Schema-based context service
First Claim
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1. In a computer network, a method for providing customized notification handling based on user-defined policy settings and current device status, the method comprising:
- an act of receiving a notification at a centralized store;
an act of obtaining information corresponding to a current context of a user'"'"'s devices from the centralized store, the current context of the user'"'"'s devices including presence information, location information, schedule information and user notification preference information about at least some of the user'"'"'s devices configured to receive notifications, the presence information indicating whether the user is currently using the user'"'"'s devices, the location information indicating the physical, geographical location of the user'"'"'s devices, the schedule information indicating prior use of the user'"'"'s devices over a period of time and the user notification preference information indicating the user'"'"'s preference as to which device is to receive the notification based on the user'"'"'s current context, each device having an associated cost of usage, the user'"'"'s preference including a rule-based policy configured to weigh both the cost of disrupting the user against the cost of delaying review of the notification and the cost of usage for each of the user'"'"'s devices;
an act of performing a cost-benefit-based analysis to determine, based on the rule-based policy, that;
the cost of delaying review of the notification outweighs the cost of disrupting the user; and
the cost of usage for at least one of the user'"'"'s devices yields a benefit sufficient to justify the device'"'"'s use;
an act of using the presence information, location information, schedule information, and user notification preference information to determine which of the user'"'"'s devices has the greatest net value based on the cost-benefit analysis, and is most likely to receive and successfully notify the user of a new notification;
an act of formatting the received notification using the obtained context information, the formatting including formatting the notification in a format compatible with the determined device; and
an act of sending the new notification to the determined device.
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Abstract
Described is a schema-based context service that provides regularized context data, such as to an information agent that handles notifications. The context service and context schema describe user contextual state data, including presence information, location information, and schedule information, along with people and groups data, sensor data, computing context data and/or extended-context data. The state data may be obtained via similar schema based services.
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Citations
35 Claims
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1. In a computer network, a method for providing customized notification handling based on user-defined policy settings and current device status, the method comprising:
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an act of receiving a notification at a centralized store; an act of obtaining information corresponding to a current context of a user'"'"'s devices from the centralized store, the current context of the user'"'"'s devices including presence information, location information, schedule information and user notification preference information about at least some of the user'"'"'s devices configured to receive notifications, the presence information indicating whether the user is currently using the user'"'"'s devices, the location information indicating the physical, geographical location of the user'"'"'s devices, the schedule information indicating prior use of the user'"'"'s devices over a period of time and the user notification preference information indicating the user'"'"'s preference as to which device is to receive the notification based on the user'"'"'s current context, each device having an associated cost of usage, the user'"'"'s preference including a rule-based policy configured to weigh both the cost of disrupting the user against the cost of delaying review of the notification and the cost of usage for each of the user'"'"'s devices; an act of performing a cost-benefit-based analysis to determine, based on the rule-based policy, that; the cost of delaying review of the notification outweighs the cost of disrupting the user; and the cost of usage for at least one of the user'"'"'s devices yields a benefit sufficient to justify the device'"'"'s use; an act of using the presence information, location information, schedule information, and user notification preference information to determine which of the user'"'"'s devices has the greatest net value based on the cost-benefit analysis, and is most likely to receive and successfully notify the user of a new notification; an act of formatting the received notification using the obtained context information, the formatting including formatting the notification in a format compatible with the determined device; and an act of sending the new notification to the determined device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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16. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a data structure, comprising:
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a first data store operable to store a first set of data corresponding to presence data comprising attributes about the presence of a user at or near a particular device; a second data store operable to store a second set of data corresponding to the user'"'"'s current and/or predicted location; a third data store operable to store a third set of data corresponding to the user'"'"'s schedule; a fourth data store operable to store a fourth set of data corresponding to the user'"'"'s notification preference information; and wherein the first, second, third and fourth sets of data are accessed by a context service via context data regularized according to a context schema, the presence information indicating whether the user is currently using the user'"'"'s devices, the location information indicating the physical, geographical location of the user'"'"'s devices, the schedule information indicating prior use of the user'"'"'s devices over a period of time and the user notification preference information indicating the user'"'"'s preference as to which device is to receive the notification based on the user'"'"'s current context, each device having an associated cost of usage, the user'"'"'s preference including a rule-based policy configured to weigh both the cost of disrupting the user against the cost of delaying review of the notification and the cost of usage for each of the user'"'"'s devices, to perform a cost-benefit-based analysis to determine, based on the rule-based policy, that the cost of delaying review of the notification outweighs the cost of disrupting the user and that the cost of usage for at least one of the user'"'"'s devices yields a benefit sufficient to justify the devices use, and to selectively expose context data in response to a request received at the context service. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. In a computer network having an information source that sends notifications to devices via an information service, a system for providing customized notification handling based on user-defined policy settings and current device status, the system comprising:
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a context service stored in memory, the context service providing regularized state data regarding the current context of a user'"'"'s devices, the current context including at least one of a user'"'"'s presence, location, schedule information, and user notification preference information, the presence information indicating whether the user is currently using the user'"'"'s devices, the location information indicating the physical, geographical location of the user'"'"'s devices, the schedule information indicating prior use of the user'"'"'s devices over a period of time and the user notification preference information indicating the user'"'"'s preference as to which device is to receive the notification based on the user'"'"'s current context, each device having an associated cost &
usage, the user'"'"'s preference including a rule-based policy configured to weigh both the cost of disrupting the user against the cost of delaying review of the notification and the cost of usage for each of the user'"'"'s devices; andan information service configured to; perform a cost-benefit-based analysis to determine, based on the rule-based policy, that the cost of delaying review of the notification outweighs the cost of disrupting the user; and
the cost of usage for at least one of the user'"'"'s devices yields a benefit sufficient to justify the device'"'"'s use; andaccess the state data via the context service to determine which of the user'"'"'s devices has the greatest net value based on the cost-benefit analysis, and is most likely to receive and successfully notify the user of a new notification. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. In a computer network, a method for providing customized notification handling based on user-defined policy settings and current device status, the method comprising,
providing an identity-based context schema, the context schema having context-related fields with defined structures, the structures representing presence information, location information, schedule information and user notification preference information about at least some of a user'"'"'s devices configured to receive notifications, the presence information indicating whether the user is currently using the user'"'"'s devices, the location information indicating the physical, geographical location of the user'"'"'s devices, the schedule information indicating prior use of the user'"'"'s devices over a period of time and the user notification preference information indicating the user'"'"'s preference as to which device is to receive the notification based on the user'"'"'s current context, each device having an associated cost of usage, the user'"'"'s preference including a rule-based policy configured to weigh both the cost of disrupting the user against the cost of delaying review of the notification and the cost of usage for each of the user'"'"'s devices; -
performing a cost-benefit-based analysis to determine, based on the rule-based policy, that; the cost of delaying review of the notification outweighs the cost of disrupting the user; and the cost of usage for at least one of the user'"'"'s devices yields a benefit sufficient to justify the device'"'"'s use; receiving a data access request directed to context information, the request including associated identity information, the information used to determine which of the user'"'"'s devices has the greatest net value based on the cost-benefit analysis, and is most likely to receive and successfully notify the user of a new notification; and in response to the data access request, formatting at least one set of data representing the new notification in a logical context document that includes data therein in a format compatible with the associated identity information, each set of data in the logical context document structured to correspond to a field in the context schema.
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27. In a computer network, a method comprising, receiving a request to provide context data, the request including associated information regarding a user'"'"'s devices;
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reading from a data store to obtain context data including presence information, location information, schedule information and user notification information about at least some of the user'"'"'s devices configured to receive notifications, the presence information indicating whether the user is currently using the user'"'"'s devices, the location information indicating the physical, geographical location of the user'"'"'s devices, the schedule information indicating prior use of the user'"'"'s devices over a period of time and the user notification preference information indicating the user'"'"'s preference as to which device is to receive the notification based on the user'"'"'s current context, each device having an associated cost of usage, the user'"'"'s preference including a rule-based policy configured to weigh both the cost of disrupting the user against the cost of delaying review of the notification and the cost of usage for each of the user'"'"'s devices; performing a cost-benefit-based analysis to determine, based on the rule-based policy, that; the cost of delaying review of the notification outweighs the cost of disrupting the user; and the cost of usage for at least one of the user'"'"'s devices yields a benefit sufficient to justify the device'"'"'s use; constructing a context document including at least part of the data in the data store, the document arranged according to a determination of which of the user'"'"'s devices has the greatest net value based on the cost-benefit analysis, and is most likely to receive and successfully notify the user of a new notification; and returning the document in a format compatible with the determined device in response to the request.
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Specification