Cross-application service-driven contextual messages

• US 10,447,828 B2
• Filed: 03/01/2016
• Issued: 10/15/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Vaidyanathan, Priya, Hoogerwerf, Scott, Riscutia, Vlad, Stepanich, Darron J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Thu Ha T
• Application Number:
  US15/058,075
• Publication Number:
  US 20170257459A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,323 Days
• Field of Search: 709203, 709205, 709206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/328 in the presentation layer [OSI layer 6]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to cross-application service-driven dynamic contextual messages. In one aspect, content is retrieved from a server computing device. The content may include at least one rule and at least one contextual message. The content retrieved from the server computing device may be stored. A dynamic background application may detect an action associated with a client application. In response to detecting the action associated with the client application, a contextual message may be identified from the at least one contextual message based on a rule from the at least one rule. The dynamic background application may display the identified contextual message within the client application.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

one or more computer readable storage media;

a processing system operatively coupled with the one or more computer readable storage media; and

applications stored on the one or more computer readable storage media, wherein the applications comprise a background application and client applications, and wherein the background application comprises program instructions that, when executed by the processing system, directs the processing system to at least;

retrieve content from a server computing device, the content comprising rules and contextual messages, where the rules and contextual messages are dynamically applied to the client applications;

store the content retrieved from the server computing device;

detect actions associated with the client applications;

in response to detecting an action of the actions associated with a one of the client applications, identify a contextual message from the contextual messages that is relevant to the detected action and based on a rule from the rules; and

display the identified contextual message within the one of the client applications.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein to detect the actions associated with the client applications, the program instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the processing system to receive a signal from the one of the client applications when the action occurs.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein to detect the actions associated with the client applications, the program instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the processing system to monitor the client applications for an occurrence of the actions.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the background application is independent of the client applications.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the action includes at least one of launching the one of the client applications, opening a file associated with the one of the client applications, saving a file associated with the one of the client applications, sharing a file associated with the one of the client applications, and closing a file associated with the one of the client applications.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the rules are based on at least one of the action of the actions associated with the one of the client applications, a type of client application, and a user behavior associated with the client applications.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the program instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the processing system to retrieve updated content from the server computing device, the updated content comprising at least one updated rule and at least one updated contextual message.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the program instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the processing system to display an updated contextual message from the at least one updated contextual message based on applying a new rule from the at least one updated rule, the new rule indicating the updated contextual message is relevant to a detected action associated with the client applications.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the client applications include at least one of a word processing application, a spreadsheet application, and an electronic slide presentation application.

10. A computer-implemented method for dynamically displaying contextual messages within a client application of a plurality of client applications, the method comprising:

in a background application on a device, retrieving content from a server computing device, the content comprising rules and contextual messages, where the rules and contextual messages are dynamically applied to the plurality of client applications;

in the background application, detecting actions associated with the plurality of client applications;

in the background application, in response to detecting an action of the actions associated with the client application, identifying a contextual message from the contextual messages that is relevant to the detected action and based on a rule from the rules; and

displaying the identified contextual message.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the background application is independent of the client application.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the action includes at least one of launching the client application, opening a file associated with the client application, saving a file associated with the client application, sharing a file associated with the client application, and closing a file associated with the client application.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the rules are based on at least one of the action of the actions associated with the client application, a type of client application, a user behavior associated with the client application.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, further comprising retrieving updated content from the server computing device, the updated content comprising at least one updated rule and at least one updated contextual message.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, further comprising displaying an updated contextual message from the at least one updated contextual message based on applying a new rule from the at least one updated rule, the new rule indicating the updated contextual message is relevant to a detected action associated with the client application.

16. A system comprising:

at least one processor; and

applications, wherein the applications comprise a background application and client applications, and wherein the background application comprises program instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, directs the at least one processor to perform a method for dynamically displaying contextual messages within a client application of the client applications, the method comprising;

retrieving rules and contextual messages from a server computing device, where the rules and contextual messages are dynamically applied to the client applications;

detecting a first occurrence of an action associated with a first client application;

in response to detecting the first occurrence of the action associated with the first client application, displaying one of the contextual messages that is relevant to the detected action and based on a rule from the rules within the first client application;

receiving an updated rule and an updated contextual message from the server computing device;

detecting a second occurrence of the action associated with the first client application; and

in response to detecting the second occurrence of the action associated with the first client application, displaying the updated contextual message that is relevant to the detected action and based on the updated rule within the first client application.

17. The system of claim 16, the method further comprising:

detecting a first occurrence of an action associated with a second client application;

in response to detecting the first occurrence of the action associated with the second client application, displaying a different one of the contextual messages within the second client application based on applying a rule from the rules relevant to the detected first occurrence of the action associated with the second client application.

18. The system of claim 17, the method further comprising:

retrieving a plurality of updated rules and a plurality of updated contextual messages from the server computing device;

detecting a second occurrence of the action associated with the second client application; and

in response to detecting the second occurrence of the action associated with the second client application, displaying an updated contextual message from the plurality of updated contextual messages within the second client application based on applying an updated rule from the plurality of updated rules relevant to the detected second occurrence of the action associated with the second client application.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the background application is independent of the second client application.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the background application is independent of the first client application.