Presence system and method for presence management

• US 20050218206A1
• Filed: 03/03/2005
• Published: 10/06/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Ohno, Takashi, Kakuta, Jun
• Granted Patent: US 7,677,436 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/375
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 11/00 Arrangements, systems or apparatus for checking, e.g. the occurrence of a condition, not provided for elsewhere
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/27 with central registration
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/28 the pass enabling tracking or indicating presence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• 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

Abstract

A presence server stores a presence that is identified by presence IDs “a1” and “a2”, as the presence of a user “A”. User “A” can pass a card that they hold through a card reader at a timing of their choosing. The card reader reads in data from the card and transmits a renewal request to the presence server. The renewal request includes a renewer ID, an object ID, category information and the presence. When the presence server receives the renewal request, it specifies the presence ID “a1” of user “A” to be the presence that is to be renewed, based on the category information, and moreover, rewrites the presence of the presence ID “a1” to a presence “meeting room A” that is included in the renewal request. Thus, the card reader can renew the presence designated by the “category information”. As for the presence that is renewed, it is notified to a watcher of the presence “a1” from the presence server.

Claims

1. A presence system that manages presences of a user identified by a user identifier that specifies the user, the presence system comprising:

a reception unit for receiving a renewal request that includes;

a user identifier of a renewer, who is a user other than the owner of the presences;

a user identifier of an object to be renewed, the object possessing a presence that the renewer attempts to set, and

a presence that the renewer attempts to set;

a category acquisition unit for acquiring category information associated with the renewer, wherein the category information represents the category of the content of the presence;

an association table that stores an association of the identifiers of the presences of the object to be renewed, and the category information;

a presence specification unit for referring to the association table, and for specifying the presence identifier associated with the category information corresponding to the renewer, and

a presence setting unit for setting the presence included in the renewal request, with respect to the specified presence identifier.

2. The presence system according to claim 1, wherein the renewal request further includes the category information, and wherein the category acquisition unit acquires the category information from the reception unit.

3. The presence system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a category information management unit for storing a category information management table that stores the category information in association with the user identifier of the renewer;

wherein the category acquisition unit acquires category information corresponding to the renewer from the category information management unit.

4. The presence system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a conversion rule table that stores conversion rules for converting the presence included in the renewal request into another presence, and

a conversion unit for converting the presence included in the renewal request in accordance with the conversion rules.

19. The presence system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a requester memory unit for storing the user identifier of the renewer and the category information associated with the renewer;

a category information notification unit for notifying the category information associated with the renewer, to the object to be renewed before the reception unit receives the transfer request, and

an association reception unit for receiving an association of the identifier of each presence of the object that is to be renewed with the category information associated with the renewer, and storing it in the association table.

5. A presence system, comprising:

a table of presences with attached category that associates and stores a presence identifier of a presence of each user, category information and the presence,

a watcher list that stores a watcher that refers to the presence, for each presence identifier of the users;

a first subscription receiving unit for receiving a subscription that includes category information corresponding to the presence that the subscriber wishes to subscribe to, a user identifier of the subscriber and a user identifier of a subscribee, and

a registration unit for specifying the presence identifier corresponding to the user identifier of the subscribee and the category information included in the subscription by searching a table of presences with attached category, and for registering the identifier of the user of the subscriber onto the watcher list of the given presence identifier.

7. The presence system according to claim 5 and 6,

wherein the first subscription receiving unit refers the category information management table that stores the identifier of the user of the subscriber, in association with the category information, and provides the category information acquisition unit for acquiring the category information associated with the identifier of a user of the subscriber.

20. The presence system according to claim 5, further comprising:

a requester memory unit for storing the user identifier of the subscriber and the category information associated with the subscriber;

a category information notification unit for notifying the category information associated with the subscriber to the subscribee before the first subscription receiving unit receives the subscription; and

an association reception unit for receiving the association of the identifiers of the presences of the subscribee and the category information associated with the subscriber, and for storing the association in the table of presences with attached category;

wherein the registration unit specifies the given presence identifier, based on the association of the identifiers of the presences of the subscribee, and the category information associated with the subscriber.

6. A presence system, comprising:

a table of presences with attached category that stores a disclosure condition of a presence of each user in association with a presence identifier, category information and the presence;

a watcher list that stores a watcher that refers to a presence, for each presence of the users;

a first subscription receiving unit for receiving a subscription that includes category information corresponding to the presence to which the subscriber wishes to subscribe, the user identifier of the subscriber and a user identifier of the subscribee, and

a disclosure judgment unit for judging whether or not the subscriber satisfies the disclosure conditions, from among the disclosure conditions of the presence of the subscribee, of the presence corresponding to the category information included in the subscription, and for registering the subscriber onto the watcher list of the subscribee if the disclosure conditions are satisfied.

21. The presence system according to claim 6, further comprising:

a requester memory unit for storing the user identifier of the subscriber and the category information associated with the subscriber;

a category information notification unit for notifying the category information associated with the subscriber to the subscribee before the first subscription receiving unit receives the subscription, and

an association reception unit for receiving the association of the identifiers of the presences of the subscribee and the category information associated with the subscriber, and for storing the association in the table of presences with attached category;

wherein the disclosure judgment unit specifies the presence identifier of the subscribee that corresponds to the category information included in the subscription, based on the association of the identifiers of the presences of the subscribee, and the category information associated with the subscriber, and if the subscriber satisfies the disclosure conditions corresponding to the presence identifiers thereof, then the disclosure judgment unit registers the subscriber onto the watcher list.

8. A presence system, comprising:

a first presence table that stores presences of each user in association with presence identifiers and category information;

a first watcher list that stores a watcher that refers to a presence, for each presence of the users;

a first transfer request receiving unit for receiving a transfer request that includes a user identifier of a transfer origin of a presence, a user identifier of a transfer destination of the presence, and category information that is associated with the transfer of the presence;

a first subscription creation unit for setting the transfer destination as a subscriber and setting the transfer origin as a subscribee, in response to receiving the transfer request, and for creating a subscription that includes category information in the transfer request;

a first watcher registration unit for associating the user identifier of the transfer destination with the category information in the transfer request, and for registering them onto the watcher list of the transfer origin, based on the subscription, and

a notification unit with attached category information for notifying the category information included in the transfer request, and the presence of the transfer origin, to the transfer destination if the presence of the transfer origin is renewed.

9. The presence system according to claim 8, wherein the first presence table further stores disclosure conditions of the presence, and wherein the notification unit with attached category information, sets the disclosure conditions of the transfer origin to the disclosure conditions of the presence, from among the presences of the transfer destination, that correspond to the category information included in the transfer request.

10. The presence system according to claim 9, wherein if the disclosure conditions of the presence of the transfer origin have changed, the notification unit with attached category information, reflects the changes of the disclosure conditions of the transfer origin onto the disclosure conditions of the presence, from among the presences of the transfer destination, corresponding to the category information included in the transfer request.

11. The presence system according to claims 8 to 10,

wherein the first transfer request receiving unit includes the category information acquisition unit for referring to the category information management table that stores the identifier of the user who is the subscriber in association with the category information, and for acquiring the category information associated with the identifier of a user of the subscriber.

12. The presence system according to claim 8, further comprising:

a second presence table that stores the presences of each user in association with the presence identifiers and the disclosure conditions of the presences;

a second watcher list that stores a watcher that refers to a presence, for each presence of the users;

a second transfer request receiving unit for receiving a transfer request that includes the user identifier of the transfer origin of the presence and the user identifier of the transfer destination of the presence;

a second subscription creation unit for setting the transfer destination as the subscriber and setting the transfer origin as the subscribee, in response to receiving the transfer request, and for creating a subscription that includes the watcher list of the transfer destination; and

a second watcher registration unit for searching for a presence from the second presence table, from among the presences of the transfer origin whose transfer destination satisfies the disclosure conditions of that transfer origin, and for registering the user identifiers of the transfer destination onto the watcher list of the presence that was searched, based on the subscription.

13. The presence system according to claim 8, further comprising:

a third presence table that stores the presences of each user in association with the presence identifiers and the disclosure conditions of the presences;

a third watcher list that stores a watcher that refers to a presence, for each presence of the users;

a third transfer request receiving unit for receiving a transfer request that includes the user identifier of the transfer origin of the presence and the user identifier of the transfer destination of the presence;

a third subscription creation unit for setting the transfer destination as the subscriber and setting the transfer origin as the subscribee, in response to receiving the transfer request, and for creating a subscription that includes the disclosure conditions of the transfer destination; and

a third watcher registration unit for searching for a presence from the presence table, from among the presences of the transfer origin whose transfer destination satisfies the disclosure conditions of that transfer origin, and for registering the user identifiers of the transfer destination onto the watcher list of the presence that was searched, based on the subscription.

14. The presence system according to claim 13, wherein if the disclosure conditions of the presence of the transfer destination changes, then the third watcher registration unit changes the registered content of the watcher list, based on the disclosure conditions of the transfer destination.

22. The presence system according to claim 8, further comprising:

a requester memory unit for storing the user identifier of the transfer destination and the category information associated with the transfer destination;

a category information notification unit for notifying the category information associated with the transfer destination to the transfer origin, before the reception unit receives the transfer request, and

an association reception unit for receiving the association of the identifiers of the presences of the transfer origin and the category information associated with the transfer destination, and storing the association in the first presence table;

wherein the first watcher registration unit specifies the presence identifier of the transfer origin corresponding to the category information included in the transfer request and the subscription, and registers the user identifier of the transfer destination and the category information onto the watcher list of the presence identifier thereof.

15. A presence system, comprising:

a presence table with attached disclosure conditions that stores the presences of each user in association with a presence identifier, disclosure conditions of the presence and the transfer origin of the presence;

a watcher list that stores watchers that refer to a presence, for each presence of the users;

a second subscription receiving unit for receiving a subscription that includes a user identifier of the subscriber and a user identifier of the subscribee;

an indirect subscription creation unit for creating a subscription to the transfer origin of the presence of the subscribee, the subscription including the user identifier of the subscriber, the user identifier of the subscribee and the user identifier of the transfer origin, and

an indirect subscription unit for retrieving for the presence that includes the subscribee in its watcher list from the presence table with attached disclosure conditions, and for registering the subscriber onto the watcher list of the subscribee, based on the retrieval result, wherein the retrieved presence is among the presences of the transfer origin, and the subscriber satisfies disclosure conditions of the retrieved presence.

16. A presence management method for managing presences of a user identified by a user identifier that specifies the user, the presence management method comprising:

a reception step for receiving a renewal request that includes;

a user identifier of a renewer, who is a user other than the owner of the presences;

a user identifier of an object to be renewed, the object possessing a presence that the renewer attempts to set, and

a presence that the renewer attempts to set;

a category acquisition step for acquiring category information associated with the renewer, wherein the category information represents the category of the content of the presence;

an association memory step for storing an association table that stores an association of the identifiers of the presences of the object to be renewed, and the category information;

a presence specification step for referring to the association table, and for specifying the presence identifier associated with the category information corresponding to the renewer, and

a presence setting step for setting the presence included in the renewal request, associated with the specified presence identifier.

17. A computer readable recording medium on which a presence management program is recorded in order to execute the management of presences of a user identified by a user identifier that specifies the user, the presence management program comprising:

a reception step for receiving a renewal request that includes;

a user identifier of a renewer, who is a user other than the owner of the presences;

a user identifier of an object to be renewed, the object possessing a presence that the renewer attempts to set, and

a presence that the renewer attempts to set;

a category acquisition step for acquiring category information associated with the renewer, wherein the category information represents the category of the content of the presence;

an association memory step for storing an association table that stores an association of the identifiers of the presences of the object to be renewed, and the category information;

a presence specification step for referring to the association table, and for specifying the presence identifier associated with the category information corresponding to the renewer, and

a presence setting step for setting the presence included in the renewal request, associated with the specified presence identifier.

18. A presence management program for managing presences of a user identified by a user identifier that specifies the user, the presence program causing a computer to function as:

a reception unit for receiving a renewal request that includes;

a user identifier of a renewer, who is a user other than the owner of the presences;

a user identifier of an object to be renewed, the object possessing a presence that the renewer attempts to set, and

a presence that the renewer attempts to set;

a category acquisition unit for acquiring category information associated with the renewer, wherein the category information represents the category of the content of the presence;

an association table that stores an association of the identifiers of the presences of the object to be renewed, and the category information;

a presence specification unit for referring to the association table, and for specifying the presence identifier associated with the category information corresponding to the renewer, and

a presence setting unit for setting the presence included in the renewal request, associated with the specified presence identifier.

23. A presence system that manages presences of a user identified by a user identifier, the presence system comprising:

an acquisition unit for acquiring a user identifier of a requester, who is a user other than the owner of a given presence, a user identifier of an object that possesses a presence and category information that expresses the category of any presence, and that is associated with the renewer or the object;

a deciding unit for determining the type of command to process the presence of the object;

a command creation unit for creating commands that include the type of the command that the deciding unit determines, category information that the acquiring unit acquires, and the user identifier of the object; and

a command execution unit for receiving commands created by the command creation unit, for performing renewal of the presence of the object, subscription/subscription cancellation, or transfer/transfer cancellation in accordance with the commands thereof.

24. The presence system according to claim 23, wherein the acquisition unit further acquires an acquisition time of the user identifier of the requester, the presence system further comprising:

a history memory unit for storing acquired history including the user identifier of the object and the acquisition time,

wherein when a user identifier of a new requester is acquired, the judgment unit judges whether or not the user identifier of the object was acquired within a past predetermined time interval Δ

T, based on the acquisition history, and determines the type of the command based on the decision.

25. The presence system according to claim 24, wherein if the type of the command that was decided is transfer, then the judgment unit sets any one of the user identifiers of the objects acquired within the past predetermined time interval Δ

T to be the user identifier of the transfer origin user.

26. The presence system according to claim 23, further comprising:

a corresponding memory unit for storing the association of the user identifier of the object and the type of the command;

wherein the judgment unit determines the command type corresponding to the user identifier of the object based on the association stored in the corresponding memory unit.

27. The presence system according to claim 26, wherein the acquisition unit further acquires an acquisition time of the user identifier of the requester, the presence system further comprising:

a history memory unit for storing an acquisition history including the user identifier of the object and the acquisition timing thereof;

wherein the judgment unit groups the user identifier of the object based on the acquisition history, and if the command type is transfer or subscription, then the judgment unit specifies the user identifier that will be the transfer origin and the subscribee, within the single group.

28. The presence system according to claim 23, further comprising:

a presence content acquisition unit for acquiring the content of a presence based on the user identifier of the object and the category information corresponding to the requester or the object;

wherein the judgment unit judges whether or not the transfer origin is set in the acquired presence content, and designates the command type as either transfer or transfer cancellation, based on the judgment result.