System and method for public consumption of communication events between arbitrary processes

• US 20040194116A1
• Filed: 03/25/2004
• Published: 09/30/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: McKee, Timothy P., Arcuri, Michael P., Sareen, Chaitanya D.
• Granted Patent: US 7,827,561 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/318
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/02 using automatic reactions or user delegation, e.g. automatic replies or chatbot-generated messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2072 Schedules, e.g. personal calendars
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42136 Administration or customisation of services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/537 Arrangements for indicating the presence of a recorded message , whereby the presence information might include a preview or summary of the message

Abstract

A system and method for public consumption of communication events between arbitrary processes. In one embodiment, mechanisms are provided by which the system can effectively act to broker a user'"'"'s communications and thus act as a type of automated assistant. The invention is provided in a notification user context system which determines when it is appropriate or not appropriate to interrupt a user with a notification based on the user'"'"'s context (i.e., availability to interruption). The system provides for processes to be informed when these notification events are occurring, thus allowing the processes to act on these types of events on the user'"'"'s behalf. In one example embodiment, a calendaring program may be a type of process that is registered to be informed when communication events occur. When the calendaring program is informed that a notification from another program (e.g., e-mail, instant messaging, etc.) has been refused due to the user being busy, the calendaring program may evaluate the sender, and if appropriate respond with a customized busy announcement that indicates a time when the user may next be available.

Claims

1. A method for registering a process in a system where communication events occur that are related to notifications, the method comprising:

receiving a message to register a process for communication events; and

in response to receiving the message, registering the process.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein one type of communication event occurs when a notification from a sender is not delivered to a user due to the user'"'"'s context.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the registered process is a program that has data regarding the user that is outside the data that is maintained by the other components of the system.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein in response to receiving a communication event, the registered process may provide a customized message to the sender of the notification that includes data about the user.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the registered process is a calendaring program and the data about the user indicates a time when the user may next be available.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the data about the user includes at least one alternative contact for the user.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the sender is evaluated according to selected criteria to determine whether the registered process will send a customized message to the sender.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the evaluation of the sender comprises a determination of whether or not the sender has been placed on a list by the user.

9. A method for registering a process in a user context system, comprising:

sending a message for registering a process; and

when a communication event occurs, the registered process being provided with information regarding the communication event.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the communication event is related to a notification that is sent from a sender to a user.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the information regarding the communication event indicates that the notification did not reach the user.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the information regarding the communication event includes a copy of the notification.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the registered process is a program that has data regarding the user that is outside the data that is maintained by the other components of the system.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the data that the registered process has comprises data regarding the user'"'"'s activities.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the registered process provides a customized message to the sender of the notification that includes data regarding the user.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the sender is evaluated according to selected criteria to determine whether the registered process will send a customized message to the sender.

17. A notification system, comprising:

a sending component which sends notifications;

a receiving component which receives the notifications and under specified conditions delivers the notifications to a user; and

a registered process;

wherein when the sending component sends a notification to the receiving component, if the notification is not delivered to the user then a message is sent to the registered process regarding the non-delivery of the notification.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the specified conditions under which a notification will not be delivered to a user are determined according to a user context.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the registered process is a program that has data regarding the user that is outside the data that is maintained by the other components of the system.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein in response to receiving a message regarding the non-delivery of a notification the registered process provides a customized message to the sending component that includes data about the user.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the registered process is a calendaring program and the data about the user indicates a time when the user may next be available.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the data about the user indicates at least one alternative contact for the user.

23. The system of claim 20, wherein a sender who is associated with the sending component is evaluated according to selected criteria to determine whether the registered process will send a customized message to the sender.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the evaluation of the sender comprises a determination of whether or not the sender is on a specified list.

25. A user context system, comprising:

a first process for setting a user context;

a second process for generating a notification; and

a third process that is registered;

wherein the registered third process receives an event message in response to a notification not being delivered to a user.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the second process is a communication program.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the communication program comprises one of an email or instant messaging program.

28. The system of claim 25, wherein the registered third process is a program that has data regarding the user that is outside the data that is maintained by the other components of the system.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the registered third process is a calendaring program that has data regarding the user'"'"'s scheduled activities.

30. The system of claim 28, wherein the registered third process provides a customized message to the sender of the notification which includes information regarding the user.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the customized message indicates a time when the user may next be available.

32. The system of claim 25, wherein the user context that is set by the first process indicates when the user is not available to interruption.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein when the third process receives an event message indicating that a notification was not delivered to the user, the registered third process sends a customized message indicating when the user may next be available.

34. The system of claim 25, wherein the sender of the notification is evaluated according to selected criteria to determine whether the registered third process will send a customized message to the sender when a notification does not reach the user.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the evaluation of the sender comprises a determination of whether or not the sender has been placed in a category that the user has selected.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein the category comprises a list of people that the user has selected.

37. One or more computer-readable media for providing information regarding communication events, at least one communication event occurring when a notification is not delivered to a user, said media comprising:

a set of computer-usable instructions that cause a request to provide a communication event to a process that is registered for communication events to be communicated to one or more other computer-program segments capable of executing said request.

38. The media of claim 37, further comprising computer-usable instructions for enabling the setting of a user context.

39. The media of claim 38, further comprising computer-usable instructions for enabling the evaluation of a notification in accordance with the user context in order to determine whether the notification will be delivered to the user.

40. The media of claim 39, wherein if the notification is not delivered to the user, then a communication event occurs which is delivered to the registered process.

41. The media of claim 40, wherein in response to receiving the communication event, the registered process evaluates the sender of the notification to determine if a customized message will be sent.

42. The media of claim 41, wherein if a customized message is sent, the customized message is made to include data about the user.

43. The media of claim 42, wherein the data about the user indicates a time when the user may next be available.