FLEXIBLY CONFIGURED PRESENCE SERVER

Abstract

A presence server includes a receiver to receive a variety of publishing and subscribe requests from a variety of sources; a plurality of elements to process the requests; and a presence manager to flexibly configure the elements as a function of the type of the requests received. A method for processing presence information includes receiving a variety of publishing and subscribe requests from a variety of sources; processing the requests with a plurality of elements; and configuring the elements as a function of the type of the requests received.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The subject matter regarded as the invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification. The invention, however, both as to organization and method of operation, together with objects, features, and advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following detailed description when read with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic drawing of a prior art presence server.

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of a novel presence server, constructed and operative in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 3A, 3B, 4 and 5 are flow charts of control between the various entities included in the presence server illustrated in FIG. 2.

Claims

1. A presence server comprising: a receiver for receiving a variety of publishing and subscribe requests from a variety of sources;a plurality of elements for processing the requests; anda presence manager for flexibly configuring the elements as a function of a type of the requests received.

2. The presence server according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of elements comprises: a plurality of aggregators, each aggregator aggregating presence segments from one type of entity; andan aggregator manager for analyzing an incoming publishing request and for activating at least one of the aggregators which is compatible with the request.

3. The presence server according to claim 1, wherein the sources comprise at least one of the following entities: a computer, a cell phone, a telephone, a personal digital assistant, a printer, and a fax machine.

4. The presence server according to claim 2, wherein the aggregators are removable.

5. The presence server according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of elements comprises a resource list manager for retrieving a list of resources from at least one resource list.

6. The presence server according to claim 5, wherein the resource list manager comprises means for accessing a URL to receive a requested resource list and means for providing the resource list to the presence manager.

7. The presence server according to claim 6, wherein the presence manager comprises means for processing an individual subscribe request for each member of the resource list.

8. The presence server according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of elements comprises an external provider manager for retrieving additional information about resources available from external providers.

9. A method for processing presence information comprising: receiving a variety of publishing and subscribe requests from a variety of sources;processing the requests with a plurality of elements; andconfiguring the elements as a function of a type of the requests received.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the processing comprises: analyzing each publishing request received from a logical entity to determine its type;selecting an appropriate aggregator from among a set of pluggable aggregators to process each type of request; andaggregating presence information segments from each type.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the processing comprises: selecting an associated document processor to process each segment; andcreating a presence information document by manipulating and verifying all the segments from the logical entity.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein the sources comprise at least one of the following entities: a computer, a cell phone, a telephone, a personal digital assistant, a printer, and a fax machine.

13. The method according to claim 9, wherein the processing comprises: determining whether or not the subscribe request requires external provider information;forwarding a request for external provider information to an external provider registry;receiving the external provider information from the external provider registry; andincluding the external provider information in a presence information document.

14. The method according to claim 9, wherein the processing comprises: determining whether or not the subscribe request is associated with a list of resources;forwarding a request for the list of resources to a resource list registry;receiving the resource list from the resource list registry; andcreating a subscription for each member of the resource list.

15. A computer product readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for processing presence information, the method steps comprising: receiving a variety of publishing and subscribe requests from a variety of sources;processing the requests with a plurality of elements; andconfiguring the elements as a function of a type of the requests received.

16. The computer product according to claim 15, wherein the processing comprises: analyzing each publishing request received from a logical entity to determine its type;selecting an appropriate aggregator from among a set of pluggable aggregators to process each the type of request; andaggregating presence information segments from each type.

17. The computer product according to claim 16, wherein the processing comprises: selecting an associated document processor to process each segment; andcreating a presence information document by manipulating and verifying all the segments from the logical entity.

18. The computer product according to claim 15, wherein the sources comprise at least one of the following entities: a computer, a cell phone, a telephone, a personal digital assistant, a printer, and a fax machine.

19. The computer product according to claim 15, wherein the processing comprises: determining whether or not the subscribe request requires external provider information;forwarding a request for external provider information to an external provider registry;receiving the external provider information from the external provider registry; andincluding the external provider information in a presence information document.

20. The computer product according to claim 15, wherein the processing comprises: determining whether or not the subscribe request is associated with a list of resources;forwarding a request for the list of resources to a resource list registry;receiving the resource list from the resource list registry; andcreating a subscription for each member of the resource list.