Hosted notifications templates

• US 7,877,694 B2
• Filed: 12/05/2003
• Issued: 01/25/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Movva, Ramu, Antonelli, Jason
• Primary Examiner(s): Lo; Weilun
• Assistant Examiner(s): Augustine; Nicholas
• Application Number:
  US10/728,697
• Publication Number:
  US 20050144266A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,608 Days
• Field of Search: 715/790, 715/789, 715/805, 715/738, 715/739, 715/714, 715/772, 715/744, 715/745, 715/746, 715/802, 707/9, 707/6
• US Class Current: 715/746
• 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: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

Method and systems for generating notifications in a notifications system. A parameter-driven template received from a content provider contains one or more parameters related to a subscription for notifications. The notifications system enables an application based on the received template and executes it to map a recurring event to one or more subscribers as a function of the parameters specified by the content provider. In response to the recurring event, the notification system generates a notification. Other aspects of the invention relate to a computer-readable medium that defines the application for use in a notifications system.

Claims

1. A method of generating notifications in a notifications system, said notifications system being configured to provide notifications to subscribers via a data communication network, said notifications containing content provided by a plurality of content providers, said method comprising:

providing a parameter-driven template to the plurality of content providers for completion by the content providers;

receiving a parameter-driven template from at least one of the plurality of content providers, said received template relating to a category specified by the content provider, said received template containing one or more parameters specified by the content provider, said parameters defining a plurality of events specified by the content provider and relating to the specified category, each of said events comprising a recurring event specified by the content provider, said parameters relating to a subscription for notifications and specifying a predefined scheduled generation time for the generation of notifications to occur, wherein one of the parameters in the received parameter-driven template relates to delivery of the generated notifications at a predetermined time of day specified by the content provider;

enabling a notifications application based on the received template, said notifications application mapping the latest recurring event of the specified category to one or more subscribers as a function of the parameters specified by the content provider in the received parameter-driven template provided by the content provider, wherein enabling the notifications application based on the received template includes creating an application definition file that describes the notifications application;

executing the notifications application on a recurring basis to generate a notification in accordance with the predefined scheduled generation time specified by the received parameter-driven template parameters, wherein the notification is generated based on matching the latest recurring event of the specified category with subscribers of the specified category, and wherein the generated notification is delivered to the subscribers of the specified category on a recurring basis in accordance with the time of day delivery parameter specified by the received parameter-driven template; and

providing a user interface for the subscribers to manage the subscription whereby the managed subscription has parameters corresponding the received parameter-driven template received from the content provider.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising matching a most recent instance of the recurring event to the subscription to generate the notifications for delivery at the predetermined time of day.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the parameters specified by the content provider relates to delivery of the notifications upon occurrence of the recurring event.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising matching the recurring event to the subscription to generate the notifications for broadcast delivery upon occurrence of the recurring event.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the notifications relate to one or more of following categories:

horoscope, lottery, and news.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising defining the template based on common features of a plurality of notifications applications.

7. One or more computer-readable storage media having computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 1.

8. A computer-readable storage medium having a data structure stored thereon, said data structure defining an application for use in a notifications system, said notifications system being configured to execute the defined application for providing notifications to subscribers via a data communication network, said notifications containing content provided by a plurality of content providers, said data structure comprising:

a user interface template configured to contain information for defining a user interface corresponding to the application for managing the subscription of the user, said interface allowing the user to select a category, wherein a subscription is generated for the user from the user interface template, said subscription indicating that the user wants to receive notifications related to the selected category;

a scenario template configured to contain information for defining the application, said scenario template receiving from one of the plurality of content providers having one or more parameters specified by the content provider and relating to a subscription for notifications, wherein one of the parameters in the scenario template relates to delivery of the notifications at a predetermined time of day specified by the content provider, wherein the scenario template includes a category component defining a plurality of events specified by the content provider and relating to a category specified by the content provider, for which the notifications are to be generated, each of said events relating to a recurring event specified by the content provider;

a notification generation component responsive to an event feed for mapping a latest recurring event to one or more subscribers as a function of the parameters specified by the content provider in the scenario template provided by the content provider and as a function of the subscription of the subscriber, said notification generation component generating a notification for the recurring event in accordance with a predefined scheduled time specified for notification generation by the scenario template parameters, wherein the notification is generated based on matching the latest recurring event of the specified category with subscribers of the specified category; and

a delivery component for routing the notification to the subscribers of the specified category related to the event, wherein the notification is routed to the subscribers of the specified category in accordance with a time of day delivery parameter specified by the scenario template parameters.

9. The medium of claim 8, wherein the notifications relate to one or more of following topics:

horoscope, lottery, and news.

10. The medium of claim 8, wherein the scenario template is based on common features of a plurality of notifications applications.

11. A system configured for generating and delivering notifications to subscribers via a data communication network, said notifications containing content provided by a plurality of content providers, said system comprising:

a computing device coupled to a data communication network and configured to;

receive a subscription from a subscriber specifying a category for which the subscriber wants to receive notifications of events relating to the specified category;

provide a parameter-driven template to the plurality of content providers for completion by the content providers;

receive the parameter-driven template from one of the plurality a content provider via the data communication network, said received template containing information provided by the content provider and relating to a subscription for notifications, said received template relating to a category specified by the content provider, said received template containing one or more parameters specified by the content provider, said parameters defining a plurality of events specified by the content provider and relating to the category, wherein one of the parameters in the received parameter-driven template relates to delivery of the notifications at a predetermined time of day specified by the content provider, each of said events relating to a recurring event specified by the content provider, said parameters relating to a subscription for notifications and specifying a predefined scheduled generation time for generation of the notifications to occur;

a computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions to be executed on the computing device to enable a notifications application based on the received template, said notifications application mapping the latest recurring event to one or more subscribers as a function of the parameters specified by the content provider in the received parameter-driven template provided by the content provider on a recurring basis in accordance with the predefined scheduled generation time defined by the received parameter-driven template parameters, wherein the notification is generated based on matching the latest recurring event of the specified category with subscribers of the specified category, and wherein the generated notification is delivered to the subscribers in accordance with the time of day delivery parameter specified by the received parameter-driven template parameters.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the computing device is further configured to receive another parameter-driven template from the content provider via the data communication network, said other template containing information provided by the content provider and defining a user interface corresponding to the application for managing the subscription.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the notifications relate to one or more of following topics:

horoscope, lottery, and news.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the template is based on common features of a plurality of notifications applications.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the computer-readable medium further stores computer-executable instructions to be executed on the computing device to create an application definition file that describes the notifications application.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising a subscription store configured to store notification offerings described by the application definition file.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the computer-readable medium further stores computer-executable instructions to be executed on the computing device to validate incoming subscription management requests and commit the requests to the subscription store.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the computer-readable medium further stores computer-executable instructions to be executed on the computing device to generate the notification based on matching external events with corresponding subscriptions.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the computer-readable medium further stores computer-executable instructions to be executed on the computing device to deliver the notification to the system.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the template is predefined and re-usable.

21. A notification system for generating and delivering notifications to subscribers, said notifications containing content provided by one or more content providers, said system comprising:

a computing device coupled to a data communication network, said computing device being configured to receive a parameter-driven template provided by a content provider via the data communication network, said template containing information provided by the content provider and relating to a subscription for notifications, said template relating to a category specified by the content provider, said template containing one or more parameters specified by the content provider, said parameters defining a plurality of events specified by the content provider and relating to the category, wherein one of the parameters in the received parameter-driven template relates to delivery of the notifications at a predetermined time of day specified by the content provider, each of said events relating to a recurring event specified by the content provider, said parameters relating to a subscription for notifications and defining a predefined scheduled generation time for the generation of notifications to occur;

a subscription store associated with the computing device, said subscription store being configured to store one or more notification offerings described by an application definition file, said application definition file being generated from the received parameter-driven template, said application definition file including the predefined scheduled generation time for the generation of notifications to occur; and

a computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions to be executed on the computing device to enable a notifications application to execute on a recurring basis according to the predefined scheduled generation time for the generation of notifications to occur included in the application definition file, said notifications application delivering the notification to the subscribers in accordance with the time of day delivery parameter included in the application definition file, wherein the notifications application maps the latest recurring event of the specified category to one or more subscribers as a function of the parameters specified by the content provider in the received parameter-driven template provided by the content provider.