System and method for preference application installation and execution

• US 7,669,177 B2
• Filed: 10/24/2003
• Issued: 02/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Abileah, Shahaf, Nilakantan, Niranjan, Gerber, Robert H., Knight, Holly, Krishnan, Murali R., Pather, Shyamalan
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhen; Wei Y
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHOW, CHIH CHING
• Application Number:
  US10/693,735
• Publication Number:
  US 20050091269A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,314 Days
• Field of Search: 715/744, 715/747, 715/745, 717/104, 717/100, 707101-102
• US Class Current: 717/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files

Abstract

The present systems and methods disclose a system for personalizing computer functionality. End-users are provided with tools to easily write rich and complex preferences, for example, by using a plurality simple IF-THEN propositional logic. The preferences are then transformed into queries and executed efficiently on structured data. Preferences that are satisfied then execute actions such as providing notification or storing data in a particular folder. Furthermore, according to an aspect of the invention, data, logic, events, inter alia, are all schematized, thereby enabling sharing of data between application components and across applications.

Claims

1. A preference execution system comprising:

a memory;

a data store component for storing schematized data and end-user specified preferences, wherein queries are evaluated and stored as data in the data store component, and constructed upon demand;

a compiler to compile information agent applications including end-user specified preferences and store the compiled information agent applications in the data store;

an execution engine to retrieve preferences stored in the data store upon the occurrence of one or more events and to utilize the preferences and at least one stored procedure to query tables within the data store and produce a results table, wherein the results table stores preferences whose conditions have been satisfied such that specified actions are triggered based on the stored preferences; and

a context analyzer that stores and analyzes information regarding variables and parameters of a user that influence notification decision-making, the parameters comprise a user'"'"'s typical locations and attentional focus, devices users tend to have access to in different locations, a user'"'"'s preference as to being disturbed by notifications of different types in different settings, default parameters as to how the user wishes to be notified in different situations, and cost of disruption associated with being notified by different modes in different settings, the parameters are stored as a user profile that can be edited by the user or users can specify in real-time their state; and

a constant accessor that provides navigation to data across different domains to enable a user to write cross-domain preferences.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising an action component for taking one or more actions specified by a conditionally valid preference.

3. The system of claim 2, the action component comprising a notification component that transforms and formats notification data generated by the execution engine based on a user preference for one or more user communication devices.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication devices include a mobile phone, a pager, a PDA, and a computer.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising an event component to extract event data from an event source and store the data in the data store.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the event source is a subscription service.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the context analyzer produces context data indicative of an end-users context at a given time and stores the context data in the data store.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising one or more APIs to interact with applications.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the compiler can compile and the execution engine can execute both heavyweight applications and lightweight preference applications.

10. The system of claim 1, the execution engine evaluates preferences by executing queries on data stored in the data store.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein end-user preferences are based on a developer specified schema.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein information regarding end-user preferences and the developer schema are stored in one or more tables in the data store.

13. The system of claim 1, further comprising a personalized folder to define preferences and to define conditions and actions that control the content of folders upon the happening of an event.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the personalized folder is defined and controlled by end-user specified logic which defines conditions and actions that control the content of the folder.

15. A method for employing preferences comprising:

specifying user preferences regarding an information agent application based on a developer schema;

storing the preferences and schematized data in one or more tables in a data store;

querying the tables in the data store upon occurrence of an event and retrieving preferences stored in the data store;

producing a results table, wherein the results table stores preferences whose conditions have been satisfied such that specified actions are triggered;

executing actions based on the results table;

utilizing a context analyzer that stores and analyzes information regarding variables and parameters of a user that influence notification decision-making, the parameters comprise a user'"'"'s typical locations and attentional focus, activities per time of day and day of week, devices users tend to have access to in different locations, a user'"'"'s preference as to being disturbed by notifications of different types in different settings, and cost of disruption associated with being notified by different modes in different settings; and

storing the parameters as a user profile that can be edited by the user or allowing users to specify in real-time their state;

utilizing a one-at-a-time declarative programming model, wherein user preferences are specified using one or more On-event-If-Then statements and Boolean operators to specify conditions and actions, schema; and

providing a constant accessor that allows preferences and conditions to be written that are capable of navigating and retrieving information from various domains.

16. A computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon computer executable instructions for executing the method of claim 15.