US20200099760A1 - Interactive customized push notifications with customized actions - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed herein are apparatus, system and method embodiments for sending an interactive customized push notifications with customized actions. An embodiment operates by determining occurrence of an event associated with an object, forming a notification and a list of actions defined by a customer using fields from the object associated with the event, and presenting the notification and the actions to a user device that's associated to the object. Further, the action is executed in response to the user's selection.

Description

• This application claims the benefit of prior U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 62/735,753 filed on Sep. 24, 2018, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
BACKGROUND
• Push notifications are inherent, out-of-the-box capabilities for many mobile and desktop applications. And these notifications are intended for reminders, alerts, and other usages. Some notifications also have actions associated with them, which could help users to respond to the notification, such as confirming, postponing, forwarding, etc. These notifications and actions are preset within the application and the options of the actions are the same for every user of the application. These can be modified, but only by deploying a new version of the application that provides new notifications and actions.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
• The accompanying drawings are incorporated herein and form a part of the specification.
• FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an example framework for sending an interactive customized push notifications with customized actions to a user device, according to some embodiments.
• FIG. 2 is a flowchart example for sending an interactive customized push notifications with customized actions to a user device, according to some embodiments.
• FIGS. 3A and 3B are block diagrams illustrating example operations for setting up an interactive customized push notifications with customized actions, according to some embodiments.
• FIGS. 4A and 4B depict example graphical user interfaces (GUI) for presenting an interactive push notification with customized action to a user device, according to embodiments of the present disclosure.
• FIG. 5 is an example computer system useful for implementing various embodiments.
• In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical or similar elements. Additionally, generally, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the drawing in which the reference number first appears.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
• Provided herein are system, apparatus, method and/or computer program product embodiments, and/or combinations and sub-combinations thereof, for sending interactive customized push notifications with customized actions.
• Conventional push notifications and appended actions have several limitations for mobile and desktop applications. First, conventional push notifications are usually default for the applications, and it can't be defined according to different customer's need. As an admin, the customers are previously not allowed to send customized push notifications to users. For example, the users could receive push notifications that someone is mentioned in one application, or something needs one user's approval. And these are inherent, out-of-the-box capabilities for these applications and the push notifications can't be customized for the users by the admin.
• Second, conventional append actions for the push notifications are predefined in the application, and they cannot be customized by the admin. Users of the application could only choose from a limited list of predefined actions in response to the push notifications. For example, after the user gets a push notification of an event reminder, the appended actions could be confirming, postponing 5, 10 or 15 minutes, or even forwarding of the reminder. The admin or the end user can't customize these options.
• Third, conventional push notifications and appended actions can't be customized and sent to specific group of users by the admin. The push notifications would usually be sent to the users that subscribed to some service, and the predefined actions would be appended to the push notifications. But the admin would not be able to customize and send to a specific group of users the push notifications and appended actions already defined by the subscribed service of the application. Finally, if new push notifications and new options of appended actions are needed, a new version of the application needs to be deployed on user's device. For example, if another option of calling some for the appended actions of an event reminder is needed to add to the option list, the application needs to update to include that new option for the appended actions.
• FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram100 of an example framework for sending interactive customized push notifications with customized actions, which solves the limitations for conventional push notifications and actions, according to some embodiments. As illustrated inFIG. 1,system100 includesserver110 associated with customer101, which is any of one or more servers110(1)-(N) associated with any of one or more customers101(1)-(N), network(s)120, and user device130 associated with user141, which is any of one or more user devices130(1)-(N) associated with any of one or more users141(1)-(N). As referred to herein, a server may include a hardware and/or software framework dedicated to the execution of procedures (e.g., programs, routines, scripts). In some embodiments, the servers could also be a cloud based computing system.
• In some embodiments,Server110 can be implemented as one server or can be distributed as any suitable number of servers, as illustrated inFIG. 1. For example,multiple servers110 can be implemented in various locations to increase reliability, function of the application, and/or the speed at which the server can communicate with the user devices130. In some embodiments, multiple customers101 have shared access to a given server ofservers110, such as a server110(1), each with their respective users141 and view of server110(1), in what is termed a multi-tenant configuration. And in some embodiments,servers110 together could form a customer relationship management (CRM) system for managing all the company's relationships and interactions with customers and potential customers. For example, customer101(1) and customer102(2) (i.e. tenants of the multi-tenant server110(1)), each acting as administrators, could both access the same multi-tenant server110(1). But the content and configuration that customer101(1) could access is different from customer102(2) on the multi-tenant server110(1). And customer101(1) and102(2) could manage their own relationships and interactions with their users independently through multi-tenant server110(1). It should be understood that the customers could be more and not limited to two, each operating separately from others on multi-tenant server.
• Server110(1) can include hardware processor111,memory112,input device115, andoutput device117, which can be interconnected. Processor111 can send and receive data and commands to and from one or more of user devices130 through theoutput device117 andinput device115. In some embodiments,memory112 could include a storage device for storing indatabase113 data related to customer101 and user141, as well as data received from user devices130 related to users141 through network(s)120. In some embodiments,database113 may be a multi-tenant database system. As used herein, the term “multi-tenant database system” refers to those systems in which various elements of hardware and software of the database system may be shared by one or more customers101. For example, server110(1) may simultaneously process requests for customer101(1) and customer101(2) (i.e. tenants), to access a multi-tenant database table113(1) of the server110(1) having data stored for the customers101(1) and101(2). The same multi-tenant database table113(1) could provide separate data for customer101(1) and102(2), simultaneously and respectively.
• As used herein, the term “database” refers to an organized collection of data. In some embodiments, a database may include a plurality of data tables comprising data values (e.g., alphanumeric strings, integers, decimals, floating points, dates, times, binary values, Boolean values, and/or enumerations). Some examples of databases include columnar databases, relational databases, key-store databases, graph databases, and document stores.
• The storage device inmemory112 can further includeserver application114. In some embodiments, theserver110 may host theserver application114 which support theuser applications133 on user device130. For example, the first server application114(1) may provide remote resources to the first user application133(1), and the second server application114(2) may provide remote resources to the second embedded application133(2). In some other examples, the first server application114(1) may provide remote resources to both the first user application133(1) and the second user application133(2). Some examples of remote resources include data storage, application programming interfaces (API), security modules, and/or distributed processing. In another example, theserver application114 may be same asuser application133, with additional administrator controls over the content, application, and/or functions accessible by a customer. The storage device can also include a serve program for controlling processor111.
• Referring toFIG. 1, user device130(1) can includeprocessor131,input device135, output device147 andapplication133 , which can be interconnected.Processor131 can use the computer program, for example,application133, to present data received fromserver110 through network(s)120 onoutput device137, with aninput device135 that allows a user to interact withapplication133. Input device can be a computer keyboard, a mouse, a trackball, a keypad, a remote control, a touch screen that can receive input (e.g. using a finger, a stylus, or the like), any other suitable input device, or any suitable combination thereof. In some embodiments, the application can include client-side software, server-side software, hardware, firmware, or any suitable combination thereof. For example, a user's mobile device could receive push notifications and appended actions from a server through mobile communication network. And one application on user's mobile device could present the push notifications and appended actions on the screen of the mobile device. The user could respond to the push notifications by selecting one of the appended actions on the screen.
• Further, the user devices130 may be associated with a plurality of users141. For example, the first user device130(1) is associated with a first user141(1), the second user device130(2) is associated with a second user141(2), and the Nth user device130(N) is associated with an Nth user141(N), and so forth. Multiple user devices130 could also be associated with one of the users, for example141(1), or one of the user devices, for example130(1), could be associated with multiple users141. Similarly,application133 may be associated with a plurality of user141. For example, the first application133(1) is used by a first user141(1), the second application133(2) is used by a second user141(2), and the Nth application133(N) is used by an Nth user141(N), and so forth.Multiple applications133, could be used by one of the users, for example141(1), or one of the application, for example133(1), could be used by multiple users141. In addition, theservers110 may be associated with a plurality of customers101. For example, the first server110(1) is associated with a first customer101(1), the second server110(2) is associated with a second customer101(1), an Nth server110(N) is associated with an Nth customer101(N), and so forth.Multiple servers110 could also be associated with one of the customers, for example101(1), or one of the servers, for example110(1), could be associated with multiple customers101. For example, one user may have multiple devices, such as a smart phone, a smart watch, and a smart pad, with the same application on them. When the user received the notification and appended actions from the server, the application will display the notifications and appended actions on the screens of all the user's devices. The user could respond to the notifications and select the action on either of his smart phone, smart watch, or smart pad.
• In one embodiment, for example, a multi-tenant server110(1) (e.g., cloud-based system) is associated with customers101(1) and101(2). The server110(1) is a multi-tenant system providing a multi-tenant application114(1) to customers101(1) and101(2) (i.e., tenants) configuring customized notifications on the server application114(1) using one multi-tenant database113(1) for their own users130. The multi-tenant database113(1) could be one database that is shared among both customers, and each customer, i.e. tenant as referred here, only has visibility into their own data within the database, in accordance with an embodiment. For example, customer101(1), acting asadministrator1, defines customized notification and appended actions for its users141(1)-130(10), to receive from the multi-tenant server110(1) through server application114(1). Customer101(2), acting asadministrator2, defines customized notification and appended actions for its user141(11)-(50), to receive from the same multi-tenant server110(1) through the same server application114(1). The customized configuration is separate from every other customer's configuration. And moreover, users141(1)-(50) may use the same application133(1) on their mobile device130 to receive corresponding customized push notifications and appended actions from the multi-tenant server from different customers respectively. The user application133(1) could be same as server application114(1), which has more administrator controls over the content, application, and/or functions accessible by different customers.
• Additionally, theserver110 and the user device130 may communicate via a communication network(s)120. The communication network(s)120 may include any or all of a private network, personal area network (PAN), Local-Area Network (LAN), Wide-Area Network (WAN), mobile communication network, or the Internet. Further, the connection between theserver110, the user device130, and the communication network(s)120 may be a wireless connection (e.g., Bluetooth, Wi-Fi connection, etc.), or a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet, universal serial bus (USB), etc.), or a combination thereof.
• As illustrated inFIG. 1, in some embodiments, for example, customer101(1) and customer101(2) may want to inform their own users141 about different unique events. The customer101(1) may customize a multi-tenant server application114(1) in a multi-tenant server110(1) to form a customer-defined notification and a customer-defined action using its own customer information and user information stored in a multi-tenant database113(1). Customer101(2) could customize the same server application in the same multi-tenant server its own notifications and actions using its own customer and user information stored in the same database separately. When the occurrence of any event is detected, the notification and the action are sent to corresponding users141 through mobile networks(120). After user141(1) get the customer-defined notification and customer-defined action, an application133(1) could present the notification and action to the screen of users' mobile phone. User141(1) could respond to the customized action on the screen of the mobile phone. After server110(1) receives the user selected action through mobile network(s)120, the user selected action is executed. As referred herein, the server110(1) could be the same cloud server that is used by other customers, and the server application114(1) could be the same server application used by other customers. In accordance with an embodiment, the notification is provided only to users of that particular customer group (i.e., within a single tenant of a multi-tenant cloud server). And, in this embodiment this notification is received only by those users of the particular customer group, even though all users141 have the same version of application133(1) on their mobile phone. One customer's notification goes to its own users, and a different customer's notifications goes to its own users. As a result, an individual tenant of the multi-tenant server110(1) can provide entirely customized notifications to its users despite sharing the same platform with other tenants.
• FIG. 2 is aflow chart200 illustrating an example for sending interactive customized push notifications with customized actions, according to some embodiments.Method200 can be performed by processing logic that can comprise hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic, programmable logic, microcode, etc.), software (e.g., instructions executing on a processing device), or a combination thereof. It is to be appreciated that not all steps may be needed to perform the disclosure provided herein. Further, some of the steps may be performed simultaneously, or in a different order than shown inFIG. 2, as will be understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art.Method200 shall be described with reference toFIG. 1. However,method200 is not limited to the example embodiments.
• In an embodiment, at210, occurrence of an event associated with an object is determined byserver110. An event may be a record change indatabase113, a platform event, a process change invoked by another process, or any event that is associated with an object. An object may be an account, a process, a set of records or anything specific for user141 that customer101 want to inform. For example, a customer101(1) may want to notify its user141(1) when solar panel malfunctions at living blue account. The user141(1) may sell living blue company one type of solar panel previously, and he would be notified if anything happens to the solar panel in living blue company. In this example, the object would be the account, and the unique event for user141(1) is solar panel malfunction at living blue account. When the criteria of solar panel malfunction is met, the occurrence of the event associated with the account object is determined. In another example, customer101(2) may want to notify its user141(2) when opportunity X is “closed won”, which means that the opportunity X is closed, and is won, i.e. the sale was made. User141(2) is working on this opportunity X and trying to make the sale. Therefore user141(2) would expect to be notified if opportunity X is closed won. As referred to in this example, the object would be the opportunity, and the unique event for user141(2) would be opportunity X closed won. When the criteria of closed won is met, the occurrence of the event associated with the opportunity object is determined. In these examples, the event is associated with the object. And the records of the object may be stored in a multi-tenant database113(1). The criteria of that event may be set up by customer101(1) and customer101(2) in a multi-tenant server application114(1) on a multi-tenant server110(1). Although customer101(1) and customer101(2) use the same multi-tenant database, server application and server, the record of each customer and the configuration set up by each customer are separate and independent. And the occurrence of any event is determined respectively when corresponding criteria is met.
• In some embodiments, server application114(1) may set up an event handler or event listener to detect when the criteria is met, and determine the event occurs. In some embodiments, server application114(1) may get information from an application programming interface (API), which is used to collect data outside of database113(1) and server application114(1), to detect whether the criteria is met and therefore determine if the event occurs. In some embodiments, an API may collect data outside of database113(1) and server application114(1) and determine the occurrence of an event. When the API detects occurrence of the event that the customer101(1) want to notify the user141(1), the API can send to server application114(1) the determination as well as the data that user device130(1) needs to be notified.
• At220, a customized notification associated with the event is formed when the occurrence of the event is determined. For example, when the server application114(1) determines that the solar panel malfunctions at living blue account, a push notification of “Solar panel malfunction at Living Blue Account” configured by customer101(1) will be formed for user141(1). And when the server application114(1) determines that opportunity X is closed won, a push notification of “Opportunity X is closed won” defined by customer101(2) will be formed for user141(2). However, for conventional push notifications, users usually get systematic notifications same as everyone else or self-notifications defined by themselves. The customers can't define the notifications for their users that they want to inform their users.
• In some embodiments, the push notification may have a variable part and use one or more fields from the object. A filed may be an attribute, a record, or a part of the object. For example, “solar panel malfunction” and “living blue” may be some fields from the object “account”, and “opportunity X” and “closed won” may be some fields from the object “opportunity”. The push notification may also have a fixed part with fixed text message, such as “Important notice”, or “Congratulations”. In some other embodiments, the push notification may be defined default and all have fixed test message.
• At230, a list of actions associated with the event is determined following the notification. For example, for a push notification of “Solar panel malfunction at living blue account”, customer101(1) may need user141(1) to order replacement part for the solar panel, or call the CEO of the living blue account. And for a push notification of closed won for opportunity X, customer101(2) may need user141(2) to send email to the assistant who last modified the record to congratulate to the assistant. These actions may be appended to the push notifications and sent to user141(1) and user141(2) respectively through network(s)120 for user141(1) and141(2) to respond respectively.
• In some embodiments, the action may have a variable part and use one or more fields from the object. For example, the contact information of the living blue account, such as CEO name Jennifer West and phone number, may be obtained from a field of the object “account” and used to form the appended action for user141(1) “Call Jennifer West”. Or the assistant name, such as Allen East, may be obtained from a field of the object “opportunity” and used to for the appended action for user141(2) “Congrats to Allen East”. The action may also have a fixed part with fixed text message, such as “Call”, or “Congrats to”. In some other embodiments, the action may only have fixed default actions or test message, such as “order replacement part”. In conventional push notifications and appended actions, users can't be notified for each of themselves of specific events that the customers want to notify their users. And the appended actions for users are usually a default list to choose from and the default list is the same for every user. With this customized notifications and customized appended actions, it's much easier to customer to notify their users of specific event and also much easier for the users respond to the notifications by specific appended actions.
• At240, an action link with enough information to execute the action is associated with the action. As referred to herein, an action link may be an endpoint that has all the data and information in the database on the server to be capable of executing and finishing the action on the server side. For example, an action link may have the solar panel order information, such as the solar panel part number, shipping address and payment information, for the solar panel order replacement in database113(1). And this action link is associated with the appended action of “Order replacement part”. When user141(1) selects this action “Order replacement part” on his mobile phone, the selection could be sent back to server application114(1) on server110(1). The server application114(1) may locate the action link in database113(1) and order the replacement solar panel with the information in the action link. Similarly, an action link may have the assistant name Allen East and email information in database113(1). And this action link is associated with the action of sending congratulation email to Allen East. When user141(2) selects this action “Congrats to Allen East” on his mobile phone, the selection could be sent back to server application114(1) on server110(1). The server application114(1) may locate the action link in database113(1) and send congratulation email to Allen East with the information in the action link.
• At250, the notification and the action list are presented to a user device associated with the event. For example, notification “Solar panel malfunction at Living Blue Account” with actions “Call Jennifer West” and “Order replacement part” may be sent from multi-tenant server application114(1) through network(s)120 to a user114(1) associated with the event, and are presented on the user's device130(1). And notification “Opportunity X is closed won” with action “Congrats to Allen East” are also sent from server application114(1) through network(s)120 to a user114(2) associated with the event, and are presented on the user's device130(2). User114(1) and114(2) may receive the specific notification and respond to the specific actions for each of them by select one of the options on their user devices respectively, even though they may use the same multi-tenant server application and the same user application, as the notifications and appended actions are set up by each of their customer separately and independently on the multi-tenant server. In some embodiments, more than one user device may be associated with one user, for example, a mobile device, a computer, a smart watch, and/or a smart pad. With one customized notification set up in server application114(1), all the devices that associated with the event could be sent that customized notification and appended actions. And the push notification and appended action history could be saved and reviewed on each user device.
• At260, the action selected by user is executed by the action link. For example, in response to user141(1)'s selection of “Call Jennifer West”, the selection is sent back to multi-tenant server application114(1), and the phone call to Jennifer West is initiated immediately on user device130(1) with the phone information from the action link corresponding to the action. And for user141(1)'s selection of “Order replacement part”, the selection is sent back to server application114(1), and solar panel replacement part is ordered with all the information from the action link corresponding to the action. And for user141(2)'s selection of “Congrats to Allen East”, the selection is sent back to multi-tenant server application114(1), and an email is sent to Allen East with all the information from the action link corresponding to the action. Without these customized notifications and appended actions, the customers can't define the notifications and actions for their users to notify the events that they want to inform their users. And the users could only get systematic notifications and default list of actions which are the same as others.
• FIGS. 3A and 3B are block diagrams illustrating example operations for setting up an interactive customized push notifications with customized actions, according to some embodiments. As illustrated inFIG. 3A,method300 of setting up an interactive push notification with customized actions comprises start310,object320,criteria330,action340, stop350,criteria360,action370 and stop380. It is to be appreciated that not all steps may be needed to perform the disclosure provided herein, and it's also possible that more steps, such as more criteria and action steps, may be needed to perform the disclosure provided herein. Further, some of the steps may be performed simultaneously, or in a different order than shown inFIG. 3A, as will be understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art.Method300 shall be described with reference toFIG. 1. However,method300 is not limited to the example embodiments. Additionally, the function of setting up interactive customized push notifications and actions may be only required to update for server application on the server. And the user application on user device may not need to update with a new version. Moreover, in some embodiment, setting up interactive customized push notifications and actions may also works on an customized server application, wherein the customized server application may be a cloned copy of the server application, for example, a customized server application for home depot.
• In some embodiments, customer101 may set up anobject320 that the customer wants to inform user141 inmulti-tenant server application114 inmulti-tenant server110 when acriteria330 is met. For example, customer101(2) wants to inform user141(2) that a record of opportunity X in opportunity object is “closed won”, which means that the opportunity is closed, and is won, i.e. the sale was made. The “closed won” is the criteria to determine the occurrence of the event. The actions for the event may be sending user141(2) customized push notification and/or appended actions associated with the event. More criteria and actions, such ascriteria360 andaction370, could continue ifcriteria330 is not met.
• FIG. 3B illustrates the setup ofaction340, comprisingaction type341,action name342, send to343, user344, custom notification345, and appendaction346. As referred to herein, a custom notification may be a customer-defined fixed notification, a variable customized notification using a field from theobject320, or a combination thereof. Similarly, anappend action346 may be a fixed global action, a variable customized action using a field fromobject320, or a combination thereof. Further, the global action may be selected from a global action list. The actions in the global action list could be independent of the records inobject320 and be copied and used by customer directly, or the actions could also be modified and defined by customer. For example, after thecriteria330 close won is met, a push notification action with appended action is defined. Theaction type341 would be push notification, and the action name would be determined by customer101(2). The push notification may be sent to user141(2), same as user344 defined inFIG. 3B.
• In some embodiments, the user141(2) could be defined by user name, and thus every notification would be sent to the same user. In some other embodiments, the user141(2) may be defined using a filed from theobject320, which may be different for different records of opportunity object, such as the assistant who last modified opportunity X′s closed won record.
• For custom notification345, customer101(2) may use customer-defined fixed notification, such as “Congratulations for opportunity closed won”, or a variable customized notification using a field fromopportunity object320 or a combination of a fixed part and a variable part, such as “Congratulations! We just closed won [opportunity name]”. Similarly, the appendedaction346 could be a fixed global action, a variable action using a field fromopportunity object320 related to the event, or a combination thereof, such as “Congrats to [the assistant who last modified opportunity X's closed won recordr. And the action is associated to an action link which has enough information to execute the action on the server110(2) . For example, the action link for action “Congrats to [the assistant who last modified opportunity X′s closed won record]” may have the assistant's email and could send the assistant an email about the event “Opportunity X is closed won” if the appended action is selected by user141(2).
• In some embodiments, the push notifications345 and appendedactions346 may be localized according to the user's information in database113(1). For example, if user141(2) is not an English speaker, the push notifications and appended actions may be translated and presented to user141(2) the translated version that user141(2) understands. In some embodiments, the notifications and appended actions may be routed to other user applications on user device130(2) that are capable of receiving and handling the notifications and actions. And the routing could be defined by the notification type on a different screen. Additionally, the notification type could be a standard notification type, a customized notification type or a combination thereof. The customer could override the standard notification type with a customized notification type.
• FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate example graphical user interfaces (GUI) for presenting an interactive push notification with customized action to a user device, according to embodiments of the present disclosure.FIG. 4A displays agraphical representation410 of apush notification411 and two appended customizedactions413 and415. In response to the actions, user's tap selection ofaction413 will immediately initiate a phone call to Jennifer West, CEO of living blue account, and selection ofaction415 will reorder the replacement part for malfunctioned solar panel on a server, according to the information in an action link corresponding to the event. It is to be appreciated that not all items may be needed to perform the disclosure provided herein, and it's also possible that more items, such as more appended actions inFIG. 4B, may be needed to perform the disclosure provided herein. Further, some of the items may be placed in a different order than shown inFIGS. 4A and 4B, as will be understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art.
• Various embodiments may be implemented, for example, using one or more well-known computer systems, such asserver110 and user device130 shown inFIG. 1. One ormore computer systems500 may be used, for example, to implement any of the embodiments discussed herein, as well as combinations and sub-combinations thereof
• Computer system500 may include one or more processors (also called central processing units, or CPUs), such as aprocessor504.Processor504 may be connected to a communication infrastructure orbus506.
• Computer system500 may also include user input/output device(s)503, such as monitors, keyboards, pointing devices, etc., which may communicate withcommunication infrastructure506 through user input/output interface(s)502.
• One or more ofprocessors504 may be a graphics processing unit (GPU). In an embodiment, a GPU may be a processor that is a specialized electronic circuit designed to process mathematically intensive applications. The GPU may have a parallel structure that is efficient for parallel processing of large blocks of data, such as mathematically intensive data common to computer graphics applications, images, videos, etc.
• Computer system500 may also include a main orprimary memory508, such as random access memory (RAM).Main memory508 may include one or more levels of cache.Main memory508 may have stored therein control logic (i.e., computer software) and/or data.
• Computer system500 may also include one or more secondary storage devices ormemory510.Secondary memory510 may include, for example, ahard disk drive512 and/or a removable storage device or drive514.Removable storage drive514 may be a floppy disk drive, a magnetic tape drive, a compact disk drive, an optical storage device, tape backup device, and/or any other storage device/drive.
• Removable storage drive514 may interact with a removable storage unit518. Removable storage unit518 may include a computer usable or readable storage device having stored thereon computer software (control logic) and/or data. Removable storage unit518 may be a floppy disk, magnetic tape, compact disk, DVD, optical storage disk, and/ any other computer data storage device.Removable storage drive514 may read from and/or write to removable storage unit518.
• Secondary memory510 may include other means, devices, components, instrumentalities or other approaches for allowing computer programs and/or other instructions and/or data to be accessed bycomputer system500. Such means, devices, components, instrumentalities or other approaches may include, for example, aremovable storage unit522 and aninterface520. Examples of theremovable storage unit522 and theinterface520 may include a program cartridge and cartridge interface (such as that found in video game devices), a removable memory chip (such as an EPROM or PROM) and associated socket, a memory stick and USB port, a memory card and associated memory card slot, and/or any other removable storage unit and associated interface.
• Computer system500 may further include a communication or network interface524. Communication interface524 may enablecomputer system500 to communicate and interact with any combination of external devices, external networks, external entities, etc. (individually and collectively referenced by reference number528). For example, communication interface524 may allowcomputer system500 to communicate with external or remote devices528 overcommunications path526, which may be wired and/or wireless (or a combination thereof), and which may include any combination of LANs, WANs, the Internet, etc. Control logic and/or data may be transmitted to and fromcomputer system500 viacommunication path526.
• Computer system500 may also be any of a personal digital assistant (PDA), desktop workstation, laptop or notebook computer, netbook, tablet, smart phone, smart watch or other wearable, appliance, part of the Internet-of-Things, and/or embedded system, to name a few non-limiting examples, or any combination thereof
• Computer system500 may be a client or server, accessing or hosting any applications and/or data through any delivery paradigm, including but not limited to remote or distributed cloud computing solutions; local or on-premises software (“on-premise” cloud-based solutions); “as a service” models (e.g., content as a service (CaaS), digital content as a service (DCaaS), software as a service (SaaS), managed software as a service (MSaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), desktop as a service (DaaS), framework as a service (FaaS), backend as a service (BaaS), mobile backend as a service (MBaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS), etc.); and/or a hybrid model including any combination of the foregoing examples or other services or delivery paradigms.
• Any applicable data structures, file formats, and schemas incomputer system500 may be derived from standards including but not limited to JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), Extensible Markup Language (XML), Yet Another Markup Language (YAML), Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML), Wireless Markup Language (WML), MessagePack, XML User Interface Language (XUL), or any other functionally similar representations alone or in combination. Alternatively, proprietary data structures, formats or schemas may be used, either exclusively or in combination with known or open standards.
• In some embodiments, a tangible, non-transitory apparatus or article of manufacture comprising a tangible, non-transitory computer useable or readable medium having control logic (software) stored thereon may also be referred to herein as a computer program product or program storage device. This includes, but is not limited to,computer system500,main memory508,secondary memory510, andremovable storage units518 and522, as well as tangible articles of manufacture embodying any combination of the foregoing. Such control logic, when executed by one or more data processing devices (such as computer system500), may cause such data processing devices to operate as described herein.
• Based on the teachings contained in this disclosure, it will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art(s) how to make and use embodiments of this disclosure using data processing devices, computer systems and/or computer architectures other than that shown inFIG. 5. In particular, embodiments can operate with software, hardware, and/or operating system implementations other than those described herein.
• It is to be appreciated that the Detailed Description section, and not any other section, is intended to be used to interpret the claims. Other sections can set forth one or more but not all exemplary embodiments as contemplated by the inventor(s), and thus, are not intended to limit this disclosure or the appended claims in any way.
• While this disclosure describes exemplary embodiments for exemplary fields and applications, it should be understood that the disclosure is not limited thereto. Other embodiments and modifications thereto are possible, and are within the scope and spirit of this disclosure. For example, and without limiting the generality of this paragraph, embodiments are not limited to the software, hardware, firmware, and/or entities illustrated in the figures and/or described herein. Further, embodiments (whether or not explicitly described herein) have significant utility to fields and applications beyond the examples described herein.
• Embodiments have been described herein with the aid of functional building blocks illustrating the implementation of specified functions and relationships thereof. The boundaries of these functional building blocks have been arbitrarily defined herein for the convenience of the description. Alternate boundaries can be defined as long as the specified functions and relationships (or equivalents thereof) are appropriately performed. Also, alternative embodiments can perform functional blocks, steps, operations, methods, etc. using orderings different than those described herein.
• References herein to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “an example embodiment,” or similar phrases, indicate that the embodiment described can include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment can not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it would be within the knowledge of persons skilled in the relevant art(s) to incorporate such feature, structure, or characteristic into other embodiments whether or not explicitly mentioned or described herein. Additionally, some embodiments can be described using the expression “coupled” and “connected” along with their derivatives. These terms are not necessarily intended as synonyms for each other. For example, some embodiments can be described using the terms “connected” and/or “coupled” to indicate that two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with each other. The term “coupled,” however, can also mean that two or more elements are not in direct contact with each other, but yet still co-operate or interact with each other.
• The breadth and scope of this disclosure should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents.

Claims (20)

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:

determining, by one or more processors, occurrence of an event associated with an object;

forming, by one or more processors, a notification defined by a customer using a field from the object associated with the event; and

presenting, by the one or more processors, the notification to a device associated with the object.

2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein occurrence of an event is determined by a criteria defined by the customer using a field from the object associated with the event.

3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein occurrence of an event is determined by using an application programing interface (API).

4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the notification comprises a fixed part and a variable part, wherein the variable part uses the field from the object.

5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the notification comprises a subject and a body, both of which use the field from the object.

6. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the device is one of a group of devices defined by the customer according to a rule associated with the object.

7. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the notification is formed by a multi-tenant application and the notification configuration is operated by a tenant of the multi-tenant application.

8. A system, comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to:

determine occurrence of an event associated with an object;

form a notification defined by a customer using a field from the object associated with the event; and

present the notification to a device associated with the object.

9. The system ofclaim 8, wherein occurrence of an event is determined by a criteria defined by the customer using a field from the object associated with the event.

10. The system ofclaim 8, wherein occurrence of an event is determined by using an application programing interface (API).

11. The system ofclaim 8, wherein the notification comprises a fixed part and a variable part, wherein the variable part uses the field from the object.

12. The system ofclaim 8, wherein the notification comprises a subject and a body, both of which use the field from the object.

13. The system ofclaim 8, wherein the device is one of a group of devices defined by the customer according to a rule associated with the object.

14. The system ofclaim 8, wherein the notification is formed by a multi-tenant application and the notification configuration is operated by a tenant of the multi-tenant application.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable apparatus having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one computing device, cause the at least one computing device to perform operations comprising:

determining occurrence of an event associated with an object;

forming a notification defined by a customer using a field from the object associated with the event; and

presenting the notification to a second device associated with the object.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable apparatus ofclaim 15, wherein occurrence of an event is determined by a criteria defined by the customer using a field from the object associated with the event.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable apparatus ofclaim 15, wherein occurrence of an event is determined by using an application programing interface (API).

18. The non-transitory computer-readable apparatus ofclaim 15, wherein the notification comprises a fixed part and a variable part, wherein the variable part uses the field from the object.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable apparatus ofclaim 15, wherein the second device is one of a group of devices defined by the customer according to a rule associated with the object.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable apparatus ofclaim 15, wherein the notification comprises a subject and a body, both of which use the field from the object.

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