Presence Mapping

• US 20090319595A1
• Filed: 06/20/2008
• Published: 12/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Arora, Dinesh, Millmore, Martin, Rossi, Michael, Brimble, Paul, Green, Aaron
• Granted Patent: US 8,250,157 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/201
• 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

Abstract

Systems, methods, and associated software for detecting presence are described with respect to a number of embodiments of the present disclosure. More particularly, presence information can be displayed on a floor plan, according to the teachings herein. In one implementation, a method for monitoring the presence of a person is described in which the name of a person of interest is received from a requestor. The requestor and the person of interest are both associated with an organization. The method also includes retrieving information regarding a first work area associated with the person of interest and reproducing a section of a floor plan containing at least the first work area. Furthermore, the method includes sending the section of the floor plan to the requestor. The method also includes retrieving information regarding the person of interest associated with the first work area. A name field, which includes the name and the presence status of the person of interest, is sent to the requestor.

Claims

1. A system associated with an organization, the system comprising:

a data network in communication with a plurality of end user devices; and

a presence mapping system in communication with the data network;

wherein, in response to receiving a request from one of the end user devices to inquire about the presence of a specific person within the organization, the presence mapping system is configured to determine a first work area associated with the specific person;

wherein the presence mapping system is further configured to reproduce a specific section of a floor plan showing the first work area;

wherein the presence mapping system is further configured to provide the name of the specific person associated with the first work area and to show the status of the presence of the specific person.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein presence is related to activity of a person accessing the data network via a respective end user device.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the first work area includes one or more access mechanisms for allowing one or more end user devices to access the data network.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the end user device is a computer.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the presence mapping system stores a map including one or more countries, one or more cities, one or more streets, one or more buildings, and one or more floors associated with physical space within the organization.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the presence mapping system is further configured to reproduce the specific section of the floor plan to show one or more additional work areas in the vicinity of the first work area;

and

wherein the presence mapping system is further configured to provide the name and presence status of each of the people associated with the one or more work areas in the specific section of the floor plan.

7. The system of claim 6, further comprising a telephone network in communication with a plurality of telephones, wherein each work area includes one or more data access mechanisms for allowing an end user device to access the data network and one or more telephone access mechanisms for allowing a telephone to access the telephone network.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein presence is related to activity of a person accessing the data network via a respective end user device.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein presence is related to activity of a person accessing the telephone network via a respective telephone.

10. The system of claim 6, further comprising a presence network in communication with a plurality of presence detecting devices, wherein the work areas include one or more access mechanisms for allowing an end user device to access the data network and one or more presence detecting devices for monitoring the physical presence of a person.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein presence is related to activity of a person accessing the data network via a respective end user device.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein presence is related to physical presence information sensed by a respective presence detecting device.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein physical presence information is sensed by monitoring motion.

14. The system of claim 6, wherein the end user device includes presence mapping software adapted to display the specific section of the floor plan and names of the people associated with work areas in the specific section of the floor plan, to monitor the location of a cursor control device with respect to the specific section of the floor plan, and to display additional information about a first person associated with a work area in the specific section of the floor plan when a cursor is positioned above the name of the first person for a predetermined length of time.

15. A presence system comprising:

a processing device configured to control the operations of the presence system;

a memory device configured to store presence mapping software executable by the processing device; and

a data network interface configured to communicate with a data network associated with an organization;

wherein the processing device is configured to determine a first work area associated with a person of interest, the person of interest being associated with the organization;

wherein the processing device is further configured to generate a first section of a floor plan including at least the first work area; and

wherein the processing device is further configured to retrieve information about the person of interest.

16. The presence system of claim 15, wherein the processing device is further configured to determine one or more work areas in the first section of the floor plan and one or more other people associated with the one or more other work areas;

and

wherein the processing device is further configured to retrieve information about the one or more other people.

17. The presence system of claim 15, further comprising:

a telephone network interface configured to communicate with a telephone network associated with the organization; and

a presence network interface configured to communicate with a presence network associated with the organization.

18. The presence system of claim 15, wherein the processing device is further configured to operate in a set-up mode to enable one or more members of the organization to enter mapping information, floor plan information, personnel information, and information associating one or more people of the organization with one or more work areas that contain spaces with respect to the floor information.

19. A computer program stored on computer-readable media, the computer program comprising:

logic adapted to determine a specific section of a floor plan including a first work area associated with a person of interest; and

logic adapted to retrieve information about the person of interest.

20. The computer program of claim 19, further comprising:

logic adapted to determine one or more additional work areas in the vicinity of the first work area and to determine one or more other people associated with the additional work areas; and

logic adapted to retrieve information about the one or more other people.

21. The computer program of claim 19, wherein the computer-readable media resides at least partially within a presence mapping system arranged in communication with one or more networks of an organization.

22. A method for monitoring the presence of a person, the method comprising:

receiving from a requester the name of a person of interest, both the requestor and person of interest being associated with an organization;

retrieving information regarding a first work area associated with the person of interest;

reproducing a section of a floor plan containing at least the first work area;

sending the section of the floor plan to the requestor; and

sending a name field to the requestor, the name field including the name and presence status of the specific person associated with the first work area.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

in addition to the first work area, determining one or more other work areas within the section of the floor plan;

retrieving information regarding people associated with the one or more other work areas;

sending a name field to the requestor for each of the people associated with the one or more other work areas in the section of the floor plan.

24. The method of claim 22, further comprising sending expanded fields to the requester, each of the expanded fields including additional information about a person associated with a work area in the section of the floor plan.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the additional information of each of the expanded fields includes at least one of a telephone number, extension number, cell phone number, e-mail address, emergency contact information, picture of person, and a name of person'"'"'s manager.