Patent Publication Number: US-2023143846-A1

Title: Intelligent notification router

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Pat. Application No. 63/222,254, entitled, “INTELLIGENT NOTIFICATION ROUTER”, filed Jul. 15, 2021, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally to routing notifications to recipients in a communications network and, in particular, to routing of intelligent notifications that include embedded intelligent elements to enable a call to action, a form response, or intelligent distribution to multiple recipients with different notification contingencies and/or obligations. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     A variety of notification messaging systems have been developed in communications networks including text messages, email, and instant messaging. Some of these notification messaging systems are particularly well-suited to generating timely responses due to immediate notifications including text messaging, instant messaging, and similar systems. Such systems are often used by groups, companies, and other organizations in contexts where a timely response is important including emergency response situations and timely addressing business needs and customer inquiries. Indeed, in some cases, messaging is preferred even over meetings or phone calls, particularly when a situation requires action by multiple individuals and/or multiple discrete actions. 
     As an example of an emergency response, consider the case of an emergency on an airport runway. A response may require containment teams, emergency response units, and hazmat teams. Moreover, a dispatcher may require confirmations that initial response teams have been deployed or that initial containment processes have been completed. Thus, multiple teams may require notifications and instructions, and multiple confirmations may be required. Conventionally, this may involve a series of phone calls or other voice communications. However, such voice communications take time and may be executed as a series of conversations rather than concurrently, thereby further increasing the response time. 
     Similar concerns apply in non-emergency settings that are nonetheless time sensitive. For example, a business may receive a time-sensitive request for proposal. The response may require a series of actions and approvals by different members of the organization. For example, managers may be required to indicate terms such as delivery date and price, others may be required to confirm availability of materials and other resources, still others may need to provide preliminary approvals and final approvals at various steps in the process. It will be appreciated that coordinating and executing these actions can be time consuming and can impair an organization’s ability to provide a timely response. Even in settings that are not time sensitive, it may be difficult to manage such processes, particularly multilateral processes involving multiple actions by multiple individuals. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is directed to a system and associated functionality for providing intelligent notifications. Such notifications can include an embedded interactive element to allow immediate execution of actions. Moreover, notifications can be intelligently distributed to different individuals to prompt a variety of actions over time, thereby streamlining even complex, multilateral responses. The invention thereby facilitates timely and well-organized responses with reduced distractions due to misdirected or premature notifications. 
     In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a system and associated functionality (“utility”) is provided for processing notifications in a communications network. The utility involves receiving, via the communications network, a notification request from a sender where the notification request includes instructions for distributing a notification and for prompting one or more responses. Based on the instructions, the utility identifies one or more recipients for the notification request, generates one or more notification messages, and embeds a first interactive element into at least a first notification message. For example, the first notification message may be a text or instant message. The first notification message is then routed to at least a first recipient and a response from the first recipient is received based, at least in part, on selection of the first interactive element. 
     The embedded interactive element may include, for example, a call to action, a form response, or may be part of an intelligent distribution process. In this regard, the first interactive element may include a call to action wherein the response is executed by selecting the first interactive element. For example, the first interactive element may indicate an acknowledgment or an approval. Alternatively, the first interactive element may include a form response where the first recipient interacts via the first interactive element to enter information to execute the response. For example, the first recipient may populate data fields or complete a form. As a further alternative, notification messages may be routed to multiple recipients wherein such routing to at least one of the recipients is contingent on satisfaction of a condition. For example, the system may wait to send a notification message to one of the recipients until another recipient has acted upon or approved a prior notification. In this manner, the intelligent notifications can be used to prompt a timely response from recipients or even to execute complex, multilateral processes. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       For a more complete understanding of the present invention, and further advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which: 
         FIG.  1    is a schematic diagram of a network for implementing an intelligent notification routing system in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG.  2    illustrates an intelligent notification message in accordance with the present invention; and 
         FIGS.  3 - 5    illustrate various intelligent notification routing contexts in accordance with the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     In the following description, the invention as set forth with respect to specific examples of network environments and specific examples of intelligent notification routing contexts. These examples are intended to assist in providing an understanding of the present invention. However, it will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to such network environments and intelligent notification routing contexts. Accordingly, the following description should be understood as exemplary and not by way of limitation. 
       FIG.  1    illustrates an intelligent notification routing system  100  in accordance with the present invention. The system  100  generally includes an intelligent notification routing platform  102  that interacts with a number of user devices  104 . In particular, one or more of the user devices  104  may submit an intelligent notification routing request  106  to the platform  102 . The platform  102  then processes the request and routes intelligent notification messages  108  to one or more of the user devices  104 . The illustrated intelligent notification message  108  includes an interactive element  110 . As will be described in more detail below, a user can use the interactive element  110  to execute a variety of functionality. 
     A variety of different types of user devices  104  may be employed in the system  100 . For example, the user devices  104  may include mobile phones, tablet computers, laptop computers, desktop computers or other devices for accessing the platform  102  via wireless, telephonic, and/or data network pathways. In this regard, the requests  106  may be provided in the form of a text message, instant message, data network message, social/business network messaging system, email message, or the like. Similarly, the intelligent notification message  108  may be provided as a text message, instant message, email, user interface screen of an application, or the like. The request  106  and message  108  may be provided in different forms via different modalities. 
     As will be described in more detail below, the user devices  104  communicate with the platform  102  to implement a variety of functions. Although the platform  102  is illustrated as a single element, it will be appreciated that the platform  102  may be executed on one or more machines (e.g., computers or servers) at a single site or geographically distributed. Each such site may execute the full functionality of the illustrated platform  102  or the functionality may be distributed across sites. Moreover, the functionality may be distributed in various ways between the platform  102 , the user devices  104 , and other platforms (such as processing platform  122 ), e.g., some preprocessing of notification information may be executed at the user devices  104  or processing platform  122 , for example, to facilitate rapid response or reduce use of processing resources of the platform  102  or communication bandwidth requirements. The platform  102  may be hosted by a system provider or may be implemented separately (e.g., cloud-based) and connected to the system provider via an interface such as API. Moreover, such a system platform may provide notification information to the platform  102 . 
     In one implementation, the request  106  may be generated in connection with a user interface screen of an application  105  running on a user device  104 . For example, the user interface screen may include prompts for the user to enter various fields relating to, for example, the intended recipients of notification messages (e.g., identifying specific individuals, or identifying recipients by title, function, group, or other identifier), defining the interactive element  110 , defining actions required of various recipients, and defining any contingencies or prerequisite conditions for routing a notification message to one or more of the recipients. In addition, the user may use the application  105  to define and upload forms, links, or other elements to be presented in connection with the interactive element  110 . The application  105  may also be used to receive information from the platform  102  and generate the intelligent notification message  108  including the interactive element  110 . 
     The interactive element  110  can trigger a variety of functionality. For example, selection of the interactive element  110 , can trigger a predefined response to one or more users, the interactive element may prompt the user to enter specified information for a response, may trigger multiple responses to multiple parties, or may trigger a series of notifications and actions. In this regard, selection of the element  110 , or entering information and selecting a “send” or similar function in connection with the element  110 , may cause a message to be transmitted to the platform  102 . The message may include content and metadata defined by the information entered by the user and the structure of the element  110 . This content and metadata can be extracted by the platform  102  and can be used to access and execute rules related to the intelligent notification routing application as defined by the user/context. 
     The platform  102  includes an interface module  112  for processing communications to and from the user devices  104 . For example, the module  112  may receive the request  106 , parse the request to identify various fields of information relating to the requested intelligent notification routing project, and provide resulting request information, together with any uploaded materials, to the processing system  114  of the platform  102 . The processing system  114  processes the request information to develop an intelligent notification routing process. In this regard, the processing system may access a rules database  118  including routing rules. Such routing rules may include general rules as well as rules that are specific to an organization. For example, such rules may define which individuals within an organization need to receive different types of notifications, what actions are required from different individuals in relation to a given type of notification, what contingencies and prerequisites may need to be satisfied before issuing specific notification messages, and the like. 
     The processing system  114  may also access a user information database  116 . Among other things, the database  116  may: identify users within particular organizations; identify which groups or units of the organization a given user belongs to; define any limitations/requirements concerning who may/must receive particular types of notifications; and store any user preferences such as preferred notification modality, times of day, and the like. In addition, the processing system  114  may access routing information  120  to obtain phone numbers, instant messaging address information, email addresses, and any other information useful to complete routing instructions. At appropriate times, e.g., immediately or upon satisfaction of any contingencies or prerequisites, the processing system  114  may control the interface module  112  to transmit notification message information to the appropriate user devices  104  to generate the intelligent notification messages  108 . 
     The illustrated system  100  also includes a processing platform  122  that may receive outputs from the platform  102  at the end, or at other points, in an intelligent notification process. For example, the processing platform  122  may include scheduling software for scheduling meetings or adding meetings/deadlines to a calendar, a third-party platform for receiving business proposals, an administrative portal for retaining personnel records, or any of various other kinds of platforms. 
     The intelligent notification message  108  depicts a first intelligent notification context of the present invention. In particular, the illustrated message  108  depicts a message with an embedded interactive element  110  that defines a call to action. That is, a response is executed by selecting the interactive element  110  without the need to enter information or take any further action. In this case, by selecting the interactive element  110 , the user authorizes the action set forth in the text of the message  108 . For example, such a message  108  may be sent to a manager to authorize a purchase, or authorize other actions such as transmitting an offer, approving a time-off request, or the like. When the user selects the element  110 , a response message is transmitted to the platform  102  and appropriate follow-on actions may be initiated, for example, notifying the sender that authorization has been granted, logging a time-off request, or transmitting an offer to a counterparty. Depending on the rules of the organization or the rules defined for the authorization request, if the recipient fails to select the interactive element  110  within a predetermined time, authorization may be deemed to have been denied. Alternatively, the interactive element  110  may include one graphical object to select to grant authorization and another graphical object to select to deny authorization. It will be appreciated that a variety of calls to action may be defined with appropriate interactive elements in accordance with the present invention. 
       FIG.  2    depicts another intelligent notification context of the invention. In this case, a notification message  200  includes a defined response where the user is prompted to enter information to execute a response to the message  200 . Depending on the specific notification message context, a variety of types of information may be solicited such as an address, a date, a product preference, a vote, or the like. In the illustrated example, the message  200  prompts the user to enter up to three date preferences for a team meeting. In this case, the date preferences may be entered via an interactive calendar. Accordingly, the recipient can populate the three date fields and, optionally, hit a send button or the like, to complete the response. The response may be preprocessed by the intelligent notification routing platform, or the response may be sent directly to the sender. For example, a platform may receive responses from multiple recipients and process the responses to determine a result. The platform made determine the results of an election or identify the most favorable date for a proposed meeting. Alternatively, in the illustrated example, responses for multiple recipients may be transmitted to the sender so that the sender can determine a result, e.g., an optimal date for a team meeting. 
       FIG.  3    depicts a further example of a defined response context of the present invention. In this case, multiple, different intelligent notification messages are sent to different recipients based on a single notification request. Specifically, a sender  302  may upload an intelligent notification request to a platform  304  as described above. In this case, the request relates to scheduling an employee performance review and defines a number of different notification messages to be sent to different parties. For example, a notification message  306  may be sent to the employee to be reviewed. The message  306  includes text  308  notifying the employee of an upcoming review and an interactive element  310  for use in providing a response. In this case, the interactive element  310  allows the employee to confirm the scheduled performance review. 
     One or more reviewers may also receive notification messages for the performance review. In the illustrated example, a reviewer may receive the notification message  312 . The notification message  312  includes text  314  notifying the reviewer of the performance review and further includes an interactive element  316  for use in providing a response. In this case, the interactive element  316  is a link to a review form. The reviewer may fill out the review form and return the form in a response to the platform  304 . For example, the review form may be stored, forwarded to the employee, and/or forwarded to administrative personnel. 
     In addition, other recipients such as managers may be notified of the upcoming performance review responsive to the request entered by the sender  302 . Thus, a manager may receive a notification message  318  concerning the upcoming performance review. The illustrated message  318  includes text  320  notifying the manager of the upcoming performance review. The message  318  may or may not include an interactive element, for example, acknowledging or approving the upcoming performance review. 
       FIG.  4    illustrates a still further intelligent messaging context of the present invention. As noted above, an intelligent notification process may involve a series of notifications and actions relating to an intelligent notification request. For example, in a complex, multilateral intelligent notification process, some actions and notifications may be contingent upon certain events or require certain prerequisites, e.g., before a notification is sent to a specific recipient.  FIG.  4    illustrates such a complex, multilateral intelligent notification process  400 . The process  400  is initiated by a sender  402  who sends an intelligent notification request  404  to an intelligent notification platform  406 . In the illustrated example, the request  404  relates to a business proposal such as a response to a request for proposal from a potential customer. In this case, a first intelligent notification message  408  may be sent to one or more first recipients  413 , for example, project managers. The illustrated message  408  includes text  410  defining the proposal that is solicited together with an interactive element  412 . The illustrated interactive element  412  includes a term sheet that the first recipients can complete to define the terms of the proposal such as quantity, price, and the like. The term sheet is then returned to the platform in response message  414 . 
     Upon receiving the response  414 , the platform  406  may send an intelligent notification message  416  to one or more second recipients  418 . For example, the second recipients  418  may be production managers who are tasked with determining a schedule for the proposal based on the availability of materials and other resources. Accordingly, the message  416  may include text  420  defining the proposal and an interactive element  422 . It will be appreciated that the text  420  may be determined at least in part based on the response  414 . For example, certain proposal terms such as the product specifications and quantity may be included in the text  420 . Thus, the message  416  including the text  420  may not be fully defined at the time of the request  404 . In this case, the interactive element  422  may include, for example, proposed delivery dates for deliverables under the proposal. Once this information is populated, a response  424  may be sent to the platform  406 . 
     The platform  406  can then generate a final proposal based on the responses  414  and  420 . For example, predefined fields of a proposal may be populated with information from the responses  414  and  420 . In the illustrated example, a further intelligent notification message  426  may be sent to third recipients  428 . For example, the message  426  may solicit approval of the proposal from one or more officers of the company. In this regard, the illustrated message  426  may include text  428  and an interactive element  430 . For example, the interactive element  430  may be a call-to-action element such as an approval button. 
       FIG.  5    is a schematic diagram of a user interface  500  that may be used to define and submit an intelligent notification request. For example, such a screen  500  may be presented by an application running on a user device. The screen  500  may be presented after the sender has entered certain information about the intelligent notification request such as the type of request (e.g., call to action, defined response, or complex, multilateral), the subject matter of the request (e.g., meeting request, performance review, or business proposal), the company or business group, and the like. Based on this information, the platform can select an appropriate user interface for the request as well as access/define the appropriate rules for handling the request. As shown, the interface may include a first section  502  for defining a primary distribution for the request, a second section  504  for defining a secondary distribution for the request, and one or more additional sections  506  that can be used to define any subsequent distribution. In each section  502 ,  504 , or  506  user interface elements may be provided to define the text of a notification message, any interactive element, and rules related to distributions such as any contingencies or prerequisites. This information can then be used to define the interactive elements(s) of an intelligent notification request, to associate metadata with responses, and to define fields of information and values for responses. It will be appreciated that additional user interface elements can be provided and that the user interface screens may be customized for the needs of particular organizations. 
     The foregoing description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. Furthermore, the description is not intended to limit the invention to the form disclosed herein. Consequently, variations and modifications commensurate with the above teachings, and skill and knowledge of the relevant art, are within the scope of the present invention. The embodiments described hereinabove are further intended to explain best modes known of practicing the invention and to enable others skilled in the art to utilize the invention in such, or other embodiments and with various modifications required by the particular application(s) or use(s) of the present invention. It is intended that the appended claims be construed to include alternative embodiments to the extent permitted by the prior art.