Patent ID: 8086672

Claim:
A computer system that facilitates conveying notifications, comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory, communicatively coupled to the at least one processor and containing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, perform the following steps: receiving a message, wherein the message comprises a time-to-live (TTL) parameter that specifies a period of time the message is active; upon storing the message in a queue, determining an availability status of a recipient, wherein the availability status of the recipient comprises at least one of: a busy status and a free status; and upon determining that the availability status of the recipient is a busy status and determining that the message is active, selecting an appropriate action based on a recipient unavailable policy, the appropriate action comprising one or more of: sending an automated message to a sender of the message specifying an amount of time that the recipient will be busy; converting the message to an email thread and sending the email thread to an email inbox of the recipient; delivering the message to the recipient upon determining that the message satisfies an exception, wherein delivering the message comprises determining a most appropriate time during the period of time the message is active to deliver the message using one or more of: a statistical-based method, a probabilistic-based method, and a utility-based method; and executing the selected action; and upon determining that the availability status of the recipient is a free status and determining that the message is active, sending the message to the recipient.