Managing notification messages

• US 9,485,208 B2
• Filed: 01/08/2014
• Issued: 11/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Marcellino, Christopher
• Primary Examiner(s): Nealon, William
• Application Number:
  US14/150,352
• Publication Number:
  US 20140164541A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,028 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/206, 709/207, 709/224, 455/418
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/385 of the core network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses that generate a subtopic identifier identifying a client application within a client device are described. The client application may be associated with a server application hosted in one or more application servers. Notification services may be registered with the application servers from the client application to forward identifiers associated with the client application to the server application to enable the server application to push notification messages to the client device selectively for the client application. When receiving a notification message from the application server, the notification message may be examined to forward the notification message directly to the client application without invoking other applications in the client device if the notification message carries a subtopic identifier of the client application.

Claims

1. A mobile device, comprising:

a processor; and

a wireless transceiver;

wherein the processor and the wireless transceiver are configured to perform operations for;

maintaining a whitelist representing one or more of a plurality of applications installed on the mobile device that may receive notification messages from a courier coupled to the mobile device, the whitelist including one or more application identifiers for each of the one or more of the plurality of applications; and

transmitting a representation of the whitelist to the courier, wherein the courier controls the transmission of notification messages to the mobile device, and wherein the representation of the whitelist is configured to enable the courier to determine whether to forward notification messages received by the courier from a plurality of application servers to the mobile device.

2. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the representation of the whitelist is a probabilistic representation, and wherein the processor and the wireless transceiver are further configured to perform operations for:

creating the probabilistic representation of the whitelist by, for each application identifier in the whitelist;

hashing the application identifier to generate a hashed application identifier; and

setting bits of the probabilistic representation of the whitelist that correspond with the hashed application identifier.

3. The mobile device of claim 2, wherein each hashed application identifier is generated from a SHA-1 hash of the corresponding application identifier, and wherein the processor and the wireless transceiver are further configured to perform operations for:

for each hashed application identifier generated from a corresponding application identifier in the whitelist;

dividing the hashed application identifier into a number of segments,

calculating a value for each of the number of segments, and

setting bits of the probabilistic representation of the whitelist that correspond with the calculated values; and

storing the probabilistic representation of the whitelist on the mobile device.

4. The mobile device of claim 2, wherein the processor and the wireless transceiver are further configured to perform operations for:

prior to hashing the application identifiers in the whitelist, salting the application identifiers in the whitelist by adding a same random number to each of the application identifiers; and

transmitting the random number to the one or more couriers.

5. A method, comprising:

in a processor and a wireless transceiver in a mobile device, performing operations for;

maintaining a whitelist representing one or more of a plurality of applications installed on the mobile device that may receive notification messages from a courier coupled to the mobile device, the whitelist including one or more application identifiers for each of the one or more of the plurality of applications; and

transmitting a representation of the whitelist to the courier, wherein the courier controls the transmission of notification messages to the mobile device, and wherein the representation of the whitelist is configured to enable the courier to determine whether to forward notification messages received by the courier from a plurality of application servers to the mobile device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the representation of the whitelist is a probabilistic representation, and wherein the processor and the wireless transceiver are further configured to perform operations for:

creating the probabilistic representation of the whitelist by, for each application identifier in the whitelist;

hashing the application identifier to generate a hashed application identifier; and

setting bits of the probabilistic representation of the whitelist that correspond with the hashed application identifier.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein each hashed application identifier is generated from a SHA-1 hash of the corresponding application identifier, and wherein the method further comprises:

for each hashed application identifier generated from a corresponding application identifier in the whitelist;

dividing the hashed application identifier into a number of segments,

calculating a value for each of the number of segments, and

setting bits of the probabilistic representation of the whitelist that correspond with the calculated values; and

storing the probabilistic representation of the whitelist on the mobile device.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the method further comprises:

prior to hashing the application identifiers in the whitelist, salting the application identifiers in the whitelist by adding a same random number to each of the application identifiers; and

transmitting the random number to the one or more couriers.

9. A method, comprising:

in a processor and a network interface in a courier computing device, performing operations for;

receiving a representation of a whitelist from a mobile device, the whitelist representing one or more of a plurality of applications installed on the mobile device that may receive notification messages from the courier;

receiving one or more notification messages for the mobile device from one or more application servers, each notification message including an application identifier; and

determining whether to transmit the one or more notification messages to the mobile device based on the representation of the whitelist.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein determining whether to transmit each of the one or more notification messages further comprises:

hashing the application identifier included in the notification message;

dividing the hashing result into a number of segments;

calculating a value for each of the number of segments;

determining whether each value corresponds with a set bit in the probabilistic representation of the whitelist; and

if each calculated value corresponds with a set bit in the probabilistic representation of the whitelist, transmitting the notification message to the determined one of the mobile devices.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the processor and the network interface are further configured to perform operations for:

for each received notification message, if any of the calculated values do not correspond with a set bit in the probabilistic representation of the whitelist, notifying an application server that sent the notification message that the application is unavailable on the mobile device.

12. A mobile device, comprising:

a processor; and

a wireless transceiver;

wherein the processor and the wireless transceiver are configured to perform operations for;

maintaining a blacklist representing one or more of a plurality of applications installed on the mobile device that may not receive notification messages from a courier coupled to the mobile device, the blacklist including one or more application identifiers for each of the one or more of the plurality of applications; and

transmitting a representation of the blacklist to the courier, wherein the courier controls the transmission of notification messages to the mobile device, and wherein the representation of the blacklist is configured to enable the courier to determine whether to forward notification messages received by the courier from a plurality of application servers to the mobile device.

13. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein the representation of the blacklist is a probabilistic representation, and wherein the processor and the wireless transceiver are further configured to perform operations for:

creating the probabilistic representation of the blacklist by, for each application identifier in the blacklist;

hashing the application identifier to generate a hashed application identifier; and

setting bits of the probabilistic representation of the blacklist that correspond with the hashed application identifier.

14. The mobile device of claim 13, wherein each hashed application identifier is generated from a SHA-1 hash of the corresponding application identifier, and wherein the processor and the wireless transceiver are further configured to perform operations for:

for each hashed application identifier generated from a corresponding application identifier in the blacklist;

dividing the hashed application identifier into a number of segments,

calculating a value for each of the number of segments, and

setting bits of the probabilistic representation of the blacklist that correspond with the calculated values; and

storing the probabilistic representation of the blacklist on the mobile device.

15. The mobile device of claim 13, wherein the processor and the wireless transceiver are further configured to perform operations for:

prior to hashing the application identifiers in the blacklist, salting the application identifiers in the blacklist by adding a same random number to each of the application identifiers; and

transmitting the random number to the one or more couriers.

16. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein the blacklist includes one or more application identifiers for one of:

applications that are not currently running on the mobile device;

applications that are disabled on the device; and

applications that have been selected not to receive notification messages on the device.

17. A method, comprising:

in a processor and a wireless transceiver in a mobile device, performing operations for;

maintaining a blacklist representing one or more of a plurality of applications installed on the mobile device that may not receive notification messages from a courier coupled to the mobile device, the blacklist including one or more application identifiers for each of the one or more of the plurality of applications; and

transmitting a representation of the blacklist to the courier, wherein the courier controls the transmission of notification messages to the mobile device, and wherein the representation of the blacklist is configured to enable the courier to determine whether to forward notification messages received by the courier from a plurality of application servers to the mobile device.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the representation of the blacklist is a probabilistic representation, and wherein the processor and the wireless transceiver are further configured to perform operations for:

creating the probabilistic representation of the blacklist by, for each application identifier in the blacklist;

hashing the application identifier to generate a hashed application identifier; and

setting bits of the probabilistic representation of the blacklist that correspond with the hashed application identifier.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein each hashed application identifier is generated from a SHA-1 hash of the corresponding application identifier, and wherein the method further comprises:

for each hashed application identifier generated from a corresponding application identifier in the blacklist;

dividing the hashed application identifier into a number of segments,

calculating a value for each of the number of segments, and

setting bits of the probabilistic representation of the blacklist that correspond with the calculated values; and

storing the probabilistic representation of the blacklist on the mobile device.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises:

prior to hashing the application identifiers in the blacklist, salting the application identifiers in the blacklist by adding a same random number to each of the application identifiers; and

transmitting the random number to the one or more couriers.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the blacklist includes one or more application identifiers for one of:

applications that are not currently running on the mobile device;

applications that are disabled on the device; and

applications that have been selected not to receive notification messages on the device.

22. A method, comprising:

in a processor and a network interface in a courier computing device, performing operations for;

receiving a representation of a blacklist from a mobile device, the blacklist representing one or more of a plurality of applications installed on the mobile device that may not receive notification messages from the courier;

receiving one or more notification messages for the mobile device from one or more application servers, each notification message including an application identifier; and

determining whether to transmit the one or more notification messages to the mobile device based on the representation of the blacklist.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein determining whether to transmit each of the one or more notification messages further comprises:

hashing the application identifier included in the notification message;

dividing the hashing result into a number of segments;

calculating a value for each of the number of segments;

determining whether each value corresponds with a set bit in the probabilistic representation of the blacklist;

if each calculated value corresponds with a set bit in the probabilistic representation of the blacklist, transmitting the notification message to the determined one of the mobile devices.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the processor and the network interface are further configured to perform operations for:

for each received notification message, if any of the calculated values do not correspond with a set bit in the probabilistic representation of the blacklist, notifying an application server that sent the notification message that the application is unavailable on the mobile device.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein the blacklist includes one or more application identifiers for one of:

applications that are not currently running on the mobile device;

applications that are disabled on the device; and

applications that have been selected not to receive notification messages on the device.