SITUATION BASED PRESENCE NOTIFICATION LEVERAGING

• US 20110161434A1
• Filed: 12/31/2009
• Published: 06/30/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: ZIMMET, CAROL S., FARRELL, COLM, O'SULLIVAN, PATRICK J., HARPUR, LIAM, RAGUILLAT, FRED
• Granted Patent: US 8,166,121 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06311 Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063114 Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063116 Schedule adjustment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063118 Staff planning in a project environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1093 Calendar-based scheduling for persons or groups
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1095 Meeting or appointment

Abstract

Presence messages are managed for one or more members of a pre-defined group of e-mail users. An unavailability time period, during which a pre-defined group of e-mail users will be unavailable in the future, is established. A notice, which notifies the pre-defined group of e-mail users that an unavailability control instruction will be sent in the future to participating members of the group of e-mail users, is transmitted to the group of e-mail users. An acceptance signal, identifying the participating members, is received, indicating which members of the group of e-mail users agree to permit the unavailability control instruction to be received and implemented on their participating computers in the future. The unavailability control instruction is then transmitted to the participating computers at an initiation of the unavailability time period, in order to auto-generate an appropriate presence message for the participating members.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of managing presence messages, the computer-implemented method comprising:

transmitting a notice to a receiving e-mail user that an unavailability control instruction will be sent, in the future, to an e-mail receiving computer that is used by the receiving e-mail user, wherein the unavailability control instruction will automatically cause the receiving e-mail computer to auto-reply to incoming e-mail messages with a pre-defined unavailability message during an unavailability time period;

receiving an acceptance signal identifying the receiving e-mail user, wherein the acceptance signal is an agreement to permit the unavailability control instruction to be received and implemented in the future on the e-mail receiving computer; and

transmitting the unavailability control instruction to the e-mail receiving computer at an initiation of the unavailability time period, wherein the unavailability control instruction causes the e-mail receiving computer to auto-generate an unavailability message in response to receiving an e-mail message from an e-mail transmitting computer.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting the notice to a pre-defined group of e-mail users; and

receiving the acceptance signal from participating members of the pre-defined group of e-mail users, wherein the pre-defined group of e-mail users includes the receiving e-mail user, wherein the participating members agree to permit the unavailability control instruction to be received and implemented in the future to generate a group unavailability message on their respective e-mail receiving computers, wherein the e-mail message is sent to only a first member of the participating members, and wherein the group unavailability message describes an unavailability presence status of all of the participating members in response to the e-mail message being received by the first member of the participating members.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising:

associating the group unavailability message to a set of user preferences and rules;

auto-generating an expanded unavailability message based on the set of user preferences and rules, wherein the expanded unavailability message provides directions to an e-mail sender for contacting alternate recipients in accordance with skill sets held by the alternate recipients; and

transmitting the expanded unavailability message to the e-mail sender.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising:

transmitting an acceptance message to all members of the pre-defined group of e-mail users, wherein the acceptance message describes which members of the pre-defined group of e-mail users are participating members.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising:

adjusting a period of time between transmitting the notice and transmitting the unavailability control instruction according to a relationship between two members from the participating members, wherein the relationship is defined in a set of user preferences and rules.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising:

transmitting a staffing alert to a manager, wherein the staffing alert informs the manager that the participating members will be unavailable during the unavailability time period, and wherein said participating members being unavailable will result, according to a project plan, in a project being understaffed.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising:

automatically adjusting a schedule calendar for all of the participating members to comport with schedule information described in the appropriate unavailability message.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the unavailability time period is a calendar holiday.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the unavailability time period is during a group activity in which all of the pre-defined group of e-mail users are scheduled to attend.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising:

determining that the group activity temporally conflicts with a previous commitment for the pre-defined group of e-mail users; and

deleting the unavailability control instruction in response to said determining.

11. A computer system comprising:

a central processing unit; and

a computer readable memory coupled to the central processing unit, wherein the computer readable memory comprises software which, when executed, causes the central processing unit to implement;

transmitting a notice to a receiving e-mail user that an unavailability control instruction will be sent, in the future, to an e-mail receiving computer that is used by the receiving e-mail user, wherein the unavailability control instruction will automatically cause the receiving e-mail computer to auto-reply to incoming e-mail messages with a pre-defined unavailability message during an unavailability time period;

receiving an acceptance signal identifying the receiving e-mail user, wherein the acceptance signal is an agreement to permit the unavailability control instruction to be received and implemented in the future on the e-mail receiving computer; and

transmitting the unavailability control instruction to the e-mail receiving computer at an initiation of the unavailability time period, wherein the unavailability control instruction causes the e-mail receiving computer to auto-generate an unavailability message in response to receiving an e-mail message from an e-mail transmitting computer.

12. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the software, when executed, further causes the central processing unit to implement:

transmitting the notice to a pre-defined group of e-mail users; and

receiving the acceptance signal from participating members of the pre-defined group of e-mail users, wherein the pre-defined group of e-mail users includes the receiving e-mail user, wherein the participating members agree to permit the unavailability control instruction to be received and implemented in the future to generate a group unavailability message on their respective e-mail receiving computers, wherein the e-mail message is sent to only a first member of the participating members, and wherein the group unavailability message describes an unavailability presence status of all of the participating members in response to the e-mail message being received by the first member of the participating members.

13. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the software, when executed, further causes the central processing unit to implement:

associating the group unavailability message to a set of user preferences and rules;

auto-generating an expanded unavailability message based on the set of user preferences and rules, wherein the expanded unavailability message provides directions to an e-mail sender for contacting alternate recipients in accordance with skill sets held by the alternate recipients; and

transmitting the expanded unavailability message to the e-mail sender.

14. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the software, when executed, further causes the central processing unit to implement:

transmitting an acceptance message to all members of the group, wherein the acceptance message describes which members of the group are participating members.

15. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the software, when executed, further causes the central processing unit to implement:

adjusting a period of time between transmitting the notice and transmitting the unavailability control instruction according to a relationship between two members from the participating members, wherein the relationship is defined in a set of user preferences and rules.

16. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium embodied therewith, the computer readable storage medium comprising:

computer readable program code configured to transmit a notice to a receiving e-mail user that an unavailability control instruction will be sent, in the future, to an e-mail receiving computer that is used by the receiving e-mail user, wherein the unavailability control instruction will automatically cause the receiving e-mail computer to auto-reply to incoming e-mail messages with a pre-defined unavailability message during an unavailability time period;

computer readable program code configured to receive an acceptance signal identifying the receiving e-mail user, wherein the acceptance signal is an agreement to permit the unavailability control instruction to be received and implemented in the future on the e-mail receiving computer; and

computer readable program code configured to transmit the unavailability control instruction to the e-mail receiving computer at an initiation of the unavailability time period, wherein the unavailability control instruction causes the e-mail receiving computer to auto-generate an unavailability message in response to receiving an e-mail message from an e-mail transmitting computer.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, further comprising:

computer readable program code configured to transmit the notice to a pre-defined group of e-mail users; and

computer readable program code configured to receive the acceptance signal from participating members of the pre-defined group of e-mail users, wherein the pre-defined group of e-mail users includes the receiving e-mail user, wherein the participating members agree to permit the unavailability control instruction to be received and implemented in the future to generate a group unavailability message on their respective e-mail receiving computers, wherein the e-mail message is sent to only a first member of the participating members, and wherein the group unavailability message describes an unavailability presence status of all of the participating members in response to the e-mail message being received by the first member of the participating members.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, further comprising:

computer readable program code configured to associate the group unavailability message to a set of user preferences and rules;

computer readable program code configured to auto-generate an expanded unavailability message based on the set of user preferences and rules, wherein the expanded unavailability message provides directions to an e-mail sender for contacting alternate recipients in accordance with skill sets held by the alternate recipients; and

computer readable program code configured to transmit the expanded unavailability message to the e-mail sender.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, further comprising:

computer readable program code configured to transmit an acceptance message to all members of the group, wherein the acceptance message describes which members of the group are participating members.

20. The computer program product of claim 17, further comprising:

computer readable program code configured to adjust a period of time between transmitting the notice and transmitting the unavailability control instruction according to a relationship between two members from the participating members, wherein the relationship is defined in a set of user preferences and rules.