ARRANGEMENT FOR INDICATING PRESENCE OF INDIVIDUAL
First Claim
1. A system for indicating a status of a target to an entity that attempts to communicate with the target, the system comprising:
- at least one sensing device configured to provide sensing information concerning the status of said target in response to an action of the target with respect to the at least one sensing device; and
a monitoring device, configured to receive the sensing information from the at least one sensing device, and to govern communication to the entity of the status of said target, the status describing at least one of;
a present ability, or a future ability of said target to communicate with the entity.
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Accused Products
Abstract
When an entity (such as a customer using a communication device 131, 141, 151 . . . ) attempts to communicate with a target (such as an employee), an arrangement indicates to the customer, “status” information describing at least the employee'"'"'s present and future ability to communicate with the entity (such as by returning his call). At least one sensing device 111-119 is configured to provide sensing information concerning the target employee'"'"'s status in response to an action of the target employee with respect to the sensing device. A monitoring server 102 is configured to receive the sensing information and to govern communication to the entity (customer) of the target'"'"'s “status.” In one implementation, a particular sensing device (such as a cash register 111, computer terminal 112, or time clock 113) is configured to perform both (A) a primary function that is not related to providing the sensing information, and (B) the secondary function of providing the sensing information. In this implementation, the particular sensing device provides the sensing information in response to the person'"'"'s ordinary use of the particular sensing device as he goes about his job (performing the particular sensing device'"'"'s primary function), so that the person does not have to explicitly perform any purely presence-related action in order to cause the particular sensing device to communicate the sensing information.
28 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A system for indicating a status of a target to an entity that attempts to communicate with the target, the system comprising:
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at least one sensing device configured to provide sensing information concerning the status of said target in response to an action of the target with respect to the at least one sensing device; and a monitoring device, configured to receive the sensing information from the at least one sensing device, and to govern communication to the entity of the status of said target, the status describing at least one of;
a present ability, or a future ability of said target to communicate with the entity. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method of indicating a status of a target to an entity that attempts to communicate with the target, comprising:
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automatically providing sensing information concerning the status of the target in response to an action of the target with respect to at least one sensing device; and based on the sensing information from the at least one sensing device, governing communication to the entity of the status of the target, the status describing at least one of;
a present ability or a future ability of the target to communicate with the entity. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions including instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the steps of a method of indicating a status of a target to an entity that attempts to communicate with the target, comprising:
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automatically providing sensing information concerning the status of the target in response to an action of the target with respect to at least one sensing device; and based on the sensing information from the at least one sensing device, governing communication to the entity of the status of the target, the status describing at least one of;
a present ability or a future ability of the target to communicate with the entity. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification