INTELLIGENT PRESENTATION OF MULTIPLE PROXIMATE AUDIBLE ALERTS

• US 20130325951A1
• Filed: 06/04/2012
• Published: 12/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: CHAKRA, AL, HARPUR, LIAM, PURCELL, MICHELLE M., RICE, JOHN
• Granted Patent: US 9,800,532 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/222 using geographical location information, e.g. messages transmitted or received in proximity of a certain spot or area
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages

Abstract

A computing device can receive an incoming message. The incoming message can be one directed to a set of different client machines at approximately the same time. The computing device can perform a mitigation action that alters a presentation characteristic of the audible alert for the incoming message. The mitigation action ensures that the computing device and at least a subset of the other client devices within a predefined audio range of the computing device do not audibly present alerts for the incoming message in an unsynchronized manner.

Claims

1. On a computing device operative to play an audible alert in response to receiving an incoming message, a method comprising, in response to receiving an incoming message directed to a plurality of other client devices at approximately the same time, acts of:

performing a mitigation action that alters a presentation characteristic of the audible alert for the incoming message, wherein the mitigation action ensures that the computing device and at least a subset of the other client devices within a predefined audio range of the computing device do not audibly present alerts for the incoming message in an unsynchronized manner, wherein at least one of the acts are performed by the computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising acts of:

determining the subset of the other client devices.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising acts of:

presenting the audible alert in accordance with the altered presentation characteristic.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the mitigation action causes the computing device to suppress a volume of the audible alert for the incoming message.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the mitigation action performs at least one of:

altering a playback timing at which the computing device presents the audible alert;

synchronizing the audible alert played by the computing device with audible alerts for the incoming message played by the different client machines in audio range of the computing device; and

changes an audio file for the audible alert as presented on the computing device from a default that would have been used in absence of the mitigation action.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the mitigation action minimizes aggregate noise pollution resulting from audible alerts from the computing device and the subset of the different client machines.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the mitigation action causes the audible alert to be presented by the computing device to harmonize with other audible alerts presented by the subset of different client machines.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the incoming message includes mitigation instructions, wherein the mitigation action of the computing device is based on the mitigation instructions.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein in absence of the mitigation action, the computing device would present the audible alert in a manner unsynchronized with audio alerts of the subset of the different client machines, thereby resulting in different disharmonious alerts being audibly provided for the incoming message in an audio environment proximate to the computing device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the incoming message is a text exchange associated with a text exchange session, wherein the computing device and the subset of different client machines participate in the text exchange session.

11. A computer program product comprising:

one or more computer-readable, tangible storage devices;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to receive an incoming message, the incoming message being one directed to a plurality of different client devices at approximately the same time, the computing device running a program instructions to, as a default, present by default audible alerts upon receiving the incoming message; and

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to perform a mitigation action that alters a presentation characteristic of the audible alert for the incoming message, wherein the mitigation action ensures that the computing device and at least a subset of the other client devices within a predefined audio range of the computing device do not audibly present alerts for the incoming message in an unsynchronized manner.

12. A system comprising:

a server, comprising;

a sending module configured to send a group message to a group of client machines, wherein each of the client machines generate an audio alert on receiving the group message, wherein the group message is a text exchange associated with a text exchange session; and

a management engine configured to instruct the group of client machines via mitigation instructions based on at least one of a plurality of mitigation rules, wherein the mitigation instructions cause the group of client machines to take mitigation actions to ensure that client machines in audio range of each other do not audibly present alerts for the group message an unsynchronized manner.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the mitigation actions embodied in the mitigation instructions comprise a synchronization action for synchronizing audio playback of alerts from the client machines in audio range of each other for the group message.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the mitigation actions embodied in the mitigation instructions comprise a suppression action that causes a subset of the client machines in audio range of each other to suppress a volume of the audible alert for the group message.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the mitigation actions embodied in the mitigation instructions comprise a mitigation action that alters a playback timing at which the client machines in audio range of each other present audible alerts for the group message.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the mitigation action synchronizes the audible alert played by the computing device with audible alerts for the incoming message played by the different client machines in audio range of the computing device.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the each of the client machines comprise a volume level detection module to detect volume level of the generated audio alert, the audio alert is generated on receiving the group message by a client machine among the group of client machines.

18. The system of claim 12, the server further comprising:

a receiving module configured to receive a detected volume level of the audio alert; and

a monitoring engine configured to detect whether a group of client machines is a recipient of a group message;

19. The system of claim 12, the server further comprising:

a communication channel configured to communicate a detected volume level to the receiving module wherein the audio alert volume level is detected by the volume level detection module of one of the client machines; and

a suppression module configured to suppress the audio alert of one of the client machines in response to instruction received from the management engine.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the management engine is configured to implement the at least one of the plurality of rules, wherein a set of parameters associated with the at least one of the plurality of rules comprises at least one of a decibel level, a delay interval, a proximity, and a recipient quantity, wherein the rules comprises a predefined volume level threshold wherein the instruction to suppress the audio alert is initiated if the detected volume exceeds the volume level threshold.