Patent Publication Number: US-11388129-B1

Title: Techniques for ephemeral messaging with a message queue

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation of, claims the benefit of and priority to previously filed U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/226,966 filed Dec. 20, 2018, entitled “TECHNIQUES FOR EPHEMERAL MESSAGING WITH A MESSAGE QUEUE,” which is a continuation of, claims the benefit of and priority to previously filed U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/965,632 filed Dec. 10, 2015, entitled “TECHNIQUES FOR EPHEMERAL MESSAGING WITH A MESSAGE QUEUE”, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     This application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/621,846, titled “Techniques for a Persistent Queue for Message Syncing,” filed on Feb. 13, 2015, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     This application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/621,851, titled “Techniques for a Sequential Message Reader for Message Syncing,” filed on Feb. 13, 2015, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     This application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/621,865, titled “Techniques for Hot Snapshots for Message Syncing,” filed on Feb. 13, 2015, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     This application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/621,875, titled “Techniques for Intelligent Messaging for Message Syncing,” filed on Feb. 13, 2015, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     This application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/965,623, entitled “Techniques for Ephemeral Messaging with Legacy Clients,” filed on Dec. 10, 2015, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     Internet users may engage in communication with each other, such as through the exchange of messages. Users may compose messages to each other on computing devices and transmit them to each other, such as via an intermediary messaging platform. Users may have accounts registered with the intermediary messaging platform establishing an address at which they may be contacted. The users may compose and submit their messages using these addresses. Users may receive their correspondence at their address by accessing the intermediary messaging platform with their address and a password associated with their account. 
     SUMMARY 
     The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basic understanding of some novel embodiments described herein. This summary is not an extensive overview, and it is not intended to identify key/critical elements or to delineate the scope thereof. Some concepts are presented in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later. 
     Various embodiments are generally directed to techniques for ephemeral messaging. Some embodiments are particularly directed to techniques for ephemeral messaging with a message queue and with legacy clients. In one embodiment, for example, an apparatus may comprise a delayed-action worker module operative to wake according to a wake timer; determine a current update object for a delayed-action cursor for a recipient update queue for a messaging system, the delayed-action cursor associated with an action delay for the recipient update queue; determine a delayed-action activity for the current update object; perform the delay-action activity for the current update object; determine a next update object for the delayed-action cursor for the recipient update queue; and determine a next wake timer for the delayed-action worker module based on the action delay and a creation time for the next update object. Other embodiments are described and claimed. In another embodiment, for example, an apparatus may comprise a sender inbound messaging component operative to receive an incoming update for a message queue at a client support server for a messaging system from a messaging client on a client device; a legacy client support component operative to determine whether the messaging client supports a client-side time-to-live setting; determine whether the incoming update should be associated with a server-specified time-to-live setting where the messaging client does not support the client-side time-to-live setting; and assign the incoming update the server-specified time-to-live setting where the messaging client does not support the client-side time-to-live setting and where the incoming update should be associated with a server-side time-to-live setting. 
     To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, certain illustrative aspects are described herein in connection with the following description and the annexed drawings. These aspects are indicative of the various ways in which the principles disclosed herein can be practiced and all aspects and equivalents thereof are intended to be within the scope of the claimed subject matter. Other advantages and novel features will become apparent from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  illustrates an embodiment of a messaging system. 
         FIG. 2A  illustrates an embodiment of a messaging server managing a sender update queue. 
         FIG. 2B  illustrates an embodiment of a messaging server managing a recipient update queue. 
         FIG. 3A  illustrates an embodiment of a delay cursor being processed and updated. 
         FIG. 3B  illustrates an embodiment of a delay cursor processing adding a delayed-action update to an update queue. 
         FIG. 4  illustrates an embodiment of a legacy client support component updating an incoming update. 
         FIG. 5A  illustrates an embodiment of a logic flow for the system of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 5B  illustrates another embodiment of a logic flow for the system of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 6  illustrates an embodiment of a centralized system for the system of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 7  illustrates an embodiment of a distributed system for the system of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 8  illustrates an embodiment of a computing architecture. 
         FIG. 9  illustrates an embodiment of a communications architecture. 
         FIG. 10  illustrates an embodiment of a radio device architecture. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Users of a messaging system may exchange messages, which may comprise one or both of text and media, such as images, sounds, animated images, and video, without limitation. In some cases, users may desire to have at least some of these messages be automatically removed after a particular duration. This may serve to enhance the privacy of their messaging exchanges. A messaging system may benefit from offering an automatic-delete feature. The messaging system may benefit from offering this feature using techniques that are computationally efficient. 
     In one embodiment, messages that are to be deleted may be marked for deletion by a sending messaging client. However, when introducing this feature into a messaging system, some legacy clients may not support the marking of messages. As such, the messaging system may benefit from efficiently tracking what messages should be marked for deletion on behalf of legacy clients. 
     It will be appreciated that the techniques described herein may be applied to tasks other than the performance of ephemeral messaging. In general, any delayed-action task may be benefit from efficient traversal of a message queue and for support for legacy clients. 
     Reference is now made to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elements throughout. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding thereof. It may be evident, however, that the novel embodiments can be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to facilitate a description thereof. The intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives consistent with the claimed subject matter. 
     It is worthy to note that “a” and “b” and “c” and similar designators as used herein are intended to be variables representing any positive integer. Thus, for example, if an implementation sets a value for a=5, then a complete set of components  122  illustrated as components  122 - 1  through  122 - a  may include components  122 - 1 ,  122 - 2 ,  122 - 3 ,  122 - 4  and  122 - 5 . The embodiments are not limited in this context. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a block diagram for a messaging system  100 . In one embodiment, the messaging system  100  may comprise a computer-implemented system having software applications comprising one or more components. Although the messaging system  100  shown in  FIG. 1  has a limited number of elements in a certain topology, it may be appreciated that the messaging system  100  may include more or less elements in alternate topologies as desired for a given implementation. 
     The messaging servers  110  may comprise one or more messaging servers operated by a messaging platform as part of the messaging system  100 . A messaging server may comprise an Internet-accessible server, with the network  120  connecting the various devices of the messaging system  100  comprising, at least in part, the Internet. 
     A user may own and operate a smartphone device  150 . The smartphone device  150  may comprise an iPhone® device, an Android® device, or any other mobile computing device conforming to a smartphone form. The smartphone device  150  may be a cellular device capable of connecting to a network  120  via a cell system  130  using cellular signals  135 . In some embodiments and in some cases the smartphone device  150  may additionally or alternatively use Wi-Fi or other networking technologies to connect to the network  120 . The smartphone device  150  may execute a messaging client, web browser, or other local application to access the messaging servers  110 . 
     The same user may own and operate a tablet device  160 . The tablet device  150  may comprise an iPad® device, an Android® tablet device, a Kindle Fire® device, or any other mobile computing device conforming to a tablet form. The tablet device  160  may be a Wi-Fi device capable of connecting to a network  120  via a Wi-Fi access point  140  using Wi-Fi signals  145 . In some embodiments and in some cases the tablet device  160  may additionally or alternatively use cellular or other networking technologies to connect to the network  120 . The tablet device  160  may execute a messaging client, web browser, or other local application to access the messaging servers  110 . 
     The same user may own and operate a personal computer device  180 . The personal computer device  180  may comprise a Mac OS® device, Windows® device, Linux® device, or other computer device running another operating system. The personal computer device  180  may be an Ethernet device capable of connecting to a network  120  via an Ethernet connection. In some embodiments and in some cases the personal computer device  180  may additionally or alternatively use cellular, Wi-Fi, or other networking technologies to the network  120 . The personal computer device  180  may execute a messaging client, web browser  170 , or other local application to access the messaging servers  110 . 
     A messaging client may be a dedicated messaging client. A dedicated messaging client may be specifically associated with a messaging provider administering the messaging platform including the messaging servers  110 . A dedicated messaging client may be a general client operative to work with a plurality of different messaging providers including the messaging provider administering the messaging platform including the messaging servers  110 . 
     The messaging client may be a component of an application providing additional functionality. For example, a social networking service may provide a social networking application for use on a mobile device for accessing and using the social networking service. The social networking service may include messaging functionality such as may be provided by messaging servers  110 . It will be appreciated that the messaging servers  110  may be one component of a computing device for the social networking service, with the computing device providing additional functionality of the social networking service. Similarly, the social networking application may provide both messaging functionality and additional social networking functionality. 
     In some cases a messaging endpoint may retain state between user sessions and in some cases a messaging endpoint may relinquish state between user session. A messaging endpoint may use a local store to retain the current state of a message inbox. This local store may be saved in persistent storage such that the state may be retrieved between one session and the next, including situations in which, for example, a local application is quit or otherwise removed from memory or a device is powered off and on again. Alternatively, a messaging endpoint may use a memory cache to retain the current state of a message inbox but refrain from committing the state of the message inbox to persistent storage. 
     A messaging endpoint that retains the state of a message inbox may comprise a dedicated messaging application or a messaging utility integrated into another local application, such as a social networking application. A messaging endpoint that relinquishes state of a message inbox may comprise messaging access implemented within a web browser. In one embodiment, a web browser, such as web browser  170  executing on personal computer device  180 , may execute HTML5 code that interacts with the messaging server to present messaging functionality to a user. 
     A user may send and receive messages from a plurality of devices, including the smartphone device  150 , tablet device  160 , and personal computer device  180 . The user may use a first messaging application on the smartphone device  150 , a second messaging application on the tablet device  160 , and the web browser  170  on the personal computer device  180 . The first and second messaging applications may comprise installations of the same application on both devices. The first and second messaging applications may comprise a smartphone-specific and a tablet-specific version of a common application. The first and second messaging application may comprise distinct applications. 
     The user may benefit from having their message inbox kept consistent between their devices. A user may use their smartphone device  150  on the cell system  130  while away from their home, sending and receiving messages via the cells system  130 . The user may stop by a coffee shop, or other location offering Wi-Fi, and connect their tablet device  160  to a Wi-Fi access point  140 . The tablet device  160  may retrieve its existing known state for the message inbox and receive updates that have happened since the last occasion on which the tablet device  160  had access to a network, including any messages sent by the smartphone device  150  and that may have been received by the user while operating the smartphone device  150 . The user may then return home and access their message inbox using a web browser  170  on a personal computer device  180 . The web browser  170  may receive a snapshot of the current state of the message inbox from the messaging servers  110  due to it not maintaining or otherwise not having access to an existing state for the message inbox. The web browser  170  may then retrieve incremental updates for any new changes to the state of the message inbox so long as it maintains a user session with the messaging servers  110 , discarding its known state for the message inbox at the end of the session, such as when the web browser  170  is closed by the user. Without limitation, an update may correspond to the addition of a message to a mailbox, a deletion of a message from a mailbox, and a read receipt. 
     A messaging system  100  may operate by defining a messaging inbox as comprising a plurality of messages, wherein each message is an individual transaction of communication between two or more participants. A mail server may operate by maintaining a message index for the messaging inbox. Mail servers may receive messages and store the messages in mail archives from which messages may be retrieved through reference to the message index. Mail clients may connect to the mail servers and retrieve messages that have been added to their mail archive since their last update. The mail clients may receive a mail index from the mail archive indicating what messages are stored in the mail archive. The mail clients may compare the mail archive to their current inbox in order to determine what messages they are missing, which they then request from the mail archive. The mail clients may make changes to their inbox, which results in mail inbox instructions being transmitted to the mail archives instructing the mail archives in modifications to make to the representation of their mail inbox on the mail archives. 
     Messaging interactions mediated by a messaging system may be organized into shared spaces known as message threads. A message thread may collect together the messages shared between a particular group of users. Messages sent individually between a pair of users may be collected into a one-on-one message thread uniquely associated with the private messaging between the pair of users. Messages sent between a group of three or more users may not be uniquely defined by their membership, but instead by, in some embodiments, an identifier uniquely identifying the group thread. Membership in a group thread may, in some embodiments, vary over time, adding and/or losing members. 
     The messaging system  100  may use knowledge generated from interactions in between users. The messaging system  100  may comprise a component of a social-networking system and may use knowledge generated from the broader interactions of the social-networking system. As such, to protect the privacy of the users of the messaging system  100  and the larger social-networking system, messaging system  100  may include an authorization server (or other suitable component(s)) that allows users to opt in to or opt out of having their actions logged by the messaging system  100  or shared with other systems (e.g., third-party systems), for example, by setting appropriate privacy settings. A privacy setting of a user may determine what information associated with the user may be logged, how information associated with the user may be logged, when information associated with the user may be logged, who may log information associated with the user, whom information associated with the user may be shared with, and for what purposes information associated with the user may be logged or shared. Authorization servers or other authorization components may be used to enforce one or more privacy settings of the users of the messaging system  100  and other elements of a social-networking system through blocking, data hashing, anonymization, or other suitable techniques as appropriate. 
       FIG. 2A  illustrates an embodiment of a messaging server  110 - 1  managing a sender update queue  260 . 
     A messaging server of the plurality of messaging servers  110 , such as messaging server  110 - 1 , may comprise an inbound messaging component  230 . The inbound messaging component  230  may be generally arranged to receive an incoming update  220  for an update queue, such as sender update queue  260 , the sender update queue  260  associated with a sender of the incoming update  220 . The messaging server  110 - 1  may comprise a messaging server to which the sender is assigned, or may comprise a server currently executing various processes, such as messaging workers, executing functions for the messaging system  100 . 
     A messaging server may comprise a queue management component  240 . The queue management component  240  may be operative to manage an update queue, such as sender update queue  260 . 
     A messaging server may comprise an outbound messaging component  250 . The outbound messaging component may be operative to transmit the incoming update  220  to further systems for processing, such a sender messaging endpoint  210  or a further messaging server  110 - 2  providing an update queue for a recipient of the incoming update  220 . 
     A sender messaging endpoint  210  may represent any one of a plurality of messaging endpoints used by a user in conjunction with a messaging platform. The incoming update  220  may represent any one of a plurality of types of updates supported by the messaging system  100 . The incoming update  220  may generally correspond to an atomic modification to a message inbox. The incoming update  220  may comprise a new message addressed to one or more users of the messaging system  100 . The incoming update  220  may comprise a deletion from a message inbox of a message. The incoming update  220  may comprise a notification that a message received by the sender of the incoming update  220  has been read. The incoming update  220  may comprise any modification to the state of the message inbox, and in particular a single modification operative to be performed via an atomic interaction with a message store. 
     The incoming update  220  may be received at a sender update queue  260 . The sender update queue  260  may be specifically associated with the user of sender messaging endpoint  210 , such as by being uniquely associated within the messaging system  100  with a user account for the user of sender messaging endpoint  210 . The sender update queue  260  may be a single queue used for all messaging endpoints used by this user. 
     The sender update queue  260  may be organized as a data unit according to a variety of techniques. The sender update queue  260  may be stored in semi-persistent memory, persistent storage, both semi-persistent memory and persistent storage, or a combination of the two. The sender update queue  260  may be organized according to a variety of data structures, including linked lists, arrays, and other techniques for organizing queues. The sender update queue  260  may generally comprise a first-in-first-out (FIFO) queue in which no update will be removed from the queue before any updates that were received prior to it. This may be enforced through a strict requirement that the updates stored in the queue include a complete set of the integer sequence numbers from the oldest update in the sender update queue  260  to the newest update in the sender update queue  260 . 
       FIG. 2B  illustrates an embodiment of a messaging server  110 - 2  managing a recipient update queue  265 . 
     The incoming update  220  may be received at the recipient update queue  265  from a sender update queue  260  associated with a sender of the incoming update  220 . The recipient update queue  265  may be maintained by a messaging server  110 - 2  substantially similar to the messaging server  110 - 1  maintaining the sender update queue  260 . The messaging server  110 - 2  may also comprise an inbound messaging component  230 , queue management component  240 , and outbound messaging component  250 . 
     Once the update is placed into the update queue and assigned a sequence number one or more workers may be activated to process the update. An inbox replication group of one or more inbox replication workers may be activated to replicate the update to the inbox across all messaging endpoints associated with the update queue. One inbox replication worker may be activated for each messaging endpoint associated with the update queue. The inbox replication workers may transmit the update to each messaging endpoint as soon as it is available, which may include waiting for a messaging endpoint that is currently offline to come online. 
     An archival worker may be activated to transmit the update to archival storage for the message inbox associated with the update queue. Archival storage may include a message archive server. A message archive server may be substantially similar to a traditional mail server, and may be referenced where messages older than those stored in the update queue are to be retrieved. Archival storage may include a snapshot component, the snapshot component building an up-to-date snapshot of a current state of a message inbox for quick retrieval by a messaging endpoint that does not maintain state or a new messaging endpoint otherwise being initiated. 
     A distribution group of one or more distribution workers may be activated to forward the update to any other update queues associated with the update. For instance, if the update is the addition of a new message, the other update queues may be update queues for the recipients of the new message. One distribution worker may be activated for each additional update queue to receive the update. The distribution workers may transmit the update to each additional update queue as soon as it is available, which may include waiting for a messaging server maintaining an update queue that is currently offline—such as for planned or unplanned downtime—to come online. 
     Update queues may be replicated across multiple servers. For example, an update queue may be replicated in multiple geographic areas to provide faster access to the queue. For example, the messaging system  100  may be primarily based out of a first geographic area, with all of the update queues present in that first geographic area, with a local presence in additional geographic areas. A user in a second geographic area may have a replication of their update queue be present on a server in that second geographic area. In some cases, one of the replications of the update queue may be primary, with all new updates being sent to the update queue to be assigned a sequence number and then forwarded to the other replications of the update queue for faster access as various messaging endpoints associated with the update queue come online. 
     The incoming update  220  may correspond to an atomic modification to a message inbox for the recipient messaging endpoint  215 . The recipient messaging endpoint  215  may comprise one of a messaging application on a device, such as a mobile device, and a web browser session. The recipient messaging endpoint  215  may comprise an archival mail server. The recipient messaging endpoint  215  may comprise a snapshot component maintaining a inbox snapshot for quick-setup of messaging inboxes. 
     The incoming update  220  may be received at the recipient update queue  265  from a sender update queue  260  associated with a sender of the incoming update. The sender update queue  260  may be maintained by a messaging server  110 - 1 . The messaging server  110 - 1  may comprise a distinct messaging server or may be implemented by a same device as the first messaging server  110 - 2 . 
     In some cases, the incoming update  220  may received at the recipient update queue  265  from a group discussion thread update queue, the group discussion thread update queue associated with a group discussion thread. A group discussion thread may comprise any form of ongoing conversation between two or more parties. Multiple messages from the a single participant may be included within the group discussion thread. In some cases, a user that joins an ongoing group discussion thread may only be privy to messages posted to the group discussion thread after their arrival. In some cases, a user that joins an ongoing group discussion thread may have access to the some portion of or the entire history of the group discussion thread prior to their arrival. 
     A group discussion thread may be associated with a group discussion thread update queue substantially similar to the sender update queue  260  and recipient update queue  265 . However, the group discussion thread update queue may be a temporary queue created to specifically track the progress of a group discussion thread and distribute updates to the group discussion thread to one or more messaging endpoints for one or more participants. The group discussion thread update queue may be deleted or otherwise removed from storage and active maintenance at conclusion of the discussion. 
     In another embodiment, updates may not pass through the message queues of the group discussion thread participants. Instead, the group discussion thread participants may subscribe to the group discussion thread and directly insert and/or retrieve updates into the group discussion thread update queue. This may make the messaging endpoints of the participants the direct subscribers of the group discussion thread queue rather than the updates for the group discussion thread queue being passed through their respective message queues. 
     Other special-purpose update queues may be created that are not associated with maintaining a message inbox for a particular user. For example, a network-based application may be associated with an application update queue. A particular instance of one or more user&#39;s interaction with an application may be associated with an application update queue. For example, communication for an online multiplayer game may be implemented using an application update queue. Updates on the application update queue may correspond to player moves in the online multiplayer game, chat messages in a chat for the game, and other game status updates. 
     The incoming update  220  may be received at a recipient update queue  265  from the sender update queue  260 . The recipient update queue  265  may be associated with one recipient of one or more recipients of the incoming update  220 . A recipient may be determined for an incoming update  220  according to a variety of criteria. Where the incoming update  220  corresponds to a new message being sent to other users, the recipients of the update  220  may comprise a recipient list created as part of the composition of the new message by the sender. Where the incoming update  220  corresponds to an updated status of the sender on a social networking service, the recipient list may be determined by the social networking service based on relationships (e.g., friends, follows, likes) of which the sender is part. Where the incoming update  220  corresponds to a posted item shared on a network, the recipient list may be determined by the network based on users tagged in the shared item (e.g., users tagged as present in a photo). Where the incoming update  220  corresponds to a modification to a user&#39;s inbox, such as the deletion of a message, flagging a priority for a message, flagging a message as read, or other interaction only or primarily relevant to the user with which the message inbox is associated, the recipient list may be empty, such that no other users—and therefore no other message queues—receive the incoming update  220 . 
     As with the sender update queue  260 , the recipient update queue  265  may comprise a representation of updates in a strict linear order with a monotonically and incrementally increasing assignment of sequence numbers to represent the strict linear order of updates. The recipient update queue  265  may generally comprise a first-in-first-out (FIFO) queue in which no update will be removed from the queue before any updates that were received prior to it. This may be enforced through a strict requirement that the updates stored in the queue include a complete set of the integer sequence numbers from the oldest update in the recipient update queue  265  to the newest update in the recipient update queue  265 . The recipient update queue  265  may be organized as a data unit according to a variety of techniques. 
       FIG. 3A  illustrates an embodiment of a delay cursor being processed and updated. 
     An update queue may comprise to an ordered sequence of updates  340  to a mailbox for a user of the messaging system  100 . Update queues such as the sender update queue  260  and recipient update queue  265  may be manipulated in atomic operations performed by workers. Workers may be implemented by worker threads. Workers may lock an update queue prior to modifying the update queue, perform their tasks, and then unlock the update queue after the task is performed. Where multiple workers have tasks to perform on a particular update queue—for example, there are multiple incoming updates—the multiple workers may be queued or otherwise put on hold and allowed to act in sequence. 
     Some updates may be associated with a delayed action with an assigned action delay. These updates may be processed by a delayed-action worker performing a delayed-action worker module  360 . For instance, in the performance of ephemeral messaging, a delayed action may correspond to the deletion of a message, with the action delay corresponding to the period of availability for ephemeral messages prior to their deletion. 
     In another instance, a delayed action may correspond to the archiving of a message, with the action delay corresponding to, in some embodiments, a maximum time before a message is archived. In some embodiments, an archival worker may archive a message prior to the maximum time and mark the message as archived, such that at the extinction of the archival action delay a delayed-action worker may examine the message, determine that it has already been archived, and then refrain from its own archiving of the messaging. 
     In another instance, a delayed action may correspond to the sending of an automated reply. In some embodiments, an automated reply may only be sent if the user receiving the messages—on whose behalf the automated reply would be sent—has not replied within a defined period of time. For example, a business may allow one or more employees assigned to responding to messages directed to the business an hour to respond, after which an automated response is generated and transmitted to the sender of the message. An automated response may comprise a common response sent to all senders, or may be generated based on the sending user account and/or the contents of the sent message. 
     Some updates of the plurality of updates  340  may be associated with an assigned action delay and delayed action. Where a messaging system  100  supports only a single delayed action, such as automated delete, the delayed action may be implicit based upon the existence of an action delay. Where a messaging system  100  supports a plurality of delayed actions, the delayed action may be specified according to a field of the storage of an update. Alternatively, a field may be assigned for each type of delayed action, with the field indicating an assigned action delay, if any. In some cases, multiple delayed actions may be assigned to a particular update. 
     Each action delay for an update queue  330  may be associated with a particular delay cursor, with a delay cursor corresponding to a progression forwards (i.e., in chronological order, progressing from the least recent to the most recent) through an update queue  330 . A delay cursor may be assigned, at any point in time, to a particular update of the plurality of updates  340  comprising the update queue  330 , the delay cursor&#39;s assignment recording the progress through the update queue  330 . 
     Action delays may be confined to a predefined set of predefined action delays. A predefined set of action delays may constrain the number of cursors and thereby the amount of data storage dedicated to the performance of delayed-action tasks as each cursor may be associated with a defined or minimum amount of data storage, such as for a delayed action queue  365 . Without a predefined number of available action delays, the number of cursors, and therefore the amount of data storage dedicated to the performance of delayed-action tasks, may be unbounded and therefore impractical for implementation by a messaging system  100 . 
     A cursor may be progressed through an update queue  330  by a delayed-action worker module  360 . In the illustrated embodiment of  FIG. 3A , two updates  340 - 2 ,  340 - 5  have been assigned a common delay of twenty-four hours, with a different update  340 - 4  assigned a delay of one hour. A first delayed-action cursor  350  associated with a twenty-four action delay is assigned to the earlier update  340 - 2  with a twenty-four hour action delay, waiting on the extinction of the action delay. A second delayed-action cursor  355  may be assigned to a different update  340 - 4 , the update  340 - 4  having a one-hour delay in the illustrated embodiment. 
     The delayed-action worker module  360  may wait upon the extinction of the action delay assigned to the update  340 - 2  to which the first delayed-action cursor  350  is assigned. Upon the extinction of the action delay, the delayed-action worker module  360  may perform a delayed-action activity for the update  340 - 2 . The delayed-action worker module  360  may then update the first delayed-action cursor  350  to an update first delay cursor  352  assigned to the next update  340 - 5  with the particular action delay with which it is associated. The delayed-action worker module  360  may scan forward through the update queue  330 , examining each update in turn, until it reaches the next update with that action delay, thereafter assigning the updated first delay cursor  352  to the first update  340 - 5  the delayed-action worker module  360  finds with the particular action delay that it tracks. As such, the delayed-action worker module  360  may only consider each update once for each delay cursor. Once the next update  340 - 5  has been found, the delayed-action worker module  360  may set a wake timer to wake the delayed-action worker module  360  at the extinction of the action delay for the next update  340 - 5 . Due to the chronological ordering of the update queue  330 , the next update  340 - 5  may be guaranteed to be the next update of that particular action delay within the update queue  330 . This process may be performed for every delayed-action cursor for every update queue operated by the messaging system  100 . 
     A delayed-action worker module  360  may be operative to wake according to a wake timer and determine a current update object for a delayed-action cursor  350  for a recipient update queue  330  for a messaging system  100 , the delayed-action cursor  350  associated with an action delay for the recipient update queue  330 . An update object may correspond to the data storage for a particular update. The delayed-action worker module  360  may determine a delayed-action activity for the current update object and perform the delay-action activity for the current update object. The delayed-action worker module  360  may determine a next update object  340 - 5  for the delayed-action cursor  350  for the recipient update queue  330  and determine a next wake timer for the delayed-action worker module  360  based on the action delay and a creation time for the next update object  340 - 5 . Determining the next update object for the delayed-action cursor  350  for the recipient update queue  330  may comprise scanning chronologically forwards through the recipient update queue  330  until the next update object with a delayed-action indicator corresponding to the action delay is found. A wake time may be determined as the creation time plus the action delay. A delay to the wake time may be determined as the action delay minus the time elapsed since the creation time. 
     In some embodiments, the delayed-action worker module  360  may maintain a delayed action queue  365 . The delayed action queue  365  may store an ordered sequence of updates associated with a particular delayed-action cursor, wherein each of the updates in the delayed-action queue  365  has an assigned delayed-action activity and a common action delay. 
     A delayed-action cursor may be associated with a delayed-action queue  365  associated with the action delay. Determining the next update object for the delayed-action cursor for the recipient update queue  330  may comprise retrieving the next update object from the delayed-action queue. The delayed-action worker module  360  may thereafter scan chronologically forwards through the recipient update queue  330  adding update objects to the delayed-action queue where the update objects have a delayed-action indicator corresponding to the action delay. In some embodiments, the delayed-action worker module  360  may stop the scanning when the delayed-action queue reaches a predefined maximum size, delaying until the delayed-action queue falls below the maximum size. 
     In some embodiments, the delayed-action worker module  360  may maintain a plurality of delayed action queues, one for each of a plurality of action delays supported by the messaging system  100 . In these embodiments, the delayed-action worker module  360  may be able to only examine each update once when scanning through an update queue  330  and to add each update to the appropriate delayed-action queue—to the delayed-action queue associated with the action delay associated with an update—when discovered during the scanning. 
       FIG. 3B  illustrates an embodiment of a delay cursor processing adding a delayed-action update  390  to an update queue  330 . 
     In some cases, the delayed-action activity may comprise adding a message-delete command object as a delayed-action update  390  to the recipient update queue  330 . The action delay may be defined according to an ephemeral-messaging setting for a message thread of the messaging system  100 . 
     In some cases, the delayed-action activity may comprise updating a message archive with the current update object. An archive may maintain a recording of all messages—or all messages that haven&#39;t been deleted—in long-term storage. In some cases, an archive may comprise a snapshot store storing short-term snapshots of the contents of a user&#39;s mailbox, such as may be used to load a mailbox onto a messaging endpoint that isn&#39;t sufficiently up-to-date to receive messages from an update queue  330 . 
     In some cases, the delayed-action activity may comprise sending an automated reply to the current update object. Sending an automated reply may comprise adding an update object corresponding to the automated reply to the update queue for the sender of the message being automatically replied to. Sending an automated reply may further comprise adding an update object corresponding to the automated reply to the update queue for the recipient of the messages being automatically replied to, the user on whose behalf the automated reply is being performed, so that the automated reply is available to the user on whose behalf the automated reply is performed in a listing of sent messages. The delayed-action worker module  360  may determine that the current update object hasn&#39;t been manually replied to prior to sending the automated reply, such as by referencing a replied-to indicator for the current update object. 
     In some cases, the period for the removal of a message may start with the viewing of the message by the recipient. As such, the current update object may comprise a read receipt for a message, wherein the delayed-action activity comprises adding a message-delete command object for the message to the recipient update queue. By being invoked by the read receipt, the instruction for the deletion of the message may be generated once the action delay period has elapsed after the viewing of the message by the recipient. 
       FIG. 4  illustrates an embodiment of a legacy client support component updating an incoming update. 
     A messaging client on a client device may assign a particular message thread, category of media (e.g., photos), individual message, or other messaging unit a delayed-action setting. In some cases, this may comprise an ephemeral-messaging setting. In one case, an ephemeral-messaging setting may be applied to a message thread by a messaging client supporting explicit ephemeral-messaging activities. The messaging client may apply an ephemeral-messaging setting to a message thread and implement the deletion of any messages for the message thread itself without depending on deletion commands added to the update queue. The deletion commands may therefore serve to remove ephemeral messages from legacy clients while non-legacy clients remove ephemeral messages themselves upon the extinction of the ephemeral delay period. 
     The assignment of an ephemeral, or other delayed-action setting, to a message thread may be a binary operation in which ephemeral messaging is turned on through an interface option, with a single ephemeral messaging period defined for the messaging system  100 . Alternatively, a plurality of ephemeral messaging delays may be supported and selected between by the user of the messaging client. In any case, a delayed-action setting, including an ephemeral-messaging setting, may be communicated by a messaging client to the messaging system  100  and applied to associated messages, including the deletion of messages by legacy clients under an ephemeral-messaging setting. 
     A legacy client support component  440  may operate as an element of the inbound messaging component  230 . The legacy client support component  440  may update an incoming update  220  to produce an updated incoming update  420  including metadata the setting of which is not support by a legacy messaging client. The legacy client support component  440  may access a delayed-action registry  450  to determine the settings to apply to the metadata of an incoming update  220 , the delayed-action registry  450  indicating the delayed-action setting(s) to be applied to incoming updates and the criteria on which they are to be applied, such as for a particular message thread, media type, client device, or other category. 
     A sender inbound messaging component  230  may be operative to receive an incoming update  220  for a message queue at a client support server for a messaging system from a messaging client on a client device. A client support server may comprise the messaging server  110 - 1  to which the client device is connected. 
     The legacy client support component  440  may be operative to determine whether the messaging client supports a client-side delayed-action setting, such as a time-to-live setting. In one embodiment, a metadata field of the incoming update  220  may indicate a version number for the messaging client, with the legacy client support component  440  determining whether the messaging client supports a client-side delayed-action setting based on a comparison between the a version number specified in the metadata and a minimum version number to support a client-side delayed-action setting. In another embodiment, the legacy client support component  440  may determine whether the messaging client supports a client-side delayed-action setting by determining whether the delayed-action setting is specified in the metadata, with a messaging client that supports a client-side delayed-action setting indicating whether or not one or more delayed-action activities are assigned to each update and/or message, and therefore a messaging client that does not support a client-side delayed-action setting being inferred from the lack of an indication in the metadata as to the one or more delayed-action activities. 
     The legacy client support component  440  may determine whether the incoming update  220  should be associated with a server-specified delayed-action setting  455  where the messaging client does not support the client-side delayed-action setting; and assign the incoming update  220  the server-specified delayed-action setting  455  where the messaging client does not support the client-side delayed-action setting and where the incoming update should be associated with a server-side delayed-action setting. Assigning the incoming update  220  the server-specified delayed-action setting  455  may comprise adding the server-specified delayed-action setting  455  to the metadata for the incoming update  220  to produce the updated incoming update  420  prior to transfer of the updated incoming update  420  to the queue management component  240 . 
     The delayed-action registry  450  for a particular user account may be stored on disk or remote storage device, such as a network storage device, when not in use by the legacy client support component  440 . In some embodiments, the delayed-action registry  450  may be fetched and cached in memory when needed. Where the messaging client does not support the client-side delayed-action setting, the legacy client support component  440  may determine that a delayed-action registry  450  is not cached in memory on the client support server, retrieve the delayed-action registry  450 ; determine whether the incoming update should be associated with the server-specified delayed-action setting  455  based on the delayed-action registry  450 ; and cache the delayed-action registry  450  in memory on the client support server. The delayed-action registry  450  may also be fetched and loaded when its information is changed by a non-legacy client, such as when a non-legacy clients registers a change in a delayed-action setting, such as assigning a message thread, media channel, individual message, or client device as being associated with a delayed-action setting. 
     In some embodiments, the delayed-action registry  450  associated with a user account may be loaded when a messaging client associated with the user account connects to a messaging server from a client device, maintained in memory for a duration of the network connection, and then removed from memory—either written to longer-term storage or simply deleted, if unchanged. The delayed-action registry  450  may be loaded even where a non-legacy client connects, so as to be available if the non-legacy client changes a delayed-action setting. The legacy client support component  440  may receive a notification of an opening of a network connection with the messaging client on the client device; determine whether the messaging client supports the client-side delayed-action setting in response to receiving the notification of the opening of the network connection with the messaging client on the client device, such as via an indication of the messaging client&#39;s version number in client metadata  430  received in association with the opening of the network connection; and cache a delayed-action registry  450  in memory on the client support server for a duration of the network connection where the messaging client does not support the client-side delayed-action setting. Thereafter, where the messaging client does not support the client-side delayed-action setting, the legacy client support component  440  may determine that the delayed-action registry  450  is cached in memory on the client support server and determine whether the incoming update  220  should be associated with the server-specified delayed-action setting  455  based on the delayed-action registry  450 . 
     In some cases, the legacy client support component  440  may determine whether the incoming update  220  should be associated with the server-specified time-to-live setting based on the delayed-action registry  450 , the delayed-action registry  450  comprising a listing of message threads associated with time-to-live settings. In other cases, the legacy client support component  440  may determine whether the incoming update  220  should be associated with the server-specified time-to-live setting based on a delayed-action registry, the delayed-action registry comprising a listing of media channels associated with time-to-live settings. The delayed-action registry  450  may correspond to a time-to-live registry, with the delayed-action setting(s) corresponding to time-to-live setting(s). 
     In some cases, a client device may be migrated between messaging servers. In these cases, the delayed-action registry  450  may be transferred between messaging servers. Similarly, the contents of any delayed action queue  365  may also be transferred between messaging servers when a delayed-action worker module  360  is transferred between messaging servers. The state of a delay cursor may be stored on disk, but with the delayed-action worker module  360  performed in memory. The messaging server to which the delayed-action worker module  360  is transferred may instantiate a thread, load the delayed-action worker module  360  into the thread, and then activate the delayed-action worker module  360  to check whether any actions are to be performed. 
     Included herein is a set of flow charts representative of exemplary methodologies for performing novel aspects of the disclosed architecture. While, for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the one or more methodologies shown herein, for example, in the form of a flow chart or flow diagram, are shown and described as a series of acts, it is to be understood and appreciated that the methodologies are not limited by the order of acts, as some acts may, in accordance therewith, occur in a different order and/or concurrently with other acts from that shown and described herein. For example, those skilled in the art will understand and appreciate that a methodology could alternatively be represented as a series of interrelated states or events, such as in a state diagram. Moreover, not all acts illustrated in a methodology may be required for a novel implementation. 
       FIG. 5A  illustrates one embodiment of a logic flow  500 . The logic flow  500  may be representative of some or all of the operations executed by one or more embodiments described herein. 
     In the illustrated embodiment shown in  FIG. 5A , the logic flow  500  may wake a delayed-action worker according to a wake timer at block  502 . 
     The logic flow  500  may determine a current update object for a delayed-action cursor for a recipient update queue for a messaging system, the delayed-action cursor associated with an action delay for the recipient update queue at block  504 . 
     The logic flow  500  may determine a delayed-action activity for the current update object at block  506 . 
     The logic flow  500  may perform the delay-action activity for the current update object at block  508 . 
     The logic flow  500  may determine a next update object for the delayed-action cursor for the recipient update queue at block  510 . 
     The logic flow  500  may determine a next wake timer for the delayed-action worker based on the action delay and a creation time for the next update object at block  512 . 
     The embodiments are not limited to this example. 
       FIG. 5B  illustrates one embodiment of a logic flow  550 . The logic flow  550  may be representative of some or all of the operations executed by one or more embodiments described herein. 
     In the illustrated embodiment shown in  FIG. 5B , the logic flow  550  may receive an incoming update for a message queue at a client support server for a messaging system from a messaging client on a client device at block  552 . 
     The logic flow  550  may determine whether the messaging client supports a client-side time-to-live setting at block  554 . 
     The logic flow  550  may determine whether the incoming update should be associated with a server-specified time-to-live setting where the messaging client does not support the client-side time-to-live setting at block  556 . 
     The logic flow  550  may assign the incoming update the server-specified time-to-live setting where the messaging client does not support the client-side time-to-live setting and where the incoming update should be associated with a server-side time-to-live setting at block  558 . 
     The embodiments are not limited to this example. 
       FIG. 6  illustrates a block diagram of a centralized system  600 . The centralized system  600  may implement some or all of the structure and/or operations for the messaging system  100  in a single computing entity, such as entirely within a single centralized server device  620 . 
     The centralized server device  620  may comprise any electronic device capable of receiving, processing, and sending information for the messaging system  100 . Examples of an electronic device may include without limitation an ultra-mobile device, a mobile device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile computing device, a smart phone, a telephone, a digital telephone, a cellular telephone, ebook readers, a handset, a one-way pager, a two-way pager, a messaging device, a computer, a personal computer (PC), a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a netbook computer, a handheld computer, a tablet computer, a server, a server array or server farm, a web server, a network server, an Internet server, a work station, a mini-computer, a main frame computer, a supercomputer, a network appliance, a web appliance, a distributed computing system, multiprocessor systems, processor-based systems, consumer electronics, programmable consumer electronics, game devices, television, digital television, set top box, wireless access point, base station, subscriber station, mobile subscriber center, radio network controller, router, hub, gateway, bridge, switch, machine, or combination thereof. The embodiments are not limited in this context. 
     The centralized server device  620  may execute processing operations or logic for the messaging system  100  using a processing component  630 . The processing component  630  may comprise various hardware elements, software elements, or a combination of both. Examples of hardware elements may include devices, logic devices, components, processors, microprocessors, circuits, processor circuits, circuit elements (e.g., transistors, resistors, capacitors, inductors, and so forth), integrated circuits, application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), programmable logic devices (PLD), digital signal processors (DSP), field programmable gate array (FPGA), memory units, logic gates, registers, semiconductor device, chips, microchips, chip sets, and so forth. Examples of software elements may include software components, programs, applications, computer programs, application programs, system programs, software development programs, machine programs, operating system software, middleware, firmware, software modules, routines, subroutines, functions, methods, procedures, software interfaces, application program interfaces (API), instruction sets, computing code, computer code, code segments, computer code segments, words, values, symbols, or any combination thereof. Determining whether an embodiment is implemented using hardware elements and/or software elements may vary in accordance with any number of factors, such as desired computational rate, power levels, heat tolerances, processing cycle budget, input data rates, output data rates, memory resources, data bus speeds and other design or performance constraints, as desired for a given implementation. 
     The centralized server device  620  may execute communications operations or logic for the messaging system  100  using communications component  640 . The communications component  640  may implement any well-known communications techniques and protocols, such as techniques suitable for use with packet-switched networks (e.g., public networks such as the Internet, private networks such as an enterprise intranet, and so forth), circuit-switched networks (e.g., the public switched telephone network), or a combination of packet-switched networks and circuit-switched networks (with suitable gateways and translators). The communications component  640  may include various types of standard communication elements, such as one or more communications interfaces, network interfaces, network interface cards (NIC), radios, wireless transmitters/receivers (transceivers), wired and/or wireless communication media, physical connectors, and so forth. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media  612  includes wired communications media and wireless communications media. Examples of wired communications media may include a wire, cable, metal leads, printed circuit boards (PCB), backplanes, switch fabrics, semiconductor material, twisted-pair wire, co-axial cable, fiber optics, a propagated signal, and so forth. Examples of wireless communications media may include acoustic, radio-frequency (RF) spectrum, infrared and other wireless media. 
     The centralized server device  620  may communicate with client devices  650  over a communications media  612  using communications signals  614  via the communications component  640 . The centralized server device  620  may implement a messaging server  610  supporting a plurality of client devices  650  in regards to the operations described herein. 
       FIG. 7  illustrates a block diagram of a distributed system  700 . The distributed system  700  may distribute portions of the structure and/or operations for the messaging system  100  across multiple computing entities. Examples of distributed system  700  may include without limitation a client-server architecture, a 3-tier architecture, an N-tier architecture, a tightly-coupled or clustered architecture, a peer-to-peer architecture, a master-slave architecture, a shared database architecture, and other types of distributed systems. The embodiments are not limited in this context. 
     The distributed system  700  may comprise a plurality of server devices  710 . In general, the server devices  710  may be the same or similar to the centralized server device  620  as described with reference to  FIG. 6 . For instance, the server devices  710  may each comprise a processing component  730  and a communications component  740  which are the same or similar to the processing component  630  and the communications component  640 , respectively, as described with reference to  FIG. 6 . In another example, the server devices  710  may communicate over a communications media  712  using communications signals  714  via the communications components  740 . 
     The messaging server devices  710  may comprise or employ one or more client programs that operate to perform various methodologies in accordance with the described embodiments. In one embodiment, for example, the server devices  710  may each implement one or more messaging server of a plurality of messaging servers  110 . The server devices may communicate with client devices  750  via signals  714  sent of media  712 . 
       FIG. 8  illustrates an embodiment of an exemplary computing architecture  800  suitable for implementing various embodiments as previously described. In one embodiment, the computing architecture  800  may comprise or be implemented as part of an electronic device. Examples of an electronic device may include those described with reference to  FIG. 6, 7 , among others. The embodiments are not limited in this context. 
     As used in this application, the terms “system” and “component” are intended to refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software in execution, examples of which are provided by the exemplary computing architecture  800 . For example, a component can be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, a processor, a hard disk drive, multiple storage drives (of optical and/or magnetic storage medium), an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application running on a server and the server can be a component. One or more components can reside within a process and/or thread of execution, and a component can be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more computers. Further, components may be communicatively coupled to each other by various types of communications media to coordinate operations. The coordination may involve the uni-directional or bi-directional exchange of information. For instance, the components may communicate information in the form of signals communicated over the communications media. The information can be implemented as signals allocated to various signal lines. In such allocations, each message is a signal. Further embodiments, however, may alternatively employ data messages. Such data messages may be sent across various connections. Exemplary connections include parallel interfaces, serial interfaces, and bus interfaces. 
     The computing architecture  800  includes various common computing elements, such as one or more processors, multi-core processors, co-processors, memory units, chipsets, controllers, peripherals, interfaces, oscillators, timing devices, video cards, audio cards, multimedia input/output (I/O) components, power supplies, and so forth. The embodiments, however, are not limited to implementation by the computing architecture  800 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 8 , the computing architecture  800  comprises a processing unit  804 , a system memory  806  and a system bus  808 . The processing unit  804  can be any of various commercially available processors, including without limitation an Athlon®, Duron® and Opteron® processors; embedded and secure processors; DragonBall® and PowerPC® processors; Cell processors; Celeron®, Core (2) Duo®, Itanium®, Pentium®, Xeon®, and XScale® processors; and similar processors. Dual microprocessors, multi-core processors, and other multi-processor architectures may also be employed as the processing unit  804 . 
     The system bus  808  provides an interface for system components including, but not limited to, the system memory  806  to the processing unit  804 . The system bus  808  can be any of several types of bus structure that may further interconnect to a memory bus (with or without a memory controller), a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of commercially available bus architectures. Interface adapters may connect to the system bus  808  via a slot architecture. Example slot architectures may include without limitation Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP), Card Bus, (Extended) Industry Standard Architecture ((E)ISA), Micro Channel Architecture (MCA), NuBus, Peripheral Component Interconnect (Extended) (PCI(X)), PCI Express, Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA), and the like. 
     The computing architecture  800  may comprise or implement various articles of manufacture. An article of manufacture may comprise a computer-readable storage medium to store logic. Examples of a computer-readable storage medium may include any tangible media capable of storing electronic data, including volatile memory or non-volatile memory, removable or non-removable memory, erasable or non-erasable memory, writeable or re-writeable memory, and so forth. Examples of logic may include executable computer program instructions implemented using any suitable type of code, such as source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code, object-oriented code, visual code, and the like. Embodiments may also be at least partly implemented as instructions contained in or on a non-transitory computer-readable medium, which may be read and executed by one or more processors to enable performance of the operations described herein. 
     The system memory  806  may include various types of computer-readable storage media in the form of one or more higher speed memory units, such as read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), Double-Data-Rate DRAM (DDRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), static RAM (SRAM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), flash memory, polymer memory such as ferroelectric polymer memory, ovonic memory, phase change or ferroelectric memory, silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon (SONOS) memory, magnetic or optical cards, an array of devices such as Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) drives, solid state memory devices (e.g., USB memory, solid state drives (SSD) and any other type of storage media suitable for storing information. In the illustrated embodiment shown in  FIG. 8 , the system memory  806  can include non-volatile memory  810  and/or volatile memory  812 . A basic input/output system (BIOS) can be stored in the non-volatile memory  810 . 
     The computer  802  may include various types of computer-readable storage media in the form of one or more lower speed memory units, including an internal (or external) hard disk drive (HDD)  814 , a magnetic floppy disk drive (FDD)  816  to read from or write to a removable magnetic disk  818 , and an optical disk drive  820  to read from or write to a removable optical disk  822  (e.g., a CD-ROM or DVD). The HDD  814 , FDD  816  and optical disk drive  820  can be connected to the system bus  808  by a HDD interface  824 , an FDD interface  826  and an optical drive interface  828 , respectively. The HDD interface  824  for external drive implementations can include at least one or both of Universal Serial Bus (USB) and IEEE 1394 interface technologies. 
     The drives and associated computer-readable media provide volatile and/or nonvolatile storage of data, data structures, computer-executable instructions, and so forth. For example, a number of program modules can be stored in the drives and memory units  810 ,  812 , including an operating system  830 , one or more application programs  832 , other program modules  834 , and program data  836 . In one embodiment, the one or more application programs  832 , other program modules  834 , and program data  836  can include, for example, the various applications and/or components of the messaging system  100 . 
     A user can enter commands and information into the computer  802  through one or more wire/wireless input devices, for example, a keyboard  838  and a pointing device, such as a mouse  840 . Other input devices may include microphones, infra-red (IR) remote controls, radio-frequency (RF) remote controls, game pads, stylus pens, card readers, dongles, finger print readers, gloves, graphics tablets, joysticks, keyboards, retina readers, touch screens (e.g., capacitive, resistive, etc.), trackballs, trackpads, sensors, styluses, and the like. These and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit  804  through an input device interface  842  that is coupled to the system bus  808 , but can be connected by other interfaces such as a parallel port, IEEE 1394 serial port, a game port, a USB port, an IR interface, and so forth. 
     A monitor  844  or other type of display device is also connected to the system bus  808  via an interface, such as a video adaptor  846 . The monitor  844  may be internal or external to the computer  802 . In addition to the monitor  844 , a computer typically includes other peripheral output devices, such as speakers, printers, and so forth. 
     The computer  802  may operate in a networked environment using logical connections via wire and/or wireless communications to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer  848 . The remote computer  848  can be a workstation, a server computer, a router, a personal computer, portable computer, microprocessor-based entertainment appliance, a peer device or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described relative to the computer  802 , although, for purposes of brevity, only a memory/storage device  850  is illustrated. The logical connections depicted include wire/wireless connectivity to a local area network (LAN)  852  and/or larger networks, for example, a wide area network (WAN)  854 . Such LAN and WAN networking environments are commonplace in offices and companies, and facilitate enterprise-wide computer networks, such as intranets, all of which may connect to a global communications network, for example, the Internet. 
     When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer  802  is connected to the LAN  852  through a wire and/or wireless communication network interface or adaptor  856 . The adaptor  856  can facilitate wire and/or wireless communications to the LAN  852 , which may also include a wireless access point disposed thereon for communicating with the wireless functionality of the adaptor  856 . 
     When used in a WAN networking environment, the computer  802  can include a modem  858 , or is connected to a communications server on the WAN  854 , or has other means for establishing communications over the WAN  854 , such as by way of the Internet. The modem  858 , which can be internal or external and a wire and/or wireless device, connects to the system bus  808  via the input device interface  842 . In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the computer  802 , or portions thereof, can be stored in the remote memory/storage device  850 . It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and other means of establishing a communications link between the computers can be used. 
     The computer  802  is operable to communicate with wire and wireless devices or entities using the IEEE 802 family of standards, such as wireless devices operatively disposed in wireless communication (e.g., IEEE 802.8 over-the-air modulation techniques). This includes at least Wi-Fi (or Wireless Fidelity), WiMax, and Bluetooth™ wireless technologies, among others. Thus, the communication can be a predefined structure as with a conventional network or simply an ad hoc communication between at least two devices. Wi-Fi networks use radio technologies called IEEE 802.8x (a, b, g, n, etc.) to provide secure, reliable, fast wireless connectivity. A Wi-Fi network can be used to connect computers to each other, to the Internet, and to wire networks (which use IEEE 802.3-related media and functions). 
       FIG. 9  illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary communications architecture  900  suitable for implementing various embodiments as previously described. The communications architecture  900  includes various common communications elements, such as a transmitter, receiver, transceiver, radio, network interface, baseband processor, antenna, amplifiers, filters, power supplies, and so forth. The embodiments, however, are not limited to implementation by the communications architecture  900 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 9 , the communications architecture  900  comprises includes one or more clients  902  and servers  904 . The clients  902  may implement the client devices  650 ,  750 . The servers  904  may implement the server devices  620 ,  710 . The clients  902  and the servers  904  are operatively connected to one or more respective client data stores  908  and server data stores  910  that can be employed to store information local to the respective clients  902  and servers  904 , such as cookies and/or associated contextual information. 
     The clients  902  and the servers  904  may communicate information between each other using a communication framework  906 . The communications framework  906  may implement any well-known communications techniques and protocols. The communications framework  906  may be implemented as a packet-switched network (e.g., public networks such as the Internet, private networks such as an enterprise intranet, and so forth), a circuit-switched network (e.g., the public switched telephone network), or a combination of a packet-switched network and a circuit-switched network (with suitable gateways and translators). 
     The communications framework  906  may implement various network interfaces arranged to accept, communicate, and connect to a communications network. A network interface may be regarded as a specialized form of an input output interface. Network interfaces may employ connection protocols including without limitation direct connect, Ethernet (e.g., thick, thin, twisted pair 10/100/1000 Base T, and the like), token ring, wireless network interfaces, cellular network interfaces, IEEE 802.11a-x network interfaces, IEEE 802.16 network interfaces, IEEE 802.20 network interfaces, and the like. Further, multiple network interfaces may be used to engage with various communications network types. For example, multiple network interfaces may be employed to allow for the communication over broadcast, multicast, and unicast networks. Should processing requirements dictate a greater amount speed and capacity, distributed network controller architectures may similarly be employed to pool, load balance, and otherwise increase the communicative bandwidth required by clients  902  and the servers  904 . A communications network may be any one and the combination of wired and/or wireless networks including without limitation a direct interconnection, a secured custom connection, a private network (e.g., an enterprise intranet), a public network (e.g., the Internet), a Personal Area Network (PAN), a Local Area Network (LAN), a Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), an Operating Missions as Nodes on the Internet (OMNI), a Wide Area Network (WAN), a wireless network, a cellular network, and other communications networks. 
       FIG. 10  illustrates an embodiment of a device  1000  for use in a multicarrier OFDM system, such as the messaging system  100 . Device  1000  may implement, for example, software components  1060  as described with reference to messaging system  100  and/or a logic circuit  1035 . The logic circuit  1035  may include physical circuits to perform operations described for the messaging system  100 . As shown in  FIG. 10 , device  1000  may include a radio interface  1010 , baseband circuitry  1020 , and computing platform  1030 , although embodiments are not limited to this configuration. 
     The device  1000  may implement some or all of the structure and/or operations for the messaging system  100  and/or logic circuit  1035  in a single computing entity, such as entirely within a single device. Alternatively, the device  1000  may distribute portions of the structure and/or operations for the messaging system  100  and/or logic circuit  1035  across multiple computing entities using a distributed system architecture, such as a client-server architecture, a 3-tier architecture, an N-tier architecture, a tightly-coupled or clustered architecture, a peer-to-peer architecture, a master-slave architecture, a shared database architecture, and other types of distributed systems. The embodiments are not limited in this context. 
     In one embodiment, radio interface  1010  may include a component or combination of components adapted for transmitting and/or receiving single carrier or multi-carrier modulated signals (e.g., including complementary code keying (CCK) and/or orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols) although the embodiments are not limited to any specific over-the-air interface or modulation scheme. Radio interface  1010  may include, for example, a receiver  1012 , a transmitter  1016  and/or a frequency synthesizer  1014 . Radio interface  1010  may include bias controls, a crystal oscillator and/or one or more antennas  1018 . In another embodiment, radio interface  1010  may use external voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs), surface acoustic wave filters, intermediate frequency (IF) filters and/or RF filters, as desired. Due to the variety of potential RF interface designs an expansive description thereof is omitted. 
     Baseband circuitry  1020  may communicate with radio interface  1010  to process receive and/or transmit signals and may include, for example, an analog-to-digital converter  1022  for down converting received signals, a digital-to-analog converter  1024  for up converting signals for transmission. Further, baseband circuitry  1020  may include a baseband or physical layer (PHY) processing circuit  1056  for PHY link layer processing of respective receive/transmit signals. Baseband circuitry  1020  may include, for example, a processing circuit  1028  for medium access control (MAC)/data link layer processing. Baseband circuitry  1020  may include a memory controller  1032  for communicating with processing circuit  1028  and/or a computing platform  1030 , for example, via one or more interfaces  1034 . 
     In some embodiments, PHY processing circuit  1026  may include a frame construction and/or detection module, in combination with additional circuitry such as a buffer memory, to construct and/or deconstruct communication frames, such as radio frames. Alternatively or in addition, MAC processing circuit  1028  may share processing for certain of these functions or perform these processes independent of PHY processing circuit  1026 . In some embodiments, MAC and PHY processing may be integrated into a single circuit. 
     The computing platform  1030  may provide computing functionality for the device  1000 . As shown, the computing platform  1030  may include a processing component  1040 . In addition to, or alternatively of, the baseband circuitry  1020 , the device  1000  may execute processing operations or logic for the messaging system  100  and logic circuit  1035  using the processing component  1040 . The processing component  1040  (and/or PHY  1026  and/or MAC  1028 ) may comprise various hardware elements, software elements, or a combination of both. Examples of hardware elements may include devices, logic devices, components, processors, microprocessors, circuits, processor circuits, circuit elements (e.g., transistors, resistors, capacitors, inductors, and so forth), integrated circuits, application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), programmable logic devices (PLD), digital signal processors (DSP), field programmable gate array (FPGA), memory units, logic gates, registers, semiconductor device, chips, microchips, chip sets, and so forth. Examples of software elements may include software components, programs, applications, computer programs, application programs, system programs, software development programs, machine programs, operating system software, middleware, firmware, software modules, routines, subroutines, functions, methods, procedures, software interfaces, application program interfaces (API), instruction sets, computing code, computer code, code segments, computer code segments, words, values, symbols, or any combination thereof. Determining whether an embodiment is implemented using hardware elements and/or software elements may vary in accordance with any number of factors, such as desired computational rate, power levels, heat tolerances, processing cycle budget, input data rates, output data rates, memory resources, data bus speeds and other design or performance constraints, as desired for a given implementation. 
     The computing platform  1030  may further include other platform components  1050 . Other platform components  1050  include common computing elements, such as one or more processors, multi-core processors, co-processors, memory units, chipsets, controllers, peripherals, interfaces, oscillators, timing devices, video cards, audio cards, multimedia input/output (I/O) components (e.g., digital displays), power supplies, and so forth. Examples of memory units may include without limitation various types of computer readable and machine readable storage media in the form of one or more higher speed memory units, such as read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), Double-Data-Rate DRAM (DDRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), static RAM (SRAM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), flash memory, polymer memory such as ferroelectric polymer memory, ovonic memory, phase change or ferroelectric memory, silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon (SONOS) memory, magnetic or optical cards, an array of devices such as Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) drives, solid state memory devices (e.g., USB memory, solid state drives (SSD) and any other type of storage media suitable for storing information. 
     Device  1000  may be, for example, an ultra-mobile device, a mobile device, a fixed device, a machine-to-machine (M2M) device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile computing device, a smart phone, a telephone, a digital telephone, a cellular telephone, user equipment, eBook readers, a handset, a one-way pager, a two-way pager, a messaging device, a computer, a personal computer (PC), a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a netbook computer, a handheld computer, a tablet computer, a server, a server array or server farm, a web server, a network server, an Internet server, a work station, a mini-computer, a main frame computer, a supercomputer, a network appliance, a web appliance, a distributed computing system, multiprocessor systems, processor-based systems, consumer electronics, programmable consumer electronics, game devices, television, digital television, set top box, wireless access point, base station, node B, evolved node B (eNB), subscriber station, mobile subscriber center, radio network controller, router, hub, gateway, bridge, switch, machine, or combination thereof. Accordingly, functions and/or specific configurations of device  1000  described herein, may be included or omitted in various embodiments of device  1000 , as suitably desired. In some embodiments, device  1000  may be configured to be compatible with protocols and frequencies associated one or more of the 3GPP LTE Specifications and/or IEEE 1002.16 Standards for WMANs, and/or other broadband wireless networks, cited herein, although the embodiments are not limited in this respect. 
     Embodiments of device  1000  may be implemented using single input single output (SISO) architectures. However, certain implementations may include multiple antennas (e.g., antennas  1018 ) for transmission and/or reception using adaptive antenna techniques for beamforming or spatial division multiple access (SDMA) and/or using MIMO communication techniques. 
     The components and features of device  1000  may be implemented using any combination of discrete circuitry, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), logic gates and/or single chip architectures. Further, the features of device  1000  may be implemented using microcontrollers, programmable logic arrays and/or microprocessors or any combination of the foregoing where suitably appropriate. It is noted that hardware, firmware and/or software elements may be collectively or individually referred to herein as “logic” or “circuit.” 
     It should be appreciated that the exemplary device  1000  shown in the block diagram of  FIG. 10  may represent one functionally descriptive example of many potential implementations. Accordingly, division, omission or inclusion of block functions depicted in the accompanying figures does not infer that the hardware components, circuits, software and/or elements for implementing these functions would be necessarily be divided, omitted, or included in embodiments. 
     A computer-implemented method may comprise waking a delayed-action worker according to a wake timer; determining a current update object for a delayed-action cursor for a recipient update queue for a messaging system, the delayed-action cursor associated with an action delay for the recipient update queue; determining a delayed-action activity for the current update object; performing the delay-action activity for the current update object; determining a next update object for the delayed-action cursor for the recipient update queue; and determining a next wake timer for the delayed-action worker based on the action delay and a creation time for the next update object. 
     A computer-implemented method may further comprise wherein the delayed-action activity comprises adding a message-delete command object to the recipient update queue. 
     A computer-implemented method may further comprise the action delay defined according to an ephemeral-messaging setting for a message thread of the messaging system. 
     A computer-implemented method may further comprise wherein the delayed-action activity comprises updating a message archive with the current update object. 
     A computer-implemented method may further comprise wherein the delayed-action activity comprises sending an automated reply to the current update object, further comprising: determining that the current update object hasn&#39;t been manually replied to prior to sending the automated reply. 
     A computer-implemented method may further comprise wherein determining the next update object for the delayed-action cursor for the recipient update queue comprises scanning chronologically forwards through the recipient update queue until the next update object with a delayed-action indicator corresponding to the action delay is found. 
     A computer-implemented method may further comprise wherein the delayed-action cursor is associated with a delayed-action queue associated with the action delay, wherein determining the next update object for the delayed-action cursor for the recipient update queue comprises retrieving the next update object from the delayed-action queue. 
     A computer-implemented method may further comprise scanning chronologically forwards through the recipient update queue adding update objects to the delayed-action queue where the update objects have a delayed-action indicator corresponding to the action delay. 
     A computer-implemented method may further comprise stopping the scanning when the delayed-action queue reaches a predefined maximum size. 
     A computer-implemented method may further comprise the current update object comprising a read receipt for a message, wherein the delayed-action activity comprises adding a message-delete command object for the message to the recipient update queue. 
     An apparatus may comprise a processor circuit on a device; a delayed-action worker module operative on the processor circuit to wake according to a wake timer; determine a current update object for a delayed-action cursor for a recipient update queue for a messaging system, the delayed-action cursor associated with an action delay for the recipient update queue; determine a delayed-action activity for the current update object; perform the delay-action activity for the current update object; determine a next update object for the delayed-action cursor for the recipient update queue; and determine a next wake timer for the delayed-action worker module based on the action delay and a creation time for the next update object. The apparatus may be operative to implement any of the computer-implemented methods described herein. 
     A computer-implemented method may comprise receiving an incoming update for a message queue at a client support server for a messaging system from a messaging client on a client device; determining whether the messaging client supports a client-side time-to-live setting; determining whether the incoming update should be associated with a server-specified time-to-live setting where the messaging client does not support the client-side time-to-live setting; and assigning the incoming update the server-specified time-to-live setting where the messaging client does not support the client-side time-to-live setting and where the incoming update should be associated with a server-side time-to-live setting. 
     A computer-implemented method may further comprise wherein the incoming update corresponds to an atomic modification to a message inbox for the messaging client on the client device. 
     A computer-implemented method may further comprise wherein the messaging client does not support the client-side time-to-live setting, further comprising: determining that a time-to-live registry for the client device is not cached in memory on the client support server; retrieving the time-to-live registry for the client device; determining whether the incoming update should be associated with the server-specified time-to-live setting based on the time-to-live registry for the client device; and caching the time-to-live registry in memory on the client support server. 
     A computer-implemented method may further comprise receiving a notification of an opening of a network connection with the messaging client on the client device; determining whether the messaging client supports the client-side time-to-live setting in response to receiving the notification of the opening of the network connection with the messaging client on the client device; and caching a time-to-live registry in memory on the client support server for a duration of the network connection where the messaging client does not support the client-side time-to-live setting. 
     A computer-implemented method may further comprise wherein the messaging client does not support the client-side time-to-live setting, further comprising: determining that a time-to-live registry for the client device is cached in memory on the client support server; and determining whether the incoming update should be associated with the server-specified time-to-live setting based on the time-to-live registry for the client device. 
     A computer-implemented method may further comprise wherein the messaging client does not support the client-side time-to-live setting, further comprising: determining whether the incoming update should be associated with the server-specified time-to-live setting based on a time-to-live registry for the client device, the time-to-live registry comprising a listing of message threads associated with time-to-live settings. 
     A computer-implemented method may further comprise wherein the messaging client does not support the client-side time-to-live setting, further comprising: determining whether the incoming update should be associated with the server-specified time-to-live setting based on a time-to-live registry for the client device, the time-to-live registry comprising a listing of media channels associated with time-to-live settings. 
     An apparatus may comprise a processor circuit on a device; a sender inbound messaging component operative on the processor circuit to receive an incoming update for a message queue at a client support server for a messaging system from a messaging client on a client device; a legacy client support component operative on the processor circuit to determine whether the messaging client supports a client-side time-to-live setting; determine whether the incoming update should be associated with a server-specified time-to-live setting where the messaging client does not support the client-side time-to-live setting; and assign the incoming update the server-specified time-to-live setting where the messaging client does not support the client-side time-to-live setting and where the incoming update should be associated with a server-side time-to-live setting. The apparatus may be operative to implement any of the computer-implemented methods described herein. 
     At least one computer-readable storage medium may comprise instructions that, when executed, cause a system to perform any of the computer-implemented methods described herein. 
     Some embodiments may be described using the expression “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” along with their derivatives. These terms mean that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Further, some embodiments may be described using the expression “coupled” and “connected” along with their derivatives. These terms are not necessarily intended as synonyms for each other. For example, some embodiments may be described using the terms “connected” and/or “coupled” to indicate that two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with each other. The term “coupled,” however, may also mean that two or more elements are not in direct contact with each other, but yet still co-operate or interact with each other. 
     With general reference to notations and nomenclature used herein, the detailed descriptions herein may be presented in terms of program procedures executed on a computer or network of computers. These procedural descriptions and representations are used by those skilled in the art to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. 
     A procedure is here, and generally, conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of operations leading to a desired result. These operations are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical, magnetic or optical signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It proves convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like. It should be noted, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to those quantities. 
     Further, the manipulations performed are often referred to in terms, such as adding or comparing, which are commonly associated with mental operations performed by a human operator. No such capability of a human operator is necessary, or desirable in most cases, in any of the operations described herein which form part of one or more embodiments. Rather, the operations are machine operations. Useful machines for performing operations of various embodiments include general purpose digital computers or similar devices. 
     Various embodiments also relate to apparatus or systems for performing these operations. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purpose or it may comprise a general purpose computer as selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. The procedures presented herein are not inherently related to a particular computer or other apparatus. Various general purpose machines may be used with programs written in accordance with the teachings herein, or it may prove convenient to construct more specialized apparatus to perform the required method steps. The required structure for a variety of these machines will appear from the description given. 
     It is emphasized that the Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to allow a reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features are grouped together in a single embodiment for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment. In the appended claims, the terms “including” and “in which” are used as the plain-English equivalents of the respective terms “comprising” and “wherein,” respectively. Moreover, the terms “first,” “second,” “third,” and so forth, are used merely as labels, and are not intended to impose numerical requirements on their objects. 
     What has been described above includes examples of the disclosed architecture. It is, of course, not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components and/or methodologies, but one of ordinary skill in the art may recognize that many further combinations and permutations are possible. Accordingly, the novel architecture is intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.