USER DIRECTORY SYSTEM FOR A HUB-BASED SYSTEM FEDERATING DISPARATE UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS

• US 20140365520A1
• Filed: 06/10/2013
• Published: 12/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nextplane, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Nextplane, Inc.
• Inventors: Pujare, Sanjay, Restelli, Silvia, Shahidi, Farzin, Talla, Venky, Bellan, Sarva
• Granted Patent: US 9,819,636 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/769
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/56 Unified messaging, e.g. interactions between e-mail, instant messaging or converged IP messaging [CPM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4523 using lightweight directory access protocol [LDAP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4594 Address books, i.e. directories containing contact information about correspondents telephone directories in user terminals H04M1/27453
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes

Abstract

A user directory for a hub-based system federating disparate unified communications systems is disclosed. According to one embodiment, the computer-implemented method includes connecting a first unified communications system and a second unified communications system through a federation server, synchronizing a directory entry from a directory of the first unified communications system to a user directory, where the directory entry contains user information of the first unified communications system, and providing the second unified communications system with an access to the directory entry.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

connecting a first unified communications system and a second unified communications system through a federation server;

synchronizing a directory entry from a directory of the first unified communications system to a user directory, wherein the directory entry contains user information of the first unified communications system; and

providing the second unified communications system with an access to the directory entry.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising registering a domain of the first unified communications system with the user directory.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising registering a domain of the second unified communications system with the user directory.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein synchronizing the directory entry comprises mapping the directory entry from a first directory format of the directory to a second directory format of the user directory.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein synchronizing the directory entry comprises one or more of uploading the directory entry from the directory to the user directory, modifying the directory entry in the user directory, and deleting the directory entry in the user directory.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein synchronizing the directory entry is based on periodic synchronization

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein synchronizing the directory entry is based on manual synchronization.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein synchronizing the directory entry is based on a customized configuration file, wherein the customized configuration file comprises one or more of directory entry mapping according to a directory type, directory connection information, directory authentication information, mail transfer protocol configuration attributes, restriction query string and exclusion rules.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising controlling an access privilege of a user from one or more of the first unified communications system and the second unified communications system.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising providing a web user interface to access the user directory in order to perform one or more of a user login, updating the directory entry, creating a user network, managing the user network, submitting a search query for the directory entry, and access control.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising providing communication with a search automated application to submit a search query for the directory entry.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein syntax for the search query is based on one or more of a single word, a group of words, a specified field, a single character wildcard search, a multiple character wildcard search, a fuzzy search, a proximity search, a range query, a boost factor, a Boolean operator, grouping of terms in the search query, supporting escaping special characters that is part of the search query.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising providing the second unified communications system with the access to the directory entry via a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) interface of the user directory.

14. A system, comprising:

a federation server that is connected to a first unified communications system and a second unified communications system;

a synchronization tool that is connected to a directory of the first unified communications system, wherein the synchronization tool synchronizes a directory entry from the directory to a user directory, wherein the directory entry contains user information of the first unified communications system, and wherein the second unified communications system is provided with an access to the directory entry.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising a domain of the first unified communications system that is registered with the user directory.

16. The system of claim 14, further comprising a domain of the second unified communications system that is registered with the user directory.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the synchronization tool maps the directory entry from a first directory format of the directory to a second directory format of the user directory.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the synchronization tool performs one or more of uploading the directory entry from the directory to the user directory, modifying the directory entry in the user directory, and deleting the directory entry in the user directory.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the synchronization tool synchronizes the directory entry based on periodic synchronization

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the synchronization tool synchronizes the directory entry based on manual synchronization.

21. The system of claim 14, wherein the synchronization tool synchronizes the directory entry based on a customized configuration file, wherein the customized configuration file comprises one or more of directory entry mapping according to a directory type, directory connection information, directory authentication information, mail transfer protocol configuration attributes, restriction query string and exclusion rules.

22. The system of claim 14, wherein the user directory controls an access privilege of a user from one or more of the first unified communications system and the second unified communications system.

23. The system of claim 14, further comprising a web user interface that accesses the user directory in order to perform one or more of a user login, updating the directory entry, creating a user network, managing the user network, submitting a search query for the directory entry, and access control.

26. The system of claim 14, wherein the user directory comprises a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) interface to provide the second unified communications system with the access to the directory entry.

27. The system of claim 14, wherein the user directory comprises;

a directory engine comprising a directory utility that receives the synchronized directory entry and an application-programming interface (API) that interfaces between the directory utility and one or more of a web user interface and a search automated application; and

a directory storage that is connected to the directory engine via database connections, wherein the directory storage stores the synchronized directory entry.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the directory storage stores one or more of domain information of the first unified communications system, an user role, access control, an user network, an activity log, and a configuration.

29. The system of claim 27, wherein the directory storage is based on tables stored on a structured query language (SQL) server.

30. The system of claim 27, wherein the API is representational state transfer (REST) based services described by web application description language (WADL) implementation.

31. The system of claim 27, wherein the directory engine comprises a search engine.

32. The system of claim 27, further comprising a search server that interfaces with the user directory via the API.

24. The system of claim 1314 further comprising a search automated application that communicates with the first unified communications system to submit a search query for the directory entry.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein syntax for the search query is based on one or more of a single word, a group of words, a specified field, a single character wildcard search, a multiple character wildcard search, a fuzzy search, a proximity search, a range query, a boost factor, a Boolean operator, grouping of terms in the search query, supporting escaping special characters that is part of the search query.