Per-Value Notification Throttling for Software Applications
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Software applications often overwhelm users with frequent notifications of state changes, leading to a poor user experience, as existing notification schemes lack effective throttling mechanisms.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method and system that throttle notifications based on state changes by maintaining a count of notifications for each setting value and applying a threshold to determine when to display subsequent notifications, potentially downgrading them to less obtrusive forms if the count exceeds the threshold.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If notifications are provided for every state change, then users are fully informed of all changes, but users experience notification overload and nuisance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by implementing per-value throttling where each setting value has its own notification count and threshold. This allows different notification behaviors for different values of the same setting, providing nuanced control that balances information completeness with user experience.
Solution Approach 2:
The notification system dynamically adjusts its behavior based on the current count of notifications for each value. The throttling threshold is not fixed but adapts based on accumulated notification counts, allowing the system to respond to usage patterns and reduce notification overload over time.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If a predetermined number of notifications are limited within a predefined time period, then notification overload is reduced, but the notification scheme lacks flexibility for different setting values
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements local quality by creating separate notification counts and thresholds for each setting value. This allows the system to apply different notification limits to different values, providing both overload protection and value-specific flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The notification system is segmented by setting value, with each value having its own counter and threshold. This segmentation allows independent control of notification frequency for each value, achieving both overload reduction and adaptability.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention throttles notifications to a user based on changes in particular state values. A computer-implemented method manages notifications of changes to one or more settings of an application. The method includes: displaying a first notification of a change of a setting to a value; updating a count of notifications displayed for the value; and throttling a subsequent notification of a subsequent change of the setting to the value if the count exceeds a threshold.