Claims
- 1. A method for providing a message from a sender to at least one recipient in accordance with a communication flow having a plurality of potential paths, said method comprising:
receiving said message from said sender; evaluating said communication flow, wherein said communication flow is controlled by a communication flow expression containing at least one primitive keyword indicating how said message should be processed; and processing said message based on said communication flow expression.
- 2. The method of claim 1, wherein said primitive keyword indicates that two specified operands, A and B, should be contacted simultaneously and that the communication flow expression will succeed if and only if both A and B respond successfully.
- 3. The method of claim 1, wherein said primitive keyword indicates that for two specified operands, A and B, B should be contacted only if A responds successfully and that the communication flow expression will succeed if and only if both A and B respond successfully.
- 4. The method of claim 1, wherein said primitive keyword indicates that two specified operands, A and B, should be contacted simultaneously and that the communication flow expression will succeed as long as either A or B respond successfully.
- 5. The method of claim 1, wherein said primitive keyword indicates that for two specified operands, A and B, B should be contacted only if the attempt to contact A is a failure and that the communication flow expression will succeed if either A or B responds successfully.
- 6. The method of claim 1, wherein said primitive keyword indicates that two specified operands, A and B, should be contacted simultaneously and that the communication flow expression shall have a value of the first contact to respond.
- 7. The method of claim 1, wherein said primitive keyword indicates that for two specified operands, A and B, B should be contacted only if the attempt to contact A is a failure and that the communication flow expression shall have a value of the first non-maybe response.
- 8. The method of claim 1, wherein said primitive keyword indicates that recipients should be contacted simultaneously and that the communication flow expression will succeed if a certain threshold of success responses is received.
- 9. The method of claim 1, wherein said primitive keyword indicates that recipients should be contacted sequentially and that the communication flow expression will succeed if a certain threshold of success responses is received.
- 10. The method of claim 1, wherein said primitive keyword indicates that recipients should be contacted in parallel.
- 11. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of canceling outstanding requests when said outstanding requests are complete.
- 12. The method of claim 1, wherein said primitive keyword indicates that recipients should be contacted sequentially.
- 13. The method of claim 1, wherein said primitive keyword indicates that one or more potential operand values should be reversed.
- 14. The method of claim 1, wherein said communication flow expression is evaluated using a three-valued logic.
- 15. The method of claim 14, wherein said three possible logic values are notification failure (maybe), response failure (false) and response success (true).
- 16. The method of claim 1, wherein said communication flow expression includes a success test indicating when said communication flow expression should terminate.
- 17. The method of claim 16, wherein said success test specifies a three-valued logical expression on the variables that may be included in the response received from said at least one recipient.
- 18. The method of claim 16, wherein said success test can perform aggregation and process said responses over all the responses received.
- 19. The method of claim 1, wherein said communication flow expression permits a matter to be escalated to a next level and cancels pending messages associated with a current level prior to said escalation.
- 20. The method of claim 1, wherein said communication flow expression permits a matter to be escalated to a next level and maintains pending messages associated with a current level prior to said escalation.
- 21. The method of claim 1, wherein said communication flow expression define the preferences of said sender and said at least one recipient.
- 22. The method of claim 1, wherein said communication flow expression is evaluated at the time of delivery to said at least one recipient.
- 23. The method of claim 1, wherein said communication flow expression references a communication flow rule defined by said at least one recipient, wherein said communication flow rule can adjust said communication flow to characteristics of said sender.
- 24. The method of claim 1, wherein said communication flow expression references a communication flow rule defined by said at least one recipient, wherein said communication flow rule can adjust said communication flow to characteristics of said message.
- 25. The method of claim 1, wherein said communication flow expression indicates one or more actions to perform if said at least one recipient does not respond to said message.
- 26. The method of claim 1, wherein said communication flow expression allows said at least one recipient to delegate said message to another recipient.
- 27. The method of claim 1, wherein said communication flow expression allows said at least one recipient to delegate said message to another recipient after reading said message.
- 28. The method of claim 1, wherein said communication flow expression indicates preferences of said at least one recipient using temporal constraints
- 29. The method of claim 1, wherein said communication flow expression indicates preferences of said at least one recipient using temporal domains.
- 30. The method of claim 1, wherein said communication flow expression notifies one or more designated persons in the event of an emergency.
- 31. A method for providing a message from a sender to at least one recipient in accordance with a communication flow having a plurality of potential paths, said method comprising:
receiving said message from said sender; evaluating said communication flow, wherein said communication flow is controlled by a communication flow expression indicating how said message should be processed, wherein said communication flow expression is evaluated using a three-valued logic; and processing said message based on said communication flow expression.
- 32. A system for providing a message from a sender to at least one recipient in accordance with a communication flow having a plurality of potential paths, said system comprising:
a memory that stores computer-readable code; and a processor operatively coupled to said memory, said processor configured to implement said computer-readable code, said computer-readable code configured to:
receive said message from said sender; evaluate said communication flow, wherein said communication flow is controlled by a communication flow expression containing at least one primitive keyword indicating how said message should be processed; and process said message based on said communication flow expression.
- 33. A system for providing a message from a sender to at least one recipient in accordance with a communication flow having a plurality of potential paths, said system comprising:
a memory that stores computer-readable code; and a processor operatively coupled to said memory, said processor configured to implement said computer-readable code, said computer-readable code configured to:
receive said message from said sender; evaluate said communication flow, wherein said communication flow is controlled by a communication flow expression indicating how said message should be processed, wherein said communication flow expression is evaluated using a three-valued logic; and process said message based on said communication flow expression.
- 34. A system for providing a message from a sender to at least one recipient in accordance with a communication flow having a plurality of potential paths, said system comprising:
means for receiving said message from said sender; means for evaluating said communication flow, wherein said communication flow is controlled by a communication flow expression containing at least one primitive keyword indicating how said message should be processed; and means for processing said message based on said communication flow expression.
- 35. The system of claim 34, further comprising means for evaluating said communication flow expression using a three-valued logic.
- 36. An article of manufacture for providing a message from a sender to at least one recipient in accordance with a communication flow having a plurality of potential paths, said article of manufacture comprising:
a computer readable medium having computer readable code means embodied thereon, said computer readable program code means comprising: a step to receive said message from said sender; a step to evaluate said communication flow, wherein said communication flow is controlled by a communication flow expression containing at least one primitive keyword indicating how said message should be processed; and a step to process said message based on said communication flow expression.
- 37. The article of manufacture of claim 36, wherein said computer readable program code means further comprises a step to evaluate said communication flow expression using a three-valued logic.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
PCT/US02/15513 |
May 2002 |
US |
|
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/291,087, filed May 15, 2001, and claims priority to PCT Application Serial Number PCT/US02/15513, filed May 14, 2002.