CROSS-DEVICE NOTIFICATIONS

• US 20150373089A1
• Filed: 03/13/2015
• Published: 12/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: KOSS, Michael Campbell, DeWITT, Justin, MESSERLY, Katie Jane, TITOV, Dmitry
• Granted Patent: US 10,097,619 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/50 Secure pairing of devices

Abstract

Techniques for cross-device notifications are provided. An example method includes receiving a first indication of an event detected at a first device associated with a user account, determining one or more characteristics of the event based on the first indication of the event, detecting whether the determined characteristics match at least one selection criterion, automatically identifying a second device from one or more devices associated with the user account, and providing, if the determined characteristics match the at least one selection criterion, the first indication of the event to the second device associated with the user account, where the provided first indication of the event is displayed at the second device to allow management of the event at the first device from the second device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a first indication of an event detected at a first device associated with a user account;

determining one or more characteristics of the event based on the first indication of the event;

detecting whether the determined characteristics match at least one selection criterion;

automatically identifying a second device from one or more devices associated with the user account; and

providing, if the determined characteristics match the at least one selection criterion, the first indication of the event to the second device associated with the user account, wherein the provided first indication of the event is displayed at the second device to allow management of the event at the first device from the second device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second indication including an action that is to be performed with respect to the event detected at the first device, the second indication generated upon an interaction with the displayed first indication of the event at the second device; and

transmitting the action to the first device, wherein the event is managed at the first device based on the action.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

when the action dismisses a notification with respect to the event received at the first device, broadcasting the action to the first device and one or more other devices associated with the user account, wherein the notification is dismissed at the first device and the one or more other devices.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving first content associated with the first indication of the event; and

providing the received first content to the second device associated with the user account for display with the first indication of the event.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

when the first content includes a reference to an image in a remote cache, providing the reference to the second device, wherein the second device retrieves the image for display from the cache based on the reference when the image is not available at the second device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving second content responsive to the displayed first indication of the event at the second device; and

providing the received second content to the first device for display.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first indication of the event is displayed at a web browser of the second device, wherein the first device is a mobile computing device and the second device is a desktop computing device.

8. A machine-readable medium comprising instructions stored therein, which when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform operations comprising:

detecting an event at a first device associated with a user account;

providing a first indication of the event to a server, wherein when characteristics of the detected event match at least one selection criterion, the server provides the first indication of the event to a second device associated with the user account;

receiving a second indication including an action that is to be performed with respect to the event detected at the first device, the second indication generated upon an interaction with the displayed first indication of the event at the second device; and

managing the event at the first device based on the action.

9. The machine-readable medium of claim 8, further comprising instructions stored therein, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving first content associated with the first indication of the event; and

providing the received first content to the server, wherein the server provides the content to the second device associated with the user account for display with the first indication of the event.

10. The machine-readable medium of claim 8, further comprising instructions stored therein, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

when the event is initiated from another user account, determining whether an image associated with the other user account is available at the first device;

when the image is available at the first device, generating a reference to the image;

based on the generated reference, determining whether the image is available at a remote cache;

when the image is not available at the remote cache, uploading the image to the remote cache; and

when the image is determined to be available at the remote cache, including the generated reference in the first indication of the event provided to the server, wherein the second device retrieves the image from the remote cache based on the reference.

11. The machine-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the second device retrieves the image from the remote cache based on the reference when the image is not available at the second device.

12. The machine-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising instructions stored therein, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

encrypting each cached image with a unique key generated on the first device, prior to transmission to the second device with the first indication of the event.

13. The machine-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising instructions stored therein, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

encrypting each cached image with a content-based key, the content based key generated on the first device and transmitted to the second device.

14. The machine-readable medium of claim 8, further comprising instructions stored therein, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

including a time-to-live (TTL) value with the first indication of the event, wherein the TTL value indicates an expiration time of the first indication.

15. A system comprising:

a memory comprising instructions; and

a processor configured to execute the instructions to;

receive a first indication of an event detected at a first device associated with a user account;

determine one or more characteristics of the event based on the first indication of the event;

detect whether the determined characteristics match at least one selection criterion;

automatically identify one or more devices associated with the user account; and

broadcast the first indication of the event, if the determined characteristics match the at least one selection criterion, to the one or more devices associated with the user account,

wherein the provided first indication of the event is simultaneously displayed, in real time, at the one or more devices to allow management of the event at the first device from any of the one or more second devices.

16. The system of claim 15, the processor further configured to execute the instructions to:

receive a second indication including an action that is to be performed with respect to the event detected at the first device, the second indication generated upon an interaction with the displayed first indication of the event at any of the one or more devices; and

transmit the action to the first device, wherein the event is managed at the first device based on the action.

17. The system of claim 16, the processor further configured to execute the instructions to:

when the action dismisses a notification with respect to the event received at the first device, broadcast the action to the first device and one or more other devices associated with the user account, wherein the notification is dismissed at the first device and the one or more other devices.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the first device is at a first geographic location and the second device is at a second geographic location.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the selection criterion is matched when the determined characteristics include a receipt of a messaging service message from a user contact associated with the user account.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the selection criterion is matched when the determined characteristics include a missed call from a user contact associated with the user account.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein the first indication of the event, based on the determined characteristics, is not broadcasted for display to the second device associated with the user account if the determined characteristics do not match the at least one selection criterion.

22. The system of claim 15, the processor further configured to execute the instructions to:

determine whether the first indication of the event detected at the first device associated with the user account is duplicative to one or more previously received indications;

when it is determined that the first indication of the event is not duplicative to the one or more previously received indications, broadcast the first indication of the event, to the second device and one or more other devices associated with the user account; and

when it is determined that the first indication of the event is duplicative to the one or more previously received indications, proscribe the broadcast of the first indication of the event to the second device and the one or more other devices associated with the user account.