Message Notification Campaigns

• US 20110060803A1
• Filed: 11/12/2010
• Published: 03/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Barlin, David S., Kunz, Michael C., Estes, Chad S.
• Application Number:
  US12/945,671
• Publication Number:
  US 20110060803A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

Techniques for message notification campaigns are described. In an implementation, a messaging service may process a message received for delivery to a client to determine one or more notifications regarding the message to be sent to the client. The one or more notifications may be designated by way of a notification campaign that is associated with a sender of the message or directly with the message itself The messaging service may parse metadata fields within the message to identify the sender and/or other data sufficient to determine notifications designated to take place regarding the message. A variety of different types of notifications regarding a message may be sent to a client. The messaging service may cause one or more notifications to be sent to the client in conjunction with various resources from a service provider in addition to delivery of the message to the client.

Claims

1. A method implemented by a computing system comprising:

obtaining a message for delivery to a client;

identifying a notification campaign that is associated with the message;

initiating delivery of the message to the client; and

notifying the client regarding the message via one or more notification systems according to the identified notification campaign.

2. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the message comprises an email message.

3. A method as described in claim 1, wherein notifying the client regarding the message comprises causing at least two different types of notifications to be sent to the client in addition to delivery of the message to the client.

4. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the one or more notification systems are configured to provide multiple different types of notifications to clients including toast messages, instant messages, home page notifications, and update feed notifications.

5. A method as described in claim 1, wherein:

initiating delivery of the message to the client comprises routing the message to a messaging account with a messaging service available from a service provider; and

notifying the client regarding the message comprises causing a notification to the client in conjunction with at least one other service available from the service provider.

6. A method as described in claim 1, wherein notifying the client regarding the message comprises causing multiple notifications to the client in conjunction with multiple services available from a service provider.

7. A method as described in claim 1, wherein identifying the notification campaign that is associated with the message comprises:

parsing metadata fields contained in the message to determine an identity of a sender of the message; and

using the identity of the sender of the message to ascertain the notification campaign that is associated with the message from a database storing associations of business entities to corresponding campaigns.

8. A method as described in claim 1, wherein identifying the notification campaign that is associated with the message comprises:

parsing metadata fields contained in the message to determine a campaign identifier included in the message; and

using the campaign identifier to look-up the notification campaign that is associated with the message.

9. A method as described in claim 1, wherein:

identifying the notification campaign that is associated with the message comprises extracting data from one or more metadata fields contained in the message to determine one or more types of notifications to take place for the message; and

notifying the client regarding the message comprises causing the one or more types of notifications that are determined to be sent via the one or more notification systems.

10. A method as described in claim 1, wherein identifying the notification campaign that is associated with the message comprises:

extracting data from one or more metadata fields contained in the message sufficient to determine a reputation for a sender of the message; and

selecting the notification campaign to use for the message based on the reputation.

11. One or more computer-readable storage media storing instructions that, when executed by a computing system, cause one or more devices of the computing system to implement a messaging service to perform operations comprising:

associating a business entity with a notification campaign defining one or more types of notifications to take place regarding messages sent by the business entity;

ascertaining that the business entity corresponds to a message received for delivery to a client by parsing metadata associated with the message; and

sending one or more notifications to the client regarding the message according to the notification campaign associated with the business entity.

12. One or more computer-readable storage media as described in claim 11, wherein parsing metadata associated with the message comprises examining one or more header fields of the message and extracting an identifier that identifies the business entity.

13. One or more computer-readable storage media as described in claim 11, wherein sending the one or more notifications to the client regarding the message comprises causing multiple notifications to the client in conjunction with multiple services available from a service provider in addition to delivery of the message to the client.

14. One or more computer-readable storage media as described in claim 11, wherein sending the one or more notifications to the client regarding the message comprises causing the one or more notifications to be sent via one or more notification systems configured to provide multiple different types of notifications to clients including toast messages, instant messages, home page notifications, and update feed notifications.

15. One or more computer-readable storage media as described in claim 11, wherein sending the one or more notifications to the client regarding the message comprises configuring a portion of user interface designed to provide interaction with resources available from a service provider over a network to display the one or more notifications in conjunction with the resources.

16. One or more computer-readable storage media as described in claim 11, wherein associating the business entity with a notification campaign comprises:

exposing a registration user interface to enable the business entity to purchase the notification campaign;

receiving selections from the business entity via the registration user interface to define the notification campaign; and

forming an association of the business entity with the notification campaign according to the selections.

17. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable storage media storing instructions that, when executed via the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to implement an messaging service configured to perform acts to send notifications regarding a message received from a business entity for delivery to a client including;

parsing one or more metadata fields included in the message to determine notifications regarding the message to take place via one or more notifications systems configured to enable at least two different types of notifications; and

causing the notifications regarding the message to be sent to the client via the one or more notifications systems in addition to delivery of the message to the client.

18. A system as described in claim 17, wherein the different types of notifications enabled by the one or more notification systems include toast messages, instant messages, home page notifications, update feed notifications, text messages, and voicemail messages.

19. A system as described in claim 17, further comprising:

routing the message to an account of the client with the messaging service available from a service provider,

wherein causing the notifications regarding the message to be sent to the client comprises providing at least one notification to the client in conjunction with at least one other services available from the service provider in addition to routing the message to the account of the client with the messaging service.

20. A system as described in claim 17, wherein parsing the one or more metadata fields included in the message to determine the notifications comprises:

extracting data from the one or more metadata fields sufficient to determine at least one of a sender identifier corresponding to the business entity or a campaign identifier included in the message; and

using at least one of the sender identifier or the campaign identifier to ascertain a notification campaign that is associated with the message and describes the notifications to take place regarding the message.