Business presence system and method

• US 20060031293A1
• Filed: 08/04/2004
• Published: 02/09/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Mueller, Stefan, Mitu, Corneliu D., Thommes, Christoph A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,836,126 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

Systems and methods for managing collaboration with one or more persons are disclosed. Presence information from the one or more persons are published to a server. One or more presence sources for each person are formed based on the present state of one or more communication channels. The presence information represents a present state of the one or more communication channels associated with each person. Selected ones of the one or more presence sources are integrated by an integrator to form a presence provider for at least one person. Presence provider data associated with the selected ones of the one or more presence sources is received at a user interface from the server.

Claims

1. A system for managing collaboration with one or more persons based on a present state of one or more communication channels associated with each person, the system comprising:

a server configured to receive and host the present state of the one or more communication channels to form one or more presence sources associated with each person;

an integrator configured to receive and integrate selected ones of the one or more presence sources from the server to form a presence provider for each person; and

an aggregator configured to aggregate the presence provider of at least one of the one or more persons to generate aggregate presence information.

2. A system in accordance with claim 1, further comprising a broker configured to maintain a list of subscribers to the aggregate presence information.

3. A system in accordance with claim 2, wherein the broker is further configured to forward one or more subscription requests associated with the list of subscribers to the aggregation service.

4. A system in accordance with claim 3, wherein the aggregator is configured to aggregate the presence provider of at least one of the one or more persons based on the one or more subscription requests.

5. A system in accordance with claim 3, wherein further comprising a manager configured to route the aggregate presence information to a subscriber based on an associated subscription request.

6. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the integrator further comprising a plug-in adapted for protocol-independent receipt of data representing the present state of each one of the one or more communication channels.

7. A system in accordance with claim 5, further comprising a persistence storage configured to store settings and policies associated with the subscription requests.

8. A system in accordance with claim 1, further comprising a selection engine configured to select, based on data associated with a presence provider, at least one of the one or more communication channels for communicating to a person.

9. A method for managing collaboration with one or more persons, the method comprising:

publishing presence information from the one or more persons to a server, the presence information representing a present state of one or more communication channels associated with each person;

forming one or more presence sources for each person based on the present state of the one or more communication channels;

receiving a selection for integrating selected ones of the one or more presence sources to form a presence provider for at least one person; and

receiving presence provider data associated with the selected ones of the one or more presence sources from the server.

10. A method in accordance with claim 9, further comprising aggregating one or more presence providers.

11. A method in accordance with claim 10, further comprising receiving subscription requests from one or more subscribers for the presence information.

12. A method in accordance with claim 11, further comprising delivering data representing a presence provider for at least one person based on a subscription request.

13. A method in accordance with claim 9, further comprising:

providing a user interface component to at least one of the one or more persons; and

publishing the presence information from the user interface component.

14. A method in accordance with claim 12, further comprising:

providing a user interface component to at least one subscriber; and

delivering data representing the presence provider to the user interface component.

15. A method in accordance with claim 9, further comprising selecting, based on data associated with a presence provider, at least one of the one or more communication channels for communicating to a person.

16. A computer product for managing collaboration with one or more persons, the system comprising:

at least one user terminal configured to send presence information based on a present state of one or more communication channels associated with a user;

a server configured to receive and host the present state of the one or more communication channels to form one or more presence sources associated with the user; and

a presence service computer including computer program code configured to;

receive and integrate selected ones of the one or more presence sources from the server to form a presence provider for each person; and

aggregate the presence provider of at least one of the one or more persons to generate aggregate presence information.

17. A computer product in accordance with claim 16, further comprising:

at least one subscriber terminal configured to send subscription requests to the presence service computer; and

computer program code associated with the presence service computer configured to deliver at least a portion of the aggregate presence information to the at least one subscriber terminal based on a subscription request.

18. A computer product in accordance with claim 16, wherein the presence service computer further includes computer program code configured to maintain a list of subscribers for the aggregate presence information.

19. A computer product in accordance with claim 18 wherein the presence service computer further includes computer program code configured to forward one or more subscription requests associated with the list of subscribers to the aggregation service.

20. A computer product in accordance with claim 19 wherein the presence service computer further includes computer program code configured to route the aggregate presence information to a subscriber based on an associated subscription request.