Universal notification pipeline

A computing device comprising:

• processing hardware, storage hardware, and display;
• the storage hardware storing an operating system configured to manage execution of processes by the processing hardware;
• the storage hardware storing a notification pipeline configured to be executed by the processing hardware as a process managed by the operating system, the notification pipeline configured to receive requests submitted by other processes managed by the operating system, the requests corresponding to functions implemented by the notification pipeline, the functions including at least a publish function, the functions accessible to the other processes via an interface, the other processes including a listener process that receives notifications from the network;
• the storage hardware storing a plurality of notification surfaces accessible to the other processes, each notification surface configured to be executed by the processing hardware to handle and interpret notifications conforming to a same notification format, each notification surface configured to control display of graphics in a respective notification display area;
• the notification pipeline further configured to receive notification requests submitted by the other processes, including notification requests received via the network by the listener process, each notification request comprising a respective notification structured to conform to the notification format and comprising notification information configured to be displayed by one or more of the notification surfaces;
• and
• the notification pipeline further configured to, based on the received notification requests, pass each notification to each of the notification surfaces based on indicia of the notification surfaces being subscribed to the notification pipeline, wherein the notification surfaces include (i) a lockscreen that when active displays notifications received thereby and (ii) a graphical user shell comprised of application icons that displays the application icons with indicia of notifications received by the graphical user shell, wherein the lockscreen and the graphical user shell receive a same notification content payload based on being subscribed to the notification pipeline.

One or more computer storage hardware storing information configured to enable a computing device to perform a process, the process comprising:

• executing publisher processes on the computing device, the publisher processes publishing notifications to a notification handler, the notifications including local notifications generated on the computing device and network notifications received via a network, the publisher processes including a local publisher that generates the local notifications and a listener process that receives the network notifications via network;
• executing a plurality of notification surfaces comprising respective processes executing on the computing device, each notification surface comprising a notification display area designated to a different context of the computing device, the display areas comprising respective display formats, each notification surface configured to receive notifications that each conform to a same notification format and that each comprise a respective notice content, wherein some notifications comprise rendering parameters, the notifications including local notifications and network notifications;
• storing subscription information indicating that the notification surfaces are subscribed to a notification handler;
• executing the notification handler, the notification handler comprising another process executing on the computing device, the other process comprising a software interface available to be invoked by the publisher processes executing on the computing device and available to be invoked by the notification surfaces;
• receiving, by the notification handler, from the publisher processes executing on the computing device, the notifications, the notifications conforming to the notification format, and, for each notification received, according to the subscription information, sending the notification to the notification surfaces such that each notification surface receives the notification;
• and
• receiving, by the notification surfaces, the notifications sent by the notification handler, and, for at least some of the notifications, each of the notification surfaces displays the respective notification contents, wherein the notification contents of the some of the notifications, respectively, are displayed according to the rendering parameters such that a same notification displayed by one notification surface has a different appearance and content than when displayed by another notification surface.