ATTRIBUTE AND LOCATION BASED ENTITY PRESENTATION IN PRESENCE BASED COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

• US 20100184416A1
• Filed: 01/22/2009
• Published: 07/22/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Battacharjee, Avronil, Gupta, Amit
• Granted Patent: US 8,190,135 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/414.300
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• 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

Presence information and communication options for contact entities (people and other) of a user are provided to the user based on the user'"'"'s own location. The user'"'"'s location information is used as initial criterion to filter contact entities. Further filtering is performed based on presence attributes of nearby contacts such as their expertise, availability, location, and similar attributes. Prioritization and ordering may also be carried out based on the same criteria.

Claims

1. A method to be executed at least in part in a computing device for contact list filtering and ordering, the method comprising:

determining a location of a subscriber;

determining nearby contacts based on a predefined distance criterion near the location of the subscriber;

receiving presence information associated with the nearby contacts;

ordering a list of the nearby contacts based on the presence information; and

presenting the ordered list of nearby contacts to the subscriber in an actionable manner.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the location of the subscriber is determined based on at least one from a set of:

Global Positioning Service (GPS) information, cellular network information, and information obtained from an active connection of the subscriber to a non-cellular network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the predefined distance criterion is based on at least one default rule customized by the subscriber.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the contacts include human contacts and non-human resources, and wherein the presence information includes dynamic information and static information.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the static presence information for human contacts includes at least one from a set of:

an address, a contact number, an email address, an organizational structure, and an expertise, and wherein the dynamic presence information for human contacts includes at least one from a set of;

an availability status, a schedule, a location, and a membership in a group.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the static presence information for non-human resources includes at least one from a set of:

an address, a contact identifier, and an access attribute, and wherein the dynamic presence information for non-human resources includes at least one from a set of;

an availability status, a capability, and a resource condition.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the list of the nearby contacts is ordered based on one of:

explicit subscriber preferences and automatically inferred rules associated with the presence information.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the ordered list of nearby contacts is updated upon one of:

expiration of a predefined time period a request by the subscriber, a change of the subscriber'"'"'s location, and a change in the presence information of any one of the contacts.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

determining at least one available communication mode based on the location of the subscriber and presence information of the contacts;

present the at least one available communication mode to the subscriber; and

facilitate communication with one of the nearby contacts upon selection of the nearby contact and a communication mode by the subscriber.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of nearby contacts is ordered based on the presence information employing at least one from a set of:

a branch-and-bound algorithm, a progressive improvement algorithm, and a heuristic algorithm.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of nearby contacts is ordered and presented to the subscriber by an application executed on at least one from a set of:

a smart phone, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a handheld computer, and a smart automobile console.

12. A system for utilizing location and presence attributes in processing contact lists, the system comprising:

a server and a communication management framework, the server configured to execute the communication management framework and further configured to;

determine a location of a subscriber based on at least one from a set of;

Global Positioning Service (GPS) information, cellular network information, and information obtained from an active connection of the subscriber to a non-cellular network;

determine contacts near the location of the subscriber, the contacts including human contacts and non-human resources;

receive presence information associated with the contacts near the subscriber from a presence server;

receive a preference of the subscriber for ordering the contacts near the subscriber based on their presence information; and

enable a communication application to present the ordered contact list to the subscriber through a user interface providing actionable items for the contacts near the subscriber.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the server is further configured to enable the communication application to activate another application for performing an action selected by the subscriber from the presented contact list.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein elements and configuration of the user interface are dynamically modified based on a type and presence attributes of the contacts near the subscriber.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the user interface presents the contacts near the subscriber and associated actionable items employing at least one from a set of:

a graphical shape-based scheme, an icon scheme, a color scheme, and a text-formatting scheme.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the non-human resources include one of a printing device and an imaging device, and wherein the presence information includes at least one from a set of:

an availability of the device, a network address of the device, an access attribute associated with the device, and a document size information associated with the device.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the human contacts are ordered based on at least one from a set of:

their expertise, their relationship to the subscriber, and their availability.

18. A computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon for using location and presence attributes in processing contact lists, the actions comprising:

determining contact entities within a predefined distance of a subscriber based on received location information associated with the subscriber;

receiving published presence information associated with the contact entities within the predefined distance;

prioritizing the contact entities within the predefined distance employing the presence information according to one of a default rule and a user preference;

presenting the prioritized contact entities to the subscriber such that at least one from a set of;

communication services, calendaring services, and scheduling services is provided through an actionable items associated with the prioritized contact entities; and

in response to receiving a selection of a service by the subscriber, providing the selected service by activating an application associated with the selected service.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions further comprise:

automatically prioritizing human contact entities based on their availability, schedule, location, and expertise; and

enabling the subscriber to perform at least one from a set of;

schedule a meeting with, place a call to, send an email to, and send an instant message to one of the prioritized entities based on the prioritization.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the prioritized contact entities are updated in response to a change in a predefined number of contact entities.