DELAYED AND TIME-SPACE BOUND NOTIFICATIONS

• US 20120295645A1
• Filed: 05/18/2011
• Published: 11/22/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Yariv, Eran, Geva, Yair E., Haik, Fadi
• Granted Patent: US 9,723,459 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/466
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1895 for short real-time information, e.g. alarms, notifications, alerts, updates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 taking into account QoS or priority requirements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/00 User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like

Abstract

Architecture that enables alerts and notifications to have priorities and time/space durations. Non-critical alerts can be displayed in a non-obtrusive manner and alert/notifications coalesced. Alerts/notifications can be assigned priorities, thereby enabling the alerts/notifications to be non-intrusive to the user. Methods include detecting when the user is using a mobile phone (or other suitable device) and then sending the alert/notification in response to the detected use based on threshold criteria relative to an accumulated sum of alerts/notifications, and an importance level (e.g., of each). Additionally, alert/notification priority can be changed (e.g. elevated, lowered) according to time (when) and space (where), thereby enabling the user to be intrusively notified based on the level, even if not previously signaled. Time and space bounds (criteria) can be assigned to alerts/notifications for merger/grouping and/or set to be auto-dismissed if no longer applicable.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented notification system, comprising:

a priority designation component that assigns priority designations to notifications of notification systems;

a notification distribution component that enables transmission of the notifications based on the priority designations; and

a processor that executes computer-executable instructions associated with at least one of the priority designation component or the notification distribution component.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the notifications are transmitted, further based on time and space criteria relative to status of a user.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the priority designations include a priority designation that results in immediate transmission of a notification to a user.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the priority designations include a priority designation that results in delayed transmission of a notification to a user based on user interaction with a user communications device.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the priority designations include a priority designation that results in a hint being transmitted for perception by a user rather than a notification.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the notification distribution component combines notifications for transmission to a user as a single notification based on user interaction with a user device.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the notifications are accumulated for the single notification and transmitted based on a value of summed notifications relative to a user interruption threshold.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a detection component that detects status of a user relative to the notifications and the notification distribution component enables transmission of the notifications based on the status.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the priority designation component initially assigns a priority designation of a notification and thereafter a user changes the priority designation based on the user status.

10. A computer-implemented notification system, comprising:

a priority designation component that enables assignment of priority designations to notifications of notification systems;

a detection component that detects status of a user relative to the notifications;

a notification distribution component that enables transmission of the notifications to the user based on the priority designations and the status of the user; and

a processor that executes computer-executable instructions associated with at least one of the priority designation component, detection component, or the notification distribution component.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the priority designation component initially assigns a priority designation of a notification at a server, and thereafter, a mobile device of the user changes the priority designation based on the user status.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the notifications include a notification that is transmitted according to a time-and-space constraint, the notification is canceled or an associated priority designation is increased based on application of the constraint.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the priority designations include a priority designation that results in immediate transmission of a notification to the user, a priority designation that results in delayed transmission of a notification to the user based on user interaction with a user communications device, and a priority designation that results in a hint of a notification being transmitted for perception by the user.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the notification distribution component combines notifications for transmission to the user as a single notification based on user interaction with a user mobile device, the notifications are accumulated for the single notification and transmitted based on a value of summed notifications relative to a user interruption threshold.

15. A computer-implemented notification method, comprising acts of:

assigning a priority to each of multiple notifications of messaging systems;

sensing status of a user relative to a user device that can receive the notifications;

sending a notification to the user device based on the associated priority and the status; and

utilizing a processor that executes instructions stored in memory to perform at least one of the acts of assigning, sensing, or sending.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising changing a priority of a notification on the user device.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising sensing the status of the user interacting on the user device, which is a mobile phone, and sending an accumulation of notifications to the mobile phone based on the interaction.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising raising a priority of a notification according to notification criteria that includes when and where the user is, and immediately sending the notification based on the criteria.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising associating time and space criteria to the notifications and, accumulating the notifications into a single notification based on the time and space criteria or automatically dismissing a notification if the associated time and space criteria is no longer applicable.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising assigning a willingness value to a user action, summing non-immediate active notifications into a sum, and sending the non-immediate notifications in response to the sum matching a threshold.