System and method for determining and communicating presence information

• US 10,182,147 B2
• Filed: 09/21/2012
• Issued: 01/15/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Twilio, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Twilio, Inc.
• Inventors: Lawson, Jeff, Cooke, Evan, Simutis, Robert J., Malatack, Patrick, Conroy, Kyle
• Primary Examiner(s): Dean, Jr., Joseph
• Application Number:
  US13/624,750
• Publication Number:
  US 20130072153A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,307 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561, 709206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/043 using or handling presence information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42374 where the information is provided to a monitoring entity such as a potential calling party or a call processing server
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/16 Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold

Abstract

A system and method for communicating presence information that can include at a first server of a communication platform, receiving an authorization token of a first client application; verifying at least one permission associated with the authorization token; registering a presence status of the first client application upon verifying the at least one permission of the authorization token; at a second server of the communication platform, accepting an incoming communication request; retrieving communication instructions according to the incoming communication request; identifying an instruction to communicate with a communication destination of the first client application; accessing the presence status resource of the first client application; establishing communication with the first client application according to the accessed presence status resource.

Claims

1. A method for communicating with presence information comprising:

at a first server of a communication platform;

receiving an authorization token of a first client application;

verifying at least one permission associated with the authorization token;

registering a presence status of the first client application upon verifying the at least one permission of the authorization token;

at a second server of the communication platform;

accepting an incoming communication request from a system external to the communication platform;

retrieving communication instructions according to the incoming communication request;

identifying an instruction to communicate with a communication destination of the first client application, wherein, at the communication platform, the communication destination is associated with at least one of;

a plurality of different accounts; and

a plurality of different devices for a single account;

responsive to the instruction to communicate with the communication destination;

the second server accessing a presence status resource from the first server via a presence application protocol interface (API) of the first server, the presence status resource including the registered presence status of the first client application; and

in a case when the communication destination is associated with a plurality of different accounts, the second server determining an available account of the different accounts by using the accessed presence status resource, and routing incoming communication to the determined available account, wherein the accessed presence status resource consolidates at least a subset of a plurality of presence statuses registered for a plurality of different client applications for the plurality of different accounts; and

in a case when the communication destination is associated with a plurality of different devices for a single account, the second server determining an available device of the different devices by using the accessed presence status resource, and routing incoming communication to the determined available device, wherein the accessed presence status resource consolidates at least a subset of a plurality of presence statuses registered for the plurality of different devices for the single account.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing an account key;

and wherein verifying the authorization token includes validating a signature of the authorization token against the account key.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein communication instructions are retrieved making an HTTP request for an application markup language resource.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein routing incoming communication comprises inviting the first client application;

and upon receiving acknowledgement of invite acceptance, opening a voice channel with the first client application.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein routing incoming communication comprises inviting the first client application;

and upon receiving acknowledgement of invite acceptance, opening a video channel with the first client application.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein routing incoming communication comprises sending an asynchronous media message to the first client application.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein a publication subscription is sent from the communication platform to the first client application upon verifying the authorization token;

wherein routing incoming communication comprises publishing communication to the first client application through the publication subscription; and

further comprising publishing presence status updates to the first client application.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein routing incoming communication comprises:

for each account of the different accounts, determining availability of the account based on presence statuses of each client application of the account.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication platform is a telephony platform.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication platform is a telephony platform, and wherein the incoming communication is communication of a voice session.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication platform is a telephony platform, and wherein the incoming communication is at least one of an MMS and an SMS message.

12. A method comprising:

at a communication platform;

receiving a connection request from a calling entity external to the communication platform, the connection request being associated with a communication destination of a first client application, wherein, at the communication platform, the communication destination is associated with at least one of;

a plurality of different accounts, and a plurality of different devices for a single account;

responsive to the connection request;

accessing a presence status resource exposed by a presence server through a presence application protocol interface (API) of the presence server, wherein the presence server receives an authorization token of the first client application and registers a presence status resource of at least one account for the first client application, and wherein the presence server receives an account update at the presence server, the account update setting the presence status resource of the first client application, wherein the accessed presence status resource includes the registered presence status of the first client application;

in a case when the communication destination is associated with a plurality of different accounts, determining an available account of the different accounts by using the accessed presence status resource, and routing incoming communication to the determined available account, wherein the accessed presence status resource consolidates at least a subset of a plurality of presence statuses registered for a plurality of different client applications for the plurality of different accounts; and

in a case when the communication destination is associated with a plurality of different devices for a single account, determining an available device of the different devices by using the accessed presence status resource, and routing incoming communication to the determined available device, wherein the accessed presence status resource consolidates at least a subset of a plurality of presence statuses registered for the plurality of different devices for the single account.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising at the communication platform retrieving communication instructions from a server according to the received connection request;

identifying an instruction to communicate with the communication destination, wherein the presence status resource is accessed according to the communication destination.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein registering a presence status resource includes setting a publication subscription between the presence server and at least one client application.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein account updates are subsequently received upon presence status change of the client application.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the presence API is a representational state transfer API.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein receiving the account update to set the presence resource is received through the presence API.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the accessing the presence status resource includes accessing a plurality of presence statuses for a plurality of accounts.

19. The method of claim 12, further comprising providing an account key;

and wherein the authorization token is verified by validating a signature of the authorization token against the account key.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein upon verifying the authorization token, allowing presence status updates of a contact list to be published to the first client application.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein routing incoming communication comprises inviting the first client application;

and upon receiving acknowledgement of invite acceptance, opening a voice channel with the first client application.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein routing incoming communication comprises inviting the first client application;

and upon receiving acknowledgement of invite acceptance, opening a video channel with the first client application.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein routing incoming communication comprises sending an asynchronous media message to the first client application.

24. The method of claim 12, wherein routing incoming communication comprises:

for each account of the different accounts, determining availability of the account based on presence statuses of each client application of the account.

25. A method comprising:

at a communication platform;

receiving a connection request from a calling entity external to the communication platform, the connection request being associated with a communication destination of a first client application, wherein, at the communication platform, the communication destination is associated with a plurality of different devices for at least one account;

responsive to the connection request;

accessing a presence status resource exposed by a presence server through a presence application protocol interface (API) of the presence server, wherein the presence server receives an authorization token of the first client application and registers a presence status resource of at least one account for the first client application, and wherein the presence server receives an account update at the presence server, the account update setting the presence status resource of the first client application, wherein the accessed presence status resource includes the registered presence status of the first client application, the presence status resource consolidating at least a subset of a plurality of presence statuses registered for a plurality of different devices for at least one account;

determining an available device of the plurality of different devices by using the accessed presence status resource; and

routing incoming communication from the calling entity to the determined available device.