Presence-enabled mobile access
First Claim
1. A method of performing real-time communications between a plurality of clients, each client being communicably coupled to at least one communications network, at least one of said plurality of clients being a mobile device, said method comprising the steps of:
- receiving a request for a real-time group action involving said plurality of clients, wherein each of said plurality of clients has at least one condition associated therewith, a status of the condition associated with each client being indicative of an on-line presence of the respective client;
in a first determining step, in response to said request for said real-time group action, determining the on-line presence of each of said plurality of clients;
in a second determining step, in the event the on-line presence of said mobile device is indeterminate, determining whether said mobile device is configured to receive at least one message over said at least one communications network;
in the event said mobile device is configured to receive said at least one message over said at least one communications network, assuming that said mobile device is present and on-line;
in a third determining step, determining whether said real-time group action can be performed based at least in part on the on-line presence of each of said plurality of clients; and
in the event said real-time group action can be performed based at least in part on the on-line presence of the respective clients, performing said real-time group action.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A real-time communications system that is capable of convening an on-line meeting or teleconference involving text, audio, video, and/or data between multiple users of mobile and non-mobile devices. A mobile telephone is operative to receive an invitation to join an on-line meeting with at least one user of another mobile or non-mobile device. If the mobile telephone network can provide an indication of whether the mobile telephone is powered-on and within the coverage area of the mobile telephone network, a real-time messaging server employs this information to determine the on-line presence of the mobile telephone user before transmitting the meeting invitation. Otherwise, the real-time messaging server assumes that the mobile telephone user is present and on-line. The mobile telephone user may indicate his or her desire to join the on-line meeting by transmitting an SMS message to the real-time messaging server in response to the meeting invitation, after which the real-time messaging system may convene the on-line meeting between the multiple users.
124 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method of performing real-time communications between a plurality of clients, each client being communicably coupled to at least one communications network, at least one of said plurality of clients being a mobile device, said method comprising the steps of:
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receiving a request for a real-time group action involving said plurality of clients, wherein each of said plurality of clients has at least one condition associated therewith, a status of the condition associated with each client being indicative of an on-line presence of the respective client;
in a first determining step, in response to said request for said real-time group action, determining the on-line presence of each of said plurality of clients;
in a second determining step, in the event the on-line presence of said mobile device is indeterminate, determining whether said mobile device is configured to receive at least one message over said at least one communications network;
in the event said mobile device is configured to receive said at least one message over said at least one communications network, assuming that said mobile device is present and on-line;
in a third determining step, determining whether said real-time group action can be performed based at least in part on the on-line presence of each of said plurality of clients; and
in the event said real-time group action can be performed based at least in part on the on-line presence of the respective clients, performing said real-time group action. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A system for performing real-time communications, comprising:
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at least one communications network;
a plurality of clients communicably coupled to said at least one communications network, at least one of said plurality of clients being a mobile device, wherein each of said plurality of clients has at least one condition associated therewith, a status of the condition associated with each client being indicative of an on-line presence of the respective client; and
at least one server communicably coupled to said at least one communications network, said at least one server being operative;
to receive a request for a real-time group action involving said plurality of clients, in response to said request for said real-time group action, to determine the on-line presence of each of said plurality of clients;
in the event the on-line presence of said mobile device is indeterminate, to determine whether said mobile device is configured to receive at least one message over said at least one communications network;
in the event said mobile device is configured to receive said at least one message over said at least one communications network, to assume that said mobile device is present and on-line;
to determine whether said real-time group action can be performed based at least in part on the on-line presence of each of said plurality of clients; and
in the event said real-time group action can be performed based at least in part on the on-line presence of the respective clients, to perform said real-time group action. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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Specification