Inline message alert

• US 9,406,103 B1
• Filed: 09/26/2012
• Issued: 08/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gray, Timothy T., Donsbach, Aaron Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Martello, Edward
• Application Number:
  US13/627,291
• Time in Patent Office: 1,406 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes

Abstract

A computing device can be running a current context and displaying a current interface for the current context when a communication is received on the device. The device can display an alert on a portion of a display screen in conjunction with the current interface being displayed. The alert can include information about the communication, which can allow a user to better determine whether or not the communication requires immediate attention. If the user ignores the alert, it will disappear in a specified amount of time. If the user chooses to deal with the communication, he/she can tap on the alert to bring up an overlay interface for replying to the communication without having to switch to another application specifically configured for handling (e.g., viewing, replying to) the communication. After the user replies to the communication using the overlay interface, he/she can be automatically brought back to the current interface.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

displaying, using substantially all pixels of a display screen of a computing device, a first interface of a first application executing on the computing device;

receiving a message, the message being of a message type associated with a second application;

displaying, on a portion of the display screen, an alert indicating receipt of the message, the alert including information indicative of a sender of the message and at least a portion of the message;

detecting a first user interaction with at least a portion of the alert;

displaying, based on the first user interaction, a second interface that overlays the first interface and includes features that correspond to the message type associated with the second application, the second interface being rendered without switching to the second application;

detecting a second user interaction that corresponds to sending a reply to the message;

removing the second interface from the display screen; and

displaying, using substantially all of the pixels of the display screen, the first interface,

wherein the second interface is removed and the first interface is displayed without the computing device detecting a third user interaction.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the message comprises at least one of a text message, a multimedia message, an email message, a software announcement message, or a system message.

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

receiving a second message to the computing device;

displaying, on a portion of the display screen, a second alert indicating receipt of the second message;

detecting no user interaction corresponding to the second alert within a specified amount of time; and

removing the second alert from the display screen.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the message is a media message type and the second interface includes a feature for pausing the media message type.

5. A computer-implemented method comprising:

displaying a first interface of a first application of a computing device on a display screen of the computing device;

receiving a communication to the computing device;

displaying, on a portion of the display screen, an alert indicative of receipt of the communication, the alert being displayed along with the first interface;

receiving a first user interaction that corresponds to the alert;

displaying, on the display screen, a second interface overlaying the first interface and including features for performing an action with respect to the communication, the second interface being rendered without switching to a second application;

receiving a second user interaction that corresponds to sending a reply to the communication;

removing the second interface from the display screen; and

displaying the first interface on the display screen,

wherein the second interface is removed and the first interface is displayed without the computing device receiving a third user interaction.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the first application is a media player application, the method further comprising:

pausing content displayed on the first interface of the media player application; and

automatically resuming the content displayed on the first interface of the media player application.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the alert comprises at least one of information indicative of a sender of the communication, a picture of the sender, or a portion of content of the communication.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the communication comprises at least one of a text message, a multimedia message, an email message, a software announcement message, or a system message.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving a second communication to the computing device;

displaying, on a portion of the display screen, a second alert indicative of receipt of the second communication, the second alert being displayed along with the first interface;

receiving no user interaction that corresponds to the second alert within a specified amount of time; and

removing the second alert from the display screen.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the alert is stored as a new notification in a notification group.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the display screen comprises a touch sensor, and receiving the first user interactions includes:

detecting, by the touch sensor, an interaction with at least a portion of the alert.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, further comprising:

providing at least one additional option for performing at least one additional action with respect to the communication based on an additional user interaction with at least a portion of the alert, the at least one additional action including at least one of deleting the communication, moving the communication into a directory, blocking a sender of the communication, launching an application associated with the communication, downloading data associated with the communication, or utilizing data included in the communication.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, further comprising:

detecting, by the touch sensor, a first dragging gesture from a first edge of the display screen toward a second edge provided opposite the first edge; and

displaying, on the display screen, a notification group including the alert as part of a plurality of notifications,

wherein the notification group is displayed overlaying a portion of the first interface of the first application.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein each notification in the notification group provides an option to either perform an action with respect to a communication corresponding to the respective notification or launch an application associated with the communication corresponding to the respective notification.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising:

detecting, by the touch sensor, a second dragging gesture from the second edge of the display screen toward the first edge;

removing the notification group from the display screen; and

displaying the first interface on the display screen.

16. A computing device comprising:

a display screen;

a processor; and

a memory device including instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the computing device to;

display a first interface of a first application of the computing device on the display screen;

receive a communication to the computing device;

display, on a portion of the display screen, an alert indicative of receipt of the communication, the alert being displayed along with the first interface;

receive a first user interaction that corresponds to the alert;

display, on the display screen, a second interface overlaying the first interface and including features for performing an action with respect to the communication, the second interface being rendered without switching to a second application;

receive a second user interaction that corresponds to sending a reply to the communication;

remove the second interface from the display screen; and

display the first interface on the display screen,

wherein the second interface is removed and the first interface is displayed without detecting a third user interaction.

17. The computing device of claim 16, further comprising:

a touch sensor included in the display screen,

wherein the instructions that cause the computing device to receive the first user interaction include causing the computing device to

detect, by the touch sensor, an interaction with at least a portion of the alert.

18. The computing device of claim 17, wherein the second interface includes at least one additional option for performing at least one additional action with respect to the communication, and the at least one additional action including at least one of deleting the communication, moving the communication into a directory, blocking a sender of the communication, launching an application associated with the communication, downloading data associated with the communication, or utilizing data included in the communication.

19. The computing device of claim 17, wherein the instructions further cause the computing device to:

detect, by the touch sensor, a first dragging gesture from a first edge of the display screen toward a second edge provided opposite the first edge;

display, on the display screen, a notification group including the alert as part of a plurality of notifications,

wherein the notification group is displayed overlaying a portion of the first interface.

20. The computing device of claim 19, wherein the instructions further cause the computing device to:

receive, by the touch sensor, a second dragging gesture from the second edge of the display screen toward the first edge, the second dragging gesture causing the notification group to be removed from the display screen in order to display the first interface.

21. The computing device of claim 16, further comprising:

a camera configured to capture at least one image, wherein the action performed with respect to the communication initiates a transmission of the at least one image captured by the camera to a sender of the communication.

22. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a processor of a computing device, cause the computing device to:

display a first interface of a first application of the computing device on a display screen of the computing device;

receive a communication to the computing device;

display, on a portion of the display screen, an alert indicative of receipt of the communication, the alert being displayed along with the first interface;

receive a first user interaction that corresponds to the alert;

display, on the display screen, a second interface overlaying the first interface and including features for performing an action with respect to the communication, the second interface being rendered without switching to a second application;

receive a second user interaction that corresponds to sending a reply to the communication;

remove the second interface from the display screen; and

display the first interface on the display screen,

wherein the second interface is removed and the first interface is displayed without the computing device receiving a third user interaction.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the communication includes one or more software update files and the action performed with respect to the communication initiates installing the one or more software update files included in the communication.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the communication includes one or more media files and the action performed with respect to the communication initiates a playing of the one or more media files included in the communication.

25. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the communication includes one or more instructions for downloading data from a server external to the computing device and wherein the action performed with respect to the communication initiates a download of the data from the server.