Automated selection of appropriate information based on a computer user's context

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9906474-B2
Application number	US-201414486777-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 15, 2014
Priority date	Dec 18, 1998
Publication date	Feb 27, 2018
Grant date	Feb 27, 2018

Abstract

A system filters received messages (e.g., unsolicited advertisements) to determine if they are appropriate for a user based on the non-static, constantly evolving, context of the user. The system can track the user's context by monitoring various environmental parameters, such as related to the user's physical, mental, computing and data environments, and can model the current context of the user based at least in part on the monitoring. The system selects a set of one or more filters to apply to incoming messages based on the user's context, and the selected filters can be updated as the user's context changes. Messages that survive the filters are then evaluated against the user's context to determine whether they should be presented immediately or stored for delayed presentation.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A computer-readable storage device having instructions recorded thereon for enabling a hand-held computing device to control whether message(s) are blocked, the instructions comprising:
first instructions for enabling the hand-held computing device to receive a message from a source that is external to the hand-held computing device;
second instructions for enabling the hand-held computing device to select, based at least in part on a context of a user of the hand-held computing device, one or more filters to apply to the message, the selected one or more filters comprising a first filter when the context of the user indicates that the user is in a first state and a second filter when the context of the user indicates that the user is in a second state that is different from the first state, the first state being a sleeping state, and the first filter being configured to block messages having a priority that is less than a designated priority; and
third instructions for enabling the hand-held computing device to use the one or more filters to control whether the message is blocked;
wherein the computer-readable storage device is not a transmission signal.

2. The computer-readable storage device of claim 1 , wherein the second instructions comprise:
instructions for enabling the hand-held computing device to de-select at least one of the one or more filters and to select at least one other filter to be applied to a message in response to a change in the context of the user.

3. The computer-readable storage device of claim 1 , wherein the third instructions comprise:
instructions for enabling the hand-held computing device to selectively present the message to the user based at least in part on whether the message satisfies criteria of the one or more filters.

4. The computer-readable storage device of claim 3 , wherein the third instructions further comprise:
instructions for enabling the hand-held computing device to delay presentation of the message to the user for a designated period of time in response to the message satisfying the criteria of the one or more filters.

5. The computer-readable storage device of claim 3 , wherein the third instructions further comprise:
instructions for enabling the hand-held computing device to determine whether to present the message to the user based at least in part on the context of the user in response to the message satisfying the criteria of the one or more filters.

6. A method comprising:
receiving one or more messages for presentation to a user of a hand-held computing device;
detecting that the user of the hand-held computing device is in a sleep state; and
generating a temporary filter, which is to be applied to the one or more messages while the user is in the sleep state based at least in part on the user being in the sleep state, using at least one element including at least one of hardware or a processing unit,
the temporary filter configured to block each message of the one or more messages that has a priority that is less than a designated priority.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
applying the temporary filter to the one or more messages while the user is in the sleep state, the applying the temporary filter includes temporarily blocking at least one message of the one or more messages; and
discontinuing application of the temporary filter in response to the user no longer being in the sleep state.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein discontinuing the application of the temporary filter comprises:
passing the at least one message of the one or more messages for presentation to the user.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein discontinuing the application of the temporary filter comprises:
applying at least one other filter in lieu of the temporary filter to the at least one message of the one or more messages in response to the user no longer being in the sleep state.

10. The method of claim 6 , wherein generating the temporary filter comprises:
generating the temporary filter dynamically in response to detecting that the user is in the sleep state.

11. The method of claim 6 , wherein generating the temporary filter comprises:
generating the temporary filter to be configured to block each message of the one or more messages that has a priority that is less than a designated priority for a designated period of time.

12. The method of claim 6 , wherein detecting that the user of the hand-held computing device is in the sleep state comprises:
sensing a state of a body of the user to detect that the user is in the sleep state.

13. A system comprising:
at least one element including at least one of hardware or a processing unit;
a condition-dependent output supplier (CDOS) system, implemented using the at least one element, configured to determine whether a user of a hand-held computing device is in a sleep state; and
a filtering system, implemented using the at least one element, configured to receive one or more messages for presentation to the user of the hand-held computing device,
the filtering system further configured to generate a temporary filter, which is to be applied to the one or more messages while the user is in the sleep state based at least in part on the user being in the sleep state, the temporary filter configured to block each message of the one or more messages that has a priority that is less than a designated priority.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the filtering system is further configured to apply the temporary filter to the one or more messages while the user is in the sleep state to temporarily block at least one message of the one or more messages; and
wherein the filtering system is further configured to discontinue application of the temporary filter in response to the user no longer being in the sleep state.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the filtering system is configured to pass the at least one message of the one or more messages for presentation to the user based at least in part on the user no longer being in the sleep state.

16. The system of claim 14 , wherein the filtering system is configured to apply at least one other filter in lieu of the temporary filter to the at least one message of the one or more messages in response to the user no longer being in the sleep state.

17. The system of claim 13 , wherein the filtering system is configured to generate the temporary filter dynamically in response to detection that the user is in the sleep state.

18. The system of claim 13 , wherein the system includes one or more servers, the one or more servers including the CDOS system and the filtering system; and
wherein the hand-held computing device is a thin client device communicatively coupled to the one or more servers.

19. The system of claim 13 , wherein the temporary filter is configured to block each message of the one or more messages that has a priority that is less than a designated priority for a designated period of time.

20. The system of claim 13 , wherein the CDOS system is configured to sense a state of a body of the user to determine whether the user is in the sleep state.

21. A method comprising:
receiving a message at a hand-held computing device from a source outside the hand-held computing device;
selecting at the hand-held computing device, based at least in part on a context of a user of the handheld computing device, a set of one or more filters to apply to the message using at least one element includi

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Robarts James O
• Newell Dan
• Abbott Kenneth H

Classifications

• H04L51/12 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G06Q10/107 Primary

  Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing] · CPC title

• G06Q30/02

  Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising · CPC title

• G06F17/30867

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F16/9535

  Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation · CPC title