Methods and apparatus for determining a presence of a user

• US 20060117050A1
• Filed: 11/30/2004
• Published: 06/01/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: Klemm, Reinhard P., John, Ajita, Seligmann, Doree D., Shan, Xueshan
• Granted Patent: US 8,176,086 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42365 Presence services providing information on the willingness to communicate or the ability to communicate in terms of media capability or network connectivity

Abstract

Methods and apparatus are disclosed for collecting presence information about a user from one or more presence sources associated with the user, such as applications, devices and locations. A presence agent is associated with each presence source; and the presence agents provide presence information to one or more presence servers. Typically, the presence agents execute on a processor associated with the corresponding presence source. The presence agent reports one or more of macropresence events and micropresence events. The presence agent optionally prompts the user to update the presence information based on one or more criteria, such as exceeding a time threshold since the last presence event. Continuous presence functions are generated for each presence source that characterize the likelihood of the user to be present on the corresponding presence source at a given time.

Claims

1. A method for collecting presence information about a user from one or more presence sources associated with said user, comprising:

associating a presence agent with each of said presence sources; and

obtaining presence information from said presence agents.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said presence agent reports one or more macropresence events.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said presence agent reports one or more micropresence events.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said presence agent limits a number of said reported micropresence events.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said presence agent prompts said user to update said presence information based on one or more criteria.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of ensuring that said presence agents are still active.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein an inactive status of one or more of said presence agents is treated as a macropresence event.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of generating a continuous presence function for each of said presence sources that characterizes the likelihood of said user to be present on said corresponding presence source at a given time.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of recomputing one or more of said continuous presence functions if a time since a last computation exceeds a threshold.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of recording said obtained presence information with an indication of a time associated with said obtained presence information.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said presence information indicates a likelihood that said user can be reached at one or more presence sources.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said one or more presence sources includes one or more of applications, devices and locations.

13. A method for collecting presence information about a user from a presence source associated with said user, comprising:

detecting presence events by executing on said presence source; and

reporting said detected presence events to one or more servers.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said presence events are one or more macropresence events.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein said presence events are one or more micropresence events.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of limiting a number of said reported micropresence events.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein said reported micropresence events include at least one event that does not normally initiate a communication by said presence source.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising the step of prompting said user to update said presence information based on one or more criteria.

19. The method of claim 13, further comprising the step of generating a continuous presence function that characterizes the likelihood of said user to be present on said presence source at a given time.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein said presence source is one or more of an application, device or location.

21. The method of claim 13, wherein said presence events can be detected without an active user login.

22. The method of claim 13, wherein said presence agents events enable presence reporting to a presence server or application provided by a third party.

23. A method for characterizing a presence of a user at one or more presence sources associated with said user, comprising:

receiving an indication of one or more presence events related to at least one of said presence sources; and

generating a continuous presence function based on said one or more presence events for said at least one presence source that characterizes the likelihood of said user to be present on said corresponding presence source at a given time.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising the step of recomputing said continuous presence function if a time since a last computation exceeds a threshold.

25. The method of claim 23, further comprising the step of recording at least one of said received presence events with an indication of a time associated with said presence event.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein said presence source is one or more of an application, device or location.

27. The method of claim 23, wherein said continuous presence function indicates a current level of presence or availability of said user on a continuous scale based on said presence source and an amount of time since a last presence event occurred from said presence source.

28. An apparatus for collecting presence information about a user from one or more presence sources associated with said user, the apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

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

associate a presence agent with each of said presence sources; and

obtain presence information from said presence agents.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein said presence agents execute on said corresponding presence source.

30. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein said presence agent reports one or more macropresence events and micropresence events.

31. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein said presence agent prompts said user to update said presence information based on one or more criteria.

32. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein said processor is further configured to generate a continuous presence function for each of said presence sources that characterizes the likelihood of said user to be present on said corresponding presence source at a given time.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein said processor is further configured to recompute one or more of said continuous presence functions if a time since a last computation exceeds a threshold.

34. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein said processor is further configured to record said obtained presence information with an indication of a time associated with said obtained presence information.

35. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein said presence information indicates a likelihood that said user can be reached at one or more presence sources.

36. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein said one or more presence sources includes one or more of applications, devices and locations.

37. An article of manufacture for collecting presence information about a user from one or more presence sources associated with said user, comprising a machine readable medium containing one or more programs which when executed implement the steps of:

associating a presence agent with each of said presence sources; and

obtaining presence information from said presence agents.

38. An apparatus for characterizing a presence of a user at one or more presence sources associated with said user, the apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

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

receive an indication of one or more presence events related to at least one of said presence sources; and

generate a continuous presence function based on said one or more presence events for said at least one presence source that characterizes the likelihood of said user to be present on said corresponding presence source at a given time.

39. The apparatus of claim 38, wherein said processor is further configured to recomputed said continuous presence function if a time since a last computation exceeds a threshold.

40. The apparatus of claim 38, wherein said processor is further configured to record at least one of said received presence events with an indication of a time associated with said presence event.

41. The apparatus of claim 38, wherein said continuous presence function indicates a current level of presence or availability of said user on a continuous scale based on said presence source and an amount of time since a last presence event occurred from said presence source.

42. An article of manufacture for characterizing a presence of a user at one or more presence sources associated with said user, comprising a machine readable medium containing one or more programs which when executed implement the steps of:

receiving an indication of one or more presence events related to at least one of said presence sources; and

generating a continuous presence function based on said one or more presence events for said at least one presence source that characterizes the likelihood of said user to be present on said corresponding presence source at a given time.