Techniques for ephemeral messaging with a message queue
Techniques for ephemeral message are described. In one embodiment, an apparatus may comprise a delayed-action worker module operative to wake according to a wake timer; determine a current update object for a delayed-action cursor for a recipient update queue for a messaging system, the delayed-action cursor associated with an action delay for the recipient update queue; determine a delayed-action activity for the current update object; perform the delay-action activity for the current update object; determine a next update object for the delayed-action cursor for the recipient update queue; and determine a next wake timer for the delayed-action worker module based on the action delay and a creation time for the next update object. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving an incoming update at a messaging server from a sending messaging client on a sending client device;
queuing the incoming update in an update queue on the messaging server, the update queue associated with a user of the sending messaging client, wherein the messaging server maintains a plurality of delay-action queues in addition to the update queue, each of the delay-action queues specifying a predetermined amount of delay associated with the respective delay-action queues;
periodically scanning chronologically forward through the update queue to discover a delay-action update having a delay-action indicator and a delay-action time indicating a delay from a creation time of the delay-action update when a delay-action indicated by the delay-action indicator is to be performed;
selecting one of the delay-action queues whose amount of delay corresponds to the delay-action time;
moving the delay-action update from the update queue to the selected delay-action queue while maintaining a chronological ordering of the selected delay-action queue based on the creation time of the delay-action update; and
setting a wake timer for a delay-action worker module specifying a wake time based on the creation time and the delay-action time.
2. The method of claim 1 :
wherein delay-action updates have a delay-action time selected from a predefined set of delay-action times; and
wherein the plurality of delay-action queues is limited in number to the number of delay-action times in the predefined set of delay-action times.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
waking the delay-action worker module upon expiration of the wake timer;
de-queueing a delay-action update at a head of one of the plurality of delay-action queues;
determining a delay-action associated with the de-queued delay-action update; and
performing the delay-action for the de-queued delay-action update.
4. The method of claim 3 further comprising: deleting the de-queued delay-action update.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein the delay-action indicator specifies a delay-action selected from a pre-defined set of delay-actions supported by the messaging server.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of delay-action queues may only contain a maximum number of delay-action updates, further comprising:
delaying the moving of delay-action updates from the update queue to the one delay-
action queue until the number of delay-action updates in the one delay-action queue falls below the maximum number for that delay-action queue.
7. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause a system to:
receive an incoming update at a messaging server from a sending messaging client on a sending client device;
queue the incoming update in an update queue on the messaging server, the update queue associated with a user of the sending messaging client, wherein the messaging server maintains a plurality of delay-action queues in addition to the update queue, each of the delay-action queues specifying a predetermined amount of delay associated with the respective delay-action queues;
periodically scan chronologically forward through the update queue to discover a delay-action update having a delay-action indicator and a delay-action time indicating a delay from a creation time of the delay-action update when a delay-action indicated by the delay-action indicator is to be performed;
select one of the delay-action queues whose amount of delay corresponds to the delay-action time;
move the delay-action update from the update queue to the selected delay-action queue while maintaining a chronological ordering of the selected delay-action queue based on the creation time of the delay-action update; and
set a wake timer for a delay-action worker module specifying a wake time based on the creation time and the delay-action time.
8. The medium of claim 7 :
wherein delay-action updates have a delay-action time selected from a predefined set of delay-action times; and
wherein the plurality of delay-action queues is limited in number to the number of delay-action times in the predefined set of delay-action times.
9. The medium of claim 7 , comprising further instructions causing the system to:
wake the delay-action worker module upon expiration of the wake timer;
de-queue a delay-action update at a head of one of the plurality of delay-action queues;
determine a delay-action associated with the de-queued delay-action update; and
perform the delay-action for the de-queued delay-action update.
10. The medium of claim 9 comprising further instructions causing the system to: delete the de-queued delay-action update.
11. The medium of claim 7 wherein the delay-action indicator specifies a delay-action selected from a pre-defined set of delay-actions supported by the messaging server.
12. The medium of claim 7 wherein each of the plurality of delay-action queues may only contain a maximum number of delay-action updates, comprising further instructions causing the system to:
delay the moving of delay-action updates from the update queue to the one delay-action
queue until the number of delay-action updates in the one delay-action queue falls below the maximum number for that delay-action queue.
13. The medium of claim 7 , further comprising spawning the delay-action update as a second update from the incoming update.
14. The medium of claim 7 , wherein the delay-action update is discovered no more than once during the periodic scanning of the update queue.
15. A system comprising:
a processor;
memory, coupled to the processor, the memory containing software that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to:
receive an incoming update at a messaging server from a sending messaging client on a sending client device;
queue the incoming update in an update queue on the messaging server, the update queue associated with a user of the sending messaging client, wherein the messaging server maintains a plurality of delay-action queues in addition to the update queue, each of the delay-action queues specifying a predetermined amount of delay associated with the respective delay-action queues;
periodically scan chronologically forward through the update queue to discover a delay-action update having a delay-action indicator and a delay-action time indicating a delay from a creation time of the delay-action update when a delay-action indicated by the delay-action indicator is to be performed;
select one of the delay-action queues whose amount of delay corresponds to the delay-action time;
move the delay-action update from the update queue to the selected delay-action queue while maintaining a chronological ordering of the selected delay-action queue based on the creation time of the delay-action update; and
set a wake timer for a delay-action worker module specifying a wake time based on the creation time and the delay-action time.
16. The system of claim 15 :
wherein delay-action updates have a delay-action time selected from a predefined set of delay-action times; and
wherein the plurality of delay-action queues is limited in number to the number of delay-action times in the predefined set of delay-action times.
17. The system of claim 15 , the software further causing the system to:
wake the delay-action worker module upon expiration of the wake timer;
de-queue a delay-action update at a head of one of the plurality of delay-action queues;
determine a delay-action associated with the de-queued delay-action update;
perform the delay-action for the de-queued delay-action update; and
delete the de-queued delay-action update.
18. The system of claim 15 wherein the delay-action indicator specifies a delay-action selected from a pre-defined set of delay-actions supported by the messaging server.
19. The system of claim 15 wherein each of the plurality of delay-action queues may only contain a maximum number of delay-action updates, the software further causing the system to:
delay the moving of delay-action updates from the update queue to the one delay-action
queue until the number of delay-action updates in the one delay-action queue falls below the maximum number for that delay-action queue.