Microsoft looks set to greatly enhance user control over notifications and chats within its Teams platform and across its suite of 365 apps.

According to a patent the Redmond-based vendor recently published, Microsoft is developing a system that manages which notifications and conversations are shown on users’ devices. This capability intends to support workers in focusing on urgent tasks and boosting productivity.

“A user may receive a large number of email messages, text messages, chat messages and/or other types of messages on their user devices throughout the day,” Microsoft’s patent wrote. “However, receipt of such notifications is not always desired. The notifications may interrupt the user workflow or may be inappropriate at certain times.”

 The user may wish to restrict which message notifications may be presented on different categories of their user devices based on the message category and the time period in which the message was received. However, current messaging platforms do not provide such fine-grained control over the notifications presented. There is a need for improved systems and methods that provide fine-grained control.”

The level of control users will have over notifications and conversations will be determined by the message category, the category of each user device and the time when messages are received.

In practical terms, devices are assigned categories, with each category associated with specific timeframes which dictate which categories can display notifications. This data also outlines the message types eligible for notification display during these periods, along with which conversations can be visible or hidden. Message categorisation can be determined either by user input or via AI that can assess message types.

The patent highlights the tech will be compatible with different portable devices, including laptops, desktops, mobile phones, tablets, gaming consoles, and AI-powered digital assistants like Copilot. The system can also be integrated into apps and platforms like Teams, Edge, and Skype, enabling users to filter and restrict specific notifications.

The technology potentially grants significantly more control over the privacy of user conversations, attachments, documents, and notifications, such as in scenarios where personal devices are leveraged for Teams meetings where notifications can disrupt the experience and possibly expose sensitive information to all participants.

What Other Microsoft News Has There Been This Past Week?

Over the Easter Weekend, Microsoft confirmed that it would sell Teams and Office separately around the world.

The announcement comes six months after Microsoft unbundled the products in Europe, intending to avoid an EU antitrust fine. That threat followed a 2020 complaint by collaboration competitor Slack, and the European Commission soon started proceedings for a formal investigation.

While the antitrust ruling is yet to be revealed, Microsoft aspires to get ahead of the curve. After unbundling the products in Europe, it highlighted “feedback” from the European Commission in its decision to unbundle the services globally.

According to Reuters, a Microsoft spokesperson stated: “To ensure clarity for our customers, we are extending the steps we took last year to unbundle Teams from M365 and O365 in the European Economic Area and Switzerland to customers globally. Doing so also addresses feedback from the European Commission by providing multinational companies more flexibility when they want to standardize their purchasing across geographies.”

In other Microsoft news, last week, the tech giant introduced Copilot’s intelligent meeting recap capability to VoIP and PSTN calls in Teams.

The feature counts among a variety of new Copilot capabilities announced during Enterprise Connect week, including an expanded Teams chat compose box, improved meeting insights for Copilot in meetings, and automatic camera switching for Intelliframe. Similar to its functionality across Teams video meetings, intelligent call recap offers AI-powered insights, summaries, recaps, and recommendations for users’ VoIP and PSTN calls in Teams.

“Intelligent call recap brings one of the best meetings AI features to calling,” wrote Nicole Herskowitz, Vice President at Microsoft Teams, in an accompanying blog. “Intelligent call recap can provide AI-powered insights and recaps of your VoIP and Public Switched Telephone Network calls in Teams.”

This feature will be generally available in June with Teams Premium and Copilot.



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