CONTENT-BASED PUBLICATION-SUBSCRIPTION SYSTEM FOR PRESENCE INFORMATION

• US 20100216430A1
• Filed: 11/16/2009
• Published: 08/26/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Original Assignee: Research In Motion Limited (Blackberry Limited)
• Inventors: Brown, Robert William, O'Rourke, Connor Patrick, Buffam, Bruce Eric
• Granted Patent: US 8,606,233 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/411
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/062 for key distribution, e.g. centrally by trusted party cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key distribution involving a central third party H04L9/0819
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• 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

A method for content-based presence communication entails receiving presence information, storing the presence information in any arbitrary data format, validating a subscription request to subscribe to the presence information by determining if information contained within the subscription request represents an authorized subscription relationship, and communicating the presence information when the presence information matches the subscription expression.

Claims

1. A method for content-based presence communication, the method comprising:

receiving presence information;

storing the presence information in any arbitrary data format;

receiving a subscription request, the subscription request including a subscription expression;

validating the subscription request by determining if information contained in the subscription request represents an authorized subscription relationship; and

communicating the presence information when the presence information matches the subscription expression.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein validating the request to subscribe to the presence information comprises determining which one or more of a plurality of elements of presence information are authorized by the subscription relationship.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising receiving a message to pause a subscription to one or more elements of the presence information.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3 further comprising receiving a message to resume the subscription to the one or more elements of the presence information.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising mediating an exchange of cryptographic keys that enable the presence information to be shared privately.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising re-registering a current device is switched to a new device by communicating the universally unique ID and a subscription list to the new device.

7. A computer-readable medium comprising code which when loaded into memory and executed on a processor of a computing device is programmed to cause the device to perform acts of:

receiving presence information;

storing the presence information in any arbitrary data format;

receiving a subscription request, the subscription request including a subscription expression;

validating the subscription request by determining if information contained in the subscription request represents an authorized subscription relationship; and

communicating the presence information when the presence information matches the subscription expression.

8. The computer readable medium as claimed in claim 7 wherein the code is further programmed to determine which one or more of a plurality of elements of presence information are authorized by the subscription relationship.

9. The computer readable medium as claimed in claim 7 wherein the code is further programmed to store in the persistent data store a mapping between a universally unique identification number (UUID) and a mobile identity number for each device.

10. A presence system for collecting, managing and disseminating presence information, the system comprising:

a first device having a first presence client;

a second device having a second presence client;

a proxy node for routing a message relating to presence information from the first presence client to a predetermined function node to which the first presence client has already been bound, the function node processing the message from the first presence client to determine whether the message pertains to registration, publication or subscription; and

a publish-subscribe subsystem connected to the function node for storing published data content and for comparing the published data content with one or more subscription expressions received from the second presence client, the publish-subscribe subsystem communicating presence information to the second presence client when the one or more subscription expressions matches the published data content.

11. The system as claimed in claim 10 wherein the proxy node is configured to route the message relating to presence information based on an identity of the presence client and a specific application identified in the message.

12. The system as claimed in claim 10 wherein the publish-subscribe subsystem comprises a publication server and a subscription server that functions independently of the publication server wherein data content can be published even if no matching subscription exists and wherein a subscription can be created even if no matching data content has been published.

13. The system as claimed in claim 10 further comprising a registration node for managing registration and re-registration functions.

14. A wireless communications device comprising a processor operatively coupled to a memory for executing a presence client that is programmed to publish presence information to a content-based presence service and to receive presence information notifications about other contacts from the content-based presence service when content-based subscription expressions sent by the wireless communications device match data content published to the presence service by the other contacts.

15. The device as claimed in claim 14 further comprising a location-determining subsystem for providing location-based presence information to the presence service.

16. The device as claimed in claim 15 wherein the subscription expressions are based on a current location of the wireless communications device and on a current time of day.

17. A method of publishing presence information from a wireless communications device, the method comprising:

collecting presence information using the wireless communications device;

publishing data content representing presence information from the wireless communications device to a content-based presence service, the presence service storing the data content in any arbitrary data format; and

authorizing a subscription to the presence information, thereby allowing the data content to be communicated when a subscription expression matches the data content published to the presence service.

18. The method as claimed in claim 18 wherein the data to be published is filtered based on one or both of the current time and the current location of the device.

19. The method as claimed in claim 18 wherein the data collected is based on one or both of the current time and the current location of the device.

20. A method of subscribing to presence information using a wireless communications device, the method comprising:

communicating a subscription request to a content-based presence service, the subscription request being validated by the presence service by determining if information contained in the subscription request represents an authorized subscription relationship;

specifying a subscription expression defining data content that is of interest; and

receiving presence information when the subscription expression matches the data content published to the presence service.

21. The method as claimed in claim 20 wherein the subscription request is triggered based on one or both of current time and the current location of the device.

22. The method as claimed in claim 20 wherein the subscription expression is generated based on one or both of current time and the current location of the device.