings of one or more mobile devices of the plurality of mobile devices meeting a predetermined condition.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the predetermined condition is met by a majority of the plurality of mobile devices within the context having a predetermined selection of notification settings in common.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the context comprises one or more of a venue location, an event type, a distance between the higher-ranked first mobile device and the at least one second mobile device, a venue lighting status, user activity, and a venue background noise level.

11. A method comprising:

determining a context for a plurality of mobile devices;

determining, for the context, a hierarchical ranking for the plurality of mobile devices wherein a first mobile device of the plurality of mobile devices is higher-ranked than at least one second mobile device of the plurality of mobile devices; and

communicating a command selected by the higher-ranked first mobile device to modify a detectability of one or more notification settings of the at least one second mobile device that is lower-ranked than the first mobile device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein modifying the detectability of the one or more notification settings includes modifying a magnitude of the detectability of the one or more notification settings.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining the hierarchical ranking based on a predetermined relationship between a first user that uses the higher-ranked first mobile device and second users that each use one of the at least one second mobile devices.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the predetermined relationship of the first user and the second users is selected from the group consisting of a management-employee relationship, a presenter-audience relationship, a teacher-student relationship, supervisor-supervisee relationship, and a proprietor-guest relationship.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

altering the command to modify the one or more notification settings in response to determining that a notification from the at least one second mobile device falls below a predetermined threshold of detectability at the higher-ranked mobile device that selects the command.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the command to modify the one or more notification settings includes one or more notification settings selected from the group consisting of notification volume, notification brightness, and notification vibration.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

providing the command for selection by the higher-ranked first mobile device based on current notification settings of one or more mobile devices of the plurality of mobile devices meeting a predetermined condition.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the predetermined condition is met by a majority of the plurality of mobile devices having a predetermined selection of notification settings in common.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the context comprises one or more of a venue location, an event type, a distance between the higher-ranked first mobile device and the at least one second mobile device, a venue lighting status, user activity, and a venue background noise level.

20. A program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium that stores code executable by one or more processors to perform:

determining a context for a plurality of mobile devices;

determining, for the context, a hierarchical ranking for the plurality of mobile devices wherein a first mobile device of the plurality of mobile devices is higher-ranked than at least one second mobile device of the plurality of mobile devices; and

communicating a command selected by the higher-ranked first mobile device to modify a detectability of one or more notification settings of the at least one second mobile device that is lower-ranked than the first mobile device.