Inferring user availability for a communication
The technology described herein manages communications received by a mobile computing device by ascertaining a user's availability to receive an incoming communication. The technology described herein can optimize the use of notification resources on a computing device to provide notifications only when a user is available to respond to a communication the notification announces. The user's availability to receive a communication can be inferred through the analysis of signal data that describes a present context of the mobile device and/or the mobile device's user. Upon determining a present level of availability, the technology described herein can take several different actions. The actions include generating an alternative notification for a newly received communication, generating no notification for a newly received communication, and communicating an automated “not available” message to the originator of a newly received communication.
1. A computerized method for inferring user availability to communicate through a mobile computing device, the method comprising:
analyzing signal data captured by the mobile computing device to determine a present location of the mobile computing device;
determining, using the present location, that the mobile computing device is located in a venue at a present time;
determining a communication context for the venue at the present time, the communication context determined based on information about the venue and communication data from other mobile communication devices, wherein the communication data from the other mobile communication devices are records of previous communication data from the other mobile communication devices captured on previous days during a time of day that corresponds to the present time;
determining that a notification setting on the mobile computing device for a specific communication mode is set to a first value that does not conform with the communication context, wherein the first value is at least a previous notification setting of the mobile device determined from a time before the mobile computing device entered the venue; and
automatically, without user intervention, changing the notification setting on the mobile computing device for the specific communication mode from the first value to a contextual notification value that conforms with the communication context.
2. The computerized method of claim 1 , wherein said communication data from other mobile communication devices comprises device state information, wherein the device state information includes a notification status for the specific communication mode.
3. The computerized method of claim 1 , wherein said determining the communication context further comprises analyzing notification settings for the mobile computing device when located at the venue previously.
4. The computerized method of claim 1 , wherein said determining the communication context further comprises retrieving a venue category for the venue and a venue-specific communication context for the venue category.
5. The computerized method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises determining that the user has departed from the venue and automatically resetting the notification setting on the mobile computing device to the first value, wherein the first value is at least the previous notification setting of the mobile device determined from a time before the mobile computing device entered the venue and it is determined that the user is now available to receive communications in the specific communication mode with the previous settings.
6. The computerized method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises receiving a communication in the specific communication mode from an originator and automatically communicating to the originator a time when the user will be available to receive the communication.
7. The computerized method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises providing a non-interruptive notification to the user of the mobile computing device indicating that the notification setting has been changed.
8. The computerized method of claim 7 , wherein the non-interruptive notification is an icon output for display on the mobile computing device.
9. One or more computer storage media storing computer-useable instructions that, when used by one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform operations comprising:
analyzing signal data captured by the mobile computing device to determine a present location of the mobile computing device;
determining, using the present location, that the mobile computing device is located in a venue at a present time;
determining a communication context for the venue at the present time, the communication context determined based on information about the venue and communication data from other mobile communication devices, wherein the communication data from the other mobile communication devices are records of previous communication data from the other mobile communication devices captured on previous days during a time of day that corresponds to the present time;
determining that a notification setting on the mobile computing device for a specific communication mode is set to a first value that does not conform with the communication context, wherein the first value is at least a previous notification setting of the mobile device determined from a time before the mobile computing device entered the venue; and
automatically, without user intervention, changing the notification setting on the mobile computing device for the specific communication mode from the first value to a contextual notification value that conforms with the communication context.
10. The media of claim 9 , wherein said communication data from other mobile communication devices comprises device state information, wherein the device state information includes a notification status for the specific communication mode.
11. The media of claim 9 , wherein said determining the communication context further comprises analyzing notification settings for the mobile computing device when located at the venue previously.
12. The media of claim 9 , wherein said determining the communication context further comprises retrieving a venue category for the venue and a venue-specific communication context for the venue category.
13. The media of claim 9 , wherein the method further comprises determining that the user has departed from the venue and automatically resetting the notification setting on the mobile computing device to the first value, wherein the first value is at least the previous notification setting of the mobile device determined from a time before the mobile computing device entered the venue and it is determined that the user is now available to receive communications in the specific communication mode with the previous settings.
14. The media of claim 9 , wherein the method further comprises receiving a communication in the specific communication mode from an originator and automatically communicating to the originator a time when the user will be available to receive the communication.
15. The media of claim 9 , wherein the method further comprises providing a non-interruptive notification to the user of the mobile computing device indicating that the notification setting has been changed.
16. The media of claim 15 , wherein the non-interruptive notification is an icon output for display on the mobile computing device.
17. A computerized system comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more computer storage media storing computer-useable instructions that, when used by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
analyzing signal data captured by the mobile computing device to determine a present location of the mobile computing device;
determining, using the present location, that the mobile computing device is located in a venue at a present time;
determining a communication context for the venue at the present time, the communication context determined based on information about the venue and communication data from other mobile communication devices, wherein the communication data from the other mobile communication devices are records of previous communication data from the other mobile communication devices captured during previous matching time of the present time;
determining that a notification setting on the mobile computing device for a specific communication mode is set to a first value that does not conform with the communication context, wherein the first value is at least a previous notification setting of the mobile device determined from a time before the mobile computing device entered the venue; and
automatically, without user intervention, changing the notification setting on the mobile computing device for the specific communication mode from the first value to a contextual notification value that conforms with the communication context.
18. The computerized system of claim 17 , wherein said communication data from other mobile communication devices comprises device state information, wherein the device state information includes a notification status for the specific communication mode.
19. The computerized system of claim 17 , wherein said determining the communication context further comprises analyzing notification settings for the mobile computing device when located at the venue previously.
20. The computerized system of claim 17 , wherein said determining the communication context further comprises retrieving a venue category for the venue and a venue-specific communication context for the venue category.