System and method for presence enabled e-mail delivery

• US 20040177119A1
• Filed: 03/06/2003
• Published: 09/09/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Unify Inc. (Atos SE)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Enterprise Communications, Inc. (Atos SE)
• Inventors: Beyda, William J., Caspi, Rami, Mason, Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 7,698,367 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/23 Reliability checks, e.g. acknowledgments or fault reporting

Abstract

A telecommunications system includes a network (102), a destination multimedia server (104), and a destination presence server (215) operably coupled to the network. A plurality of multimedia clients (122) are also operably coupled to the network. The multimedia clients (122) include a presence option (128) and are adapted to be able to select whether the option is to be activated. In operation, when a client sends an e-mail to another client, the destination multimedia server (104) receives the e-mail and determines if the recipient supports presence. If so, the destination multimedia server (104) sends a query to the destination presence server (215) to check the recipient'"'"'s presence. If the recipient is present, the message can be delivered. If not, the message can be held on the server until the recipient is present.

Claims

1. A telecommunications method, comprising:

identifying an e-mail at a mail server as requesting a presence determination of a recipient prior to delivery;

querying a presence server as to a presence of said recipient;

delivering said e-mail to said recipient if said presence server indicates that said recipient is present.

2. A telecommunications method in accordance with claim 1, further comprising holding said e-mail at said mail server until said presence server indicates that said recipient is present.

3. A telecommunications method in accordance with claim 1, further comprising said mail server periodically querying said presence server to determine if said recipient is present.

4. A telecommunications method in accordance with claim 1, wherein said mail server is added as a phantom member of one or more buddy lists.

5. A telecommunications method in accordance with claim 1, further comprising sending a test message to determine if a recipient supports presence service for e-mail.

6. A telecommunications server, comprising:

an e-mail presence module adapted to receive an e-mail and determine therefrom whether a presence of a recipient is to be determined; and

a presence module responsive to controls from said e-mail presence module and adapted to determine a presence of a recipient of said e-mail prior to sending said e-mail to said recipient.

7. A telecommunications server in accordance with claim 6, said e-mail presence module adapted to read one or more function commands in said e-mail message to determine whether to check a presence of said recipient.

8. A telecommunications server in accordance with claim 6, said presence module adapted to determine a presence of a recipient using an Instant Messaging buddy list.

9. A telecommunications server in accordance with claim 8, wherein said recipient is temporarily added to a sender'"'"'s buddy list.

10. A telecommunications server in accordance with claim 8, wherein a plurality of user buddy lists are combined into a super buddy list.

11. A telecommunications server in accordance with claim 8, wherein said server is added to one or more users'"'"' buddy lists.

12. A telecommunications system, comprising:

a plurality of electronic messaging clients;

at least one messaging server, said at least one messaging server comprising;

an e-mail presence module adapted to receive an e-mail and determine therefrom whether a presence of a recipient is to be determined; and

a presence module responsive to controls from said e-mail presence module and adapted to determine a presence of a recipient of said e-mail prior to sending said e-mail to said recipient.

13. A telecommunications system in accordance with claim 12, said e-mail presence module adapted to read one or more function commands in said e-mail message to determine whether to check a presence of said recipient.

14. A telecommunications system in accordance with claim 12, said presence module adapted to determine a presence of a recipient using an Instant Messaging buddy list.

15. A telecommunications system in accordance with claim 14, wherein said recipient is temporarily added to a sender'"'"'s buddy list.

16. A telecommunications system in accordance with claim 14, wherein a plurality of user buddy lists are combined into a super buddy list.

17. A telecommunications system in accordance with claim 14, wherein said server is added to one or more users'"'"' buddy lists.

18. A method for providing a telecommunications server, comprising:

providing an e-mail presence module adapted to receive an e-mail and determine therefrom whether a presence of a recipient is to be determined; and

providing a presence module responsive to controls from said e-mail presence module and adapted to determine a presence of a recipient of said e-mail prior to sending said e-mail to said recipient.

19. A method in accordance with claim 18, said e-mail presence module adapted to read one or more function commands in said e-mail message to determine whether to check a presence of said recipient.

20. A method in accordance with claim 18, said presence module adapted to determine a presence of a recipient using an Instant Messaging buddy list.

21. A method in accordance with claim 20, wherein said recipient is temporarily added to a sender'"'"'s buddy list.

22. A method in accordance with claim 20, wherein a plurality of user buddy lists are combined into a super buddy list.

23. A method in accordance with claim 20, wherein said server is added to one or more users'"'"' buddy lists.

24. A telecommunications method, comprising:

providing a plurality of electronic messaging clients; and

providing at least one messaging server, said at least one messaging server comprising;

an e-mail presence module adapted to receive an e-mail and determine therefrom whether a presence of a recipient is to be determined; and

a presence module responsive to controls from said e-mail presence module and adapted to determine a presence of a recipient of said e-mail prior to sending said e-mail to said recipient.

25. A method in accordance with claim 24, said e-mail presence module adapted to read one or more function commands in said e-mail message to determine whether to check a presence of said recipient.

26. A method in accordance with claim 25, said presence module adapted to determine a presence of a recipient using an Instant Messaging buddy list.

27. A method in accordance with claim 26, wherein said recipient is temporarily added to a sender'"'"'s buddy list.

28. A method in accordance with claim 26, wherein a plurality of user buddy lists are combined into a super buddy list.

29. A telecommunications system in accordance with claim 26, wherein said server is added to one or more users'"'"' buddy lists.