System and method for providing availability information to a user

• US 20050276397A1
• Filed: 06/15/2004
• Published: 12/15/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: Yakulis, Ross, Hiatt, Cynthia, Johnson, Erik J., Seligmann, Doree Duncan
• Application Number:
  US10/868,627
• Publication Number:
  US 20050276397A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/90.10
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2072 Schedules, e.g. personal calendars
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42161 via computer interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42263 where the same subscriber uses different terminals, i.e. nomadism
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42374 where the information is provided to a monitoring entity such as a potential calling party or a call processing server
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/436 Arrangements for screening incoming calls , i.e. evaluating the characteristics of a call before deciding whether to answer it based on the calling party profile H04M3/42059; based on location H04M3/42348; based on presence H04M3/42365; diversion H04M3/54

Abstract

A system and method are disclosed for managing incoming transmissions received from a sender. A recipient availability indication is generated as a function of recipient availability data and, optionally, a classification level for the transmission. The recipient availability indication is provided to the recipient. The recipient can optionally validate or modify the recipient availability data.

Claims

1. A method for providing availability data, comprising:

receiving a transmission from a sender;

generating a recipient availability indicator; and

providing the recipient availability indicator to the recipient.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the recipient availability indicator is generated as a function of recipient availability data and a classification level for the transmission.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing the recipient availability indicator to the sender.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the classification level for the transmission is a function of one or more of the following:

sender name, sender device, sender priority indicator, sender availability data and transmission content.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a modified availability indicator to the sender as a function of modified recipient availability data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the recipient availability data is accessed from a plurality of locations.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating the recipient availability indicator further comprises:

identifying a medium of the transmission; and

modifying the recipient availability indicator as a function of the medium of the transmission.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein transmissions containing voice data are assigned a first status and transmissions containing text data are assigned a second status.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating the recipient availability indicator further comprises:

utilizing an abstraction of recipient availability,

wherein the step of providing the recipient availability indicator to the sender includes providing the abstraction to the sender.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating the recipient availability indicator includes identifying available reception devices.

11. A method for managing an incoming transmission comprising:

determining a classification for one or more incoming transmissions based on one or more pre-defined criteria;

establishing an availability level of a recipient as a function of recipient availability data and the classification; and

presenting the availability level of the recipient to the recipient.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising providing the availability level of the recipient to a sender.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of establishing the availability level of the recipient further comprises updating the availability level of the recipient as a function of additional recipient availability data.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising providing a reception indicator to the sender indicating available reception devices, and

wherein the presenting step includes presenting to the recipient the reception indicator being provided to the sender.

15. A system for providing availability data comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor, coupled to the memory, operative to;

receive a transmission from a sender;

generate a recipient availability indication; and

provide the recipient availability indication to the recipient.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the recipient availability indication is generated as a function of recipient availability data and a classification level for the transmission and wherein the classification level for the transmission is a function of one or more of the following:

sender name, sender device, sender priority indicator, sender availability data and transmission content.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the at least one processor is further operative to provide the recipient availability indication to the sender.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the at least one processor is further operative to provide a modified availability response to the sender as a function of modified recipient availability data.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the at least one processor is further operative to provide a reception indicator indicating available reception devices.

20. An article of manufacture for providing availability data comprising a machine readable medium containing one or more programs that when executed implement the steps of:

receiving a transmission from a sender;

generating a recipient availability response; and

providing the recipient availability response to the recipient.

21. The article of manufacture of claim 20, wherein the recipient availability response is generated as a function of recipient availability data and a classification level for the transmission and wherein the classification level for the transmission is a function of one or more of the following:

sender name, sender device, sender priority indicator sender availability and transmission content.

22. The article of manufacture of claim 20, further comprising program code for providing a modified recipient availability response to the sender as a function of the modified recipient availability data.

23. The article of manufacture of claim 20, further comprising program code for providing a reception indicator indicating available reception devices.

24. An article of manufacture for managing an incoming transmission comprising a machine readable medium containing one or more programs that when executed implement the steps of:

determining a classification for one or more incoming transmissions based on one or more pre-defined criteria;

establishing an availability level of a recipient as a function of recipient availability data and the classification; and

displaying, at one or more recipient devices, the availability level of the recipient.

25. The article of manufacture of claim 24, further comprising:

program code for updating the availability level of the recipient as a function of additional recipient availability data.

26. A method for providing an availability indicator in response to a transmission sent from a sender and having a classification level, comprising:

generating an availability indicator as a function of recipient availability data and the classification level; and

providing the availability indicator to the recipient.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising providing the availability level to the sender.

28. The method of claim 26, further comprising generating an updated availability indicator as a function of updated recipient availability data.