Patent Publication Number: US-2016234142-A1

Title: System and Method for Improved Notifications

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/265,884, filed on Apr. 30, 2014, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/471,944, filed on May 15, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,751,651, issued on Jun. 10, 2014, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/488,264, filed on Jun. 19, 2009, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,200,821, issued on Jun. 12, 2012, the entire disclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     Aspects of the disclosure relate to providing notifications to subscribers via an internet browser. More specifically, aspects of the disclosure relate to methods and related systems for sending in-browser messages to subscribers in real-time. 
     BACKGROUND 
     It is necessary for an internet service provider (ISP) to inform its subscribers in real-time about important information pertaining to usage, policy changes, alerts, etc. ISPs currently utilize several methods, including e-mail, telephone, postal mail, and walled-garden and proprietary vendor in-browser notification products, to notify subscribers. However, these notification methods are not immediate and not always successful. For instance, subscribers do not regularly check their emails and, therefore, may overlook the urgency of a particular message. Also, postal mail should not be utilized for extremely time-sensitive messages that require immediate attention. In addition, subscribers may not appreciate unsolicited telephone calls from their ISP. 
     While a walled-garden approach to notifying subscribers may be effective for certain applications, the drawback to this method is that it blocks all network traffic and, therefore, the user is unable to browse the internet while receiving notifications. As such, the need arises for a real-time notification method that is guaranteed to be viewed and does not disrupt subscriber services. 
     Currently, there are certain methods for performing in-browser notifications, all of which have limitations. One method is to deploy a system that inspects all packets traversing through the ISP&#39;s network and inject extra packets into the stream to notify the user when needed. The technology underlying this method is commonly referred to as Deep Packet Inspection and may serve many other purposes but requires that the technology be deployed throughout the ISP&#39;s network in order to view all packets. This technique is not passive and requires connections to be reset. The system has to spoof the server response to an HTTP request packet in order to insert a notification. Therefore, the perception of authenticity from the subscriber&#39;s point-of-view may be reduced. 
     A second current method for performing in-browser notifications is to have a software application deployed on the subscribers&#39; computer that automatically displays a notification when needed. However, this method is inefficient as it requires the user to install the ISP&#39;s software package on each PC for the notification to be read. 
     Therefore, there is a need in the art for alternative schemes for routing specific traffic to users that need to be notified with a message in real-time over the internet. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY 
     The following presents a simplified summary of the disclosure in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects. It is not intended to identify key or critical elements or to delineate the scope of the disclosure. The following summary merely presents some concepts of the disclosure in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description provided below. 
     In an illustrative aspect of the disclosure, a notification system and method provides for implementation of in-browser messaging for the communication of information between an ISP and a subscriber. 
     In another illustrative aspect of the disclosure, the in-browser notification method allows an ISP provider to provide weather updates, emergency broadcasts, and other messages to subscribers that need such notification. 
     Other embodiments may be partially or wholly implemented on a computer-readable medium, for example, by storing computer-executable instructions or modules, or by utilizing computer-readable data structures. 
     Of course, the methods and systems of the above-referenced embodiments may also include other additional elements, steps, computer-executable instructions, or computer-readable data structures. In this regard, other illustrative embodiments are disclosed and claimed herein as well. 
     The details of these and other embodiments are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features and advantages will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       A more complete understanding of aspects of the present disclosure and the advantages thereof may be acquired by referring to the following description in consideration of the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numbers indicate like features, and wherein: 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a schematic diagram of a general-purpose digital computing environment in which certain aspects of the disclosure may be implemented. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates an in-browser notification system in accordance with various aspects of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a flow chart for setting a policy to tag HTTP packets with a DSCP value in accordance with various aspects of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 4 a    illustrates a flow chart for marking appropriate data packets for an in-browser notification system in accordance with various aspects of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 4 b    illustrates a flow chart for inserting a notification into appropriate data packets for an in-browser notification system in accordance with various aspects of the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     In the following description of the various embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration, various embodiments in which the disclosure may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural and functional modifications may be made. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a block diagram of a generic computing device  101  (e.g., a computer server) in network  100  that may be used according to an illustrative embodiment of the disclosure. The computer server  101  may have a processor  103  for controlling overall operation of the server and its associated components, including RAM  105 , ROM  107 , input/output module  109 , and memory  115 . 
     I/O module  109  may include a microphone, keypad, touch screen, and/or stylus through which a user of device  101  may provide input, and may also include one or more of a speaker for providing audio output and a video display device for providing textual, audiovisual and/or graphical output. Software may be stored within memory  115  and/or storage to provide instructions to processor  103  for enabling server  101  to perform various functions. For example, memory  115  may store software used by the server  101 , such as an operating system  117 , application programs  119 , and an associated database  121 . Alternatively, some or all of server  101  computer executable instructions may be embodied in hardware or firmware (not shown). 
     The server  101  may operate in a networked environment supporting connections to one or more remote computers, such as terminals  141  and  151 . The terminals  141  and  151  may be personal computers or servers that include many or all of the elements described above relative to the server  101 . The network connections depicted in  FIG. 1  include a local area network (LAN)  125  and a wide area network (WAN)  129 , but may also include other networks. When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer  101  is connected to the LAN  125  through a network interface or adapter  123 . When used in a WAN networking environment, the server  101  may include a modem  127  or other means for establishing communications over the WAN  129 , such as the internet  131 . It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are illustrative and other means of establishing a communications link between the computers may be used. The existence of any of various well-known protocols such as TCP/IP, Ethernet, FTP, HTTP and the like is presumed. 
     Computing device  101  and/or terminals  141  or  151  may also be mobile terminals including various other components, such as a battery, speaker, and antennas (not shown). 
     The disclosure is operational with numerous other general purpose or special purpose computing system environments or configurations. Examples of well known computing systems, environments, and/or configurations that may be suitable for use with the disclosure include, but are not limited to, personal computers, server computers, hand-held or laptop devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes, programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, distributed computing environments that include any of the above systems or devices, and the like. 
     The disclosure may be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, being executed by a computer. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The disclosure may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote computer storage media including memory storage devices. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates a high level diagram of a system  200  that may be used to provide in-browser notifications in real-time in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the disclosure. 
     As illustrated, system  200  depicts a notification platform (NP)  202 , an application manager  204 , a policy server  206 , a PC  208 , a cable modem  210 , a cable modem termination system (CMTS)  212 , routers  214  and  218 , a load balancer  220 , an internet server  222 , a proxy server  224 , and an internet content adoption protocol (ICAP) server  226 . The components of system  200  may be connected by one or more communications links (as designated by the arrows in  FIG. 2 ) to a single or multiple networks. 
     The NP  202  may receive and process a request from an external system to notify a subscriber of an in-browser notification in accordance with an aspect of the disclosure. The NP  202  may also identify subscriber details, determine which notification template to invoke, and may maintain state information on whether a subscriber has acknowledged an in-browser notification. In addition, the application manager  204  and policy server  206  may be utilized to establish a service flow, such as in accordance with the PacketCable Multi-Media specification, between the subscriber&#39;s cable modem  210  and CMTS  212 . The CMTS  212  may maintain a service-flow to the cable modem  210  and add a Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP) marking for TCP port 80 traffic. It should be noted that a DSCP marking may be set on a router directly for a given IP address and as such the application manager  204 , policy server  206 , cable modem  210  and CMTS  212  may be less pertinent. 
     Routers  214  and  218  may be utilized in system  200  to policy route traffic over a Generic Routing Encapsulated (GRE) tunnel  216 . As packets traverse through the router  214 , they may be forked based on a routing policy. DSCP-tagged packets may be sent over the GRE tunnel  216  while all other packets may be normally forwarded to internet server  222 . Another router  218  may be used as a GRE-end point and a default routing policy may be set to forward all packets to the load balancer  220 . The load balancer  220  may be responsible for forking HTTP traffic on port 80 to a proxy server  224  and all other port 80 traffic back to the internet server  222 . The load balancer  220  may also send a “HTTP  304  Use Proxy” response back to the PC  208  for any HTTP requests. The use proxy response may contain the location in URL format of the proxy server  224 . The PC  208  may then directly contact the proxy server  224  to access web content. 
     The proxy server  224  may maintain state information on the session between the subscriber&#39;s internet browsing session and the internet. As packets traverse through the proxy  224 , it may query the ICAP server  226  to determine whether the request may be fit for notification insertion. The ICAP server  226  may respond with a confirmation and once an HTTP  200  OK response is received, the proxy server  224  may forward the packets to the ICAP server  226  for notification insertion. The ICAP server  226  may contact the NP  202  to retrieve the notification(s) that needs to be inserted. The ICAP Server  226  may also cache the notification internally or externally for the purpose of improving response times. 
     The steps that follow in  FIGS. 3, 4   a , and  4   b  may be implemented by one or more of the components in  FIGS. 1, 2 , and/or other components, including other computing devices. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates a flow chart depicting a method for setting a policy on the CMTS to tag HTTP packets with a DSCP value in accordance with various aspects of the disclosure. The process begins at step  301  when NP  202  associated with an entity may receive IP addresses of subscribers that need to be notified. The entity may include any IP service provider having a plurality of users supported by these services. The NP  202  may receive this information from a variety of sources, including a business policy engine also associated with the entity and/or other sources directly from a third party. The ultimate source of third party information may be weather stations, police stations, hospitals, and/or an emergency broadcast station, among other places. The content of the notification may determine the ultimate source; for instance, weather stations may issue hurricane/tornado alerts for a particular community in a particular area and police stations may issue alerts for escaped criminals or amber alerts for missing children. In addition, the IP service provider may issue a notification to provide subscriber information about service outages, security threats, service alerts, and/or byte usage. 
     Then the process may move to step  303  where the NP may transmit the IP address information to an application manager  204  and/or policy server  206 . The application manager  204  and policy server  206  may transmit information for setting a policy on the CMTS  212  to tag all TCP port 80 data packets coming from a subscriber&#39;s PC  208  and/or cable modem  210  with a DSCP value in step  305 . This DSCP value may indicate that the IP addresses that have transmitted the corresponding data packets may need to be notified with a message. It should be noted that even though TCP port 80 data packets are tagged with a DSCP value in an exemplary embodiment, the tagging of packets on other ports outside of port 80 using other indicators outside of DSCP values is within the scope of the present disclosure. Even though application manager  204  and policy server  206  are shown as two different hardware components, in other embodiments, both of these components may be incorporated into a single piece of hardware. The same is true of the cable modem  210  and PC  208 ; although  FIG. 2  shows the cable modem  210  and PC  208  as two different entities, both of these components may be integrated in a single device with integrated functionality. 
       FIG. 4 a    shows a flow chart depicting a method for marking appropriate data packets in an improved in-browser notification system in accordance with various aspects of the disclosure. The process in  FIG. 4 a    may start at step  401   a  where data packets may be received by the CMTS  212  from a subscriber device such as cable modem  210  and/or PC  208 . These data packets may include messages related to an HTTP GET request for accessing a particular webpage among other types of content. The process may then move to decision step  403   a  where the CMTS  212  may decide if the port 80 packets received from the subscriber should be marked with a DSCP value for receiving a notification message. If not, then the packets may be routed normally without being marked to default next hop as illustrated in  407   a . If the port 80 packets do need to be marked with the appropriate DSCP value, the packets may be marked by the CMTS  212  in step  405   a.    
     The process then moves to step  409   a  where packets may arrive at router  214 . Then in step  411   a , the router  214  may check whether data packets are marked with a specific DSCP value. If yes, as noted in  413   a , then data packets are routed to a GRE endpoint through routers  214  and  218  using tunnel  216  as noted in  417   a  and  419   a . If no, the data packets are routed to the default next hop in step  415   a . In certain embodiments, multiple routers may not need to be used and only a single router routes the packets within system  200 . Next, in step  421   a , the data packets may be transmitted to a load balancer  220 . After arriving at the load balancer  220 , the process may then move to step  423   a  where a decision is made by the load balancer  220  as to whether the data packets may be categorized as either HTTP or non-HTTP traffic on TCP port 80 as illustrated in step  425   a . If the packets are not both port 80 and HTTP, the packets may be routed to the internet server  222  in step  427   a . This routing mechanism may occur by transmitting the data packets back to router  218  for transmitting to the internet server  222 . 
     If the packets are both port 80 and HTTP traffic, the process then may move to step  429   a  where they may be sent to a proxy  224 . The proxy server  224  may route the packets to the appropriate internet server  222  in step  431   a . It should be noted that even though the load balancer  220  and proxy  224  are shown as two separate entities, a single component that combines the functionalities of both entities may also be used. It should also be noted that the load balancer  220  functionality may also be served by alternate means. For example, this functionality may occur via a server capable of identifying HTTP traffic and non-HTTP traffic on TCP port 80, capable of preserving existing TCP sessions and relaying HTTP traffic from the PC  208  to the proxy  224 . 
       FIG. 4 b    shows a flow chart depicting a method for inserting a notification in an improved in-browser notification system in accordance with various aspects of the disclosure. After the packets reach the internet server  222  after being relayed by the proxy  224  as noted in  401   b , response data packets responsive to incoming data packets may arrive at the proxy server  224  in step  403   b . The process may then move to step  405   b  where the proxy  224  sends a request for content adaption with preview data packets from the response to the ICAP server  226 . The preview contains partial content from the HTTP response. Then in steps  407   b  and  409   b  the ICAP server  226  may determine whether a notification message can be inserted based on the preview. If no, as noted in step  411   b , the ICAP server  226  may respond with a message instructing that proxy  224  that no modifications are needed. The process may then jump to step  431   b  where the proxy  224  may forward response packets to the PC  208  and/or cable modem  210  without inserting a notification message. 
     If the ICAP server  226  determines that content is fit for adaption, as noted in step  413   b , then the ICAP server  226  may return  100  OK message to the proxy  224 . The  100  OK message instructs the proxy  224  that a notification message may be inserted in the response. In step  415   b , the proxy  224  may send all the packets in the HTTP response to the ICAP server  226 . Then in step  417   b  and step  419   b , the ICAP server  226  may check whether any notification messages for the IP address are cached locally. If no, then the ICAP server  226  may attempt to fetch the notification message from the NP  202  as noted in step  421   b  and cache the notification locally for content adaption on subsequent requests from the PC  208 . Then the process moves to step  423   b  where the system may check to see if a message is present for the subscriber IP. If no message is present for the subscriber IP, as noted in step  425   b , then a notification message may not be inserted and the process may jump to step  431   b  where the proxy  224  may forward the response data packets to the PC  208 . If a notification message is present for the IP address, then the ICAP server  226  may parse the HTTP content and insert the notification message in the response data packets as noted in step  427   b . The message insertion is done in a manner that does not alter the original content of the response. After insertion is complete, the ICAP server  226  may reassemble the content before forwarding the response packets back to the proxy server  224  as noted in step  429   b.    
     Finally, the data packets may be routed to back to the PC  208  and/or cable modem  210  in step  431   b  and the browser on the PC  208  may render the HTML content plus the notification, if inserted earlier, as an overlay in step  433   b.    
     As an example consider, the case of a weather station (assume WCHI) trying to issue a tornado warning for the metro Chicago area. 
     Once the tornado is detected, WCHI may notify the Internet Service Provider (assume it is Comcast) of a tornado alert in the metro Chicago area. Upon receipt of this information, the ISP may initiate a notification message through one of its internal servers. This notification may state that Chicago residents should take necessary precautions against the impending tornado. The internal server may be any storage device capable of communication through a network with other devices in the IP network, including a business policy engine or a NP. Alternatively, a business policy engine and NP may both play a part in provisioning the proper IP addresses for receiving the notification of a tornado approaching. 
     Once the internal server has properly provisioned the appropriate IP addresses for a notification, the server may then communicate with an application manager. The application manager may set a policy on the CMTS associated with the IP service provider for marking traffic on TCP port 80 with a DSCP value of 8 in the header of the data packets from the IP addresses in question. Assume that a DSCP value of 8 indicates that the data packets associated with that IP address are port 80 traffic. It should be noted that HTTP traffic on other ports may also be marked in other embodiments of the disclosure. 
     Several minutes after the policy has been set, assume that a subscriber associated with one of the IP addresses in the metro Chicago area may decide to browse the Internet for the day&#39;s latest news from Example.com. Assume that the subscriber wishes to access http://www.example.com for news information. When she types in this address into her web browser, an HTTP GET request is sent from the subscriber&#39;s PC, which traverse through the CMTS. Note that in certain embodiments the data packets may be sent from the subscriber&#39;s PC to her cable modem, which may be responsible for forwarding the data packets to the CMTS. It should also be noted that at any time after the policy marking port 80 traffic has been set, web activity by the subscriber may trigger the notification process described here (i.e., subscriber does not have to wait several minutes after the policy has been set for this process to work). 
     Upon arrival of the data packets including the HTTP GET request, the CMTS may realize that the port 80 traffic from the subscribers&#39; IP addresses needs to be marked with a DSCP value, for example 8, to indicate that this IP address should receive a notification about the tornado. As a result, the CMTS may mark the TCP port 80 traffic from the data packets associated with the subscriber and transmit the packet upstream to another router. A policy based route may be defined on the router that would then route all traffic with a DSCP 8 marking to an end point such as a router. The router then forwards all packets to a load balancer. It should be noted that data packets from other IP addresses requesting http://www.example.com may be transmitted straight to the internet server for Example.com via a router. In fact, data packets from other IP addresses not provisioned for receiving the tornado warning message and requesting any other internet server content may move straight to that server since these IP addresses may not need to receive a tornado warning. 
     Once the data packets associated with the IP address in question reach the load balancer, they may be forked into two different directions. The data packets that are HTTP traffic on TCP port 80 may be forwarded to a proxy server, which then forwards them to the Example.com server. All other non-HTTP traffic on TCP port 80 may be routed to the destination server using other routers in the system. Once the data packets reach the Example.com server, assume that the server has no objections to the subscriber accessing its website and hence decides to send a HTTP  200  OK response code along with the message body and any other response data packets. The response data packets may be forwarded back to the proxy server. The proxy server may then determine that the response data packets contain HTTP traffic on port 80 and are provisioned for an IP address that should receive a notification; hence the proxy server may contact the ICAP server about the notification message that should be inserted into the response data packets. 
     The ICAP server may parse the response data packets associated with the IP address in question, insert the notification as an overlay into these packets, reassemble them after insertion of the notification, and finally forward the response data packets back to the proxy server after reassembly. The notification message may read “Comcast has received a tornado warning from WCHI for the metro Chicago area from 5:30 pm to 5:57 pm. Please take all necessary precautions.” In inserting the proper notification message, the ICAP server may or may not contact an internal server such as the NP to generate a message template. It should be noted that in inserting the notification into the response data packets, the ICAP server may not tamper with the response data itself; the notification message may be overlaid with minimal change to the response data content. 
     The proxy server may then forward the response data packets delivering the website http://www.example.com along with the notification stated above to the subscriber&#39;s web browser. The notification may be placed at any position on the webpage. 
     The notification may allow the subscriber to get rid of it by acknowledging that she has read it (i.e., clicking on a dialog box in a window containing the notification). In this way the notification may allow the subscriber to continue with reading the news on http://www.example.com and minimize the amount of disruption to her activity on the internet. The user may also choose to “snooze” the reminder whereby which the notification is disabled temporarily and the user is notified at a later time. 
     While illustrative systems and methods as described herein embodying various aspects of the present disclosure are shown, it will be understood by those skilled in the art, that the disclosure is not limited to these embodiments. Modifications may be made by those skilled in the art, particularly in light of the foregoing teachings. For example, each of the elements of the aforementioned embodiments may be utilized alone or in combination or subcombination with elements of the other embodiments. It will also be appreciated and understood that modifications may be made without departing from the true spirit and scope of the present disclosure. The description is thus to be regarded as illustrative instead of restrictive on the present disclosure.