Simple technique for detection of physical presence and management of information

• US 20080174421A1
• Filed: 01/23/2007
• Published: 07/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Londhe, Nilesh Vasante
• Granted Patent: US 8,081,965 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/539.13
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• 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: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

A method, system, and computer readable media that when executed determines and manages presence information and presents the information to a plurality of devices. A determination is made if a presence device is within a range of a detection device. If the presence device is within a detectable range, presence information is prepared. The presence information includes the location of the detection device and the availability of the user of the presence device. Then, the presence device updates a plurality of devices with the presence information.

Claims

1. A method for distributing presence information to a plurality of devices, the method comprising:

determining if a presence device is within a range of a detection device;

determining presence information associated with the presence device if it is determined that the presence device is within the range of the detection device, wherein presence information includes a location of the detection device and an availability of a user of the presence device; and

providing the presence information to a plurality of devices.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting a change in presence, wherein the change in presence occurs when the presence device moves outside of the range of the detection device.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising updating presence information to reflect the unavailability of the user at the detection device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the presence information is provided to the plurality of devices by a management device in response to receiving an acknowledgment from the detection device that the presence device has been determined to be within range of the detection device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the presence information to a plurality of devices includes updating a second detection device to identify that the user is not located near the second detection device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining if the presence device is within the range of the detection device comprises selecting a unique presence device from multiple presence devices corresponding to an association between the detection device and the unique presence device.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising repeating determining if a presence device is within a range of the detection device, determining presence information associated with the presence device, and providing the presence information to a plurality of devices for each presence device within the range of the detection device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the presence information to a plurality of devices further comprises:

providing the presence information to related devices; and

updating public information with the presence information, the public information accessible by a plurality of public devices.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein updating public information with the presence information includes limited presence information.

10. A presence determination system comprising:

a presence device;

a detection device configured to determine whether the presence device is within a range of the detection device; and

a management device configured to maintain presence information corresponding to a location of the detection device and an availability of a user of the presence device.

11. The presence determination system of claim 10, further comprising a plurality of devices, wherein the management device updates the plurality of devices with the location of the detection device and the availability of the user of the presence device.

12. The presence determination system of claim 10, wherein the presence device is associated with user specific information.

13. The presence determination system of claim 10, wherein the management device comprises multiple servers receiving and transmitting the location of the detection device and the availability of the user of the presence device.

14. The presence determination system recited of claim 10 wherein the detection device is an attachment to a computer.

15. The presence determination system of claim 10, wherein the detection device uses wireless technology to determine whether the presence device is within the range of the detection device.

16. The presence determination system of claim 15, wherein the presence device comprises of an attachment to at least one of a phone, a cellular phone, or a PDA.

17. A computer readable media containing executable instructions on a management device that when executed configures the management device to:

receive data from a detection device, wherein the detection device determines if a presence device is within a range of the detection device;

determine an availability of a user of the presence device if it is determined that the presence device is within the range of the detection device;

for each related device;

determine if the user of the presence device responds to the related device if the user of the presence device is available; and

update presence information if the user of the presence device responds to the related device, wherein presence information includes the availability of the user and the location of the related device.

18. The computer readable media of claim 17, wherein the management device is further configured to receive and maintain availability and location information from a plurality of detection devices.

19. The computer readable media of claim 17, wherein the management device configured to update presence information is further configured to receive verification information.

20. The computer readable media of claim 17, wherein the detection device is the related device.