Principals and methods for balancing the timeliness of communications and information delivery with the expected cost of interruption via deferral policies
DCFirst Claim
1. A computer-implemented system that facilitates information processing, comprising:
- a processor; and
a memory, communicatively coupled to the processor, having stored thereon at least one component comprising;
an analyzer that automatically determines a user'"'"'s availability based at least in part upon patterns of the user'"'"'s interruptability; and
a deferral component that determines a bounded deferral period at the end of which to deliver an information item to the user in accordance with the user'"'"'s availability, wherein a maximal deferral time is determined based at least in part on one or more of an exact or approximate minimization of a net expected cost to the user both of delay and of interruption, the net expected cost of delay and the net expected cost of interruption scaled to a substantially similar scale, the maximal deferral time, t, being determined via one of an ideal or approximate minimization of the following formula;
W(t)=(c+ƒ
(t))g(t)+∫
0t−
g′
(s)ƒ
(s)ds, where W(t) is a total expected cost;
g(t) describes a probability that the user will be busy after waiting up until the maximal deferral time t;
ƒ
(t) is a loss in the value of seeing the information item, relative to an initial value of reviewing the information item when it arrives, when reviewing the information item at the maximal deferral time t;
ƒ
(s) is a loss of value of the information item at time s that the user might become available before the maximal deferral time t under uncertainty; and
c is a cost of interruption if the user is busy.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system is provided that facilitates information processing for a user. The system includes an analyzer to automatically determine one or more states of a user'"'"'s availability based on patterns of the user'"'"'s interruptability. A deferral component generates or forwards messages or alerts to the user in accordance with a cost-minimization analysis and determined availability. For example, the deferral component can process interrupts to the user and determine at least one of optimal and approximately optimal deferral times in which to direct an information item to the user, the information item being one of an email message, an incoming phone call, a push-to-talk message, an instant message, an alert, requests, offers of assistance, status or error reports, or a task from another application or autonomous system.
60 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented system that facilitates information processing, comprising:
-
a processor; and a memory, communicatively coupled to the processor, having stored thereon at least one component comprising; an analyzer that automatically determines a user'"'"'s availability based at least in part upon patterns of the user'"'"'s interruptability; and a deferral component that determines a bounded deferral period at the end of which to deliver an information item to the user in accordance with the user'"'"'s availability, wherein a maximal deferral time is determined based at least in part on one or more of an exact or approximate minimization of a net expected cost to the user both of delay and of interruption, the net expected cost of delay and the net expected cost of interruption scaled to a substantially similar scale, the maximal deferral time, t, being determined via one of an ideal or approximate minimization of the following formula;
W(t)=(c+ƒ
(t))g(t)+∫
0t−
g′
(s)ƒ
(s)ds,where W(t) is a total expected cost;
g(t) describes a probability that the user will be busy after waiting up until the maximal deferral time t;
ƒ
(t) is a loss in the value of seeing the information item, relative to an initial value of reviewing the information item when it arrives, when reviewing the information item at the maximal deferral time t;
ƒ
(s) is a loss of value of the information item at time s that the user might become available before the maximal deferral time t under uncertainty; and
c is a cost of interruption if the user is busy.- View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method that facilitates sending notifications to a user, comprising:
-
utilizing a first computer system to monitor the user'"'"'s activities over time; utilizing a second computer system to construct at least one model from the activities to determine a predicted busyness state for the user; and utilizing a third computer system to automatically defer a received information item based at least in part on the predicted busyness state of the user and a cost model, wherein a maximal deferral time is determined based at least in part on one or more of an exact or approximate minimization of a net expected cost to the user both of delay and of interruption, the net expected cost of delay and the net expected cost of interruption scaled to a substantially similar scale, the maximal deferral time, t, being determined via one of an ideal or approximate minimization of the following formula;
W(t)=(c+ƒ
(t))g(t)+∫
0t−
g′
(s)ƒ
(s)ds,where W(t) is a total expected cost;
g(t) describes a probability that the user will be busy after waiting up until the maximal deferral time t;
ƒ
(t) is a loss in the value of seeing the information item, relative to an initial value of reviewing the information item when it arrives, when reviewing the information item at the maximal deferral time t;
ƒ
(s) is a loss of value of the information item at time s that the user might become available before the maximal deferral time t under uncertainty; and
c is a cost of interruption if the user is busy;wherein the first, second, and third computer systems may be the same or separate computer systems. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15)
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Specification