TECHNIQUES FOR DETERMINING AND COMMUNICATING PRESENCE

• US 20140171035A1
• Filed: 03/13/2013
• Published: 06/19/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Moreno, Denise, Frederick, Adriel Samuel, FU, Anthony, Rehwald, Martin, Gadodia, Surendra K
• Granted Patent: US 9,763,090 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/414.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]

Abstract

Techniques for determining and communicating presence are described. An apparatus may comprise a presence component and a display component. The presence component may be operative to determine whether a first user is present to receive short message service (SMS) messages on a mobile device. The display component may be operative to indicate to a second user whether the first user is present to receive SMS messages on the mobile device. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor circuit; and

a presence component operative on the processor circuit to determine whether a first user is present to receive short message service (SMS) messages on a mobile device;

a display component operative on the processor circuit to indicate to a second user whether the first user is present to receive SMS messages on the mobile device.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, the display component operative to include a SMS presence indicator for the first user in a web page transmitted to the second user, the SMS presence indicator indicating whether the first user is present to receive SMS messages on the mobile device.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, the SMS presence indicator indicating an amount of time since the first user was determined to be present to receive SMS messages on the mobile device.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, the first user and the second user having a defined relationship in a social networking service, the web page comprising a social networking web page containing profile information for the first user, the presence component operative to determine whether the first user is present to receive SMS messages on the mobile device in response to the second user requesting the social networking web page, the social networking web page transmitted to the second user by the social networking service.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, the presence component operative to transmit a partial SMS message to the mobile device, to receive a response to the partial SMS message from the mobile device, and to determine that the first user is present to receive SMS messages on the mobile device based on the received response to the partial SMS message.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, the presence component operative to initiate transmission of a partial SMS message to the mobile device, to determine that the transmission to the mobile device has failed, and to determine that the first user is not present to receive SMS messages on the mobile device based on the failed transmission to the mobile device.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, the presence component operative to perform periodic attempts to transmit partial SMS messages to the mobile device and to update a presence record for the first user based on the attempts to transmit, the display component operative to indicate to the second user whether the first user is present to receive SMS messages on the mobile device based on the presence record.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, the presence component operative to delay the periodic attempts to transmit partial SMS messages when the presence component determines that the first user has successful transmitted or received an SMS message using the mobile device.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, the presence component operative to determine whether the first user is present to receive SMS messages on the mobile device in response to the second user initiating composition of a message to the first user.

10. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

determining whether a first user is present to receive short message service (SMS) messages on a mobile device;

indicating to a second user whether the first user is present to receive SMS messages on the mobile device.

11. The method of claim 10, comprising:

including a SMS presence indicator for the first user in a web page transmitted to the second user, the SMS presence indicator indicating whether the first user is present to receive SMS messages on the mobile device and an amount of time since the first user was determined to be present to receive SMS messages on the mobile device.

12. The method of claim 10, comprising:

determining whether the first user is present to receive SMS messages on the mobile device in response to a second user requesting a social networking web page from a social networking service, the first user and the second user having a defined relationship in the social networking service.

13. The method of claim 10, comprising:

transmitting a partial SMS message to the mobile device;

receiving a response to the partial SMS message from the mobile device; and

determining that the first user is present to receive SMS messages on the mobile device based on the received response to the partial SMS message.

14. The method of claim 10, comprising:

initiating transmission of a partial SMS message to the mobile device;

determining that the transmission to the mobile device has failed; and

determining that the first user is not present to receive SMS messages on the mobile device based on the failed transmission to the mobile device.

15. The method of claim 10, comprising:

determining whether the first user is present to receive SMS messages on the mobile device in response to the second user initiating composition of a message to the first user.

16. At least one computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a system to:

initiate transmission of a partial SMS message to the mobile device;

determine whether a first user is present to receive short message service (SMS) messages on a mobile device based on the initiated transmission;

indicate to a second user whether the first user is present to receive SMS messages on the mobile device.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, comprising instructions that when executed cause the system to:

determine whether the first user is present to receive SMS messages on the mobile device in response to a second user requesting a social networking web page from a social networking service, the first user and the second user having a defined relationship in the social networking service.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, comprising instructions that when executed cause the system to:

receive a response to the partial SMS message from the mobile device; and

determine that the first user is present to receive SMS messages on the mobile device based on the received response to the partial SMS message.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, comprising instructions that when executed cause the system to:

determine that the initiated transmission to the mobile device has failed; and

determine that the first user is not present to receive SMS messages on the mobile device based on the failed transmission to the mobile device.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, comprising instructions that when executed cause the system to:

determine whether the first user is present to receive SMS messages on the mobile device in response to the second user initiating composition of a message to the first user.