System and method for global positioning system (GPS) based presence

• US 20050071237A1
• Filed: 09/26/2003
• Published: 03/31/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Unify Inc. (Atos SE)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Enterprise Communications, Inc. (Atos SE)
• Inventors: Beyda, William J., Caspi, Rami
• Granted Patent: US 7,848,761 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/25
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/17 Emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems

Abstract

A telecommunications system includes a plurality of network clients (150) including a positioning controller (504) and a communications controller (502); and a positioning server (152) including a coordinating controller (161) for maintaining a database of network clients to be tracked and provide updates of position-related information to a presence server (104). The plurality of network clients (150) are configured to transmit position information received via the positioning controller (504) to the positioning server (104) using the communications controller (502).

Claims

1. A telecommunications system, comprising:

a plurality of network clients including a positioning controller and a communications controller; and

a positioning server including a coordinating controller for maintaining a database of network clients to be tracked and provide updates of position-related information to a presence server;

wherein said plurality of network clients are configured to transmit position information received via said positioning controller to said positioning server via said communications controller.

2. A telecommunications system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said positioning controller receives global positioning network signals for determining a position of an associated network client.

3. A telecommunications system in accordance with claim 2, wherein said communications controller comprises a cellular network controller for transmitting on a cellular telephone network to said positioning server.

4. A telecommunications system in accordance with claim 1, wherein positioning server includes an e-mail message generator for communicating said updates to said presence server.

5. A telecommunications system in accordance with claim 1, wherein positioning server includes an Instant Messaging message generator for communicating said updates to said presence server.

6. A telecommunications system in accordance with claim 1, wherein positioning server includes a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) message generator for communicating said updates to said presence server.

7. A telecommunications system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said presence server maintains a database of location and presence correlation pairs for registered users and receives location updates from said positioning server.

8. A telecommunications system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said positioning server maintains a database of location and presence correlation pairs for registered users and provides presence updates to said presence server.

9. A telecommunications device, comprising:

a positioning controller adapted to determine positioning information for said telecommunications device; and

a cellular telephone controller adapted to receive said positioning information from said positioning controller and cause said positioning information to be transmitted to an associated server.

10. A telecommunications device as recited in claim 9, wherein said positioning controller receives Global Positioning System (GPS) signals to determine said positioning information.

11. A telecommunications device as recited in claim 9, further including a rules database of location and presence related information.

12. A telecommunications device as recited in claim 11, wherein said cellular telephone controller transmits changes to location and presence status to said associated server.

13. A telecommunications device as recited in claim 11, wherein said cellular telephone controller transmits changes to location status to said associated server.

14. A telecommunications device as recited in claim 11, wherein said cellular telephone controller receives updates to said rules database from said associated server.

15. A telecommunications server, comprising:

a presence control unit adapted to receive and maintain presence information for a plurality of users; and

a location control unit adapted to receive and maintain location information for said plurality of users, said location information correlated with said presence information.

16. A telecommunications server in accordance with claim 15, including a first interface for receiving predefined presence-location correlation rules from associated users.

17. A telecommunications server in accordance with claim 16, wherein receiving said location information comprises receiving user-positioning updates from a remote user from an operably coupled wireless network.

18. A telecommunications server in accordance with claim 17, wherein said operably coupled wireless network comprises a cellular telephone network.

19. A telecommunications server in accordance with claim 17, wherein said operably coupled wireless network comprises a personal communication service (PCS) network.

20. A telecommunications server in accordance with claim 17, further comprising a second interface for transmitting user-positioning updates to an operably coupled enterprise server.

21. A telecommunications server in accordance with claim 20 wherein said receiving said user-positioning updates comprises receiving said user-positioning updates via a telephone dial-in and said second interface comprises an e-mail interface.

22. A telecommunications server in accordance with claim 20 wherein said receiving said user-positioning updates comprises receiving said user-positioning updates via a telephone dial-in and said second interface comprises a text messaging interface.

23. A telecommunications server in accordance with claim 17, further comprising a second interface for transmitting user-positioning updates to one or more local users in a packet telephony format.

24. A telecommunications method, comprising:

receiving one or more user positioning and presence correlation rules at a local controller; and

transmitting said one or more positioning and presence correlation rules to a remote device.

25. A telecommunications method in accordance with claim 24, further comprising:

receiving positioning updates at said remote device; and

transmitting presence updates to other local controllers or remote devices as specified in said one or more positioning and presence correlation rules.

26. A telecommunications method in accordance with claim 25, wherein said receiving one or more user positioning and presence correlation rules comprises receiving at a server one or more rules set via a network interface device operably coupled to said one or more local controllers.

27. A telecommunications method in accordance with claim 26, wherein said receiving positioning updates comprises receiving one or more signals from a global positioning network.

28. A telecommunications method in accordance with claim 25, further comprising transmitting positioning updates from said remote device to one or more servers via a radio-linked network.

29. A telecommunications method in accordance with claim 28, wherein said radio-linked network comprises a cellular telephone network.

30. A telecommunications method in accordance with claim 28, wherein said radio-linked network comprises a personal communication service (PCS) network.

31. A telecommunications method in accordance with claim 28, wherein said one or more user positioning and presence correlation rules comprise one or more time-of-day parameters.

32. A telecommunications method in accordance with claim 28, wherein said one or more user positioning and presence correlation rules comprise one or more day-of-week parameters.