Positioning and rendering notification heralds based on user's focus of attention and activity
First Claim
1. A notification system embodied on a computer-readable storage medium, comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed on a computer, implement:
- a component that generates a notification to a user of the computer when displayed on a display screen of one or more display screens of the computer, the notification being associated with a message having an assigned urgency; and
an information controller that;
receives attentional inputs associated with the user and determines the user'"'"'s current activity and focus of attention based on the attentional inputs,dynamically selects a location on the one or more display screens based on the user'"'"'s current activity and focus of attention and the assigned urgency; and
presents an information herald representing the notification in the selected location,wherein the selected location is such that the distance of the information herald from the user'"'"'s focus of attention decreases as the urgency increases.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention relates to a system and method to facilitate providing computer users with efficient access to electronic notifications while minimizing disruption in the context of ongoing tasks. A notification system provides visual information heralds that provide summarizations of notifications to users. An information controller considers the importance or urgency of content and a user'"'"'s current and/or recent activities in decisions about the rendering and positioning of the information herald on a display screen or screens in order to facilitate user processing of the summarized notifications with minimal disruption to ongoing tasks.
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Citations
46 Claims
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1. A notification system embodied on a computer-readable storage medium, comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed on a computer, implement:
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a component that generates a notification to a user of the computer when displayed on a display screen of one or more display screens of the computer, the notification being associated with a message having an assigned urgency; and an information controller that; receives attentional inputs associated with the user and determines the user'"'"'s current activity and focus of attention based on the attentional inputs, dynamically selects a location on the one or more display screens based on the user'"'"'s current activity and focus of attention and the assigned urgency; and presents an information herald representing the notification in the selected location, wherein the selected location is such that the distance of the information herald from the user'"'"'s focus of attention decreases as the urgency increases. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A system embodied on a computer-readable storage medium that facilitates message processing by a user, comprising:
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means for automatically prioritizing a message; means for generating a herald containing a summary of the message; means for determining a user'"'"'s current focus of attention; means for dynamically locating the herald in a user'"'"'s workspace; means for expanding the information relating to the message presented in the user'"'"'s workspace based on a user input involving the herald, wherein; the priority of the message increases as time passes without the user providing the user input involving the herald; and the means for dynamically locating the herald locates the herald such that the distance between the herald location and the user'"'"'s focus of attention decreases with increasing message priority. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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21. A method for automatically notifying a user, comprising:
operating a processor to perform a method comprising; automatically determining an output region of a display for a message; automatically determining a priority for the message; automatically placing the message in the output region; automatically determining a focus of attention of a user; automatically placing the output region in a default region of a workspace; increasing the priority of the message based on a passage of time; and dynamically moving the output region, the output region being spaced relative to the determined focus of attention such that; the separation between the output region and the focus of attention decreases as the priority of the message increases; and the output region is separated from the focus of attention such that the output region does not overlay a current work position. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A method for controlling notifications to a user, comprising:
operating at least one processor to perform a method comprising; monitoring a user'"'"'s activities; determining an attentional state of the user based on the user'"'"'s activities; determining a location on a display of the user'"'"'s current focus of attention; constructing an attention model to analyze the user'"'"'s activities, the attention model analyzes a utility capturing a cost of a user in an attentional state being disrupted by a task or communication event; selecting a distance based at least in part on the utility generated from the attention model; and dynamically placing information alerts within a workspace at the selected distance from the user'"'"'s current focus of attention. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31)
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32. A method for controlling notifications to a user, comprising:
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monitoring a user'"'"'s activities; determining a focus of attention of the user based on the monitored activities; providing one or more user controls on a display, the user controls allowing a user to configure preferences regarding how the herald is displayed, and the preferences including at least a setting that allows a user to specify a threshold herald priority level below which a herald will remain at a periphery of the display; determining a priority for a received herald; dynamically controlling the display location of the received herald, the dynamically controlling comprising; when the priority of the received herald is below the threshold level, displaying the herald at a location on the periphery of the display; and when the priority of the received herald is above the threshold level, displaying the herald at a location that is a distance from the user'"'"'s determined focus of attention selected based at least in part on the priority. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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Specification