Methods and systems for providing time and date specific software user interfaces

• US 9,948,721 B2
• Filed: 02/03/2015
• Issued: 04/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Tanaka, Jay
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Jimmy H
• Application Number:
  US14/613,172
• Publication Number:
  US 20150149917A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,169 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5011 the resources being hardware resources other than CPUs, Servers and Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

Computer systems, methods and software for responding to remote clients with content selected based on when the request is made. The method may include selecting one or more interface components based on the time of day and/or date of the request, and returning a response including the selected interface components. The method may include adjusting the time for a time zone for the remote client and/or user. Interface components may be fully embedded in the response, or may be references to external components. Interface components may include data relating to a user task associated with the date and/or time of day, formatting information for displaying the task data to the user of the remote client, instructions for user interaction with the task data, etc.

Claims

1. A computer processing system including one or more processors and a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for controlling the one or more processors to:

receive a first login request from a user at a first time;

register a second time at which the user logs out;

store an interface state for a web page responsive to the user logging out at the second time;

receive a second login request from the user at a third time after the second time;

determine a first amount of time that elapsed between the third time and the first time;

determine whether the first amount time is more than a first threshold amount of time;

provide, responsive to a determination that the first amount of time is more than a first threshold amount of time, the web page according to a default display state; and

provide, responsive to a determination that the first amount of time is less than a first threshold amount of time, the web page according to the interface state.

2. The computer processing system of claim 1, wherein the interface state reflects changes made to the default display state by the user.

3. The computer processing system of claim 1, wherein the first threshold amount of time is one hour.

4. The computer processing system of claim 1, wherein the interface state includes one or more items selected from the group consisting of:

persisted values for the web page, search history data associated with the web page, and navigation tree state for a navigation tree in the web page.

5. The computer processing system of claim 1, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium stores further computer-executable instructions for controlling the one or more processors to:

determine that the first time is during a first predefined time period during a predefined time interval;

determine whether any other login requests from the user have been received prior to the first time and within the first predefined time period;

provide, responsive to a determination that another login request from the user was received prior to the first time and within the first predetermined time period, a web page with first content; and

provide, responsive to a determination that no other login request from the user was received prior to the first time and within the first predetermined time period, a web page with second content that is at least partially different from the first content.

6. The computer processing system of claim 5, wherein the first predefined time period is one of several predefined time periods during the predefined time interval.

7. The computer processing system of claim 6, wherein the predefined time interval is a day.

8. The computer processing system of claim 7, wherein:

the first content includes content for a default application home page, and

the second content includes at least one piece of content that is not part of the default application home page and that is selected from the group consisting of;

support cases and tasks scheduled for the day, support cases that have not been updated in the last 72 hours, and new support cases that have been opened since a previous first login request from the user was received, wherein the previous first login request from the user is the most recent login request from the user that was received a) during another day prior to the predefined time interval and b) prior to any other login requests from the user during a second predefined time period in the other day.

9. The computer processing system of claim 7, wherein the first predefined time period starts at 3:

00 AM and ends at a time after noon.

10. The computer processing system of claim 1, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium stores further computer-executable instructions for controlling the one or more processors to:

determine a current local time of the user based on the first time;

select one or more products for inclusion in the webpage based on the current local time of the user; and

include the one or more products selected based on the current local time of the user in the webpage.

11. The computer processing system of claim 10, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium stores further instructions for controlling the one or more processors to:

determine an internet protocol (IP) address associated with the user;

determine a time zone of the user based on the IP address; and

determine the current local time of the user taking into account the time zone of the user.

12. The computer processing system of claim 10, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium stores further instructions for controlling the one or more processors to select business products for inclusion in the webpage when the local time of the user is associated with daytime.

13. The computer processing system of claim 10, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium stores further instructions for controlling the one or more processors to select nighttime products for inclusion in the webpage when the local time of the user is associated with nighttime.

14. The computer processing system of claim 1, wherein the default display state includes one or more items selected from the group consisting of:

a fully closed set of folders in a navigation tree and a blank search history.