Techniques for ephemeral messaging with a message queue

• US 10,200,330 B2
• Filed: 12/10/2015
• Issued: 02/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Steiner, Matthew, Fein, Jeremy, Murphy-Chutorian, Erik, Yang, Ting, Bertrand, Pierre-Luc, Fulwiler, Neil John
• Primary Examiner(s): Khan, Aftab N.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hollister, James Ross
• Application Number:
  US14/965,632
• Publication Number:
  US 20170171132A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,153 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/622 Queue service order
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/226 Delivery according to priorities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 7/0337 Selecting between two or more discretely delayed clocks or selecting between two or more discretely delayed received code signals

Abstract

Techniques for ephemeral message are described. In one embodiment, an apparatus may comprise a delayed-action worker module operative to wake according to a wake timer; determine a current update object for a delayed-action cursor for a recipient update queue for a messaging system, the delayed-action cursor associated with an action delay for the recipient update queue; determine a delayed-action activity for the current update object; perform the delay-action activity for the current update object; determine a next update object for the delayed-action cursor for the recipient update queue; and determine a next wake timer for the delayed-action worker module based on the action delay and a creation time for the next update object. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor circuit on a device;

a delayed-action worker module, operative on the processor circuit to;

wake according to a wake timer;

determine a current update object corresponding to an atomic modification to a message inbox for a recipient messaging endpoint in a recipient update queue indicated by a delayed-action cursor, the delayed-action cursor associated with a specific time delay for performing delayed-action activities for the current update object;

determine a delayed-action activity for the current update object;

perform the delayed-action activity for the current update object;

determine a next update object for the delayed-action cursor for the recipient update queue by scanning chronologically forwards through the recipient update queue until the next update object with a delayed-action indicator corresponding to the specific time delay associated with the delayed-action cursor is found;

associate the delayed-action cursor with the next update object; and

determine a next wake time for the delayed-action worker module based on the specific time delay associated with the delayed-action cursor and a creation time for the next update object;

wherein the specific time delay is selected from a pre-defined set of time delays, each time delay in the predefined set being unique time delay, such as to constrain the total number of delayed-action cursors by associating only one delayed-action cursor with each unique time delay.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the delayed-action activity comprises adding a message-delete command object to the recipient update queue.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the delayed-action activity comprises sending an automated reply to the current update object, further comprising:

the delayed-action worker module operative to determine that the current update object hasn'"'"'t been manually replied to prior to sending the automated reply.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the delayed-action cursor is associated with a delayed-action queue associated with the specific time delay, wherein determining the next update object for the delayed-action cursor for the recipient update queue comprises retrieving the next update object from the delayed-action queue.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, the current update object comprising a read receipt for a message, wherein the delayed-action activity comprises adding a message-delete command object for the message to the recipient update queue.

11. The apparatus of claim 2, the specific time delay defined according to an ephemeral-messaging setting for a message thread of the messaging system.

13. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising:

the delayed-action worker module operative to scan chronologically forwards through the recipient update queue adding update objects to the delayed-action queue where the update objects have a delayed-action indicator corresponding to the specific time delay.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising multiple delayed-action worker modules associated with a recipient update queue for a messaging system.

6. At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a system to:

wake a delayed-action worker according to a wake timer;

determine a current update object corresponding to an atomic modification to a message inbox for a recipient messaging endpoint in a recipient update queue indicated by a delayed-action cursor associated with a specific time delay for performing delayed-action activities for the current update object;

determine a delayed-action activity for the current update object;

perform the delayed-action activity for the current update object;

determine a next update object for the delayed-action cursor for the recipient update queue by scanning chronologically forwards through the recipient update queue until the next update object with a delayed-action indicator corresponding to the specific time delay associated with the delayed-action cursor is found;

associate the delayed-action cursor with the next update object; and

determine a next wake time for the delayed-action worker based on the specific time delay associated with the delay-action cursor and a creation time for the next update object

wherein the specific time delay is selected from a pre-defined set of time delays, each time delay in the predefined set being unique time delay, such as to constrain the total number of delayed-action cursors by associating only one delayed-action cursor with each unique time delay.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the delayed-action activity comprises adding a message-delete command object to the recipient update queue.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the delayed-action activity comprises sending an automated reply to the current update object, comprising further instructions that, when executed, cause a system to:

determine that the current update object hasn'"'"'t been manually replied to prior to sending the automated reply.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the delayed-action cursor is associated with a delayed-action queue associated with the specific time delay, wherein determining the next update object for the delayed-action cursor for the recipient update queue comprises retrieving the next update object from the delayed-action queue.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, the current update object comprising a read receipt for a message, wherein the delayed-action activity comprises adding a message-delete command object for the message to the recipient update queue.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, the specific time delay defined according to an ephemeral-messaging setting for a message thread of the messaging system.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, comprising further instructions that, when executed, cause a system to:

scan chronologically forwards through the recipient update queue adding update objects to the delayed-action queue where the update objects have a delayed-action indicator corresponding to the specific time delay.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, the delayed-action worker modules further operative on the processor circuit to:

lock the recipient update queue prior to performing the delayed-action activity for the current update object; and

unlock the recipient update queue subsequent to performing the next delayed-action activity for the current update object.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6 further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a system to wake multiple delayed-action workers associated with a recipient update queue in a messaging system.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the delayed-action worker modules to:

lock the recipient update queue prior to performing the delayed-action activity for the current update object; and

unlock the recipient update queue subsequent to performing the next delayed-action activity for the current update object.