Patent ID: 7539747

Claim:
In a computer network, a method for providing customized notification handling based on user-defined policy settings and current device status, the method comprising: an act of receiving a notification at a centralized store; an act of obtaining information corresponding to a current context of a user's devices from the centralized store, the current context of the user's devices including presence information, location information, schedule information and user notification preference information about at least some of the user's devices configured to receive notifications, the presence information indicating whether the user is currently using the user's devices, the location information indicating the physical, geographical location of the user's devices, the schedule information indicating prior use of the user's devices over a period of time and the user notification preference information indicating the user's preference as to which device is to receive the notification based on the user's current context, each device having an associated cost of usage, the user's preference including a rule-based policy configured to weigh both the cost of disrupting the user against the cost of delaying review of the notification and the cost of usage for each of the user's devices; an act of performing a cost-benefit-based analysis to determine, based on the rule-based policy, that: the cost of delaying review of the notification outweighs the cost of disrupting the user; and the cost of usage for at least one of the user's devices yields a benefit sufficient to justify the device's use; an act of using the presence information, location information, schedule information, and user notification preference information to determine which of the user's devices has the greatest net value based on the cost-benefit analysis, and is most likely to receive and successfully notify the user of a new notification; an act of formatting the received notification using the obtained context information, the formatting including formatting the notification in a format compatible with the determined device; and an act of sending the new notification to the determined device.