DETERMINING AN AVAILABILITY STATUS OF A CONTACT BEING CALLED

• US 20130035076A1
• Filed: 08/01/2011
• Published: 02/07/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Aaron, Thomas A., Kalavakolanu, Anil, Salem, Loulwa, Schlachter, Stephen A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,903,363 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/414.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• 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: H04M 2203/655 Combination of telephone service and social networking messaging within social networks H04L51/52
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42093 Notifying the calling party of information on the called or connected party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42365 Presence services providing information on the willingness to communicate or the ability to communicate in terms of media capability or network connectivity

Abstract

In a method for placing a telephone call, a telephone receives a request to call a contact. The telephone retrieves a user preference for obtaining an availability status of the contact. The telephone obtains the availability status of the contact from one of a plurality of sources based at least in part on an order of priority of the sources defined by the user preference. The sources include a social network program. The telephone displays the status of the contact. The telephone prompts for a decision whether to place the call to the contact.

Claims

1. A method for placing a telephone call, the method comprising the steps of:

a telephone receiving a request to call a contact;

the telephone retrieving a user preference for obtaining an availability status of the contact;

the telephone obtaining the availability status of the contact from one of a plurality of sources based at least in part on an order of priority of the sources defined by the user preference, wherein the sources include a social network program;

the telephone displaying the availability status of the contact; and

the telephone prompting for a decision whether to place the call to the contact.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of sources include a location based service provider.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

the telephone receiving a decision to continue to place the call; and

the telephone placing the call.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

the telephone displaying the availability status of the contact in response to the telephone determining that the availability status comprises at least one of a plurality of predefined keywords.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

the telephone determining a time that the availability status was updated; and

the telephone determining that the time is within a determined timeframe;

wherein the step of the telephone displaying the availability status is in response to the step of the telephone determining that the time is within the determined timeframe.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the determined timeframe is predefined.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising the step of the telephone dynamically determining the timeframe based at least in part on the availability status.

8. An apparatus for placing a telephone call, the apparatus comprising:

one or more processors, one or more computer-readable memories, and one or more computer-readable tangible storage devices;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to receive a request to call a contact;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to retrieve a user preference for obtaining an availability status of the contact;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to obtain the availability status of the contact from one of a plurality of sources based at least in part on an order of priority of the sources defined by the user preference, wherein the sources include a social network program;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to display the availability status of the contact; and

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to prompt for a decision whether to place the call to the contact.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the plurality of sources include a location based service provider.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising:

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to receive a decision to continue to place the call; and

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to place the call.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising:

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to display the availability status of the contact in response to determining that the availability status comprises at least one of a plurality of predefined keywords.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising:

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to determine a time that the availability status was updated, wherein the program instructions to display the availability status of the contact display the availability status in response to determining that the time is within a determined timeframe.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the determined timeframe is predefined.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the program instructions to determine a time that the availability status was updated dynamically determine the timeframe based at least in part on the availability status.

15. A computer program product for placing a telephone call, the computer program product comprising:

one or more computer readable tangible storage devices;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to receive a request to call a contact;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to retrieve a user preference for obtaining an availability status of the contact;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to obtain the availability status of the contact from one of a plurality of sources based at least in part on an order of priority of the sources defined by the user preference, wherein the sources include a social network program;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to display the availability status of the contact; and

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to prompt for a decision whether to place the call to the contact.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the plurality of sources include a location based service provider.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising:

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to display the availability status of the contact in response to determining that the availability status comprises at least one of a plurality of predefined keywords.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising:

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to determine a time that the availability status was updated, wherein the program instructions to display the availability status of the contact display the availability status in response to determining that the time is within a determined timeframe.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the determined timeframe is predefined.

20. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the program instructions to determine a time that the status was updated dynamically determine the timeframe based at least in part on the availability status.