Method and system for supporting the communication of presence information regarding one or more telephony devices
First Claim
1. A method for enabling the activity and availability of a first computing device on a network to be monitored by a second computing device on the network, the activity representing how active the first computing device is on the network, the availability representing whether or not the first device is available to engage in network telephony with the second device, the method comprising:
- receiving from the first computing device one or more access preferences indicating which computing devices are permitted to monitor the first computing device;
receiving from the second computing device a request to monitor the first computing device, the request being acknowledged regardless of the first computing device'"'"'s availability or activity; and
based on the one or more access preferences, and based on the monitored activity and availability of the first computing device, informing the second computing device of the availability and activity of the first computing device.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system for detecting and communicating the presence of one or more computing devices is presented. The invention also presents a method and system for aggregating presence information generated by multiple devices associated with a single user. A server acting as a presence agent on behalf of a first user receives and responds to a subscription request generated by a computing device operated by a second user that wishes to be permitted as a watcher of the first user. When the second user corresponds to access preferences specified by the first user, a notify message is sent to the second user'"'"'s device that includes presence information indicative of an activity level and availability level associated with the first user. When the first user employs multiple computing devices, the server generates an aggregate presence document that is representative of the overall presence of the first user.
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Citations
42 Claims
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1. A method for enabling the activity and availability of a first computing device on a network to be monitored by a second computing device on the network, the activity representing how active the first computing device is on the network, the availability representing whether or not the first device is available to engage in network telephony with the second device, the method comprising:
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receiving from the first computing device one or more access preferences indicating which computing devices are permitted to monitor the first computing device;
receiving from the second computing device a request to monitor the first computing device, the request being acknowledged regardless of the first computing device'"'"'s availability or activity; and
based on the one or more access preferences, and based on the monitored activity and availability of the first computing device, informing the second computing device of the availability and activity of the first computing device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A system for conveying presence information about a first user to a second user, the first user having a plurality of computing devices that are capable of generating presence information, the second user having a computing device in communication with a computer network, the system comprising:
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one or more servers in communication with the computer network and executing programs comprising;
a presence agent;
an aggregator component; and
computer-readable media accessible by the one or more servers and having stored thereon information regarding the second user'"'"'s desire to monitor the presence of the first user, wherein the presence agent detects which of the plurality of computing devices indicates the highest degree of presence upon the network, wherein the aggregator component generates an aggregate document representing the degree to which the plurality of computing devices is present upon the network, and wherein the one or more servers transmit the aggregate presence document to the second user'"'"'s computing device based on information stored in the computer readable media. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method for generating an aggregate presence document representing the overall presence of a user, the method comprising:
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receiving a plurality of presence documents generated by a plurality of computing devices of the user, the presence documents including data representative of an activity level and availability level associated with each of the plurality of computing devices;
analyzing the plurality of presence documents to identify at least one presence document that has a high presence priority setting; and
generating the aggregate presence document based on the activity level and availability level associated with presence document having the high presence priority setting. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A method for generating an aggregate presence document based on presence information generated by one or more computing devices, the aggregate presence document specifying the overall presence of the one or more computing devices, the method comprising:
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receiving a service message generated by at least one of the computing devices, the service message including one or more presence documents and one or more procedure calls for initiating the transfer of presence information to the presence agent, the presence information including data representative of an activity level and availability level associated with each of the one or more computing devices;
analyzing the plurality of presence documents to identify at least one of the presence documents that has a highest presence priority; and
generating the aggregate presence document by including data representative of an activity level and availability level associated with the at least one presence document that has the highest presence priority, the aggregate document also including other presence data obtained from the plurality of presence documents. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. A system for communicating presence information related to a first computing device to a second computing device over a network by a presence agent, the presence agent communicating the presence information in response to a request message submitted by the second computing device, the request message requesting access by the second computing device to the presence information, the system comprising:
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means for receiving from the first computing device a message having one or more procedure calls for initiating the transfer of presence information to the presence agent;
means for receiving from the first computing device a message having one or more procedure calls for initiating the transfer of access preferences associated with the first computing device to the presence agent;
means for submitting an acceptance message to the second computing device indicating that the second computing device can access the presence information, the acceptance message being submitted regardless of whether the first computing device is present upon the network, and the acceptance message being submitted regardless of the access preferences specified by the first computing device; and
means for submitting a notification message to the second computing device, the notification message including a presence document having data representative of an activity level and availability level associated with the first computing device, the notification message being submitted regardless of whether the first computing device is present upon the network. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37)
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38. A method for relaying presence information to a subscriber in the absence of a presentity, the presentity operating a presence user agent that generates information indicative of the ability of the presentity to receive calls and indicative of the operating state or tasks in which the presentity is engaged, the method comprising:
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storing information obtained from a subscriber request message into an accessible memory location, the stored information including one or more values that uniquely identify the subscriber from amongst a plurality of other devices capable of communicating over the network; and
submitting the subscriber information to the presentity when the presentity is no longer absent, wherein the presentity makes a determination whether to grant the subscriber access to the information generated by the presence user agent. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42)
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Specification