System and method for centrally-hosted presence reporting

• US 20050079873A1
• Filed: 09/26/2003
• Published: 04/14/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Unify Inc. (Atos SE)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Communications Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Beyda, William J., Caspi, Rami
• Granted Patent: US 7,546,127 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

A telecommunications system according to an embodiment of the present invention 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, said database further including position-presence correlation information for individual users; wherein said positioning server (152) is adapted to receive position information from said plurality of network clients and distribute presence information related to said position information as one or more e-mails to one or more network enterprise devices (122, 104).

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, said database further including position- presence correlation information for individual users;

wherein said positioning server is adapted to receive position information from said plurality of network clients and distribute presence information related to said position information as one or more text messages to one or more network enterprise devices.

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 3, wherein said plurality of network clients are adapted to receive updates to said position-presence correlation information as e-mails from said positioning server.

5. A telecommunications server, comprising:

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

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

an e-mail generation unit adapted to generate presence status e-mail and location-presence correlation information from said location information for network users.

6. A telecommunications server in accordance with claim 5, wherein said location control unit receives said location information via an enterprise specific dial- up.

7. 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 as one or more rules e-mails.

8. A telecommunications method in accordance with claim 7, further comprising:

receiving positioning updates at said remote device; and

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

9. A telecommunications method in accordance with claim 8, wherein said eceiving one or more user positioning and presence correlation rules comprises eceiving at a server one or more rules set via a network interface device operably oupled to said local controller.

10. A telecommunications method in accordance with claim 9, wherein said eceiving positioning updates comprises receiving one or more signals from a global ositioning network.

11. A telecommunications method in accordance with claim 10, further omprising transmitting positioning updates from said remote device to one or more ervers via a radio-linked network.

12. A telecommunications method in accordance with claim 11, wherein said radio-linked network comprises a cellular telephone network.

13. A telecommunications method in accordance with claim 11, wherein said radio-linked network comprises a personal communication service (PCS) network.

14. A telecommunications device, comprising:

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

a communications controller adapted to receive said positioning information from said positioning controller and cause said positioning information to be transmitted to an associated server; and

an e-mail controller adapted to receive control updates from said associated server.

15. A telecommunications device as recited in claim 14, wherein said positioning controller receives Global Positioning System (GPS) signals to determine said positioning information.

16. A telecommunications device as recited in claim 15, further including a rules database of location and presence related information.

17. A telecommunications device as recited in claim 16, wherein said communications controller transmits changes to location and presence status to said associated server via a wireless dial-up connection.

18. A telecommunications device as recited in claim 16, wherein said communications controller transmits changes to location status to said associated server via a wireless dial-up connection.

19. A telecommunications device as recited in claim 16, wherein said communications controller receives updates to said rules database as e-mails from said associated server.