Unified notification platform

1. A system for managing messages, the system comprising:

a processor;

a hardware user interface communicatively coupled to the processor;

a hardware display communicatively coupled to the processor;

a message queue component, operative on the processor, that manages in a virtual queue a plurality of messages received from first and second services of a plurality of services, at least one message being associated with a user relationship centric meta-attribute, wherein the first service and the second service are different ones of email services, messaging services, voicemail services, social networking services, an operating system, or a device service; and

a software display module, operative on the processor, that causes data relating to messages managed by the message queue component to be displayed in the hardware display, based at least on the user relationship centric meta-attribute of at least one message,

wherein data associated with a specific person or specific category of persons is displayed and display of other data associated with a plurality of other persons or categories of persons is suppressed until the data associated with the specific person or the specific category of persons is viewed, and

the other data associated with the plurality of other persons or categories of persons is displayed after the data associated with the specific person or the specific category of persons is viewed,

wherein the user relationship centric meta-attribute comprises information identifying one or more specific persons or specific categories of persons that have a specified relationship with a user of the system.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the software display module comprises a separate window on the hardware display that operates non-modally as not to block the operation of a software user interface of a previously opened application, and in which the separate window provides at least one of the following options:

replying to a message;

adding in-line comments to a message; and

reviewing a plurality of messages that are graphically stacked in the separate window.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the hardware user interface comprises a custom button, and wherein the software display module displays data relating to messages in the message queue component responsive to activation of the custom button.

4. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a data operations rules engine, operative on the processor, which stores a rule and performs at least one data operation on the virtual message queue.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the at least one data operation on the virtual message queue is any one of:

adding a message to the virtual message queue;

retrieving a message from the virtual message queue;

reordering a message in the virtual message queue;

updating a message in the virtual message queue; or

deleting a message from the virtual message queue.

6. The system of claim 4 , wherein each message in the virtual message queue retains at least one attribute value and the virtual message queue is operative to update at least one attribute value of at least one message in the virtual message queue.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the attribute values are any one of:

a date-time stamp;

a read flag;

a sender identifier;

a subject identifier;

a to line;

a message memory size;

an attachment included flag;

an importance flag; or

a source identifier.

8. The system of claim 7 , the system further comprising a queuing rules engine, operative on the processor, that stores a rule, and sets at least one attribute value of at least one message in the virtual message queue according to the rule.

9. The system of claim 4 , the system further comprising an application programming interface, the application programming interface comprising software functions to programmatically access the virtual message queue, the rules engine, or both.

10. A computer-implemented method for managing messages from a plurality of services, the method comprising:

receiving a first message from a first service and receiving a second message from a second service, at least one of the messages being associated with a user relationship centric meta-attribute, wherein the first service and the second service are different ones of email services, messaging services, voicemail services, social networking services, an operating system, or a device service;

ordering the first message and the second message in a virtual message queue; and

displaying data relating to the virtual message queue in a window, based at least on the user relationship centric meta-attribute of one of the messages, wherein the displaying includes:

displaying data associated with a specific person and suppressing display of other data associated with a plurality of other persons until the data associated with the specific person is viewed, and

displaying the other data associated with the plurality of other persons after the data associated with the specific person is viewed,

wherein the user relationship centric meta-attribute comprises information identifying a specified relationship between a user of the computer-implemented method and the specific person.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein, the displayed data comprises any one of the following:

a message count by message service report wherein a first message count for the first service is displayed with a second message count for the second service;

a message count by thread report wherein the first message and the second message are in the same message thread, and the displayed data is a count of messages in a message thread; or

a message thread count report wherein the first message and the second message are in the same message thread, and the displayed data is a count of message threads.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising retrieving data from the virtual message queue via applying a rule with a rules engine, wherein the displayed data relating to the virtual message queue is the retrieved data.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the rule is to increase retrieval priority of messages from a sender with a user relationship centric meta-attribute.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the user relationship centric meta-attribute is any one of:

the sender is a parent/guardian of a particular user;

the sender is a family members of a particular user;

the sender is a friend of a particular user;

the sender is in a very important person (VIP) list for a particular user;

the sender is in a the same professional group as a particular user;

the sender is in the same social network group as a particular user; or

the sender is associated with a particular user's employment.

15. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

receiving an notification suppression command; and

suppressing notifications relating to at least one of the ordered first message and second message responsive to receiving the notification suppression command, wherein the applied rule is to suppress messages satisfying a predetermined criterion until a predetermined event occurs.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the predetermined event is any one of:

all messages where the sender is a parent/guardian of a particular user have been responded to;

all messages with an importance flag set have been responded to;

a predetermined time period has passed; or

a service payment has been made.

17. The method of claim 12 , the method further comprising:

receiving a rule update;

retrieving updated data from the virtual message queue via applying the rule update with the rules engine; and

displaying the updated data.

18. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

resolving a plurality of contradictory rules by preferentially applying rules according to a predetermined priority with a rules engine; and

retrieving data from the virtual message queue according to the applied resolved rules with the rules engine,

wherein the displayed data relating to the virtual message queue is the retrieved data according to the applied resolved rules.

19. A computer storage device containing instructions to be executed by a processor for implementing operations to manage messages from a plurality of services, the operations comprising:

receiving a first message from a first service and receiving a second message from a second service, wherein at least one of the messages is associated with a user relationship centric meta-attribute, wherein the first service and the second service are different ones of email services, messaging services, voicemail services, social networking services, an operating system, or a device service;

serializing the first message and the second message in a virtual message queue;

retrieving data from the virtual message queue via applying a rule with a rules engine, wherein the data is associated with a specific person or specific category of persons and the retrieving includes suppressing retrieval of other data associated with a plurality of other persons or categories of persons until the retrieved data associated with the specific person or the specific category of persons is viewed;

displaying the retrieved data in a separate window based at least on the user relationship centric meta-attribute of one of the messages, wherein the separate window operates non-modally on a hardware display as not to block the operation of a software user interface of a previously opened application on the hardware display;

retrieving the other data from the virtual message queue via applying a rule with a rules engine, wherein the retrieving includes retrieving the other data after the retrieved data associated with the specific person or the specific category of persons is viewed; and

after retrieving the other data, displaying the retrieved other data in the separate window,

wherein the user relationship centric meta-attribute comprises information identifying a specified relationship between a user of the computer storage device and the specific person or the specific category of persons.