Patent ID: 8615221

Claim:
A method performed by an electronic device, the method comprising: receiving a notification of an incoming electronic communication; determining that an output device included in the electronic device is unavailable to output the notification; identifying an application actively executing and controlling the output device; determining an unavailability period indicating duration of time the output device is unavailable to output the notification; determining urgency of the notification; outputting the notification to the output device when the notification is urgent; determining, based on the unavailability period, whether the application can be interrupted and relinquish control of the output device by: comparing the unavailability period to a threshold, determining, when the unavailability period is no more than the threshold, that the application cannot be interrupted, and determining, when the unavailability period is greater than the threshold, that the application can be interrupted; outputting, when the application can be interrupted, the notification to the output device; and delaying, when the application cannot be interrupted and the notification is not urgent, output of the notification to the output device for the unavailability period.