DISTRIBUTED NOTIFICATION IN A DISTRIBUTED DEVICE ENVIRONMENT
BACKGROUND
[0001] Notification is generally known. A notification service provides means to send a notice to many persons at once. For example, if a flood were likely, residents of a community could be warned it's time to evacuate. If a school were suddenly closed for the day, students or parents could be told not come to school, or told to report to an alternate location. American Airlines can notify passengers by cellphone two hours before a flight's departure with information on the flight's status and gate number.
[0002] On a smart device, a notification is typically received from a service or is generated by the smart device. Typically, the notification is to notify a user of certain information. The notification is usually presented by the smart device, for example on a display of the smart device. Some smart device may present the notification audibly (for example, such as a smart speaker) rather than graphically or visually.
[0003] Some smart devices may be associated with some other smart devices. For example, slave/master is a technique used for a wearable device associated with a smart phone. Because the wearable device is limited in its communication and/or processing power, it typically is associated with the smart phone. Thus, the wearable device has to be registered with the smart phone in order for it to be able to receive a notification from the smart phone. In some techniques, the smart phone can be configured to forward the notification to the wearable device for presentation after the wearable device is registered with the smart phone.
SUMMARY
[0004] In various embodiments, a method for distributing a notification across multiple devices in a distributed computing environment is provided. In those embodiments, the method comprises receiving, at a first device, notification information indicating a notification for presentation to a user associated with the first device. Then it is determined, at the first device, the notification is to be presented on the second device rather than the first device. After this determination, a notification task is generated. The notification task includes information indicating that a destination presenting the notification is the second device. The first device then transmits the notification task in the distributed computing environment to the second device.
[0005] In various embodiments, the determination that the notification is to presented on the second device rather than the first device is made according to one or more notification rules. The notification rules in those embodiments specify information pieces indicating various conditions and contingences for presenting the notification. For example, the notification information piece can indicate that the notification is to be presented on a first group of one or more devices having permission granted by the user, the first group of one or more devices including the second device. As another example, the notification information piece can indicate that the notification is to be presented on a second group of one or more devices having a current active status, the second group of one or more devices including the second device.
[0006] In this way, notifications are presented in the distributed computing environment on any given device based on the notification rules rather than where the notification is first received. For example, the notification may be first received by a smart phone of a user. It is then determined that the user is watching contents through a smart TV and is not using the smart phone. In that example, the smart phone obtains the notification rules and understands that the notification is to be forwarded to the smart TV for presentation rather than presenting it on the smart phone. Thus, the smart phone generates a notification task for the smart TV to present the notification. In various embodiments, the devices in the distributed computing environment have a routing capability to route the notification task to the smart TV. This can provide a flexibility to a formation or scope of the distributed computing environment. For example, the smart phone and smart TV may not have to be in the same location. The smart TV may located in the user’s home and smart phone may be left in the user’s car. I
[0007] Other embodiments and benefits are contemplated.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008] A further understanding of the nature and advantages of various embodiments may be realized by reference to the following figures. In the appended figures, similar components or features may have the same reference label. Further, various components of the same type may be distinguished by following the reference label by a dash and a second label that distinguishes among the similar components. If only the first reference label is used in the specification, the description is applicable to any one of the similar components having the same first reference label irrespective of the second reference label.
[0009] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a multiple device environment where a distributed notification in accordance with the present disclosure is applied.
[0010] FIG. 2 illustrates an example of implementing the distributed notification in accordance with the present disclosure. [0011] FIG. 3 illustrates an example of the distributed notification module shown in FIG. 2 in accordance with the present disclosure.
[0012] FIG. 4 illustrates an example method for implementing the distributed notification in accordance with the disclosure.
[0013] FIG. 5 illustrates an example of information pieces for implementing the distributed notification in accordance with the disclosure.
[0014] FIG. 6 illustrates another example method for implementing the distributed notification in accordance with the disclosure.
[0015] FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a notification task for implementing the distributed notification in accordance with the disclosure.
[0016] FIG. 8 illustrates an example of information for presenting a distributed notification in accordance with the disclosure.
[0017] FIG. 9 illustrates another example method for implementing the distributed notification in accordance with the disclosure.
[0018] FIG. 10 illustrates one example of a computer system for implementing various embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0019] The following detailed description provides many different embodiments or examples to facilitate the understanding of devices and method recited in the claims. Specific examples of components and arrangements are described below to simplify the present disclosure. These are, of course, merely examples and are not intended to be limiting. For example, the formation of a first feature over or on a second feature in the description that follows may include embodiments in which the first and second features are formed in direct contact, and may also include embodiments in which additional features may be formed between the first and second features, such that the first and second features may not be in direct contact. In addition, the present disclosure may repeat reference numerals and/or letters in the various examples. This repetition is for the purpose of simplicity and clarity and does not in itself dictate a relationship between the various embodiments and/or configurations discussed.
[0020] Further, spatially relative terms, such as “beneath,” “below,” “lower,” “above,” “upper” and the like, may be used herein for ease of description to describe one element or feature’s relationship to another element(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. The spatially relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. The apparatus may be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative descriptors used herein may likewise be interpreted accordingly.
NOTIFICATION
[0021] In accordance with the present disclosure, a notification may be referred to a piece of information to be presented to a user to notify the user of certain information such as a happening in a service and/or an application. Therefore, for a purpose of the present disclosure, a notification in accordance with the present disclosure is distinguished over a content in an application presented to the user. For example, certain applications or devices may be configured to present a content to the user when the applications are running in the background. In that situation, the presentation of this content is not regarded as a notification in accordance with the present disclosure even though the content is presented to the user unsolicited. As used herein, a notification includes information indicating a happening, which may be related to a (computer) application or (smart device) app, to a service employed by the user, or any information of interest to the user. In that sense, a notification in accordance with the present disclosure is presented to the user to notify the user of this information so to let the user decide whether he/she should take an action in response.
DISTRIBUTED DEVICE ENVIRONMENT
[0022] V arious embodiments relate to a distributed device environment wherein one or more users are associated with multiple devices. For illustrating the distributed notification in accordance with the present disclosure, FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a multiple device environment in accordance with the present disclosure. As can be seen from FIG. 1, in accordance with the present disclosure, devices 102a, 102b, 102c and any other devices (if any) are associated with users 104a-n. It should be understood, the number of devices and users in accordance with the present disclosure can be more or less than those shown in FIG. 1. For example, it is contemplated that the distributed notification in accordance with the present disclosure can be applied to a multiple device environment where there is one user and two devices. Other examples are contemplated.
[0023] In various embodiments, individual devices 102a-c can comprise a smart phone, a tablet, a laptop computer, a netbook, a desktop computer, a computer system (such as a server with terminal), a wearable device, a smart speaker, a raspberry Pi computer, an internet of things (loT) device, a smart camera, a smart home appliance, and/or any other devices. In various embodiments, the individual devices 102a-c share a distributed computing environment such that cross-device computing among these devices are implemented. For example, in one embodiment, it is contemplated that device 102a is a smartphone, device 102b is a smart TV, device 102c is a smart TV. In that embodiment, device 102b and/or device 102c are configured to execute one or more services provided by the device 102a, and vice versa. In this sense, in that embodiment, the devices 102a-c operate in a distributed operating environment. In one instance, the distributed operating environment is distributed android environment (DAE), where devices 102a-c operate as android systems. However, the present disclosure may also include devices operating in a mixed operating environment. For instance, it is contemplated that device 102a may be iPhone running iOS and devices 102b and 102c may be a smart TV and a PC running android and Windows systems, respectively. Other types of operating systems that can be run by devices 102a-c are contemplated.
[0024] As can be seen, devices 102a-c, in this example, are connected to a cloud 106, for instance, provided by a vendor such as Google. However, this is not intended to be limiting. In some other examples, one or more of devices 102a-c may or may not be connected to the cloud 106. Also shown are third party systems 1 lOa-n, for example, such as a messaging system, a video service system, a streaming service system, a gaming system, and/or any other third party systems. As shown, these systems can be connected to the devices 102a-c via the cloud 106. However, this is also not intended to be limiting. It is contemplated that these system may be connected to devices 102a-c directly or indirectly over one or more communications networks not involving cloud 106.
[0025] As also can be seen, the devices 102a-c, in this example, are connected to one another over one or more communication channels represented by the dotted lines shown in FIG. 1. For instance, the device 102a may be connected to the device 102b over a local wi-fi network and connected to the device 102c over a Bluetooth connection; and the devices 102b and 102c may be connected over the local wi-fi network. Other examples of communication channels among devices 102a-c are contemplated. In some embodiments, the devices 102a-c may also be connected to one another through the cloud 106.
[0026] As mentioned above, in the distributed device environment shown in FIG. 1, the devices 102a-c can run different operating systems and software. Traditionally, when there is a notification for presentation to the user(s) 104, the notification is typically presented on the device where the notification is received. For instance, as an illustration, a notification may be transmitted by the cloud 106 for presentation to the user(s) 104 on the device 102a, which may be a smartphone. In that instance, the notification is then only presented on device 102a after device 102a receives it regardless whether the user(s) 104 will be indeed notified. In a situation where the user(s) 104 is watching a TV program on the device 102b (for example, a smart TV) in a living room and the device 102a is being charged in a study room away from the living room, the presentation of the notification on the device 102a would not notify the user(s) 104. In that scenario, it is desired to present the notification on the device 102b, rather than the device 102a.
[0027] In accordance with the present disclosure, a mechanism for processing and presenting notification across multiple devices in a multiple device environment is provided, which is referred to as distributed notification herein. Unlike some traditional mechanism where a notification is presented on a device (for example, a smart watch) at a request of the user, the distributed notification in accordance with the present disclosure does not need involvement of the user(s) 104 as to specifying where to present the notification. In the distributed notification in accordance with the present disclosure, the presentation of the notification on a particular device in the multiple device environment is dynamically determined, for example, when the notification is received. For instance, in one embodiment, the distributed notification in accordance with the present disclosure determines to present the notification on device 102b, rather than on device 102a, even when the notification is transmitted by the cloud 106 to the device 102a for presentation there. That is, in accordance with the present disclosure, the distributed notification mechanism may be hidden from the user(s) 104 and/or cloud 106 such that the user(s) 104 and/or cloud 106 do not need to specify where to present the notification.
[0028] Another insight provided by the present disclosure is that the distributed notification in accordance with the present disclosure is at system level across devices in the multiple device environment shown in FIG. 1. Unlike some conventional notification techniques, which delegate notification operations to individual applications or apps on the devices, the distributed notification is implemented at a system level independent from the applications or the apps on the devices. That is, in accordance with the present disclosure, an individual application or app is not required to handle a notification to determine where to present this application. For example, conventionally, an app may be installed on a smartphone and a smart watch associated with the smartphone. In that example, the app is configured to determine whether a notification for the app is to be presented on the smartphone and as well as on the smart watch. This may involve the app determining whether the smart watch is being used by the user. However, as will be described below, the distributed notification in accordance with the present disclosure is independent from individual apps or applications installed on the devices in the multi-device environment shown in FIG. 1. That is, an application or app can be installed on a given device in accordance with the present disclosure without having to implement the notification presentation across devices. In accordance with the present disclosure, the cross-device notification presentation is handled at a system level. This can make application or app development more focused on functionalities or services they provide. In a sense, the distributed notification mechanism in accordance with the present disclosure is a centralized approach to present notification across multiple devices, instead of having individual applications or apps handle such.
EXAMPLE IMPLEMENTATION OF DISTRIBUTED NOTIFICATION
[0029] FIG. 2 illustrates an example of implementing the distributed notification in accordance with the present disclosure. It is described with reference to FIG. 1. Attention is now directed to FIG. 2. As shown in this example, device 102a shown in FIG. 1 is configured to receive data from cloud 106 and comprises components facilitating the distribution notification in accordance with the present disclosure. Also shown in this example is devices 102b and 102c. Although, no details are shown for these devices in FIG. 2, it should be understood that these devices may have more or less than the components shown to be included in device 102a.
[0030] In this example, device 102a includes a message service component 202, applications (or apps) 204a-c, a system user interface presentation component 206, a notification manager component 208, a system framework 210, and/or any other components. While these components will be described below, they should not be understood as limiting the present disclosure. That is, it is understood, in some other embodiments, device 102a may not have one or more of these components, or may have some or all of these components implemented as a same component.
[0031] In this example, as shown, the device 102a is configured to receive data from cloud 106. The data from cloud 106 may indicate one or more actions, results, implementations, and/or any other forms of information for device 102a. For example, the data may include information indicating a chat message received for the user(s) 104 associated with the device 102a, information indicating an email message received for the user(s) 104, information indicating a video to be presented to the user(s) 104, and/or any other information. After the data is received by device 102a, the message service component 202 is configured to generate notification information. The notification information includes information indicating a notification for presentation to the user(s) 104 by virtue of the data has been received. For instance, by way of example, hence not intended to be limiting, the data may include information indicating a chat message for the user(s) 104, and the message service component 202 is configured to generate a notification for presentation to the user(s) to notify the user(s) 104 that the chat message has been received.
[0032] The applications 204a-c are individual programs implemented on the device 102a. For example, application 204a may be a chat program, application 204b may be a video streaming service, and application 204c may be an email client. Although three applications 204a-c are shown in this example, it is understood that in some other examples the number of applications (or apps) implemented on the device 102a may be more or less than the three. As shown, an individual application, such as application 204a, is configured to generate the notification information on its own, independent from the message service component 202 mentioned above. For example, application 204a may be configured to generate its own action within application 204a. However, it is also understood that the application 204a may be configured to receive data from cloud 106, for example, to implement a service provided by a third party system, such as system 110a shown in FIG. 1. It is understood the notification information generated by application 204a may be separate and independent from the notification information generated by the message service component 202. In some instances, the application 204a may be configured to work with message service component 202 to generate only one piece of notification information. However, it is not necessarily the only case. In some instances, it is contemplated that the application 204a generates notification information different from the notification information generated by the message service component 202.
[0033] The system user interface presentation component 206 is configured to present a notification on the device 102a to the user(s) 104. As shown in FIG. 2, in this example, the system user interface presentation component 206 is operatively connected to notification manager component 208. The system user interface presentation component 206 is configured to receive the notification task generated by the notification manager component 208 and present it on the device 102a. This may involve generate graphical representation of the notification to the user(s) 104. Thus, for achieving this, the system user interface presentation component 206 is configured with knowledge for implementing the presentation of the notification, such as graphical code libraries to implement the presentation of the notification. It should be noted, in this example, the system user interface presentation component 206 is not operatively connected to the individual applications 204a-c or message service component 202. As will be described, this design to facilitate “hiding” distributed notification mechanism from the system user interface presentation component 206. From system user interface presentation component 206’s point of view, whether the notification comes from the system user interface presentation component 206 residing in device 102a, or device 102b/c is not of a concern to the system user interface presentation component 206. As shown, the notification task may also be generated by device 102b/c (for example by a notification manager component 208 on device 102b/c).
[0034] The notification manager component 208 is configured to receive the notification information and generate notification task for notification presentation on one of devices 102a-c. As shown in this example, the notification manager component 208 includes a distributed notification module 2082, which is configured to generate the notification task based on the notification information. FIG. 3 illustrates an example of the distributed notification module 2082 shown in FIG. 2 in accordance with the present disclosure. Attention is now is directed to FIG. 3, which will be described with references to FIGS. 1-2.
I. Example Distributed Notification Module
[0035] As shown in FIG. 3, the example of distributed notification module 2082 is implemented in a processor 302 configured to execute program components. In this example, the distributed notification module 2082 includes a notification routing module 304, a content transformation module 306, a task handler 308, an action handler 310, a cross-device communication module 312, and/or any other modules.
[0036] The notification routing module 304 is configured to determine a device in the multi-device environment, such as the one shown in FIG. 1, where the device 102a resides for presenting a notification in accordance with the notification information. As mentioned above, an insight provided by the present disclosure is that the notification in accordance with the notification information is not necessarily to be presented on a device where the notification information is received. In the example shown in FIG. 1, for instance, the notification in accordance with the notification information is determined by the notification routing module 304 to be presented on device 102c, rather than device on 102a. As will be described below, such a determination by the notification routing module 304, involves obtaining one or more information pieces and based on the obtained information piece(s), the notification routing module 304 determines it is the device 102c to present notification in accordance with the notification information. a. _ Information Pieces For Determining Distributed Notification Presentation
[0037] FIG. 5 illustrates an example of information pieces for implementing the distributed notification in accordance with the disclosure. As can be seen, in implementation, information pieces are stored in a storage 502, which is made accessible to devices 102a-c in the multi-device environment shown in FIG. 1. In such an implementation, the information pieces are thus centrally managed and stored for the devices 102a-c to ensure they are obtainable to devices 102a-c consistently. It should be understood although a centralized implementation for the information pieces is shown in this example, this is not intended to be limiting. It is understood, in some other implementation, a distributed management of the information pieces may be used. For instance, individual devices 102a-c, in those implementation, may keep its copy of the information pieces and exchange copies of the information pieces among the devices 102a-c for updating the information pieces in its own knowledge.
[0038] As can be seen, in this example, the information pieces include notification processing/presentation status information for individual notifications in accordance with the notification information, notification presentation permission for individual notifications in accordance with the notification information, a level of importance of the individual notifications, a current activity of the user(s) 104, a privacy status of the user(s) 104, a current status of the devices 102a-c, a presentation capability of the devices 102a-c, and/or any other information pieces.
[0039] The notification processing/presentation status information piece is used to indicate a status of a notification with respect to whether the notification has been processed and/or presented by at least one device in the multi-device environment, such as the one shown in FIG. 1. As mentioned above, the individual ones of the devices 102a-c may be operatively connected to the cloud 106 and/or third party system(s) 110. Thus, a notification regarding a happening in an application or app, or in a service employed by the user(s) 104 may be received by multiple ones of the devices 102a-c in the multi-device environment in accordance with the present disclosure. Thus, before notification is to be processed and/or presented by a particular device, for example, device 102a, the particular device is configured to check the notification processing/presentation status in the multi-device environment.
[0040] It should be noted this check is not necessary in existing technique, for example, where there is a master device (such as a smartphone) and a slave device (such as a smart watch). In existing technique, the master device is typically configured to receive and process the notification, and to determine whether to present the notification on the master device and/or on the slave device. In accordance with the present disclosure, the processing and/or presentation of the notification in the multi-device environment may be separate and independent among the devices in the multi-device environment. To account for this, the notification processing/presentation status should be kept for individual notifications received in the multi-device environment. In accordance with the present disclosure, this piece of information should be checked for an individual notification before the notification is to be processed and/or presented by a particular device that received the notification. In an event that the individual notification has been processed and/or presented in the multi-device environment, the particular device may be configured to skip processing and/or presenting the notification. In implementation, after a notification is processed and/or presented by the particular device, the particular device may be configured to update this information piece to reflect the most current processing/presentation status for the notification. In this way, duplicated processing/presentation of the notification is avoided in the multi-device environment.
[0041] The notification presentation permission information piece is used to indicate a permission for the notification to be presented to the user(s) 104. In implementation, an interface may be provided to the user(s) 104 to enable the user(s) 104 to set a permission for individual notifications received. For example, the user(s) 104 may be enabled to disable certain notifications to be presented in the multi-device environment. Before presenting an individual notification, a particular device should check this information piece to obtain a permission of the notification, for example as set by the user(s) 104. In an event that the notification is disabled, the presentation of the notification on the particular device is skipped.
[0042] In some implementation, the notification presentation permission may be set for individual notifications on device basis. For example, a presentation permission may be set for a particular notification on device 102a, on device 102b, and device 102c separately. For instance, the same notification may be set to “Yes” for the presentation permission on device 102a, “No” on device 102b, and “Yes” on device 102c.
[0043] The notification importance information piece may be used to indicating a level of importance for individual notifications in the multi-device environment. A user interface may be provided to the user(s) 104 to enable the user(s) 104 to set an importance level for the individual notifications in the multi-device environment. The user current activity information piece may be used to indicate a current activity engaged by the user(s) 104 in the multi-device environment. In implementation, the current user activity information may be obtained through the individual devices 102a-c in the multi-device environment. For example, if the device 102b is a smart watch, a user activity such as exercising may be recorded in this information piece. Another example, for illustration, a user engagement with one or more applications on devices 102a-c in the multi-device environment may be used to indicate a current user activity. For instance, if an application is streaming a video on device 102a, it may be assumed that the user(s) 104 are watching the video, and this information piece may be updated to reflect this current activity of the user(s) 104. This information piece may be checked before a particular notification is presented to the user(s) 104. For instance, if this information piece indicates that the user(s) 104 is watching a video on device 102a, the presentation of the notification should be on device 102a, not on device 102b or 102c. Thus, the user current activity status may be used for determining in which device in the multidevice environment the notification is to be presented to the user(s) 104. [0044] The privacy status information piece may be used to enable the user(s) 104 to set privacy indication for the notification presentation. For example, this information piece may be set to “private for all notifications” by the user(s) 104 to indicate that the user(s) 104 does not desire the individual notifications to be presented in the multi-device environment. For instance, the user(s) 104 may not desire to have a notification presented on device 102a when the user(s) 104 is watching a video on device 102a because there may be one or more another user is in the multi-device environment watching the video with the user(s) 104. In implementation, the privacy status may be set for individual notification. For instance, the user(s) 104 may set the privacy status to “private” for a notification for a chat application or app; and set the privacy status to “public” for a notification for a weather alert. This information piece can thus be checked before a particular notification is presented in the multi-device environment. For instance, if the privacy status for the particular notification is set to “private”, the presentation of this notification is skipped.
[0045] The device current status information piece may be used to indicate a current status for individual device 102a-c. For example, this information piece may indicate that the current status for device 102a is “on”, for device 102b is “off’ and for device 102c is “on” at a given point of time. This information piece should be checked before presenting a particular notification on a device. If the device is indicated to be “off’, presentation of the notification on that device should be avoided.
[0046] The device presentation capability information piece may be used to indicate a presentation capability for individual devices 102a-c in the multi-device environment. For example, this information piece may indicate that device 102a can present audio and video, device 102b can present audio only and device 102c can present video only. Thus, before a particular notification is to be presented on a particular device, this information piece should be checked. If the presentation capability of the particular device does not allow the notification to be presented in a certain way (for example, visually), the notification should not be presented in that way. As will described below, in some implementation, the notification may be converted for a particular device according to is presentation capability.
[0047] Attention is now directed back to FIG. 3. The notification routing module 304 is configured to determine a device among the devices in the multi-device environment, such as devices 102a-c, according to one or more information pieces, such as the ones shown in FIG. 5. One insight in accordance with the present disclosure is that an individual notification is to be presented to the user(s) 104 on a device that has the best opportunity to notify the user(s) in the multi-device environment. As mentioned, one or more devices in the multi-device environment may receive the notification from cloud 106 or a 3rd party system 110, but it may be determined that notification is not presented to the user on the notification receiving device(s), but rather on one or more another device in the multi-device environment because that device or those devices may have a better opportunity to present the notification to the user(s) 104 to have the user(s) 104 take an action in response to the notification.
[0048] As illustration, a notification of chat message may be first received by the device 102a from cloud 106. Based on the one or more information pieces, the device 102a, via its notification routing module 304, may determine that the device to present the notification to the user(s) 104 is device 102b, rather than device 102a, according to the one or more information pieces. For instance, the information piece(s) may indicate that a current user activity is watching a video on device 102b, and not active using any application or app on device 102a. A device current status may indicate that device 102c is off at the moment. In addition, the notification presentation permission indicates that the chat notification is permitted to be presented on device 102b as set by the user(s) 104. According to these information pieces, the device 102a thus determines that the device 102b is the device to present the notification to the user(s) 104 instead of the device 102a. As will be described below, the notification routing module 304 of the device 102a is configured to route the chat notification to device 102b after this determination is made. b. Notification Task
[0049] In various implementation, the notification routing module 304 is configured to generate a notification task after a device is determined for presenting a notification. The notification task is to be processed by that device to present the notification. As mentioned, an insight in accordance with the present disclosure is distributed notification presentation in the multi-device environment. For individual devices in this environment, a design consideration for the distributed notification is that the individual devices should not have the knowledge on which device the notification is generated when the notification is presented by the individual devices. As illustration, in this case, the notification is received by device 102a and is to be presented on device 102b. The device 102b does not concern the notification is first received by device 102a. For presentation purpose, the device 102b may treat the notification as if it were first received by device 102b. This may be referred to notification presentation transparency in the distributed notification mechanism in accordance with the present disclosure. In this way, the individual devices in the multi-device environment can come and go dynamically such that no additional configuration is to be taken for them to participate in the distributed notification in the multi-device environment. In this sense, the distributed notification in accordance with the present disclosure achieves a dynamicity not achieved by conventional technologies. Traditionally, as mentioned, a device (such as a smart watch) is configured to be associated with a smart phone in order for that device to receive notification through the smart phone. In accordance with the present disclosure, the smart watch does not have to be configured as being associated with the smart phone in order for it to receive the notification. As described and illustrated, in accordance with the present disclosure, the smart phone determines which device to present the notification, and that device does not have to necessarily be associated with the smart phone.
[0050] A notification task is one way of implementing such presentation transparency. FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a notification task for implementing the distributed notification in accordance with the disclosure. As shown, in this example, a given notification task generated by notification routing module 304 includes a destination device ID, a source device ID, a notification ID, a notification content and presentation method, and/or any other information pieces. The destination device ID indicates a device where the notification is to be presented in the multi-device environment. For example, the destination device ID indicates an ID for device 102b. The source device ID indicates a device where the notification is received and/or processed in the multi-device environment. For example, the source device ID indicates an ID for device 102a. The notification ID indicates an identification for the notification, which may be assigned by a service or application the notification pertains to or may be assigned within the multi-device environment. As mentioned, the notification ID is used in the multi-device environment to identify a particular notification to ensure the notification is not repeatedly processed or presented within the multi-device environment.
[0051] The notification content and presentation method indicates one or more contents of the notification and corresponding method(s) for presenting the content(s) of the notification. In accordance with the present disclosure, a given notification does not necessarily have one content and one presentation method for presenting the content. In accordance with the present disclosure, the given notification can have more than one type of contents and corresponding presentation method. FIG. 8 illustrates one example of multiple types of contents corresponding to different presentation methods are present in a notification in accordance with the present disclosure. As shown, in this example, the notification 800 has five type contents including a small icon, information indicating an app name for the notification, a title for the notification, a first action (Action 1 - for example, reply “yes”) that can be acted on, and a second action (Action 2 - example, reply “no”) that can be acted on. As can be seen, the small icon may be presented visually (show), the app name may be presented audibly (play), the title may be presented audibly, action 1 may be presented visually, and action 2 may be presented visually. As mentioned, such information may be captured in notification content and presentation method field in the notification task 700 generated by notification routing module 304. As will be described below, this notification task is to be processed by the device (for example, device 102b in this case) in the multi-device environment to present the notification.
[0052] The content transformation module 306 is configured to transform a content of the notification to be presented on a device in the multi-device environment. As described above, in some situations, the notification received on device 102a is determined to be best presented on device 102b, rather than on device 102a. However, a presentation capability of device 102b should be considered for presenting the notification. One insight in accordance with the present disclosure is that in a dynamic multi-device environment one or more devices, such as device 102b, may not have presentation capability to present the notification, for example, visually and/or audibly, as the device(s) come and go in the multi-device environment dynamically. For instance, the device 102b may be a smart speaker being used by the user(s) 104 in the morning. At that moment, the user(s) 104 may not be using device 102a, which may be a smart phone. For example, the user(s) 104 may be in shower listening to the smart speaker. In that case, a notification of a chat message received by the device 102a should be presented to the user on the device 102b, but cannot be presented visually. In that case, a content of the notification should be transformed by the content transformation module 306, for example to an audio format, so that the notification can be presented on the device 102b as determined by the notification routing module 304 for presenting the notification.
[0053] In various implementation, the content transformation module 306 is configured to obtain information piece indicating a presentation capability of the device determined by the notification routing module 304. Based on the presentation capability of the device, the content transformation module 306 is configured to transform the content of the notification accordingly so that the notification is presentable by the device according to its presentation capability.
[0054] The task handler 308 is configured to receive a notification task generated by the notification routing module 304 and process the notification task. As mentioned, the notification task received by the task handler 308 does not have to be generated by a notification routing module 304 on the same device as the task handler 308. An example of a task notification is shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8. In implementation, the task handler 308 is configured to parse the received notification task, such as the notification task 700 shown in FIG. 7, and determine how to present the notification in the notification task according to notification contents and corresponding present method(s) in the notification task. As mentioned, after a notification task is received and processed by the task handler 308, notification presentation information can be generated and passed to the system user interface presentation component 206 for presenting notification. If there are multiple types of contents in the notification, multiple notification information is generated for presentation according to the presentation methods corresponding to the individual types of contents.
[0055] Thus, it should be clear that the task handler 308 is configured to process notification task generated by device 102a and as well as other devices in the multi-device environment. In accordance with the present disclosure, the task handler 308 enables distributed notification presentation in the multi-device environment. Other devices, such as device 102b and/or 102c, may also be configured with task handler 308 to handle notification tasks generated in the multi-device environment. However, it should be understood that not every device in the multi-device environment needs to be configured with task handler 308 in order for the distribution notification to work in accordance with the present disclosure. For instance, the device 102c may be a smart speaker, which may be configured to use the task handler 308 on device 102a, which may be a smart phone, to present a notification. Other situations are contemplated.
[0056] The action handler 310 is configured to receive one or more actions from the user(s) 104 in response to a notification having been presented. It is contemplated that certain device in the multi-device environment may not be configured to handle or process user actions in response to the notification. For example, device 102b may be a smart TV, which may be capable of presenting the notification on its screen, but is not capable of processing an action input by the user(s) 104 after the notification is presented. For instance, the notification may be a chat message from a friend, and a few actions are suggested to the user(s) 104 in the notification (e.g., canned responses) such as reply “Yes”, “No” or “I will get it back to you shortly”. To process an action selected by the user may require the device to send a corresponding response message in the specific chat thread to the cloud 106. The device 102b, in that case, may not be equipped to so process the action input by the user. One insight provided by the present disclosure is that the device 102b, in that case, can be configured to receive the user action request and passes the user action request to the device 102a, where the notification task is originated for processing.
[0057] In various implementation, the action handler 310 is configured with an input proxy 3102, an action proxy 3104, an remote app handler 3106, and/or any other components. The input proxy 3102 is configured to receive a user input in response to a notification. The user input may include text, voice, gesture, and/or any other form of user input. The input proxy 3102 is further configured to determine whether the current device (e.g., device 102a in this example) is capable of handling the user input received. In the determination that the current device is capable of handling the user input received, the input proxy 3102 is configured to pass the user input to an appropriate component on the current device (e.g., an app that the notification is for) to handle the user input. In the determination that the current device is not capable of handling the user input received, the input proxy 3102 is configured to pass the user input to the remote app handler 3106 for processing of the user input on another device in the multi-device environment.
[0058] The action proxy 3104 is configured to receive an user action in response to the notification. A user action may include an instruction to dismiss the notification, to archive the notification, to snooze the notification, and/or any other instruction. Similarly, the current device (e.g., device 102a) may not be capable of handling the user action received. In that case, the action proxy 3104 is configured to pass the received user action to the remote app handler 3106 for processing the user action.
[0059] The remote app handler 3106 is configured to receive user inputs and/or user actions from the input proxy 3102 and/or action proxy 3104, and determine which device in the multi-device environment may handle or process the user inputs and/or the user actions. The remote app handler 3106 is configured to receive user inputs and/or user actions from another device in the multi-device environment and pass them to a corresponding component in the current device for processing or handling. As mentioned, in certain situation, a remote device, such as device 102b, may not be capable of handling or processing the user action(s) and/or user input(s) in response to a notification (for example, the device 102b is a smart TV) presented on device 102b. In that situation, the device 102b may be configured to pass the user action(s) and/or user input(s) to device 102a for processing because the notification task is generated by the device 102a. In that situation, the remote app handler 3106 of device 102a receives the user action(s) and/or user input(s) from the device 102b and passes it to the app for which the notification task was generated for processing.
[0060] The cross-device communication module 312 is configure to communicate with device(s) in the multi-device environment. In implementation, the cross-device communication module 312 may be configured to communicate with one or more devices in the multi-device environment point to point and/or through one or more routing algorithm employed in the multi-device environment. For example, there may be a direct communication channel in a form of Bluetooth existing between devices 102a and 102b, and the cross-device communication module 312 on the device 102a can communicate an equivalent to the cross-device communication module 312 on the device 102b through the Bluetooth channel. However, this is not necessarily the only case. As mentioned, in some implementation, it is contemplated that a routing algorithm may be employed for the crossdevice communication in the multi-device environment. For instance, after the notification routing module 304 on the device 102a determines that device 102b, rather than device 102a, should present the notification and generate a corresponding notification task for presentation on device 102b, the cross-device communication module 312 on device 102a is used to transmit the notification task to device 102b. In that instance, the cross-device communication module 312 on the device 102a does not need to know how to deliver the notification task to device 102b, and rather just needs to put the notification task into the multi-device environment and let the routing algorithm in the multi-device environment take care of the delivery. For example, one or more devices in the multi-device environment may be used as routers and keeps a copy of routing information for the devices in the multi-device environment at a given moment.
II. Example Distributed Notification Method
[0061] Attention is now directed to FIG. 4, which an example method 400 for implementing the distributed notification in accordance with the disclosure. The operations of method 400 presented below are intended to be illustrative. In some embodiments, method 400 may be accomplished with one or more additional operations not described and/or without one or more of the operations discussed. Additionally, the order in which the operations of method 400 are illustrated in FIG. 4 and described below is not intended to be limiting.
[0062] In some embodiments, method 400 may be implemented in any one of devices 102a, 102b and 102c shown in FIG. 1, which may each include one or more processing devices (e.g., a digital processor, an analog processor, a digital circuit designed to process information, an analog circuit designed to process information, a state machine, and/or other mechanisms for electronically processing information). The one or more processing devices may include one or more devices executing some or all of the operations of method 400 in response to instructions stored electronically on an electronic storage medium. The one or more processing devices may include one or more devices configured through hardware, firmware, and/or software to be designed for execution of one or more of the operations of method 400.
[0063] At 402, notification information indicating a notification is received at a first device in a multi-device environment. An example of the multi-device environment at 402 is shown in FIG. 1. As used here, the notification received at 402 may pertain to a happening or content for an application and/or service employed by the user(s) in the multi-device environment. In some implementation, operation(s) at 402 may be implemented by a message service component similar to or the same as the message service component 202 described and illustrated herein.
[0064] At 404, at the first device, it is determined that the notification received at 402 should be presented on a second device in the multi-device environment, rather than on the first device. In some implementation, operation(s) at 404 may be implemented by a notification routing module similar to or the same as notification routing module 304 described and illustrated herein.
[0065] At 406, at the first device, a notification task is generated to facilitate the second device to present the notification received at 400. An example of the notification task generated at 406 is shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8. Among other information, the notification task generated at 406 includes information indicating a destination device ID - the second device’s ID. In some implementation, operation(s) at 406 may be implemented by a notification routing module similar to or the same as notification routing module 304 described and illustrated herein.
[0066] At 408, at the first device, the notification task generated at 406 is transmitted towards the second device. In some implementation, operation(s) at 408 may be implemented by a cross-device communication module similar to or the same as cross-device communication module 312 described and illustrated herein.
[0067] At 410, at a third device in the multi-device environment, the notification task transmitted at 408 by the first device is received. At 412, after determining that the notification task is for the second device based on the destination device ID in the notification task, the third device routes the notification task towards the second device, without presenting the notification indicated by the notification task. In some implementation, operations at 410 and 412 may be implemented by a cross-device communication module similar to or the same as cross-device communication module 312 described and illustrated herein.
[0068] Attention is now directed to FIG. 6, which illustrates example operations for step 404 shown in FIG. 4 for implementing the distributed notification in accordance with the disclosure. The operations presented below are intended to be illustrative. In some embodiments, these operations may be accomplished with one or more additional operations not described and/or without one or more of the operations discussed. Additionally, the order in which the operations in FIG. 6 are illustrated and described below is not intended to be limiting.
[0069] In some embodiments, operations shown FIG. 6 may be implemented in any one of devices 102a, 102b and 102c shown in FIG. 1, which may each include one or more processing devices (e.g., a digital processor, an analog processor, a digital circuit designed to process information, an analog circuit designed to process information, a state machine, and/or other mechanisms for electronically processing information). The one or more processing devices may include one or more devices executing some or all of the operations shown in FIG. 6 in response to instructions stored electronically on an electronic storage medium. The one or more processing devices may include one or more devices configured through hardware, firmware, and/or software to be designed for execution of one or more of the operations shown in FIG. 6.
[0070] At 602, at the first device, it is determined a received notification is unprocessed and/or has not been presented. As mentioned, in the multi-device environment when the present disclosure pertains to, a notification may be received by more than one device from the cloud 106. Thus, at 602, after the notification is received, it is first determined that this notification has not be processed or presented, or otherwise the notification can be skipped by the first device because it has been already processed or presented elsewhere in the multi-device environment. In some implementation, operation(s) at 602 may be implemented by a notification routing module similar to or the same as the notification routing module 304 described and illustrated herein.
[0071] At 604, at the first device, it is determined that the second device is present the notification received, rather than the first device. The determination at 604 may be made based on one or more information pieces, example of which are shown in FIG. 5. In some implementation, operation(s) at 604 may be implemented by a notification routing module similar to or the same as the notification routing module 304 described and illustrated herein.
[0072] At 606, at the first device, a presentation capability of the second device is determined. As mentioned, the second device may or may be configured present all or some contents of the notification received. Thus, at 606, the presentation capability of the second device is determined so to determine to what extent the notification can be presented on the second device. In some implementation, operation(s) at 604 may be implemented by content transformation module similar to or the same as the content transformation module 306 described and illustrated herein.
[0073] At 608, a content of the notification is transformed for it to be presented on the second device based on the presentation capability of the second device determined at 608. In some implementation, operation(s) at 608 may be implemented by content transformation module similar to or the same as the content transformation module 306 described and illustrated herein.
[0074] Attention is now directed to FIG. 9, which illustrates another example method 900 for implementing the distributed notification in accordance with the disclosure. The operations of method 900 presented below are intended to be illustrative. In some embodiments, method 900 may be accomplished with one or more additional operations not described and/or without one or more of the operations discussed. Additionally, the order in which the operations of method 900 are illustrated in FIG. 4 and described below is not intended to be limiting. [0075] In some embodiments, method 900 may be implemented in any one of devices 102a, 102b and 102c shown in FIG. 1, which may each include one or more processing devices (e.g., a digital processor, an analog processor, a digital circuit designed to process information, an analog circuit designed to process information, a state machine, and/or other mechanisms for electronically processing information). The one or more processing devices may include one or more devices executing some or all of the operations of method 900 in response to instructions stored electronically on an electronic storage medium. The one or more processing devices may include one or more devices configured through hardware, firmware, and/or software to be designed for execution of one or more of the operations of method 900.
[0076] At 902, at the second device, a notification task indicating a notification is to be presented on the second device is received. For example, the notification task received at 902 is generated at 406 shown FIG. 4. In some implementation, operation(s) at 902 may be implemented by crossdevice communication module similar to or the same as the cross-device communication module 312 described and illustrated herein.
[0077] At 904, at the second device, it is determined that the notification in the notification task received at 902 has not been presented in the multi-device environment. In some implementation, operation(s) at 904 may be implemented by task handler similar to or the same as the task handler 308 described and illustrated herein.
[0078] At 906, the notification is presented on the second device. In some implementation, operation(s) at 906 may be implemented by system user interface presentation component similar to or the same as the system user interface presentation component 206 described and illustrated herein.
[0079] At 908, at the second device, a notification presentation status is updated. In some implementation, operation(s) at 908 may be implemented by task handler similar to or the same as the task handler 308 described and illustrated herein.
EXAMPLE COMPUTER SYSTEM
[0080] Any of the computer systems mentioned herein may utilize any suitable number of subsystems. Examples of such subsystems are shown in FIG. 10 in computer system 10, which can be configured to implement various features and/or functions described herein. In some embodiments, a computer system includes a single computer apparatus, where the subsystems can be the components of the computer apparatus. In other embodiments, a computer system can include multiple computer apparatuses, each being a subsystem, with internal components. [0081] The subsystems shown in FIG. 10 are interconnected via a system bus 75. Additional subsystems such as a printer 74, keyboard 78, storage device(s) 79, monitor 76, which is coupled to display adapter 82, and others are shown. Peripherals and input/output (I/O) devices, which couple to I/O controller 71, can be connected to the computer system by any number of means known in the art such as input/output (I/O) port 77 (e.g., USB, FireWire®). For example, I/O port 77 or external interface 81 (e.g. Ethernet, Wi-Fi, etc.) can be used to connect computer system 10 to a wide area network such as the Internet, a mouse input device, or a scanner. The interconnection via system bus 75 allows the central processor 73 to communicate with each subsystem and to control the execution of instructions from system memory 72 or the storage device(s) 79 (e.g., a fixed disk, such as a hard drive or optical disk), as well as the exchange of information between subsystems. The system memory 72 and/or the storage device(s) 79 may embody a computer readable medium. Any of the data mentioned herein can be output from one component to another component and can be output to the user.
[0082] A computer system can include a plurality of the same components or subsystems, e.g., connected together by external interface 81 or by an internal interface. In some embodiments, computer systems, subsystem, or apparatuses can communicate over a network. In such instances, one computer can be considered a client and another computer a server, where each can be part of a same computer system. A client and a server can each include multiple systems, subsystems, or components.
[0083] It should be understood that any of the embodiments of the present invention can be implemented in the form of control logic using hardware (e.g. an application specific integrated circuit or field programmable gate array) and/or using computer software with a generally programmable processor in a modular or integrated manner. As used herein, a processor includes a single-core processor, multi-core processor on a same integrated chip, or multiple processing units on a single circuit board or networked. Based on the disclosure and teachings provided herein, a person of ordinary skill in the art will know and appreciate other ways and/or methods to implement embodiments of the present invention using hardware and a combination of hardware and software.
[0084] Any of the software components or functions described in this application may be implemented as software code to be executed by a processor using any suitable computer language such as, for example, Java, C, C++, C#, Objective-C, Swift, or scripting language such as Perl or Python using, for example, conventional or object-oriented techniques. The software code may be stored as a series of instructions or commands on a computer readable medium for storage and/or transmission, suitable media include random access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), a magnetic medium such as a hard-drive or a floppy disk, or an optical medium such as a compact disk (CD) or DVD (digital versatile disk), flash memory, and the like. The computer readable medium may be any combination of such storage or transmission devices.
[0085] Such programs may also be encoded and transmitted using carrier signals adapted for transmission via wired, optical, and/or wireless networks conforming to a variety of protocols, including the Internet. As such, a computer readable medium according to an embodiment of the present invention may be created using a data signal encoded with such programs. Computer readable media encoded with the program code may be packaged with a compatible device or provided separately from other devices (e.g., via Internet download). Any such computer readable medium may reside on or within a single computer product (e.g. a hard drive, a CD, or an entire computer system), and may be present on or within different computer products within a system or network. A computer system may include a monitor, printer, or other suitable display for providing any of the results mentioned herein to a user.
[0086] Any of the methods described herein may be totally or partially performed with a computer system including one or more processors, which can be configured to perform the steps. Thus, embodiments can be directed to computer systems configured to perform the steps of any of the methods described herein, potentially with different components performing respective steps or a respective group of steps. Although presented as numbered steps, steps of methods herein can be performed at a same time or in a different order. Additionally, portions of these steps may be used with portions of other steps from other methods. Also, all or portions of a step may be optional. Additionally, any of the steps of any of the methods can be performed with modules, circuits, or other means for performing these steps.
[0087] The specific details of particular embodiments may be combined in any suitable manner without departing from the spirit and scope of embodiments of the invention. However, other embodiments of the invention may be directed to specific embodiments relating to each individual aspect, or specific combinations of these individual aspects.
[0088] The above description of exemplary embodiments of the invention has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form described, and many modifications and variations are possible in light of the teaching above. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical applications to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. [0089] A recitation of "a", "an" or "the" is intended to mean "one or more" unless specifically indicated to the contrary. The use of “or” is intended to mean an “inclusive or,” and not an “exclusive or” unless specifically indicated to the contrary.
[0090] All patents, patent applications, publications, and descriptions mentioned herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes. None is admitted to be prior art.
[0091] Having described several example configurations, various modifications, alternative constructions, and equivalents may be used without departing from the spirit of the disclosure. For example, the above elements may be components of a larger system, wherein other rules may take precedence over or otherwise modify the application of the invention. Also, a number of steps may be undertaken before, during, or after the above elements are considered.