Patent Application
20080065755
The numerous advantages of the present invention may be better understood by those skilled in the art by reference to the accompanying figures in which:
The following discussion is presented to enable a person skilled in the art to make and use the present teachings. Various modifications to the illustrated embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles herein may be applied to other embodiments and applications without departing from the present teachings. Thus, the present teachings are not intended to be limited to embodiments shown, but are to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features disclosed herein. The following detailed description is to be read with reference to the figures, in which like elements in different figures have like reference numerals. The figures, which are not necessarily to scale, depict selected embodiments and are not intended to limit the scope of the present teachings. Skilled artisans will recognize the examples provided herein have many useful alternatives and fall within the scope of the present teachings.
In some embodiments of the present invention, a service provides presence and identity information across multiple service providers of trusted colleagues to a mobile telephone user. Since GUI's are not always available, having an easy way to quickly access presence information over a TUI (telephone user interface) would be helpful.
With reference to
The entities may communicate over one or more networks 112, 114 or interconnection of networks. The entities 102-110 and networks 112, 114 may exchange information using a packet based protocol. For example, the messaging systems 102-106, presence information system 108, and endpoints 110 may employ the Real Time Protocol (RTP) over the User Datagram Protocol (UDP). Other protocols, including the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) or other network protocols may be additionally or alternatively employed. In addition, the signaling between the entities 102-110 may proceed according to the H.323 packet-based multimedia communications system standard published by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). The network or interconnection of networks 112, 114 may include the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and may deliver data to home or business computers, programs, PDAs, pagers, cell phones, wireline phones, internet phones, or any other communication device, electronic system, or system component or program.
The entities in the network 100 may employ protocols that adhere to any desired specification. For example, the entities may employ the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) developed for Internet conferencing, telephony, presence, events notification and instant messaging, the Jabber protocol, or SIP for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions (SIMPLE). The form and content of the presence information may be established according to protocols consistent with the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Request for Comments (RFC) 2778 or IETF RFC 2779. Alternatively, the entities may employ extensions to RFC 2778 or RFC 2779, or may employ proprietary protocols.
The subscribers 116 interact with the network 100. A subscriber may be any entity that may be associated with presence information, including a human being, an electronic device, a computer program, or other entity. The subscriber 116 may have one or more presence states that may be relative to one or more endpoints 110. Table 1 shows examples of presence states and descriptions of the presence states.
The presence states shown in Table 1 may be applicable to an individual subscriber 116. The presence states may also be applicable to other entities, including aggregate entities such as workgroups, group mailboxes or group phone connections. For example, a presence state may reflect the availability of a group of customer service representatives in a complaint department. When no representative is available to handle the call, the associated presence state may be ‘On the Phone’. The presence information may reflect the availability of at least one member of the group, or may reflect other presence information applicable to the group as a whole.
For example, the ‘Be Right Back’ presence state indicates that the subscriber is in the office or otherwise available. However, the subscriber is temporarily away from the endpoint at which the subscriber receives messages. Different, fewer, or additional presence states may be used. As another example, the collection of presence states may simply be ‘Idle’, ‘Busy’, and ‘Away’.
Presence states may also reflect an aggregated media state. The aggregated media states may apply to specific types of communication or may apply over any other subset of endpoints associated with the subscriber. As examples, the aggregated media states may apply to voice communications, instant messaging, and email messaging. Accordingly, a subscriber that is associated with multiple endpoints (e.g., phone numbers, email addresses, or instant messaging addresses) may have a presence state that aggregates availability over any subset of the endpoints. For example, a subscriber with a desk phone and a cell phone may have an aggregated media presence state of ‘Busy’ when at least one of the phones is in use. As another example, the subscriber may have an aggregated media presence state of ‘Available’ when both phones are not in use. Table 2 shows examples of aggregated media states. Different, fewer, or additional aggregated presence states may be used.
The endpoints 110 and/or subscribers 116 may communicate presence information to the presence information system 108. For example, the endpoints 110 may monitor subscriber activity and communicate a presence message to the presence information system 108. The presence message may indicate, as examples, that the subscriber has initiated a phone call, ended a phone call, started to type an instant message or email message, or may indicate any other presence information.
The presence state information may be communicated in the form of a presence document. The format of the presence document may adhere to any proposed or accepted standard for communicating presence information. In one implementation, the presence document is an extensible markup language (XML) document that identifies a subscriber and the presence or availability of the subscriber with respect to one or more ‘addresses’, including endpoints such as telephone numbers, email addresses, instant messaging addresses, or the like. When an endpoint publishes a presence document to the presence information system 108, the presence document typically only contains information about that particular endpoint. The presence information system 108 may then aggregate information from all of the subscriber's endpoints. The aggregate presence document may be made available in whole or in part to other endpoints that request the presence information.
The presence information system 108 receives the presence document. The systems 102-108 may process the presence documents and may maintain presence information for one or more subscribers. Alternatively or additionally, the messaging systems 102-106 may receive presence documents from the presence information system 108.
For example, the messaging system 102 may at any time poll or subscribe to the presence information system 108 for the current presence state of a subscriber. In response, the presence information system 108 may communicate a presence document for the subscriber to the messaging system 102. In such a case, the messaging system 102 acts as another endpoint with regard to receipt of presence information. The presence information system 108 need not send the presence document or populate the presence document with the requested information in every instance however. Instead, the presence information system 108 may manage the availability of the subscriber presence state.
With reference to
PIS 206 has a service agreement with all presence service providers 100A-E to provide a list of all their users as well as their corresponding telephone numbers, which is then stored on a local data base 200.
PIS 206 application then correlates the access/block list of each user with the corresponding telephone numbers of each buddy or entity. For example, if John Doe has two buddies, Buddy-A and Buddy-B, PIS 206 application creates a database list which lists the telephone numbers of these buddies as part of the allow/block list of John Doe.
With reference to
PIS 302 includes a processor 304 and a memory 306. Memory 306 includes contacts 308, 310, 312, 314, 316, and 318 and can be organized into groups. A contact may be any entity that the underlying infrastructure allows the subscriber to define. A contact may be another subscriber, a subscriber of a different presence provider, a buddy, a group, a program, a document, automated programs (e.g., bots), or another entity. The contacts generally represent entities interested in the subscriber's presence.
In the example shown in
PIS 302 may also include input instructions 309 that processes information received from requestor 300, such as caller ID number, phone information, and password. Instructions 309 processes any information received from requestor 300 and routes the information accordingly. For example, upon receiving the presence information of the desired entity, instructions 309 could route this information to access instructions 340.
PIS 302 may also include access override parameters 322. The override parameters 322 may allow access or block access to presence information regardless of the contact access parameter settings established by the subscriber. System policies 324 may establish the override parameters 322.
Memory 306 also includes an access determination program 326 and an automation program 328. Access determination program 326 may include determination instructions 330 and check instructions 332. Determination instructions 330 may search the contacts to ascertain to which contacts a presence requester belongs. The check instructions 332 examines the access parameters to ascertain whether the presence requester is allowed access to subscriber presence information. In an embodiment of the present invention, Access determination program 326 authenticates a presence requestor's 300 caller ID to determine whether requestor 300 is allowed access to an entity's presence information.
Automation program 334 may automatically change contact access parameters. For example the automation program 334 may process calendar entries 336 or availability rules 338 stored in the memory 306. When an availability rule 338 is applicable, or in response to a calendar entry 336, the automation program 334 may allow or block access to subscriber presence information.
With reference to
At state 402 John could call a number on his cell phone such as a toll free number (“1-800-XXX-XXXX’) of PIS 206 provider. John's caller ID information of the cell phone would be received by PIS 206. When John dials in to PIS 302, his caller ID is captured by PIS 302. When John asks for Mary's presence information his caller ID number is checked to see if it is on the buddy list of Mary. Only if Mary has John on the buddy list, and allows presence information to be displayed to John, is Mary's presence status sent. This is much simpler than John going through a cumbersome logon process to PIS 302. If John is calling from an unrecognized number based on his registration, PIS could then ask for John to input his user unique password received at his registration at state 406. If John's password is incorrect, then PIS 206 could end the session by disconnecting the call at state 408. However, if John's cell number or password are recognized by PIS 206, PIS 206 proceeds to state 410.
At state 410, John is prompted “Welcome to the presence inquiry service, whose presence would you like to know?” John can then enter Mary's name on the phone keypad 307 (
If John is not located in Mary's presence information or if John is listed as a contact to be blocked from knowing Mary's presence information, then PIS returns John to state 410 to request a different entity. If John is located as a contact in Mary's presence information, then John is given Mary's presence information over the phone at state 416. PIS could use a text-to-speech (TTS) application 303 to read John Mary's presence information (e.g., in office, in a meeting, on business trip, others listed above). In addition to the presence identity information PIS 206 could also read any accompanying text that most presence service providers allow to add to one's presence state. This text string can include important additional information, and serve as a way to convey short messages between, contacts (e.g. Back on May 15th, Contact John Public for assistance etc.).
When John is finished listening to Mary's presence information, PIS then asks John if he would like the presence information of another entity at state 418. If John does want to hear the presence information of another user, he is then routed to state 410 to begin the process. If John does not desire any further presence information, he is then routed to state 420 where the call is ended.
Embodiments of the present invention allow an easy and fast way of accessing presence information using simple phone devices, much like a “411 Service’ for presence services. It can correlate your caller ID phone number and buddy lists to allow you to receive information about your buddy's presence and identity context, without breaching the security provided by the allow/block list that each user sets. And, it can provide a central location for inquiring presence information across multiple service providers.
It is believed that the present invention and many of its attendant advantages will be understood by the foregoing description, and it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the components thereof without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention or without sacrificing all of its material advantages. The form herein before described being merely an explanatory embodiment thereof, it is the intention of the following claims to encompass and include such changes.
