Managing notifications across multiple devices

• US 9,288,164 B2
• Filed: 06/07/2013
• Issued: 03/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Vyrros, Andrew H., Shepherd, Matthew Elliott, Edwards, Dylan Ross, Wood, Justin, Pollack, Daniel Ben, Filippis, Pierre de, Drummond, Jonathan, Santamaria, Justin, Novick, Greg
• Primary Examiner(s): Whipple, Brian P
• Application Number:
  US13/913,322
• Publication Number:
  US 20140365569A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,012 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• 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 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/30 Public key, i.e. encryption algorithm being computationally infeasible to invert or user's encryption keys not requiring secrecy
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/10 Integrity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/72 Subscriber identity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements

Abstract

Modifying a notification on one client device can trigger the generation and transmission of a silent notification to another client device that is associated with the same user account. The silent notification can include instructions to query for and modify a similar notification, if present, on the other client device. Silent notifications that are undeliverable can be stored in offline storage and delivery can be reattempted at a later point in time.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method, comprising:

detecting, on a client device, a modification event associated with a first notification on the client device;

determining a user ID associated with the client device;

transmitting, to an identity service, a request for another client device associated with the user ID;

receiving a push token for addressing the another client device associated with the user ID;

generating a silent notification having instructions to modify a second notification on the another client device, the second notification having the same content as the first notification; and

transmitting the silent notification from the client device to the another client device, according to the push token.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a public key representing an encryption scheme of the another client device; and

encrypting, prior to transmission, content of the silent notification according to the public key.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first notification and the second notification are generated from a remote source.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the modification event is a request to dismiss an alert from a lock screen of the client device.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the modification event is a request to remove the notification from a notification center of the client device.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the modification to the second notification is the same as the modification to the first notification.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the silent notification includes content from the first notification.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the silent notification instructions modify the second notification on the another client device without displaying the silent notification on the another client device.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein instructions to modify a second notification on the another client device are included in a group of instructions consisting of:

dismissing the second notification and dismissing an alert corresponding to the second notification.

8. A computer implemented method, comprising:

receiving, on a client device, a silent notification having instructions to modify a notification that is equivalent to another notification that has been previously modified on another client device, the silent notification including content and a desired action;

matching the content with one of a plurality of notifications of the client device, the plurality of notifications being different than the notification; and

performing the desired action on the matched notification.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 8, wherein matching comprises text matching.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 8, further comprising transmitting an acknowledgment of receipt of the silent notification.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 8, wherein matching further comprises matching an application ID of the notification with one of a plurality of notifications of the client device.

24. The method of claim 8, wherein the silent notification is not displayed on the client device.

12. A computer implemented method, comprising:

receiving, from a sending device, a silent notification for delivery at a receiving device;

routing the silent notification to the receiving device;

waiting a predefined period of time to receive an acknowledgment in response to routing the silent notification;

storing the silent notification in a storage when the predefined period of time elapses;

detecting the presence of the receiving device; and

rerouting the silent notification to the receiving device in response to the detection.

13. The computer implemented method of claim 12, wherein the silent notification is configured to provide an instruction to modify a notification on the receiving device.

14. The computer implemented method of claim 12, further comprising confirming the authenticity of the silent notification.

15. The computer implemented method of claim 14, wherein confirming the authenticity of the silent notification includes confirming that a time to live variable of the silent notification has not expired.

25. The method of claim 12, wherein the silent notification instructions modify a second notification on the receiving device without displaying the silent notification on the receiving device.

29. The method of claim 12, wherein the silent notification instructions are included in a group of instructions consisting of:

dismissing a second notification on the receiving device and dismissing an alert corresponding to the second notification on the receiving device.

16. A system, comprising:

a plurality of client devices related to a user account, each of the plurality of client devices having a persistent push token to uniquely identify a client device;

an identity service configured to return the persistent push tokens of the plurality of client devices in response to a query for the user account; and

a push notification service configured to route a silent notification from a first client device to a second client device according to the persistent push token of the second client device, the silent notification being configured to modify a notification stored on the second client device that was generated outside of the system.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the identity service is further configured to return a result including a first persistent push token of the first client device, a second persistent push token of the second client device, and a session token that is generated from the first persistent push token, the second persistent push token, and a time stamp associated with the query.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising a transport service configured to verify communications by comparing the time stamp of the session token against a time-to-live value.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the push notification service is further configured to map the persistent push token to an IP address of the second client device.

20. The system of claim 16, further comprising an offline storage configured to store the silent notification for future retransmission when the second client device is offline.

26. The system of claim 16, wherein the silent notification is not displayed on the second client device.

30. The system of claim 16, wherein the silent notification is configured to modify a notification on the second device according to a group of instructions consisting of:

dismissing the notification stored on the second client device and dismissing an alert corresponding to the notification stored on the second client device.

21. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions therein, which when executed by a machine, causes the machine to perform a method, the method comprising:

detecting, on a client device, a modification event associated with a first notification on the client device;

determining a user ID associated with the client device;

transmitting, to an identity service, a request for another client device associated with the user ID;

receiving a push token for addressing the another client device associated with the user ID;

generating a silent notification having instructions to modify a second notification on the another client device, the second notification having the same content as the first notification; and

transmitting the silent notification from the client device to the another client device, according to the push token.

22. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 21, further comprising:

receiving a public key representing an encryption scheme of the another client device; and

encrypting, prior to transmission, content of the silent notification according to the public key.

27. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the silent notification instructions modify the second notification on the another client device without displaying the silent notification on the another client device.