Patent Publication Number: US-11381655-B2

Title: Server-driven notifications to mobile applications

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/115,772, filed Aug. 29, 2018, titled “Server-Driven Notifications to Mobile Applications,” the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by this reference. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present disclosure is generally related to communication systems and more specifically related to server-driven notifications to mobile applications. 
     BACKGROUND 
     “Push notification” herein refers to a message transmitted by a server to a mobile computing device without a specific request from the device. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present disclosure is illustrated by way of examples, and not by way of limitation, and may be more fully understood with references to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the figures, in which: 
         FIG. 1  depicts a push notification system operating in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 2  schematically illustrates an example interaction diagram for implementing server-driven notifications in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 3  schematically illustrates an example notification-supported workflow implemented in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 4  schematically illustrates an example multi-application workflow implemented in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 5  depicts a flow diagram for method  500  of implementing server-driven notifications to mobile applications, in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure; and 
         FIG. 6  depicts a block diagram of a computer system operating in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Push notifications may be triggered by external events, generated by application servers, and translated into one or more commonly accepted formats by push notification servers which may transmit the messages to mobile computing devices. A push notification message may be displayed by the device even if the mobile application to which the message is addressed is not active (e.g., running in the background or sleeping) at the time of receiving the push notification. In conventional systems, each application installed on a mobile device should be individually configured and registered with a push notification server in order to receive push notifications. 
     Aspects of the present disclosure address the above and other deficiencies by providing systems and methods for implementing server-driven notifications to mobile applications, in which a mobile computing device, rather than individual mobile applications, is registered with a notification server, thus enabling the notifications to be addressed to the mobile computing device rather than to individual applications. In certain implementations, the device management application running on the mobile computing device registers the mobile computing device with a notification server and is responsible for receiving and processing mobile notifications that may eventually be transmitted by the notification server to the mobile computing device. In an illustrative example, responsive to receiving a message transmitted by the notification server, the device management application may translate the message payload into one or more application-specific local notifications to be displayed by the mobile computing device. The local notifications may be displayed by the mobile computing device in accordance with the local notification properties specifying the text, image, color, sound, etc. 
     In an illustrative example, the user may respond to a local notification. Responsive to detecting a GUI event associated with the displayed local notification, the device management application may invoke a corresponding event handler (e.g., onTouch( )) and supply one or more parameters which are encoded by the local notification (such as the URI for launching the associated mobile application), thus causing the mobile application to be launched or awakened. 
     In certain implementations, the local notifications implemented in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure may be utilized for implementing workflows which coordinate two or more mobile applications running on the mobile computing device, as described in more detail herein below. 
       FIG. 1  depicts a push notification system operating in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. System  100  may include mobile computing devices  120 A- 120 N in communication with the push notification server  130  over the network  110 . System  100  may further include the workflow/application server  140  which running one or more server-side applications and/or workflows which generate the push notifications to be delivered to the mobile computing devices  120 . Network  110  may be provided by a public network (e.g., Internet), a private network (e.g., local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN)), a wired network (e.g., Ethernet), a wireless network, a cellular network, or a combination thereof. The push notification server  130  may implement push notifications which are compatible with one or more mobile application platforms (e.g., iOS®, Android®, etc.). 
     Mobile device  120  may be employed to run one or more mobile applications (e.g., communication applications, business applications, navigation applications, health applications, gaming applications, etc.). Additionally, mobile device  120  may run a device management application, which may be effectively “invisible” for the user of the mobile device  120 , in that the device management application may have no user interface or user-modifiable configuration parameters. In certain implementations, the device management application may be installed and/or configured by the mobile service provider or the enterprise system administrator. The device management application may register with the push notification server  130 . Responsive to receiving a message transmitted by the notification server, the device management application may translate the message payload into one or more application-specific local notifications to be displayed by the mobile computing device, as described in more detail herein below with references to  FIG. 2 , which schematically illustrates an example interaction diagram for implementing server-driven notifications in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. 
     In order to receive push notifications from the push notification server  130 , the device management application  210  of the mobile computing device  120  may register with the push notification server  130  by transmitting the device registration request  230 . The request  230  may comprise the device identifier (e.g., the subscriber identifier or another unique identifier of the device  120 ), one or more notification types to be received, and/or various other information items that may facilitate the delivery of push notifications to the device  120 . Unlike the common push notification implementations, the registration request specifies the mobile device identifier rather than identifiers of individual mobile applications running on the mobile computing device  120 . 
     Responsive to receiving a push notification  240 , the device management application  210  may process the payload of the notification in order to generate one or more local notifications  250 A- 250 N addressed to mobile applications  260 A- 260 N running on the mobile computing device  120 . In certain implementations, the payload may be encoded in JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format and/or any other format supported by the device management application  210 . The payload may include the application identifier (e.g., the Unified Resource Identifier (URI)) which may be utilized to launch the application. The payload may further include the notification properties, such as the text and/or image to be displayed by the mobile computing device, the sound to be reproduced by the mobile computing device, the vibration pattern to be reproduced by the mobile computing device, etc. The payload may further specify one or more handlers (i.e., mobile application functions) to be utilized by the mobile applications for processing specified application-specific events (e.g., GUI events). The payload may further include identifier of an application-specific event to be detected and reported back to the workflow server, as described in more detail herein below. 
     The device management application  210  may translate the payload of the notification  250  into one or more local notifications  250 A- 250 N addressed to mobile applications  260 A- 260 N running on the mobile computing device  120 . The translation process may include parsing the payload and invoking one or more local application programming interface (API) calls for each object extracted from the payload. In an illustrative example, the device management application may maintain a data structure mapping an object type (of an object extracted from the payload) to an API call identifier and further mapping additional extracted objects to the API call parameters. The translation process may produce one or more local notifications. Each local notification may include the application identifier (e.g., the URI), the notification properties, one or more handlers to be utilized by the mobile applications for processing specified application-specific events (e.g., GUI events), and/or an identifier of an application-specific event to be detected and reported back to the workflow server. 
     One or more local notifications  250 A- 250 N may be displayed by the mobile computing device  120 . The visual presentation of the local notifications (e.g., color, text, pop-up alert, banner notification, icon badge, etc.) may be determined based on the local notification properties encoded by the local notification. In various embodiments, vibrations and/or sound specified by the local notification properties may be reproduced simultaneously with displaying the local notification image and/or text. 
     The local notification may be displayed irrespective of the running state (running, sleeping, inactive) of the associated mobile application. In an illustrative example, the user may respond to the local notification (e.g., by selecting the push notification). Responsive to detecting a GUI event (e.g., a touch event) associated with the displayed local notification, the device management application  210  may invoke a corresponding event handler (e.g., onTouch( ) specified by the local notification and supply one or more parameters which are encoded by the local notification (such as the URI for launching the associated mobile application), thus causing the mobile application to be launched or awakened. 
     Alternatively, other actions may be triggered in response to detecting a GUI event associated with a displayed local notification. For example, the local notification may specify the application update information. Accordingly, in response to selection of the displayed local notification, the mobile application may be automatically updated. 
     In certain implementations, the local notifications implemented in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure may be utilized for implementing workflows which coordinate two or more mobile applications running on the mobile computing device  120 . As noted herein above, the push notification payload may include identifier of an application-specific event to be detected and reported back to the workflow server. 
       FIG. 3  schematically illustrates an example notification-supported workflow implemented in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. As schematically illustrated by  FIG. 3 , the workflow server  310  may initiate a push notification  320  to the mobile device  330 . Responsive to receiving the push notification  320 , the device management application  340  may translate it into a local notification  350  which is addressed to the mobile application  360  running on the mobile device  330 . Responsive to detecting the event specified by the local notification  350 , the device management application may transmit, to the workflow server, a message  370  reporting the completion of the workflow item. The sequence of events may be repeated multiple times and may involve multiple mobile applications running on the mobile computing device  330 , as schematically illustrated by  FIG. 4 . 
     In the illustrative example of  FIG. 4 , the workflow server  410  may initiate the example workflow by transmitting a push notification  415  to the device management application  420  of the mobile computing device  425 , thus causing mobile application  430  to be launched on the mobile computing device  425 . Responsive to detecting the application-specific event (e.g., terminating of the mobile application  430 ) specified by the push notification  415 , the device management application  420  may notify the workflow server  410  by the workflow item completion message  435 ; in response, the server may transmit a push notification  440  to the mobile computing device  425 , thus causing mobile application  445  to be launched on the mobile computing device  425 . Responsive to detecting the application-specific event (e.g., terminating of the mobile application  445 ) specified by the push notification  440 , the device management application  420  may notify the workflow server  410  by the workflow item completion message  450 ; in response, the server may transmit a push notification  455  to the mobile computing device  425 , thus causing mobile application  460  to be launched on the mobile computing device  425 . Responsive to detecting the application-specific event (e.g., terminating of the mobile application  460 ) specified by the push notification  455 , the device management application  420  may notify the workflow server  410  by the workflow item completion message  465 . 
       FIG. 5  depicts a flow diagram for method  500  of implementing server-driven notifications to mobile applications, in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. Method  500  may be performed by processing devices that may comprise hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic, programmable logic, microcode, etc.), executable code (such as is run on a general purpose computer system or a dedicated machine), or a combination of both. Method  500  each of its individual functions, routines, subroutines, or operations may be performed by one or more processors of the computer device executing the method. In certain implementations, method  500  may each be performed by a single processing thread. Alternatively, method  500  may be performed by two or more processing threads, each thread executing one or more individual functions, routines, subroutines, or operations of the method. In an illustrative example, the method  500  may be implemented by the device management application of the mobile computing device  120  of  FIG. 1 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 5 , at block  510 , the device management application of the mobile computing device implementing the method may register the mobile computing device with the notification server. 
     At block  520 , the device management application of the mobile computing device implementing the method may receive a push notification message from a notification server. The message may include a payload identifying one or more mobile applications running on the mobile computing device. The payload may further include the notification properties, such as the text and/or image to be displayed by the mobile computing device, the sound to be reproduced by the mobile computing device, the vibration pattern to be reproduced by the mobile computing device, etc. The payload may further include identifier of an application-specific event to be detected and reported back to the workflow server. The payload may further specify one or more handlers to be utilized by the mobile applications for processing specified application-specific events (e.g., GUI events), as described in more detail herein above. 
     At block  530 , the device management application may translate the payload into one or more local notifications addressed to one or more mobile applications running on the mobile computing device. Each local notification may include the application identifier (e.g., the URI), the notification properties, one or more handlers to be utilized by the mobile applications for processing specified application-specific events (e.g., GUI events), and/or an identifier of an application-specific event to be detected and reported back to the workflow server. The translation process may include parsing the payload and invoking one or more local application programming interface (API) calls for each object extracted from the payload, as described in more detail herein above. In various illustrative examples, operations of blocks  530  may be repeated for two or more local notifications. 
     At block  540 , the device management application may cause one or more local notifications to be displayed on the mobile computing device. The visual presentation of the local notifications (e.g., color, text, pop-up alert, banner notification, icon badge, etc.) may be determined based on the local notification properties encoded by the local notification, as described in more detail herein above. 
     Responsive to receiving, at block  550 , a user interface event associated with a displayed local notification, the device management application may, at block  560 , process the user interface event by the handler specified for the event type by the local notification. In an illustrative example, responsive to detecting a touch event associated with the displayed local notification, the device management application may invoke a corresponding event handler (e.g., onTouch( )) specified by the local notification and supply one or more parameters which are encoded by the local notification (such as the URI for launching the associated mobile application), thus causing the mobile application to be launched or awakened. 
     Responsive to completing the operations of block  560 , the method may terminate. 
       FIG. 6  depicts a block diagram of a computer system operating in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. In an illustrative example, computer system  600  may implement the functions of the mobile computing device  120  of  FIG. 1 . In another illustrative example, computer system  600  may implement the functions of the push notification server of  FIG. 1 . The computer system may be included within a data center that supports virtualization. Virtualization within a data center results in a physical system being virtualized using virtual machines to consolidate the data center infrastructure and increase operational efficiencies. A virtual machine (VM) may be a program-based emulation of computer hardware. For example, the VM may operate based on computer architecture and functions of computer hardware resources associated with hard disks or other such memory. The VM may emulate a physical computing environment, but requests for a hard disk or memory may be managed by a virtualization layer of a computing device to translate these requests to the underlying physical computing hardware resources. This type of virtualization results in multiple VMs sharing physical resources. 
     In certain implementations, computer system  600  may be connected (e.g., via a network, such as a Local Area Network (LAN), an intranet, an extranet, or the Internet) to other computer systems. Computer system  600  may operate in the capacity of a server or a client computer in a client-server environment, or as a peer computer in a peer-to-peer or distributed network environment. Computer system  600  may be provided by a personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, a web appliance, a server, a network router, switch or bridge, or any device capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that device. Further, the term “computer” shall include any collection of computers that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methods described herein. 
     In a further aspect, the computer system  600  may include a processing device  602 , a volatile memory  604  (e.g., random access memory (RAM)), a non-volatile memory  606  (e.g., read-only memory (ROM) or electrically-erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM)), and a data storage device  616 , which may communicate with each other via a bus  608 . 
     Processing device  602  may be provided by one or more processors such as a general purpose processor (such as, for example, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) microprocessor, a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) microprocessor, a very long instruction word (VLIW) microprocessor, a microprocessor implementing other types of instruction sets, or a microprocessor implementing a combination of types of instruction sets) or a specialized processor (such as, for example, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a digital signal processor (DSP), or a network processor). 
     Computer system  600  may further include a network interface device  622 . Computer system  600  also may include a video display unit  610  (e.g., an LCD), an alphanumeric input device  612  (e.g., a keyboard), a cursor control device  614  (e.g., a mouse), and a signal generation device  620 . 
     Data storage device  616  may include a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium  624  on which may store instructions  626  encoding any one or more of the methods or functions described herein, including instructions for implementing method  500  of implementing server-driven notifications to mobile applications. 
     Instructions  626  may also reside, completely or partially, within volatile memory  604  and/or within processing device  602  during execution thereof by computer system  600 , hence, volatile memory  604  and processing device  602  may also constitute machine-readable storage media. 
     While computer-readable storage medium  624  is shown in the illustrative examples as a single medium, the term “computer-readable storage medium” shall include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one or more sets of executable instructions. The term “computer-readable storage medium” shall also include any tangible medium that is capable of storing or encoding a set of instructions for execution by a computer that cause the computer to perform any one or more of the methods described herein. The term “computer-readable storage medium” shall include, but not be limited to, solid-state memories, optical media, and magnetic media. 
     The methods, components, and features described herein may be implemented by discrete hardware components or may be integrated in the functionality of other hardware components such as ASICS, FPGAs, DSPs or similar devices. In addition, the methods, components, and features may be implemented by firmware modules or functional circuitry within hardware devices. Further, the methods, components, and features may be implemented in any combination of hardware devices and computer program components, or in computer programs. 
     Unless specifically stated otherwise, terms such as “determining,” “detecting,” “analyzing,” “selecting,” “building,” “classifying,” “updating,” “optimizing” or the like, refer to actions and processes performed or implemented by computer systems that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices. Also, the terms “first,” “second,” “third,” “fourth,” etc. as used herein are meant as labels to distinguish among different elements and may not have an ordinal meaning according to their numerical designation. 
     Examples described herein also relate to an apparatus for performing the methods described herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for performing the methods described herein, or it may comprise a general purpose computer system selectively programmed by a computer program stored in the computer system. Such a computer program may be stored in a computer-readable tangible storage medium. 
     The methods and illustrative examples described herein are not inherently related to any particular computer or other apparatus. Various general purpose systems may be used in accordance with the teachings described herein, or it may prove convenient to construct more specialized apparatus to perform methods  300 ,  400  and/or each of its individual functions, routines, subroutines, or operations. Examples of the structure for a variety of these systems are set forth in the description above. 
     The above description is intended to be illustrative, and not restrictive. Although the present disclosure has been described with references to specific illustrative examples and implementations, it will be recognized that the present disclosure is not limited to the examples and implementations described. The scope of the disclosure should be determined with reference to the following claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which the claims are entitled.