Systems and methods for contextual discovery of device functions

• US 9,974,045 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2015
• Issued: 05/15/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Ghosh, Angana, Chu, Maurice K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sabouri, Mazda
• Application Number:
  US14/754,391
• Publication Number:
  US 20160381658A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,051 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/453 Help systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72454 according to context-related or environment-related conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/005 Transmission of information for alerting of incoming communication

Abstract

Certain implementations of the disclosed technology may include systems and methods for providing notifications relating to context-based features of a mobile device. According to an example implementation, a method is provided for receiving an indication of contextual information and an indication of historical information. The method also includes determining an environmental context of the mobile device from the contextual information and the historical information. The method also includes determining whether a usage criteria associated with a context-based feature associated with the environmental context has been met. The method also includes outputting an indication of the determination that the context-based feature has not met the usage criteria, such that the mobile device outputs a notification related to the context-based feature.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, by a computing device, an indication of contextual information and an indication of historical information of a user of the computing device;

responsive to receiving the indication of contextual information and the indication of historical information of the user of the computing device, determining, by the computing device, an environmental context of a mobile device, wherein the environmental context is associated with one or more context-based features of the computing device;

receiving, by the computing device, an indication of an adoption rate of the one or more context-based features by other users after receiving a notification regarding the one or more context-based features;

determining, based on the received indication of the adoption rate, a prioritization of a notification of the one or more context-based features;

determining, based on the historical information and the prioritization, whether a usage criteria associated with a context-based feature associated with the environmental context has been met;

determining that the usage criteria has not been met in response to determining, by the computing device, that the mobile device has been in the environmental context a number of times greater than a notification threshold; and

responsive to determining that the usage criteria associated with the context-based feature associated with the environmental context has not been met, outputting, by the computing device, an indication of the determination that the usage criteria has not been met, such that the mobile device outputs a notification related to the context-based feature.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing device and the mobile device are the same device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification related to the context-based feature comprises instructions on how to use the context-based feature of the mobile device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the usage criteria has not been met in response to determining, by the computing device, that a notification relating to the context-based feature has not been previously provided by the mobile device more than a threshold number of times.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the usage criteria includes one of:

the context-based feature has been accessed a number of times previously;

the context-based feature has been accessed a number of times previously within a specified time frame;

or

a feature similar to the context-based feature has been accessed previously.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the historical information of the user comprises:

information indicative of the extent of which a particular feature or application of the device has been activated in the past.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the environmental context of a mobile device comprises at least one of:

the location of the mobile device;

an activity being performed by the user of the mobile device;

or

a predicted state of the mobile device.

8. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory coupled to the one or more processors and storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to;

receive, an indication of contextual information and an indication of historical information of a user of a mobile computing device;

responsive to receiving the indication of contextual information and the indication of historical information of the user of the mobile computing device, determine, based on the contextual information and the historical information, an environmental context of the mobile computing device, wherein the environmental context is associated with one or more context-based features of the mobile computing device;

receive an indication of an adoption rate of the one or more context-based features by other users after receiving a notification regarding the one or more context-based features;

determine, based on the received indication of the adoption rate, a prioritization of a notification of the one or more context-based features;

determine, based on the historical information and the prioritization, whether a usage criteria associated with the context-based feature associated with the environmental context has been met;

determine that the usage criteria has not been met in response to determining that the mobile device has been in the environmental context a number of times greater than a notification threshold; and

responsive to determining that the usage criteria associated with the context-based feature associated with the environmental context has not been met, output an indication of the determination that the usage criteria associated with the context-based feature has not been met, such that the mobile computing device outputs a notification related to the context-based feature.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the notification related to the context-based feature comprises instructions on how to use the context-based feature of the mobile computing device.

10. The system of claim 8, further comprising a GPS receiver, wherein the indication of contextual information relates to location data received from the GPS receiver.

11. The system of claim 8, further comprising an accelerometer, wherein the indication of contextual information accelerometer relates to data received from the accelerometer.

12. The system of claim 8, further comprising a network connection interface, wherein the indication of contextual information relates to data received from the network connection interface.

13. The system of claim 8, further comprising a microphone, wherein the indication of contextual information relates to sound data received from the microphone.

14. The system of claim 8, further comprising an optical sensor, wherein the indication of contextual information relates to image data received from the optical sensor.

15. The system of claim 8, wherein the indication of contextual information relates to application data of an application running on the mobile computing device detected by a listener.

16. The system of claim 8, further comprising an ambient light sensor, wherein the indication of contextual information relates to light data received from the ambient light sensor.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause a computing device to:

receive an indication of contextual information and an indication of historical information of a user of a mobile computing device;

responsive to receiving the indication of contextual information and the indication of historical information of the user of the mobile computing device, determine an environmental context of the mobile computing device, wherein the environmental context is associated with one or more context-based features of the mobile computing device;

receive an indication of an adoption rate of the one or more context-based features by other users after receiving a notification regarding the one or more context-based features;

determine, based on the received indication of the adoption rate, a prioritization of a notification of the one or more context-based features;

determine, based on the historical information and the prioritization, whether a usage criteria associated with the context-based feature associated with the environmental context has been met;

determine that the usage criteria has not been met in response to determining that the mobile device has been in the environmental context a number of times greater than a notification threshold; and

responsive to determining that the usage criteria associated with the context-based feature associated with the environmental context has not been met, output an indication of the determination that the usage criteria has not been met, such that the mobile computing device outputs a notification related to the context-based feature.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 further storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause a computing device to:

prior to outputting an indication of the determination that the context-based feature has not met the usage criteria, determine that a notification relating to the context-based feature has not been previously provided by the mobile computing device.

19. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory coupled to the one or more processors and storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to;

receive, at a first time, a first indication of contextual information and an indication of historical information of a user of a mobile computing device;

responsive to receiving the first indication of contextual information and the indication of historical information of the user of the mobile computing device, determine, based on the first contextual information and the historical information, a first environmental context of the mobile computing device, wherein the first environmental context is associated with one or more context-based features of the mobile computing device;

determine, based on the historical information, whether a usage criteria associated with the context-based feature associated with the first environmental context has been met;

determine a number of notifications provided by the mobile computing device over a predetermined time frame based on the first time; and

responsive to determining that the usage criteria associated with the context-based feature associated with the first environmental context has not been met and the number of notifications provided by the mobile computing device over the predetermined time frame based on the first time being less than a notification limit, output an indication that the context-based feature has not met the usage criteria, such that the mobile computing device outputs a notification related to the context-based feature.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the system to:

responsive to determining that the usage criteria associated with the context-based feature associated with the first environmental context has not been met and the number of notifications provided by the mobile computing device over the predetermined time frame being greater than or equal to the notification limit, delay output of the indication that the context-based feature has not met the usage criteria, such that the mobile computing device does not output a notification related to the context-based feature;

receive, at a second time, a second indication of contextual information;

responsive to receiving the second indication of contextual information, determine, based on the second contextual information and the historical information, a second environmental context of the mobile computing device, wherein the second environmental context is associated with one or more context-based features of the mobile computing device;

determine an updated number of notifications provided by the mobile computing device over the predetermined time frame based on the second time; and

responsive to determining that the usage criteria associated with the context-based feature associated with the environmental context has not been met and the updated number of notifications provided by the mobile computing device over the predetermined time frame based on the second time being less than the notification limit, output an indication that the context-based feature has not met the usage criteria, such that the mobile computing device outputs a notification related to the context-based feature.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the system to:

responsive to determining that the number of notifications provided by the mobile computing device over the predetermined time frame based on the first time is greater than or equal to the notification limit, discard the determination of whether the usage criteria associated with the context-based feature associated with the environmental context has been met.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the notification limit is a number of notifications per month.