U.S. patent application number 15/826650 was filed with the patent office on 2018-03-29 for living notifications.
The applicant listed for this patent is Fitbit, Inc.. Invention is credited to Heiko Behrens, Henry Levak, Yoon Kean Wong.
Application Number | 20180092059 15/826650 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 57148552 |
Filed Date | 2018-03-29 |
United States Patent
Application |
20180092059 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Behrens; Heiko ; et
al. |
March 29, 2018 |
LIVING NOTIFICATIONS
Abstract
A method, apparatus, and system relating to a notification
system for merging a new message into a pending notification.
Inventors: |
Behrens; Heiko; (Menlo Park,
CA) ; Levak; Henry; (San Mateo, CA) ; Wong;
Yoon Kean; (Redwood City, CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Fitbit, Inc. |
San Francisco |
CA |
US |
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|
Family ID: |
57148552 |
Appl. No.: |
15/826650 |
Filed: |
November 29, 2017 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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14693557 |
Apr 22, 2015 |
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15826650 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04W 68/00 20130101;
H04L 67/26 20130101 |
International
Class: |
H04W 68/00 20060101
H04W068/00; H04L 29/08 20060101 H04L029/08 |
Claims
1. (canceled)
2. A system comprising at least one processor and memory including
instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor,
cause the system to: receive a first communication comprising a
first message in one of a plurality of first fields, the one of the
plurality of first fields stored in a first portion of a storage
area and the first message for display on a first device; determine
a first indicator from a portion of the first message; determine a
notification associated with the first communication; display the
notification and the first message; receive a second communication
comprising a second message in one of a plurality of second fields;
determine that a second indicator from a portion of the second
message matches the first indicator; overwrite the first message
with the second message in the first portion of the storage area;
determine a new first indicator from a portion of the second
message, the new first indicator for use with at least one
subsequent communication comprising a subsequent message for
display on the first device; and modify the display of the
notification and the first message with the second message.
3. The system of claim 2, wherein the instructions that, when
executed by the at least one processor, further cause the system
to: store remaining fields of the plurality of first fields in
second portions of the storage area; store the second communication
in third portions of the storage area; maintain the second portions
of the storage area as unchanged after the overwrite of the first
portion of the storage area.
4. The system of claim 3, wherein the instructions that, when
executed by the at least one processor, further cause the system
to: display, together with the notification and the first message,
a first time associated with receipt of the first communication;
determine a second time associated with the overwrite of the first
communication; and display the second time together with the
notification and the second message.
5. The system of claim 2, wherein the instructions that, when
executed by the at least one processor, further cause the system
to: display, in a second device that is in communication with the
first device, user definable settings for altering the first
indicator; receive an alteration to the user definable settings;
forward the alteration from the second device to the first device;
determine at least the second indicator from the second message
based at least in part on the alteration to the first
indicator.
6. The system of claim 2, wherein the instructions that, when
executed by the at least one processor, further cause the system
to: determine an originator of the first communication; and
determine the notification from an application of the originator on
the first device.
7. A computer-implemented method: receiving a first communication
comprising a first message in one of a plurality of first fields,
the one of the plurality of first fields stored in a first portion
of a storage area and the first message for display on a first
device; determining a first indicator from a portion of the first
message; determining a notification associated with the first
communication; displaying the notification with the first message
on a display of the first device; receiving a second communication
comprising a second message in one of a plurality of second fields;
determining that a second indicator from a portion of the second
message matches the first indicator; overwriting the first message
with the second message in the first portion of the storage area;
determining a new first indicator from a portion of the second
message, the new first indicator for use with at least one
subsequent communication comprising a subsequent message for
display on the first device; and modifying the display of the first
device to replace the notification and the first message with the
second message.
8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising:
storing remaining fields of the plurality of first fields in second
portions of the storage area; storing the second communication in
third portions of the storage area; maintaining the second portions
of the storage area as unchanged after the overwrite of the first
portion of the storage area.
9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising:
displaying, together with the notification and the first message, a
first time associated with receipt of the first communication;
determining a second time associated with the overwriting of the
first communication; and displaying the second time together with
the notification and the second message.
10. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising:
displaying, in a second device that is in communication with the
first device, user definable settings for altering the first
indicator; receiving an alteration to the user definable settings;
forwarding the alteration from the second device to the first
device; determining at least the second indicator from the second
message based at least in part on the alteration to the first
indicator.
11. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising:
determining an originator of the first communication; and
determining the notification from an application of the originator
on the first device.
12. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising:
determining an originator of the second communication; and
determining to perform an evaluation on the second message, the
evaluation to assign a portion of the second message as the second
indicator.
13. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising:
determining an originator of the first communication; and receiving
alterations to settings in the first device, the alterations to
assign a portion of the first message as the first indicator.
14. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising:
determining an originator of the first communication; and
performing the overwriting of the first message with the second
message such that the second message annotates the first
message.
15. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising:
displaying user definable settings in the first device; receiving
alterations to existing settings in the user definable settings;
and enabling the first device to respond to the first communication
or the second communication based at least in part on the
alterations.
16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the user
definable settings are specific to an application associated with
the first communication and the second communication.
17. A computer readable product comprising non-transitory media
with instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of
a system, cause the system to: receive a first communication
comprising a first message in one of a plurality of first fields,
the one of the plurality of first fields stored in a first portion
of a storage area and the first message for display on a first
device; determine a first indicator from a portion of the first
message; determine a notification associated with the first
communication; display the notification and the first message;
receive a second communication comprising a second message in one
of a plurality of second fields; determine that a second indicator
from a portion of the second message matches the first indicator;
overwrite the first message with the second message in the first
portion of the storage area; determine a new first indicator from a
portion of the second message, the new first indicator for use with
at least one subsequent communication comprising a subsequent
message for display on the first device; and modify the display of
the notification and the first message with the second message.
18. The computer readable product of claim 17, wherein the
instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor of
the system, further cause the system to: store remaining fields of
the plurality of first fields in second portions of the storage
area; store the second communication in third portions of the
storage area; maintain the second portions of the storage area as
unchanged after the overwrite of the first portion of the storage
area.
19. The computer readable product of claim 18, wherein the
instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor of
the system, further cause the system to: display, together with the
notification and the first message, a first time associated with
receipt of the first communication; determine a second time
associated with the overwrite of the first communication; and
display the second time together with the notification and the
second message.
20. The computer readable product of claim 17, wherein the
instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor of
the system, further cause the system to: display, in a second
device that is in communication with the first device, user
definable settings for altering the first indicator; receive an
alteration to the user definable settings; forward the alteration
from the second device to the first device; determine at least the
second indicator from the second message based at least in part on
the alteration to the first indicator.
21. The computer readable product of claim 17, wherein the
instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor of
the system, further cause the system to: determine an originator of
the first communication; and determine the notification from an
application of the originator on the first device.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 14/693,557, entitled "LIVING NOTIFICATIONS"
filed Apr. 22, 2015, which is incorporated herein by reference for
all purposes.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
[0002] The invention relates generally to a method, system, and
apparatus for merging new messages into a pending notification.
Description of the Related Art
[0003] User communication devices, such as smartphones and
smartwatches, allow users to interact and communicate with users of
other communication devices. These devices typically include a
means for sending communications, such as texts and e-mails.
Additionally, many communication devices, such as smartphones,
allow users to install applications or programs that may have their
own unique messaging or notification system. For example, the
popular online bidding service/store eBay.RTM. created an
application designed for use with smartphones (e.g., Apple.RTM.
iPhone.RTM. or Samsung.RTM. Galaxy.RTM.). That application has its
own notification system that alerts a user when a particular event
has occurred. The eBay.RTM. application may, among other things,
notify a user that he or she has been outbid, a user has bid on his
or her product, or the user's bid on a product has been
successful.
[0004] When communications such as these are received by a
communication device, a visual and/or auditory notification will
alert the user of the incoming communication. For example, in
reference to the prior art notification system in FIG. 1(a), a
notification 104 is displayed based on a communication received by
a communication device 102 (e.g., a smartwatch) and the name of the
sender of the communication (i.e., eBay.RTM.), the time the
communication was received (i.e., 1:28 PM) and the substance of the
new communication (i.e., "You have been outbid! . . .") are
displayed on the communication device's display 106. Often times,
if multiple communications are received the communication device
will indicate on the device display that multiple communications
have been received without revealing the substance of the
communication. For example, in reference to the prior art
notification system in FIG. 1(b), the communication device 102
received two new communications, which the communication device
indicates in notification dialogue box 108. In this case, the user
may only view the substance of the messages by performing a user
action (e.g., clicking on the dialogue box 108 to open the
messages). Alternatively, in reference to FIG. 1(c), the
communication device 102 may display both the old communication 104
and the new communication 110. The new communication 110 may be
below the old communication 104, even though the user may have less
interest in notification 104. In many cases such as these, a user
will actually have little to no interest in any communication
occurring before the most recent communication. For example, with
regard to the eBay.RTM. application a user may only be interested
in seeing the notification for the most recent bid, as all past
bids essentially become irrelevant when a new bid is placed. As
such, current notification systems may display communications that
have little to no importance to the user of the communication
device, thereby unnecessarily occupying display space on the
communication device and potentially requiring the user to perform
additional actions in order to view and/or remove the unwanted
information. The disadvantage of such systems are even more
apparent when viewed in the context of wearable accessory devices,
such as smartwatches.
[0005] Smartphones are generally much larger than smartwatches and
are expected by users to be carried in their pocket, purse, or the
like. Wearable user devices, on the other hand, are expected by
users to be smaller and comfortably worn. Moreover, because
wearable user devices are expected to be worn as an accessory,
users desire more stylish, sleek, and compact seeming wearable
devices. A substantial component of any smartwatch is the watch
display. Generally, smartphones have very large high quality
liquid-crystal displays. As such, it is expected by smartphone
users that the phone will be carried in their pocket, purse, or the
like and that the phone need only be small enough to fit in the
user's hands. In stark contrast, several of the features that are
typically found in a smartphone are generally sacrificed in a
smartwatch because of the expectations of the user discussed above.
Due to some of these design sacrifices, a much smaller display is
expected in a watch so that the watch will fit comfortably on the
user's wrist and remain stylish and visually appealing. Because of
the limited space of a smartwatch watch display, the need for
efficiently conveying information to the smartwatch user in as
little space or user actions as possible is of more significance
than when dealing with smartphones.
[0006] Thus, the need exists in the field of communication devices
for a communication notifications system that requires less display
space to convey the substance of new and relevant communications,
while modifying pending notifications to conceal messages that may
lose their relevance. Moreover, the need exists in that field for a
communication notifications system that requires fewer user actions
to allow the user to view the relevant communications, and fewer
actions for the user to remove the irrelevant communications from
the display space. This need is especially great in the field of
wearable communications devices, such as smartwatches, where space
efficiency, conservation, and ease-of-use are of key
importance.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] Implementations of the presently disclosed technology relate
to a system, method, and apparatus for merging new communications
into pending notifications. More specifically, the presently
disclosed technology relates to displaying the substance of a new,
relevant message of a new communication by merging the message into
a pending notification by overwriting a prior message.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
[0008] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and
constitute a part of this specification, illustrate an
implementation of apparatuses and methods consistent with the
present invention and, together with the detailed description,
serve to explain advantages and principles consistent with the
invention.
[0009] FIGS. 1(a)-(c) are exemplary prior art systems.
[0010] FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary system for use with the
present invention, which includes an external device,
network-connected device, and remote server.
[0011] FIG. 3 is a flow chart for an embodiment of a method of the
disclosed system.
[0012] FIG. 4 is a flow chart for another embodiment of a method of
the disclosed system.
[0013] FIG. 5 illustrates the manner in which notifications are
modified on a display in accordance with embodiments of the present
invention.
[0014] FIG. 6 illustrates the manner in which new messages are
merged into a pending notification in accordance with embodiments
of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0015] The present invention is directed to an improved method,
apparatus and system, for notifying a user of a communication
device, such as a smartwatch or smartphone, of a new communication
that renders prior communications less relevant. The following
description stresses the use of the invention with smartwatches and
smartphones, but is useful with any network-connected device (e.g.,
a smartphone, tablet, laptop, etc.) and/or external communication
devices (e.g., smartwatch, smartnecklace, etc.).
[0016] With this in mind, the following description begins in
reference to FIG. 2 with an exemplary system for use with the
present invention, which implements components such as an external
device, network-connected device, and remote server. The
description continues with the flow chart illustrated in FIG. 3,
which illustrates an embodiment of a method of the present
invention. Next follows a flow chart in FIG. 4, which illustrates a
different embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 illustrates
how merging a new message into a pending notification may appear on
the display of a communication device. FIG. 6 illustrates how the
merging of the new message into a pending notification takes place.
It would be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that
these are non-exhaustive examples of implementations of the present
invention, and that numerous other embodiments are apparent based
on the teachings herein.
[0017] Turning now to FIG. 2, a system 200 that may be used with an
embodiment of the present invention is shown. The system may
comprise an external communication device 202, network-connected
device 204, network 206, and remote server 208. The external
communication device 202 may be, for example, an electronic
accessory device that communicates with the network-connected
device 204. While in the present embodiment the external
communication device 202 is a smartwatch, non-exclusive examples of
an external communication device include smartwatches (e.g., Pebble
SmartWatch.TM.), smart necklaces, smart earrings, and smart rings.
The external communication device 202 may be comprised of a battery
210, microcontroller or processor 212, vibratory motor 214, sensors
216 (e.g., GPS, accelerometer), display 217 (e.g., LCD) and memory
218. The memory 218 may include storage for applications 220 to be
executed by the microcontroller or processor 212. The memory 218
may also store system settings 222 corresponding to a particular
application or the operating system of the external communication
device 202. It will be appreciated that the memory discussed herein
may include volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable
media implemented in any method or technology for storage of
information, such as computer readable instructions, data
structures, program modules, or other data. Examples of computer
storage media include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or any other
medium which can be used to store the desired information and which
can be accessed by a processor. The communication device 202 may be
connected to the network-connected device 204 via wireless
interface 210 using a wireless communication protocol 212,
including but not limited to BlueTooth.RTM., ultra-wideband,
ZigBee.RTM., or Wi-Fi.RTM.. However, any connection may be suitable
for connecting the external communication device 202 to the
network-connected device 204, including known wired and long-range
wireless protocols.
[0018] The network-connected device 204 may comprise a battery 228,
microcontroller/processor 230, vibratory motor 232, sensors 234,
display 235 and memory 236. Non-exclusive examples of a network
connected device 204 are a smartphone (e.g., Apple.RTM.
iPhone.RTM.), laptop computer, and tablet device (e.g., Apple.RTM.
iPad.RTM.). As with the external communication device 202, the
memory 236 may store applications 238 for execution by the
microcontroller/processors 230 and may also store system settings
240 corresponding to a particular application or the system of the
network-connected device 204. The network-connected device 204 may
be connected to the external communication device 202 via a
wireless interface 242 using the wireless protocol 226. The
network-connected device 204 may also be connected to a remote
server 208 using a network, such as Internet 206, via a network
interface 242.
[0019] The remote server 208 may provide applications to
network-connected device 204 and/or external communication device
202 via the Internet 206. The remote server 208 may also provide
new communications to network-connected device 204 and/or external
communication device 202. Non-exclusive examples of such
communications include text messages and/or messages provided by an
application server, such as the server corresponding to the
eBay.RTM. bidding application previously discussed.
[0020] In an embodiment of the present invention, a new
communication 244 is generated by remote server 208 and is assigned
an indicator 246 by the remote server 208. A detailed view of new
communication 244 illustrates that the new communication 244 also
contains a message 248. The indicator 246 may be any character(s)
embedded in the new communication 244, including but not limited to
a numeric, alphabetic, or alphanumeric characters. The purpose of
the indicator is to inform a downstream device, such as
network-connected device 204 and/or external device 202 that the
message corresponding to the new communication should be merged
into a pending notification containing an old message. As
illustrated in FIG. 2, the new communication 244 travels from
remote server 208 to network-connected device 204. When the new
communication 244 reaches network-connected device 204, the
communication 244 is stored in memory 236 and the processor may
read the communication 244 to determine if an indicator 246 is
present. Alternatively, the new communication 244 can be sent to
the external communication device 202 by network-connected device
204 and the external communication device 202 may determine whether
the new communication 244 contains the indicator 246.
[0021] If the indicator 246 is detected by the network-connected
device 204, the network-connected device 204 may send the new
communication 244 to the external device 202 with instructions to
modify a pending notification with the message 248 of the new
communication 244 by merging the message 248 into the notification.
Alternatively, if the new communication 244 is sent to the external
communication device 202 by the network-connected device 204
without the network-connected device 204 determining if the
indicator 246 is present, the external communication device 202 may
perform the step of determining if the indicator 246 is present. In
that case, once the new communication 244 is received by the
external communication device 202, it is stored in memory 218 and
read by microcontroller/processor 212 to determine if the indicator
246 is present. If the indicator 246 is present, the external
device 202 merges the new message 248 into the pending
notification.
[0022] In yet another embodiment, the new communication 244 may be
assigned an indicator 246 by the network-connected device 204,
rather than by the remote server 208. Whether an indicator should
be assigned by the network-connected device 204 may be determined
automatically by the programming of an application or by
application or system settings stored in memory 236 of the
network-connected device 204. For example, the eBay.RTM.
application may be programmed by the developer to automatically
assign an indicator to any communication generated by the
application that is to be transmitted to the network-connected
device 204 or external communication device 202. Alternatively, the
user may manually configure the application or system settings 240
of the network-connected device 204 to assign an indicator to any
communication originating from a particular source. For example,
the user may alter the system settings 240 of the network-connected
device 204 to automatically assign an indicator to eBay.RTM.
communications/notifications that are to be forwarded/sent to the
external communication device 202. In yet another example, the
eBay.RTM. application may have user definable settings which allow
the user to determine if communications from the application should
be assigned an indicator before being forwarded/sent to the
external communication device 202. The eBay.RTM. application may
further allow the user to define which specific types of eBay.RTM.
communications should be assigned indicators. For instance, a user
may configure the application to only assign an indicator to
communications relating to the bid status of a particular item,
while notifications relating to general eBay account user
information of the user would not be assigned an indicator. It will
be appreciated that such control by a user allows the user to
specify which types of communications/notification should be
modified in accordance with the present invention. This may be
important as certain older communications may not be irrelevant to
a user in light of a newer communication. For example, a new
message from the eBay.RTM. application relating to a user's general
account will likely always be relevant to the user, regardless of
whether it is the most recent message. In stark contrast, older
messages intended solely to inform a user that the status of a bid
has changed will likely be irrelevant in light of a newer message
relating to the same bid.
[0023] After assigning the indicator 246, the network-connected
device 204 then sends the new communication 244 to the external
communication device 202. The external communication device 202
then stores the new communication 244 into memory and the
microcontroller/processor 212 reads the new communication 244 to
determine whether an indicator is present. When the indicator 246
is detected, the external device 202 merges the new message 248
into a pending notification.
[0024] In reference to FIG. 3, a flow chart 300 illustrates a
method of the embodiments discussed above. At initial step 302, a
new communication is assigned an indicator by a first device 306
(e.g., remote server 208 or network-connected device 204). Next, at
step 304 the new communication (including the indicator) is sent to
a second device 308 (e.g., network-connected device 204 or external
communication device 202). The new communication is then received
by the second device 308 at step 310. At step 312 the new
communication is read by the second device 308. The second device
308 then determines whether an indicator is present in the new
communication at step 314. If an indicator is detected, then at
step 316 the new message of the new communication merges into a
pending notification by replacing an older message corresponding to
an older communication. If no indicator is detected, then at step
320 the notification is processed according to known prior art
notification systems.
[0025] In yet another embodiment, the network-connected device 204
or external communication device 202 may be configured to only
evaluate new communications 244 for an indicator 246 that originate
from a particular source or sources. For example, external
communication device 244 may be configured to only review new
communications 244 originating from eBay.RTM. to look for an
indicator 246. In this way the receiving device of the notification
(e.g., external communication device 202) may be able to filter
which communications it evaluates for an indicator by source. Those
of skill in the art would recognize that there are many other
criteria that could be used to determine whether a new
communication should be reviewed for an indicator, including but
not limited to the type of communication or time in which the
communication was received.
[0026] In yet another embodiment, whether a new communication 244
should be treated as if it contains an indicator may be determined
by the network-connected device 204 or the external communication
device 202, even if an indicator was not assigned upstream of the
receiving device. The receiving device may determine if the new
communication 244 is treated as if it has an indicator based on the
original sender of the communication and an identifier within the
communication. For example, the network-connected device 204 or
external communication device 202 may be configured to evaluate new
eBay.RTM. communications 244 to determine whether the communication
contains a specific type of identifier (e.g., the eBay.RTM. auction
ID, which is the identifier eBay uses for auctions). If the
specific type of identifier is present in the new communication
244, the identifier may be treated as an indicator, which allows
the message in the new communication to be merged into a current
notification having the same indicator. In this way, a notification
is not required to have an indicator assigned upstream of the
receiving device, as the receiving device effectively determines
which received communications should be treated as if they have
indicators and what those indicators should be. In other words, the
receiving device determines, completely on its own, which new
messages are treated as if they have an indicator. As those having
ordinary skill in the art will appreciate, any criteria could be
used for determining whether a communication should be treated as
containing an indicator and what specific information should be
used as an indicator. In yet another embodiment, the new
communication may be received by the external communication device
without an assigned indicator. However, an application or system
setting stored in the memory of the external communication device
202 may be programmed to treat incoming communications from a
particular source the same as a new communication containing an
indicator. For example, the eBay.RTM. application on the external
device 202 may be programmed to treat all incoming communications
from eBay the same as those having an indicator, even though no
indicator was assigned to the communication by an upstream device.
As such, when a new communication is received by the external
device from eBay, the message of the new communication is merged
into a pending notification. Alternatively, a user may alter the
system settings of the external device to treat new incoming
notifications from a particular source in the same manner. For
example, a user may alter the system settings to treat all new
incoming text communications from a particular phone number the
same as those having an indicator. As one example, a user may alter
the settings to treat all weather notification text messages
emanating from a local weather station SMS server the same as those
that have an indicator. As such, a pending notification, which
would include an older message from the local weather station,
would be modified by a new message from the local weather station
by merging the new message into the notification. A flow chart 404
depicting the steps of this embodiment is illustrated in FIG. 4. At
step 406 an application or system settings of the external device
404 are configured to treat new communications from a specific
source the same as those having an indicator. For example, a user
may configure the application or system settings at step 402 to
treat all incoming communications from eBay the same as it would
any other communication having an indicator. The user may
additionally configure the application or system settings to treat
particular types of communications the same as it would any other
communication having an indicator. In this way, a user may
configure certain communications emanating from eBay to be treated
the same as those having an indicator, while others will be treated
normally (i.e., older communications are not treated as
irrelevant). This may be important to a user because, as stated
before, certain types of communications (e.g., ones relating to
general user account information) may always be considered
relevant, while other notifications (e.g., bid status
notifications) may lose relevance as new messages are received.
Configuring the present embodiment in this manner may ensure that
other eBay notifications (e.g., general account information
notifications) are not unintentionally concealed from the user. At
step 402 a new communication is received by the external
communication device 404 and the communication is stored in memory
at step 408. The source and/or type of the new communication is
then identified by the external device 404 at step 410. At step
412, the processor/controller of the external device 404 then
determines whether the identified source and/or type falls within
the parameters of the app/system settings from step 402. If the
source does, then a new message corresponding to the new
communication is merged into the notification at step 414. If the
source does not fall within the parameters of the app/system
settings from step 402, then at step 416 the notification is
processed according to known prior art notification systems.
[0027] Turning now to FIG. 5, a non-exclusive example of the manner
in which a new message may be merged into a pending (as explained
at step 316 and 414) is illustrated in accordance with the previous
embodiments of the present invention. External communication device
502 (e.g., a smartwatch) may include all of the components inside
external communication device 202, including a display 504. The
display may generate a watch face and display various status
information, such as the time and date. Additionally, the watch
face may convey other information, such as upcoming calendar
events.
[0028] As previously discussed, an external communication device
502 may be configured to receive communications from a
network-connected device or a remote server. In this example, the
new communication received relates to an eBay.RTM. bid, alerting
the user that his or her previous bid how been outbid and that the
user's bid has automatically been increased. The user has
configured his or her eBay.RTM. account to automatically place a $5
bid after each new bid, up until a certain pre-determined
threshold. Step 503 illustrates the display of the external
communication device 502 when no notification is displayed. At step
505 a new communication is received, and the external communication
device 502 generates a notification 506 corresponding to the new
communication. The notification indicates the sender 512 of the new
communication (i.e., eBay.RTM.), the time the new communication was
received 514 (i.e., 1:28 PM), and the message of the new
communication 507 (i.e., "Your bid of $60 has been outbid at $65!
Increasing bid to $70."). At step 509 a new message 510 is received
and merged into the notification 506 by replacing the most recent
prior message with the newest message 510, which indicates the user
has been outbid at $80 and that a new bid of $85 has been
automatically placed on behalf of the user. The time 516 (i.e.,
1:38 PM) may also change to reflect the time that the merge took
place. During period 508, numerous other new messages (at similar
$5 increments) were received, and for each new message received the
same merging process occurred. Importantly, message 510 is the only
message displayed at 1:38 PM, as the notification 506 was modified
as each prior message was replaced by the newest message the
process at the time. As such, message 507 is replaced by the first
message received during period 508, and that message is replaced by
the second message received in period 508, so forth and so on until
the final message 510 is received and replaces the most recent
message from period 508. Those of skill in the art will appreciate
that merging new messages into a notification as described herein
more efficiently conveys relevant information to the user of the
external device, while concealing information that may be
considered irrelevant. The previous message may be completely
overwritten during the merging process (i.e., the user may not be
able to access it anymore), which allows for additional
conservation of memory and also removes additional information from
the display that the user would likely find irrelevant.
[0029] Turning to FIG. 6, a detailed description of the process 600
of merging a new communication into a pending notification is
illustrated in accordance with an embodiment of the present
invention. Generally, when a new message is received that is to be
treated as if it has an indicator (as discussed with regard to
FIGS. 2-4), a notification is generated that is exclusively
assigned to a specific portion 602 of the memory 218 of the device
on which the notification is to be displayed. The notification is
configured to display the new message, as well as the sender of the
message and the time the message was received. The assigned portion
602 of memory contains an exclusive assignment in memory for the
fields of (1) the sender of the message 604, (2) the time the
message is received 606, and the substance of the message 608.
Going forward, any new communication corresponding to the same
indicator will only modify the exclusive portion of memory assigned
to the pending notification (i.e., a notification that is still
being displayed). For example, when a new message having the same
indicator is received while the notification is still pending, the
new message is merged into the notification by modifying the
portion of the memory exclusively allotted to the notification
message 608. Additionally, the portion of the memory corresponding
to the time the message was received 606 may also be modified. In
this way, the message and time of the pending notification are
overwritten completely. This essentially brings the new message
forward in time, overwriting in memory all previous messages having
the same indicator. In real time and from the perspective of the
device user, the only portion of the displayed notification that
will appear to change when a new message is received will be the
message of the notification itself and the time the notification is
received. For example, in reference to FIG. 6, receipt of a new
communication containing a new message causes notification 602a to
be generated, which includes the sender of the new message 604a,
the time the new message was received 606a, and the message 608a.
602a is stored in memory 218 at exclusive portion 602. 604a, 606a
and 608a are stored in memory 218 at exclusive portions 604, 606,
and 608, respectively. While the notification is still pending, a
new communication having the same indicator as the last message is
received. The new message 608b is merged into the notification by
replacing the prior message 608a in the portion of memory
exclusively assigned to the message of the notification 608.
Similarly, the time the new message was received 606b is merged
into the notification by replacing the prior time 606a in the
portion of memory exclusively assigned to the time that a message
is received 606. Thus, 602b, 604b,--606b, and 608b, correspond to
602, 604, 6o6, and 608 respectively. Notably, 604 does not change
because 604a and 604b are the same and no overwriting needs to
occur.
[0030] As would be understood by those having ordinary skill in the
art, the disclosed embodiments are intended to be illustrative and
non-exhaustive. There are numerous other use cases for the present
invention which would be understood by those having ordinary skill
in the art but that are not specifically described or discussed
herein. Examples of additional use cases are described below, but
are not intended to be exhaustive.
[0031] In one use case, a sports scores notification application or
SMS notification system may be used in accordance with an
embodiment of the present invention. The user of such an
application may have little to no interest in receiving older
notifications or updates that do not reflect the current score or
statistics of the game being tracked. As such, a user may prefer to
have older messages in a notification replaced or annotated by
newer messages so that the older messages do not occupy scarce
notification display space on a network-connected device or
external communication device. In that case, the notification
system of the present invention would be advantageous.
[0032] In another use case, a user may opt in to receive weather
alerts via the SMS messaging system or via a weather alert
application. The user may have little or no interest in receiving
older notifications or alerts that relate to weather that has
already passed. For example, one alert may notify the user that
there is a tornado warning between 2:00 PM and 5:00 PM. If the user
receives a new notification at 5:30 PM informing the user that the
tornado warning has ended, the user will likely have no interest in
the previous notification. As such, the notification system of the
present invention would be advantageous, as it would allow the user
to only see the notifications of interest.
[0033] In yet another use case, a user may opt in to receive
shipping notifications via an SMS shipping notification system or
shipping application. The user may receive a notification informing
the user that his or her package has left the distributor's
out-of-state shipping facility and then a later new notification
informing the user that the package is out for delivery to the
user's home. The user will likely have little or no interest in the
previous notification, as the previous location of the package is
unimportant to the user. In that case, the notification system of
the present system would be advantageous.
[0034] It will be understood by those having ordinary skill in the
art that the above descriptions are intended to be illustrative,
and not restrictive. For example, the above-described embodiments
may be used in combination with each other and features of one
embodiment may be utilized with other embodiments. Many other
embodiments will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art
upon reviewing the above description. For example, invention
described herein may be implemented in other wearable technologies
other than watches, such as wearable necklaces, ear rings, etc. The
scope of the invention should, therefore, be determined with
reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of
equivalents to which such claims are entitled. In the appended
claims, the terms "including" and "in which" are used as the
plain-English equivalents of the respective terms "comprising" and
"wherein."
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