Dynamic muting of communication notifications
A system and methods are provided for dynamically muting or suppressing notifications of new communications. When a new communication is received for a user of a communication device (e.g., a mobile telephone, a computer) while notifications are muted, no notification may be issued to the user or, alternatively, a muted notification that differs from a normal notification may be issued. A muted notification may have muted sound or no sound, abbreviated vibration or no vibration, or may otherwise be a dampened version of a normal notification. Dynamic muting may be applied or managed on the user's device or on a system that hosts the communication application for which notifications are muted. Different applications and/or communication sessions (e.g., different chat groups) may be muted differently (e.g., for different periods of time). When a group chat session is muted, the duration of muting may be proportional to the number of participants.
1. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
maintain, using a communications server, one or more communication connections between a first participant in a session and one or more other participants in the session, the session supported by a communication application;
relay a first communication in the session to the first participant;
track a start time of a muting period for the session in response to relaying the first communication;
calculating a duration of the muting period associated with the first participant, the calculating comprising determining, based on a number of participants in the session of the communication application, the duration of the muting period for the session;
receive a second communication in the session designated for the first participant;
determine that the muting period is active, the determining comprising identifying the tracked start time of the muting period, adding the calculated duration to the tracked start time to specify the muting period, and determining that the receipt of the communication falls within the specified muting period; and
mute a notification relating to the second communication that would normally be issued to the first participant.
2. The medium of claim 1 , further storing instructions configured to cause the one or more processors to store communications received by the system for participants who are off-line with the system at the time the communications are received at the communication server.
3. The medium of claim 1 , wherein each communication within the session of the communication application identifies a number of participants in the session.
4. The medium of claim 1 , wherein muting the notification comprises issuing a muted form of the notification that would normally be issued regarding the second communication.
5. The medium of claim 1 , wherein muting the notification comprises refraining from issuing the notification regarding the second communication.
6. The medium of claim 1 , further comprising muting notifications from multiple applications or multiple sessions in unison.
7. A method comprising:
maintaining, at a communication server, communication connections between a first participant in a session and one or more other participants in the session, the session supported by a communication application;
relaying a first communication in the session to the first participant,
tracking a start time of a muting period for the session in response to relaying the first communication,
calculating a duration of the muting period associated with the first participant, the calculating comprising determining, based on a number of participants in the session of the communication application, the duration of the muting period for the session;
receiving a second communication in the session designated for the first participant;
determining that the muting period is active, the determining comprising identifying the tracked start time of the muting period, adding the calculated duration to the tracked start time to specify the muting period, and determining whether the receipt of the communication falls within the specified muting period; and
muting a notification relating to the second communication that would normally be issued to the first participant.
8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising storing communications received by the system for participants who are off-line with the system at the time the communications are received at a communication server.
9. The method of claim 7 , wherein each communication within the session of the communication application identifies a number of participants in the session.
10. The method of claim 7 , wherein muting the notification comprises issuing a muted form of the notification regarding the second communication.
11. The method of claim 7 , wherein muting the notification comprises refraining from issuing a notification regarding the second communication.
12. The method of claim 7 , further comprising muting notifications from multiple applications or multiple sessions in unison.
13. A system comprising:
a communication server configured to maintain communication connections between a first participant in a session and one or more other participants in the session, the session supported by a communication application, the communication server comprising:
application logic for relaying a first communication in the session to the first participant;
timing logic configured to, based on a number of participants in the session of the communication application, determine the duration of a muting period for the session;
a state server configured to store, for the session of the communication application the first participant is participating in, tracking data identifying a start time of the muting period for the session, the start of the muting period being tracked in response to relaying the first communication; and
muting logic for muting notifications for the session that would normally be issued to the first participant during the muting period for the session, wherein
the application logic is further configured to receive a second communication sin the session designated for the first participant, and
the muting logic is further configured to determine that the muting period is active, the determining comprising identifying the tracked start time of the muting period, adding the calculated duration to the tracked start time to specify the muting period, and determining whether the receipt of the communication falls within the specified muting period, and to mute a notification relating to the second communication that would normally be issued to the first participant.
14. The apparatus of claim 13 , further comprising a message server configured to store communications received by the system for participants who are off-line with the system at the time the communications are received at a communication server.
15. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein muting the notification comprises issuing a muted form of the notification that would normally be issued regarding the second communication.
16. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein muting the notification comprises refraining from issuing the notification regarding the second communication.
17. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the muting logic is further configured to mute notifications from multiple applications or multiple sessions in unison.
18. The medium of claim 1 , further storing instructions for querying a state server to determine if muting is handled by a local device associated with the first participant or by the communications server.