Harnessing information about the timing of a user's client-server interactions to enhance messaging and collaboration services

• US 7,634,528 B2
• Filed: 06/18/2003
• Issued: 12/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Horvitz, Eric J., Apacible, Johnson T.
• Primary Examiner(s): JEAN GILLES, JUDE
• Application Number:
  US10/464,184
• Publication Number:
  US 20040199663A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,372 Days
• Field of Search: 709/200, 709/204, 379/202
• US Class Current: 709/200
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/404 characterised by control arrangements for compensation, e.g. for backlash, overshoot, tool offset, tool wear, temperature, machine construction errors, load, inertia G05B19/19, G05B19/41 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/043 using or handling presence information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/226 Delivery according to priorities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information

Abstract

A system and method is provided to facilitate communication and collaboration by considering the timing of a user'"'"'s activities on one or more clients via accessing, from a centralized server, information about the user'"'"'s client-server interactions. The systems and methods can harness existing protocols and data exchange used in legacy client-server applications for email, making available to one or more client-side message routing applications, information about a user'"'"'s interactions with email across multiple clients. Applications include considering the time since the last client-server interaction to guide decisions about if, when, and how to route messages so as to limit the mobile relay of information a user has already seen, providing information to colleagues about a user'"'"'s current or past “inbox presence,” and forecasting the time until a user will have access to a device or communication channel.

Claims

1. A messaging system, comprising:

a computer processor for executing the following components;

an activity component that aggregates presence data for at least one client application and at least one server application, the server application is an exchange email server, the activity component monitors user activities from one or more machines to determine presence data, wherein the user activities comprise monitoring a user'"'"'s keyboard, a user'"'"'s mouse and a user'"'"'s email activity, and wherein the presence data identifies prospective locations of a user with respect to a message routing system, the presence data is recorded in a database or cache and communicated between the at least one client application and the at least one server application via instantiation of predefined data schemas,

wherein an inference model, a probability model and/or a statistical model are utilized to predict when and where the user desires to receive messages, wherein the models employ past or current evidence of a user'"'"'s comings and goings that relate to presence of the user; and

a routing component that employs the aggregated presence data to deliver one or more messages to at least one of the client application, the server application, and a mobile device, the routing component includes one or more rules for delivering messages between systems, the rules are communicated between the at least one client application and the at least one server application,

wherein the routing component is employed by at least one of a notification system, a priorities system, the client application, and the server application to facilitate delivery of the messages and the routing component specifies that mobile messaging should not occur until the messages have been either present at the client application or at the server for some time that is passed or that will pass; and

a context analyzer that analyzes information regarding variables and parameters of a user that influence delivery of the messages, the parameters include contextual information, comprising a user'"'"'s typical locations and attentional focus and activities per time of day and the day of the week, and devices users tend to have access to in different locations, as well as notification parameters indicating how the user desires to be notified at a given time, wherein the parameters are functions of observations made autonomously via one or more sensors, and wherein the parameters are stored as a user profile that is edited by the user and includes cost of disruption associated with being notified by different modes in different settings.

2. The system of claim 1, the messages include at least one of an email, a voice mail, and an instant message.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a graphical user interface display and controls to enable adjusting of the routing component.

4. The system of claim 1, the activity component monitors or records at least one a message last sent, a sent folder, a computer activity, and a model to determine a user'"'"'s messaging presence.

5. The system of claim 4, the computer activity includes at least one of a scrolling action, a mouse activity, and a keyboard activity.

6. The system of claim 4, the model predicts an amount of time it may take for the user'"'"'s likely return, expected arrival or current availability based upon recent and/or current evidence that the user has been present or away from a location associated with different types of communication channels and availabilities.

7. The system of claim 4, the model predicts notices that relate to the user'"'"'s continued availability given an indication of the user'"'"'s current availability.

8. A computer readable medium having computer readable instructions stored thereon for implementing at least one of the activity component and the routing component of claim 1.

9. A system that facilitates message routing, comprising:

a computer processor for executing the following;

means for automatically determining a user'"'"'s presence information with respect to a server and a client system that direct messages to the user, via monitoring user activities from one or more machines, wherein the user activities comprise monitoring a user'"'"'s keyboard, a user'"'"'s mouse and a user'"'"'s email activity, and wherein the presence information identifies prospective locations of a user with respect to a message routing system, the presence information is recorded in a database or cache and communicated between at least one client application and at least one server application via instantiation of predefined data schemas;

means for routing the messages to the client system when the user is detected to be present at the client system; and

means for analyzing information regarding variables and parameters of a user that influence delivery of the messages, the parameters include contextual information, comprising a user'"'"'s typical locations and attentional focus and activities per time of day and the day of the week, and devices users tend to have access to in different locations, as well as notification parameters indicating how the user desires to be notified at a given time, wherein the parameters are functions of observations made autonomously via one or more sensors, and wherein the parameters are stored as a user profile that is edited by the user and includes cost of disruption associated with being notified by different modes in different settings.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising means for routing the messages to the server when the user is at a desktop system.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising means for routing the messages to a mobile device.

12. A method that facilitates message routing, comprising:

automatically determining a user'"'"'s presence information with respect to a computer, via monitoring user activities from one or more machines, wherein the user activities comprise monitoring a user'"'"'s keyboard, a user'"'"'s mouse and a user'"'"'s email activity, and wherein the presence information identifies prospective locations of a user with respect to a message routing system, the presence information is recorded in a database or cache and communicated between at least one client application and at least one server application via instantiation of predefined data schemas;

providing routing protocols to enable one or more messages to be routed to one or more other computers;

automatically directing the messages to at least one computer based upon the routing protocol, the user'"'"'s determined presence information, and one or more rules for delivering messages;

analyzing information regarding variables and parameters of a user that influence delivery of the messages, the parameters include contextual information, comprising a user'"'"'s typical locations and attentional focus and activities per time of day and the day of the week, and devices users tend to have access to in different locations, as well as notification parameters indicating how the user desires to be notified at a given time, wherein the parameters are functions of observations made autonomously via one or more sensors;

storing the parameters as a user profile to be edited by the user; and

providing a cost of disruption associated with having the messages delivered by different modes in different settings.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising at least one of checking whether the user is currently reading their mail at a remote location, checking where the user has sent mail from, monitoring a keyboard or mouse, and deriving information from evidence of the user'"'"'s current or past presence.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising sharing the user'"'"'s presence information between two or more systems.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising polling for presence information from one machine to another.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising transmitting presence information between machines when presence conditions change.

17. A method to facilitate communication and collaboration, comprising:

considering the timing of a user'"'"'s activities on one or more clients via accessing a centralized server, information about a user'"'"'s client-server interactions;

monitoring user activities from one or more machines to determine presence information of a user, wherein the user activities comprise monitoring a user'"'"'s keyboard, a user'"'"'s mouse and a user'"'"'s email activity, and wherein the presence information identifies prospective locations of a user with respect to a message routing system, the presence information is recorded in a database or cache and communicated between at least one client application and at least one server application via instantiation of predefined data schemas;

automatically sharing the information about the user'"'"'s client-server interactions across multiple clients to one or more client-side applications;

analyzing information regarding variables and parameters of a user that influence delivery of the messages, the parameters include contextual information, comprising a user'"'"'s typical locations and attentional focus and activities per time of day and the day of the week, and devices users tend to have access to in different locations, as well as notification parameters indicating how the user desires to be notified at a given time, wherein the parameters are functions of observations made autonomously via one or more sensors; and

storing the parameters as a user profile to be edited by the user.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising employing existing protocols and data exchange for legacy client-server applications for email to support one or more message routing or user activity applications.

19. The method of claim 18, the applications include at least one of:

using a time since a last client-server interaction to guide decisions about if, when, and how to route messages so as to limit a mobile relay of information a user has already observed; and

providing information to colleagues about a user'"'"'s current or past inbox presence, and forecasting the time until a user will have access to a device or communication channel.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising utilizing standard protocols and methods developed for communication between email clients and email servers that is employed for gathering information relating to user presence and availability tracking across multiple clients.

21. The method of claim 20, the information is applied by local software modules that consider local context at a client in decisions to give access to the local context across other clients.

22. The method of claim 21, the information is employed for an identification of time since a last email interaction in order to control routing of email to a mobile device.

23. The method of claim 20, the information is employed to determine information relating to a user'"'"'s activity and presence, on other clients.

24. The method of claim 23, the activity and presence information includes a user'"'"'s likely past, present, and future presence and availability, attentional status or evidence for attentional status, including head pose and gaze information, and location, based upon making standard calls to an email server.