Patent ID: 7664853

Claim:
A system for inferring an interrupt status of a user to receive an alert to a communication request at a communication interface, comprising: a data processing system communicatively connected to a network; said data processing system further comprising: an activity receiver, responsive to receiving a communication request to communicate with a user, for detecting at least one current activity of said user, wherein said at least one current activity comprises at least one system level event indicating user interaction with a particular software application from among a plurality of software applications available within a computer environment accessible to said user; said activity receiver, responsive to receiving said communication request to communication with said user, for detecting an identifier of a requester of communication with said user; an inference engine for inferring an interrupt status of said user to receive an alert to said communication request from said at least one current activity of said user and said identifier of said requester in view of a plurality of availability rules that map said at least one system level event when combined with said identifier of said requester to a plurality of possible interrupt statuses, wherein said plurality of possible interrupt statuses comprise blocking any alert to said communication request, only allowing a sound for said alert to said communication request, and only allowing a graphic display for said alert to said communication request; and a communication interrupt controller for only enabling said alert to notify said user of said communication request in a communication interface for said user as allowed by said interrupt status.