Method of notifying the presence of a terminal in a communications system and a system therefor

Abstract

Disclosed is a method notifying the presence information of terminals in an electronic communications system including a plurality of terminals, at least an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) ( ) server, and a presence server for managing the presence information of the terminals. The method causes one of the terminals to transmit a notification message of its presence information containing communication state information to the IMS, causes the IMS server to the communication state information of the other terminals retrieved from the presence server to the one terminal in response to the notification message, the other terminals being registered by the user of the one terminal, and causes the one terminal to display the communication state information of the other terminals.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram for illustrating an electronic communications system providing the Active Phone Book (APB) services according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for illustrating the exchange of signals between a terminal and an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) server to provide the Active Phone Book (APB) services according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart for illustrating the process of a terminal providing the Active Phone Book (APB) services according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart for illustrating the process of displaying the communication state of the other terminals registered by the user of one terminal on the Active Phone Book (APB) screen according to the present invention;

FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate the communication state of the users of the other registered terminals displayed in the Active Phone Book (APB) screen according to the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is an example of the format of the PUBLISH method provided by the invention for causing the terminal to transmit the presence information containing the communication state information to the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)server in the process of FIG. 2 according of the present invention.

Claims

1. In an electronic communications system comprising a plurality of terminals, at least an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) server, and a presence server for managing the presence information of said terminals, a method of notifying the presence information of said terminals, comprising the steps of: causing one of said terminals to transmit a notification message of its presence information containing communication state information to the IMS server;causing said IMS server to transmit the communication state information of the other terminals retrieved from said presence server to said one terminal in response to said notification message, the other terminals being registered by the user of said one terminal; andcausing said one terminal to display the communication state information of said other terminals.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising causing said one terminal to transmit another notification message of the presence information containing its changed communication state information to said IMS server; andcausing said IMS server to transmit the changed communication state information of said one terminal to said presence server to update the communication state information of said one terminal.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein transmitting the presence information containing the communication state information of said other registered terminals is performed at a predetermined period or whenever the presence information containing the communication state information is updated.

4. A method as defined in claim 3 further comprising, transmitting only the updated communication state information whenever the presence information containing the communication state information is updated.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein said one terminal compares the communication state information of said other terminals presently received with the previous one to display the communication state information changed.

6. A system for notifying the presence information of terminals comprising: a plurality of terminals for generating their respective presence information containing their respective communication state information;a presence server for managing the presence information containing the communication state information; andan IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) server for receiving the communication state information of said terminals from said presence server, wherein if one of said terminals transmitting a notification message of its presence information containing the communication state information to said IMS server, said IMS server retrieves the presence information containing the communication state information of the other terminals registered by the user of said one terminal from said presence server, and transmitting it to said one terminal to display it.

7. A system as defined in claim 6, wherein said one transmits another notification message of the presence information containing its changed communication state information to said IMS server.

8. A system as defined in claim 7, wherein said IMS server transmits the changed communication state information of said one terminal to said presence server to update the communication state information of said one terminal.

9. A method as defined in claim 6, wherein said IMS server transmits the presence information containing the communication state information of said other registered terminals at one of a predetermined period and whenever the presence information containing the communication state information is updated.

10. A method as defined in claim 9, wherein said IMS server transmits only the updated communication state information whenever the presence information containing the communication state information is updated.

11. A method as defined in claim 6, wherein said one terminal compares the communication state information of said other terminals presently received with the previous one to display the communication state information changed.