Enabling Push Notifications from Websites

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2015237151-A1
Application number	US-201414185146-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 20, 2014
Priority date	Feb 20, 2014
Publication date	Aug 20, 2015
Grant date	—

Abstract

Techniques for enabling push notifications from websites are described. In at least some embodiments, a push notification generally represents a way for a website to push information to a client device. For instance, a push notification may include content (e.g., text, images, video, audio, and so forth) that a website pushes to a client device. The content can be output via the client device, e.g., independently of an output of the website itself. According to one or more embodiments, a push notification channel is generated that enables notifications to be pushed from a website to a client device. Generally, a push notification channel represents a set of attributes and procedures that enable notifications to be securely and accurately pushed from a website to a client device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:
presenting a selectable option for enabling push notification from a website to a client device; configuring, via one or more computing devices, a push notification channel for the client device in in response to a selection of the selectable option; and receiving a notification from the website at the client device via the push notification channel and independent of a user navigating to the website or having a browser open.

2 . A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1 , wherein said presenting comprises presenting the selectable option responsive to a navigation to the website.

3 . A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1 , wherein said presenting comprises presenting the selectable option responsive to receiving an indication that the website supports push notifications.

4 . A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1 , wherein said configuring comprises:
obtaining a channel token that enables notifications to be pushed to the client device; and communicating the channel token to the website.

5 . A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 4 , further comprising authenticating with a notification service that is remote from the client device prior to said obtaining, and wherein said obtaining comprises obtaining the channel token from the notification service.

6 . A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the notification includes content for updating a tile that is a visual representation of the website.

7 . A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising updating a visual representation of the website on the client device with the notification and separately from a display of the website.

8 . A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising outputting the notification via the client device separately from a display of the website.

9 . A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that a channel token included as part of the push notification channel for the website is expired; and causing the channel token to be refreshed.

10 . A system comprising:
at least one processor; and one or more computer-readable storage media including instructions stored thereon that, responsive to execution by the at least one processor, cause the system perform operations including:
obtaining a channel token to enable push notifications from a website to a client device;
generating a channel link that includes the channel token and an identifier for the website;
mapping the channel link to a notification indicator for the website; and
communicating the channel link to the website to enable the website to push notifications from the website to the notification indicator.

11 . A system as recited in claim 9 , wherein said obtaining comprises obtaining the channel token from a notification service that is separate from the client device, the channel token including an embedded device identifier for the client device.

12 . A system as recited in claim 9 , wherein said generating comprises embedding a domain name for the website into the channel link.

13 . A system as recited in claim 9 , wherein said generating comprises embedding user credentials for a user account with the website into the channel link.

14 . A system as recited in claim 9 , wherein said generating comprises:
obtaining user identification data for a user of the client device; encrypting the user identification data; and placing the encrypted user identification data into the channel link.

15 . A system as recited in claim 9 , wherein the notification indicator comprises a visual representation of the website, and wherein the operations further comprise:
receiving a notification from the website; and updating the notification indicator based on the notification.

16 . One or more computer-readable storage media having instructions stored thereon that, responsive to execution by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:
receiving a request from a website to push a notification to a client device; retrieving a channel token from the request, the channel token including an identifier for the client device; and determining whether to allow the notification to be pushed to the client device based at least in part on whether the channel token is determined to be trusted.

17 . One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 16 , further comprising determining whether the channel token is trusted based on whether a domain name indicated in the channel token matches a domain name of the website from which the channel token is received.

18 . One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 16 , further comprising determining whether the channel token is trusted based on one or more of:
whether subject field information in the channel token matches a subject field of a security certificate for the website; or whether a thumbprint indicated in the channel token matches a thumbprint of a security certificate for the website.

19 . One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 16 , wherein said determining further comprises determining whether to allow the notification to be pushed to the client device based at least in part on whether a security certificate for the website is determined to be trusted.

20 . One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise:
receiving an indication that the channel token is revoked; and preventing the notification from being pushed to the client device based on the channel token being revoked.

Assignees

• Microsoft Corp

Inventors

• Lau Cheuk Wan William
• Dolin Robert M
• Jin Larry
• Yamini Smriti
• Roberts Melanie Vanessa
• Tang Lan

Classifications

• H04L67/26 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G06F16/951 Primary

  Indexing; Web crawling techniques · CPC title

• H04L67/55 Primary

  Push-based network services · CPC title

• H04L67/146

  Markers for unambiguous identification of a particular session, e.g. session cookie or URL-encoding · CPC title

• H04L67/02

  based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP] · CPC title