Managing notifications across services

• US 9,560,001 B1
• Filed: 03/12/2013
• Issued: 01/31/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Collins, Alexander, Bilinski, Brandon
• Primary Examiner(s): Baturay, Alicia
• Application Number:
  US13/797,431
• Time in Patent Office: 1,421 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/234 for tracking messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication

Abstract

Systems and methods for managing notifications are provided. One of the methods includes sending notification data to a first client service and a second client service for a message. The method further includes receiving an indication that the notification data has been interacted with using the first or second client service. The method includes updating a read status of the notification data when the indication is received, such that the notification data at the first and second client services has a same status indicator.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving an indication of a network message that is generated using an online account interface, the online account interface associated with a first online account, the network message designated for a second online account, the first and second online accounts associated with a first client service;

generating first notification data and second notification data based on the indication of the network message;

sending the first notification data to the first client service and the second notification data to a second client service, wherein the first client service and the second client service are hosted by one or more client devices of a user, and wherein the first notification data and the second notification data notify the user of the network message;

receiving a read notification message indicating that the first notification data to the first client service has been interacted with by the user, wherein the read notification message comprises a first identifier to identify the first notification data that has been interacted with by the user;

updating, by a processing device, a first read status associated with the first notification data and a second read status associated with the second notification data in response to receiving the read notification message, such that the first read status and the second read status have a read status indicator reflecting that the first notification data has been interacted with by the user; and

sending a modify instruction message to the second client service upon updating the first read status and the second read status, wherein the modify instruction comprises a second identifier to identify the second notification data that has not been interacted with by the user and the read status indicator reflecting that the first notification data has been interacted with by the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein updating the first read status and the second read status comprises marking the first and the second read status as read without requiring a message that indicates that the second notification data is read via the second client service.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating the first notification data with the first identifier and the first read status, the first read status indicating whether the notification data sent to the first client service is read via the first client service, wherein associating the first notification data with the first identifier and the first read status comprises;

assigning a first identification number to the first notification data; and

assigning the first read status to the first notification data; and

associating the second notification data with the second identifier, the second read status indicating whether the second notification data is read via the second client service, wherein associating the second notification data with the second identifier comprises;

assigning a second identification number to the second notification data.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

initiating the first read status to indicate that the first notification data is unread via the first client service, wherein initiating the first read status to indicate that the first notification data is unread via the first client service comprises assigning a value to the first read status to indicate that the first notification data is unread via the first client service; and

initiating the second read status to indicate that the second notification data is unread via the second client service, wherein initiating the second read status to indicate that the second notification data is unread via the second client service comprises assigning the value to the second read status to indicate that the second notification data is unread via the second client service.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the read notification message comprises receiving the read notification message via a network from a client device of the one or more client devices.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the first notification data to the first client service comprises sending the first notification data to the first client service via a network, wherein sending the second notification data to the second client service comprises sending the second notification data to the second client service via the network, wherein updating the first read status comprises updating a first value of the first read status to a second value.

7. The method of claim 1, further wherein sending the modify instruction message to the second client service comprises sending the modify instruction message via a network to a client device of the one or more client devices.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first client service comprises a social network service, an electronic messaging service, or a telecommunications service, wherein the second client service comprises the social network service, the electronic messaging service, or the telecommunications service.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating an instruction to modify the second notification data via the second client service, wherein communicating the instruction to modify the second notification data comprises sending the instruction to indicate via the second client service that the second notification data is read by the user.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first client service is same as or different from the second client service.

11. A method comprising:

receiving, from a server, a first notification data to display a first notification via a first client service hosted by one or more client devices of a user, wherein the first notification data is received responsive to an indication of a network message having been received by the server, wherein the network message is generated using an online account interface, wherein the online account interface associated with a first online account, wherein the network message is designated for a second online account, and wherein the first and second online accounts are associated with the first client service;

in response receiving the first notification data, displaying the first notification via the first client service on the one or more client devices;

receiving, from the server, a modify instruction to modify the first notification, the modify instruction indicating an interaction by the user with a second notification via a second client service, wherein the first notification and the second notification notify the user of the network message, and wherein the modify instruction comprises a first identifier to identify the first notification that has not been interacted with by the user and a read status indicator reflecting that the second notification has been interacted with by the user; and

in response to receiving the modify instruction, modifying, by a processing device, the first notification to indicate that content of the first notification has been read.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein modifying the first notification comprises modifying the first notification via the first client service without receiving an input indicating that the first notification is read via the first client service.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein modifying the first notification is performed in response to receiving an answer from the server to a poll, the answer indicating that the server modified a read status that is associated with the first notification.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein modifying the first notification comprises deleting the first notification.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the first client service is same as or different from the second client service.

16. A system comprising:

a network adapter; and

a processing device, coupled to the network adaptor, to;

receive an indication of a network message that is generated using an online account interface, the online account interface associated with a first online account, the network message designated for a second online account, the first and second online accounts associated with a first client service;

generate first notification data and second notification data based on the indication of the network message;

cause the network adaptor to send the first notification data to the first client service and the second notification data to a second client service, wherein the first client service and the second client service are hosted by the one or more client devices of a user, and wherein the first notification data and the second notification data notify the user of the network message;

cause the network adapter to receive a read notification message indicating that the first notification data to the one or more client devices has been interacted with by the user, wherein the read notification message comprises a first identifier to identify the first notification data that has been interacted with by the user;

update, by the processing device, a first read status associated with the first notification data and a second read status associated with the second notification data in response to receiving the read notification message, such that the first read status and the second read status have a same read status indicator reflecting that the first notification data has been interacted with by the user; and

cause the network adapter to send a modify instruction message to the second client service upon updating the first read status and the second read status, wherein the modify instruction comprises a second identifier to identify the second notification data that has not been interacted with by the user and the read status indicator reflecting that the first notification data has been interacted with by the user.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the processing device is further to:

associate the first notification data with the first identifier and the first read status;

associate the second notification data with the second identifier and the second read status, the first read status indicating whether the first notification data is read via the first client service, the second read status indicating whether the second notification data is read via the second client service;

initiate the first read status and the second read status to indicate that the first and second notification data are unread, wherein when the first notification data is read via the first client service; and

mark the second read status as read without requiring a message that indicates that the second notification data is read via the second client service.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the first client service is same as or different from the second client service.