Dynamically overriding alert suppressions based on prior actions

• US 9,137,049 B2
• Filed: 02/28/2013
• Issued: 09/15/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Varoglu, Devrim, Mehta, Sarin S
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsang, Fan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pope, Kharye
• Application Number:
  US13/780,723
• Publication Number:
  US 20140241517A1
• Time in Patent Office: 929 Days
• Field of Search: 379/373, 379/374, 379/375.01, 379/376, 379/210.03, 379/210.02, 379/207.16, 379/201.1, 379/257, 370/352, 370/353, 370/354, 370/355, 370/356, 370/357, 455/456.4, 455/567, 455/566, 715/753, 715/728, 715/739, 715/747, 715/811
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages

Abstract

A suppression override engine on a user device may be configured to detect communication alert suppressions. An incoming communication from a third party may be detected. Upon detecting the communication, the suppression override engine can override the communication alert suppression if it determines that the incoming communication is responsive to a prior communication from the user device. By overriding the alert suppression the user is then alerted to the incoming communication.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer storage medium encoded with a computer program, the program comprising instructions that when executed by a data processing apparatus cause the data processing apparatus to:

detect an incoming communication to a device;

determine the device has been configured to suppress alerts for the incoming communication;

determine the incoming communication is a response to a prior outgoing communication from the device by—

determining a source of the incoming communication,

selectively determining a value indicative of a probability that the incoming communication is responsive to a prior outgoing communication to the source, wherein determining the value is based on at least one of;

a comparison of a phone number of at least one of the one or more prior outgoing communications to the source and the incoming communication, a comparison of an address of at least one of the one or more prior outgoing communications to the source and the incoming communication, a comparison of a subject line of at least one of the one or more prior outgoing communications to the source and the incoming communication, a comparison of metadata of at least one of the one or more prior outgoing communications to the source and the incoming communication, a number of prior outgoing communications to the source, content similarity between the incoming communication and one or more prior outgoing communications to the source, and a time lapse between the incoming communication and the prior outgoing communication to the source, and

determining the value is greater than a specified threshold; and

override the configured alert suppression based, at least in part, on having determined the incoming communication is a response to a prior outgoing communication from the device; and

generate an alert for the incoming communication.

2. The non-transitory program storage device of claim 1, wherein the instructions to cause the data processing apparatus to detect an incoming communication comprise instructions to cause the data processing apparatus to detect an incoming email message.

3. The non-transitory program storage device of claim 1, wherein the instructions to cause the data processing apparatus to detect an incoming communication comprise instructions to cause the data processing apparatus to detect one of at least the following:

email message, voice call, instant message, facetime contact, and a message from a social network.

4. The non-transitory program storage device of claim 1, wherein the instructions to cause the data processing apparatus to determine the device has been configured to suppress alerts for the incoming communication comprise instructions to cause the data processing apparatus to detect the device has been configured to suppress incoming communications from a plurality of sources.

5. The non-transitory program storage device of claim 1, wherein the instructions to cause the data processing apparatus to determine the device has been configured to suppress alerts for the incoming communication comprise instructions to cause the data processing apparatus to detect the device has been configured to operate in one or more of a silent mode, vibrate, and set to a Do Not Disturb state.

6. The non-transitory program storage device of claim 1, wherein the instructions to cause the data processing apparatus to determine a value indicative of a probability that the incoming communication is responsive to a prior outgoing communication to the source comprise instructions to cause the data processing apparatus to determine the value indicative of the probability based, at least in part, on a plurality of communication data.

7. The non-transitory program storage device of claim 6, wherein the instructions to cause the data processing apparatus to determine the value indicative of the probability based, at least in part, on a plurality of communication data comprise instructions to cause the data processing apparatus to determine the value indicative of the probability based, at least in part, on a weighted sum of the plurality of communication data.

8. The non-transitory program storage device of claim 7, wherein weights for at least one of the plurality of communication data are set in accordance with a user-defined preference.

9. The non-transitory program storage device of claim 1, wherein the instructions to cause the data processing apparatus to determine a number of prior outgoing communications to the source comprise instructions to cause the data processing apparatus to determine the value based, at least in part, on a number of prior outgoing communications to the source within a specified time period.

10. The non-transitory program storage device of claim 1, wherein the instructions to cause the data processing apparatus to determine a number of prior outgoing communications to the source comprise instructions to cause the data processing apparatus to determine the value based, at least in part, on a number of consecutive times the device has unsuccessfully attempted to contact the source.

11. A method, comprising:

detecting an incoming communication from a source to a device, wherein the device has been configured to suppress alerts for the incoming call;

determining a value indicative of a probability that the incoming communication is responsive to a prior communication to the source, wherein selectively determining the value is based on at least one of;

a comparison of a phone number of at least one of the one or more prior outgoing communications to the source and the incoming communication, a comparison of an address of at least one of the one or more prior outgoing communications to the source and the incoming communication, a comparison of a subject line of at least one of the one or more prior outgoing communications to the source and the incoming communication, a comparison of metadata of at least one of the one or more prior outgoing communications to the source and the incoming communication, a number of prior outgoing communications to the source, content similarity between the incoming communication and one or more prior outgoing communications to the source, and a time lapse between the incoming communication and the prior outgoing communication to the source;

determining the value is greater than a specified threshold; and

overriding the alert suppression.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising generating, based on the probability determination, an alert for the incoming communication.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the value is based, at least in part, on a number of prior outgoing communications to the source within a specified time period.

14. A device, comprising:

a display; and

one or more processors configured to perform operations comprising;

determining a value indicative of a probability that an incoming communication from a source is responsive to a prior communication to the source, wherein selectively determining the value is based on at least one of;

a comparison of a phone number of at least one of the one or more prior outgoing communications to the source and the incoming communication, a comparison of an address of at least one of the one or more prior outgoing communications to the source and the incoming communication, a comparison of a subject line of at least one of the one or more prior outgoing communications to the source and the incoming communication, a comparison of metadata of at least one of the one or more prior outgoing communications to the source and the incoming communication, a number of prior outgoing communications to the source, content similarity between the incoming communication and one or more prior outgoing communications to the source, and a time lapse between the incoming communication and a prior outgoing communication to the source; and

overriding an alert suppression activated on the device when the value is greater than a specified threshold.