Resource List Management System

• US 20070288573A1
• Filed: 08/21/2007
• Published: 12/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Atlassian US, Inc. (Atlassian Corporation)
• Original Assignee: AT&T BLS Intelectual Property Inc (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Malik, Dale
• Granted Patent: US 7,831,664 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/205
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0233 Object-oriented techniques, for representation of network management data, e.g. common object request broker architecture [CORBA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/024 using relational databases for representation of network management data, e.g. managing via structured query language [SQL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/104 Grouping of entities
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

A system for providing group accessibility is provided. A representative resource list management system includes a group management system operable to store a resource list for a user, and a service manager operable to detect a status of a contact associated with the resource list. The resource list includes at least one group, said at least one group including a plurality of contacts. The service manager is operable to update accessibility of the at least one group in response to at least one of the plurality of contacts being accessible on a network. Methods and other systems for resource list management are also provided.

Claims

1. A method for indicating presence of a group comprising:

creating the group, the group having a plurality of group members;

creating a rule for determining presence of the group on a network;

checking for a group member that is present on the network;

in response to finding a present group member, checking to see if the rule is satisfied; and

if the rule is satisfied, indicating the group to be present on the network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the rule stipulates that a certain subset of group members have to be present on the network in order for the group to be indicated as being present on the network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a first user creates a rule stipulating that the group is indicated as being present on the network to the first user when a first group member is present on the network and a second user creates a rule stipulating the group is indicated as being present on the network to the second user when a second group member is present on the network, the second group member being different than the first group member.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein if the rule is not satisfied, waiting for another group member to be present on the network and checking to see if the rule is satisfied with the addition of the other group member.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if the rule is not satisfied, indicating the group to not be present on the network.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the group is created by a user and may be added or removed from the resource list associated with the user, the method further comprising:

receiving a request from the user to connect to the group without a request for any specific member of the group;

selecting a group member of the group; and

connecting the user with the group member.

7. A computer readable storage medium encoded with instructions for indicating presence of a group comprising:

creating the group, the group having a plurality of group members;

creating a rule for determining presence of the group on a network;

checking for a group member that is present on the network;

in response to finding a present group member, checking to see if the rule is satisfied; and

if the rule is satisfied, indicating the group to be present on the network.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the rule stipulates that a certain subset of group members have to be present on the network in order for the group to be indicated as being present on the network.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein a first user creates a rule stipulating that the group is indicated as being present on the network to the first user when a first group member is present on the network and a second user creates a rule stipulating the group is indicated as being present on the network to the second user when a second group member is present on the network, the second group member being different than the first group member.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein if the rule is not satisfied, waiting for another group member to be present on the network and checking to see if the rule is satisfied with the addition of the other group member.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 7, further comprising:

if the rule is not satisfied, indicating the group to not be present on the network.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the rule is settable via an administrative application which is accessible only to those with an adequate class of service marker.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the group is created by a user and may be added or removed from the resource list associated with the user, the instructions further comprising:

receiving a request from the user to connect to the group without a request for any specific member of the group;

selecting a group member of the group; and

connecting the user with the group member.

14. A computer readable storage medium encoded with instructions for managing contacts comprising:

grouping a plurality of members from a plurality of contacts as a group;

setting a rule to define networked accessibility of the group, the networked accessibility of the group based upon network accessibility of members of the groups where an identifier for an individual group member is not viewable by the user;

notifying the user as to the network accessibility of the group; and

blindly connecting a user with a single member associated with the group upon receiving a request from the user to connect to a group contact associated with the group, wherein the single member is selected from the group by rotating among group members with each request received.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein a user can add the group to a profile associated with the user if a class of service marker associated with the user allows the group to be added.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein a user creates and maintains the group, with respect to a profile associated with the user.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the rule comprises requiring at least one member of the group to be accessible before the group is indicated as accessible.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the rule comprises requiring a certain subset of members of the group to be accessible before the group is indicated as accessible.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the rule comprises requiring all group members to be accessible before the group is indicated as accessible.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 14, further comprising:

requesting a status on a particular member of the group, the request being a specific inquiry for network status of the particular member; and

receiving an update on the status of a particular user within the group.