Strategies for alerting users to events that have transpired in their absence
First Claim
1. A method for alerting a user to events, comprising:
- detecting when the user ceases interaction with an electronic environment;
detecting and retaining events which transpire after the user ceases interaction with the electronic environment to provide detected events, providing that the events meet at least one criterion;
detecting when the user resumes interaction with the electronic environment; and
alerting the user, upon their resumption of interaction, to the detected events which have transpired between the times that the user ceases interaction with the electronic environment and resumes interaction with the electronic environment.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
While You Were Away (WYWA) functionality is described for alerting a user to events which have transpired between a time that the user ceases interaction with an electronic environment and a time that the user resumes interaction with the electronic environment. The detected events may include news stories, Email messages, offline instant messenger (IM) messages, and so forth. The WYWA functionality can order the events based on at least one ordering criterion, as well as group the events into multiple categories. The WYWA functionality displays the events in a user interface panel that is presented to the user upon the resumption of their use of the electronic environment. The user interface panel can include another section which displays information that is tailored to the user'"'"'s geographic location and/or personal identity, another section which displays targeted advertising information, and another section that presents application-related features provided by an entity that sponsors the user interface panel, etc.
40 Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A method for alerting a user to events, comprising:
-
detecting when the user ceases interaction with an electronic environment;
detecting and retaining events which transpire after the user ceases interaction with the electronic environment to provide detected events, providing that the events meet at least one criterion;
detecting when the user resumes interaction with the electronic environment; and
alerting the user, upon their resumption of interaction, to the detected events which have transpired between the times that the user ceases interaction with the electronic environment and resumes interaction with the electronic environment. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
-
-
18. Logic functionality configured to alert a user to events, comprising:
-
logic configured to detect when the user ceases interaction with an electronic environment;
logic configured to detect and retain events which transpire after the user ceases interaction with the electronic environment to provided detected events, providing that the events meet at least one criterion;
logic configured to detect when the user resumes interaction with the electronic environment; and
logic configured to alert the user, upon their resumption of interaction, to the detected events which have transpired between the times that the user ceases interaction with the electronic environment and resumes interaction with the electronic environment. - View Dependent Claims (19)
-
-
20. A method of displaying events to a user, comprising:
-
determining events which have transpired while the user was inactive with respect to an electronic environment to provide detected events;
displaying the detected events to the user in a user interface panel, wherein the user interface panel includes;
a first part that presents the detected events;
a second part that present information which is tailored to the geographic location of the user and/or the identity of the user;
a third part that presents advertising information which is tailored to the characteristics of the user; and
a fourth part that presents application-related features provided by an entity that sponsors the user interface panel.
-
Specification