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US 8,615,221 B1Granted
System and method for selection of notification techniques in an electronic device
AssigneeGoogle Inc.
InventorsRoberto Cosenza, Luca Zanolin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present disclosure includes a system and method for delaying, suppressing, or canceling the output of notifications in an electronic device. Notifications may be delayed, suppressed, or canceled based on the urgency of the notification, whether an application is actively executing and controlling certain aspects of the output device, whether an application actively executing and controlling certain aspects of the output device can be interrupted, and/or the operating environment of the electronic device.
Claims16
A method performed by an electronic device, the method comprising:
- receiving a notification of an incoming electronic communication;
- determining that an output device included in the electronic device is unavailable to output the notification;
- identifying an application actively executing and controlling the output device;
- determining an unavailability period indicating duration of time the output device is unavailable to output the notification;
- determining urgency of the notification;
- outputting the notification to the output device when the notification is urgent;
- determining, based on the unavailability period, whether the application can be interrupted and relinquish control of the output device by:
- comparing the unavailability period to a threshold, determining, when the unavailability period is no more than the threshold, that the application cannot be interrupted, and determining, when the unavailability period is greater than the threshold, that the application can be interrupted;
- outputting, when the application can be interrupted, the notification to the output device;
- and
- delaying, when the application cannot be interrupted and the notification is not urgent, output of the notification to the output device for the unavailability period.
8 more elements
An electronic device configured to output at least one of aural, visual, and tactile output, the electronic device comprising:
- a transceiver that receives a notification of an incoming electronic communication;
- and
- a notifications manager that determines whether the electronic device should output the notification by:
- identifying an application actively executing and controlling the electronic device,
- determining urgency of the notification,
- determining an unavailability period indicating duration of time the electronic device is unavailable to output the notification,
- determining, based on the unavailability period, whether the application can be interrupted and relinquish control of the electronic device by:
- comparing the unavailability period to a threshold, determining, when the unavailability period is no more than the threshold, that the application cannot be interrupted, and determining, when the unavailability period is greater than the threshold, that the application can be interrupted,
- outputting the notification, when the application can be interrupted,
- outputting the notification, when the application cannot be interrupted and the notification is urgent, and
- delaying output of the notification for the unavailability period, when the application cannot be interrupted and the notification is not urgent.
8 more elements
An electronic device, comprising:
- a memory storing an operating system supporting one or more applications;
- a transceiver receiving an electronic communication for at least one of the one or more applications;
- one or more output devices for announcing receipt of the electronic communication;
- one or more processors configured to execute the operating system and the one or more applications, wherein the processor is configured to control the one or more output devices when the electronic communication is received;
- and
- a notifications manager cooperating with the operating system to either output or delay output of the electronic communication via the one or more output devices, based on an urgency of the electronic communication and whether an application utilizing at least one of the output devices can be interrupted and relinquish control of the at least one output device, wherein determining whether the application can be interrupted includes:
- comparing an unavailability period indicating a duration of time the at least one output device is unavailable to output the electronic communication to a threshold time period, determining, when the unavailability period is no more than the threshold time period, that the application cannot be interrupted, and determining, when the unavailability period is greater than the threshold time period, that the application can be interrupted,
- wherein the electronic communication is output when the application can be interrupted,
- wherein the electronic communication is output when the application cannot be interrupted and the electronic communication is urgent, and
- wherein output of the electronic communication is delayed when the application cannot be interrupted and the electronic communication is not urgent.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.