CROSS-APPLICATION SERVICE-DRIVEN CONTEXTUAL MESSAGES

• US 20170257459A1
• Filed: 03/01/2016
• Published: 09/07/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Vaidyanathan, Priya, Hoogerwerf, Scott, Riscutia, Vlad, Stepanich, Darron J.
• Granted Patent: US 10,447,828 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/328 in the presentation layer [OSI layer 6]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to cross-application service-driven dynamic contextual messages. In one aspect, content is retrieved from a server computing device. The content may include at least one rule and at least one contextual message. The content retrieved from the server computing device may be stored. A dynamic background application may detect an action associated with a client application. In response to detecting the action associated with the client application, a contextual message may be identified from the at least one contextual message based on a rule from the at least one rule. The dynamic background application may display the identified contextual message within the client application.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

one or more computer readable storage media; and

program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable storage media that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to at least;

retrieve content from a server computing device, the content comprising at least one rule and at least one contextual message;

store the content retrieved from the server computing device;

detect, via a dynamic background application, an action associated with a client application;

in response to detecting the action associated with the client application, identify a contextual message from the at least one contextual message based on a rule from the at least one rule; and

display, via the dynamic background application, the identified contextual message within the client application.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein to detect the action associated with the client application, the program instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the at least one processor to receive a signal from the client application when the action occurs.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein to detect the action associated with the client application, the program instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the at least one processor to monitor the client application for an occurrence of the action.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the dynamic background application is independent of the client application.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the action includes at least one of launching the client application, opening a file associated with the client application, saving a file associated with the client application, sharing a file associated with the client application, and closing a file associated with the client application.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one rule is based on at least one of the action associated with the client application, a type of client application, and user behavior associated with the client application.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the program instructions, when executed by at least one processor, further cause the at least one processor to retrieve updated content from the server computing device, the updated content comprising at least one updated rule and at least one updated contextual message.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the program instructions, when executed by at least one processor, further cause the at least one processor to display an updated contextual message from the at least one updated contextual message based on applying a rule from the at least one updated rule, the rule indicating the updated contextual message is relevant to a detected action associated with the client application.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the client application includes at least one of a word processing application, a spreadsheet application, and an electronic slide presentation application.

10. A computer-implemented method for dynamically displaying contextual messages within a client application, the method comprising:

retrieving content from a server computing device, the content comprising at least one rule and at least one contextual message;

detecting, via a dynamic background application, an action associated with the client application;

in response to detecting the action associated with the client application, identifying, via the dynamic background application, a contextual message from the at least one contextual message based on a rule from the at least one rule; and

displaying, via the dynamic background application, the identified contextual message within the client application.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the dynamic background application is independent of the client application.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the action includes at least one of launching the client application, opening a file associated with the client application, saving a file associated with the client application, sharing a file associated with the client application, and closing a file associated with the client application.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the at least one rule is based on at least one of the action associated with the client application, a type of client application, and user behavior associated with the client application.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, further comprising retrieving updated content from the server computing device, the updated content comprising at least one updated rule and at least one updated contextual message.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, further comprising displaying an updated contextual message from the at least one updated contextual message based on applying a rule from the at least one updated rule, the rule indicating the updated contextual message is relevant to a detected action associated with the client application.

16. A system comprising:

at least one processor; and

memory encoding computer executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, perform a method for dynamically displaying contextual messages within a client application, the method comprising;

retrieving a rule and a contextual message from a server computing device;

detecting, via a dynamic background application, a first occurrence of an action associated with a first client application;

in response to detecting the first occurrence of the action associated with the first client application, displaying, via the dynamic background application, the contextual message within the first client application;

receiving an updated rule and an updated contextual message from the server computing device;

detecting, via the dynamic background application, a second occurrence of the action associated with the first client application; and

in response to detecting the second occurrence of the action associated with the first client application, displaying, via the dynamic background application, the updated contextual message within the first client application.

17. The system of claim 16, the method further comprising:

retrieving a plurality of rules and a plurality of contextual messages from the server computing device;

detecting, via the dynamic background application, a first occurrence of an action associated with a second client application;

in response to detecting the first occurrence of the action associated with the second client application, displaying, via the dynamic background application, a contextual message from the plurality of contextual messages within the second client application based on applying a rule from the plurality of rules relevant to the detected first occurrence of the action associated with the second client application.

18. The system of claim 17, the method further comprising:

retrieving a plurality of updated rules and a plurality of updated contextual messages from the server computing device;

detecting, via the dynamic background application, a second occurrence of the action associated with the second client application; and

in response to detecting the second occurrence of the action associated with the second client application, displaying, via the dynamic background application, an updated contextual message from the plurality of updated contextual messages within the second client application based on applying an updated rule from the plurality of updated rules relevant to the detected second occurrence of the action associated with the second client application.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the dynamic background application is independent of the first client application.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the dynamic background application is independent of the second client application.