Rules based real-time communication system

• US 7,149,288 B2
• Filed: 12/09/2003
• Issued: 12/12/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/14/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ThinkLogix, LLC (Ascend Innovation Management, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Zingdom Communications Incorporated
• Inventors: Herot, Christopher F., Digate, Charles J., Ketudat, Tonytip, Kopikis, Alexis M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gauthier, Gerald
• Application Number:
  US10/731,872
• Publication Number:
  US 20040161090A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,099 Days
• Field of Search: 379/265, 379/207, 379/220
• US Class Current: 379/88.17
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4038 with floor control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2044 Group features, e.g. closed user group
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/652 Call initiation triggered by text message
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42059 Making use of the calling party identifier
• 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: H04M 3/565 relating to time schedule aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/567 Multimedia conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0027 Collaboration services where a computer is used for data transfer and the telephone is used for telephonic communication

Abstract

A rules-based real-time messaging system for groups of users, in which an availability status is maintained in association with each user. Clients are communicably coupled to a real-time messaging server, which maintains indications of the online/offline presence of each user, as well as other user attributes. Rules and a rules engine are maintained in the real-time messaging server for controlling the delivery of messages to the users, and for controlling how the availability of users is provided to other users. Based on the specific rules stored on the real-time messaging server, the rules engine determines the state of various relevant conditions such as the availability of users of the system, and detects the occurrence of various real-time events such as a user logging-on to or logging-off from the system for controlling the delivery of various types of messages and/or the performance of resulting actions.

Claims

1. A method of performing real-time communications over a computer data network between at least two users, each of said at least two users being associated with a client system communicably coupled to said computer data network, comprising the steps of:

receiving, at a server system communicably coupled to said computer data network, a request for a real-time group action involving a group of users, each user having at least one condition associated therewith, a status of the condition associated with each user being indicative of an availability of the user for participating in the real-time group action, wherein the availability of each user is based at least in part upon a digital indication of an online presence of the respective user;

in a first determining step, in response to the request, determining the status of the condition associated with each user within the group;

in a second determining step, determining whether the real-time group action can be performed based at least in part on the status of the condition associated with each user within the group;

in a third determining step, in the event the real-time group action cannot be performed based on the status of the condition associated with at least one user within the group, the condition status indicating that the at least one user is unavailable to participate in the real-time group action, determining at least one user to substitute for the at least one unavailable user within the group;

in a fourth determining step, determining the status of the condition associated with each user within the group including the at least one substitute user;

in a fifth determining step, determining whether the real-time group action can be performed based at least in part on the status of the condition associated with each user within the group and the at least one substitute user; and

in a first performing step, in the event the real-time group action can be performed based at least in part on the status of the condition associated with each user within the group and the at least one substitute user, performing the real-time group action.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth determining steps and the first performing step are responsive to processing of at least one rule.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the request is a request to convene an automated meeting activity.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the automated meeting activity is selected from the group consisting of an online meeting, a teleconference, a shared whiteboard, a remote presentation, and a video conference.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining the status of the condition associated with each user in the first determining step is responsive to at least one event notification indicating that at least one user is using at least one software program installed on a client system.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the at least one event notification indicates that the at least one user is using instant messaging client software installed on the client system.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining at least one user to substitute for the at least one unavailable user within the group in the third determining step includes selecting a user to substitute for the unavailable user.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the step of determining at least one user to substitute for the at least one unavailable user within the group in the third determining step includes determining whether the selected substitute user agrees to participate in the real-time group action before performing the real-time group action in the first performing step.

9. The method of claim 1 further including a step of inviting each user to participate in the real-time group action whether or not at least one of the users is determined to be unavailable for the real-time group action.

10. The method of claim 1 further including a step of inviting each user to participate in the real-time group action that is determined to be available for the real-time group action.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the receiving step includes receiving a plurality of requests for a plurality of real-time group actions, and further including, in a sixth determining step, determining which one or ones of the real-time group actions are currently in-progress.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the receiving step includes receiving a plurality of requests for a plurality of real-time group actions, and further including, in a sixth determining step, determining which one or ones of the real-time group actions are pending based on the availability of the users.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said receiving step includes receiving a plurality of requests for a plurality of real-time group actions, and further including, in a sixth determining the step, determining which one or ones of the real-time group actions are ready to be performed based on the availability of the users.

14. The method of claim 1 further including a step of defining the group of users to participate in the real-time group action.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the defining step includes determining a time for the real-time group action to be performed in the first performing step.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the defining step includes determining the time for the real-time group action to be performed in the first performing step by checking respective calendars of the users within the group.

17. The method of claim 14 further including, in a sixth determining step, determining whether or not each respective user within the group accepts being included in the group before performing the real-time group action in the first performing step.

18. The method of claim 17 further including a step of adding the respective user to the group if the user accepts being included in the group.

19. The method of claim 1 further including a step of requesting the real-time group action via a client computer having software installed thereon operative to facilitate the performance of real-time communications between at least two users in the first performing step.

20. The method of claim 1 further including a step of requesting the real-time group action via a web page.

21. The method of claim 1 further including a step of requesting the real-time group action via a telephone.

22. A system for performing real-time communications between at least two users, comprising:

a computer data network;

a plurality of client systems communicably coupled to said computer data network, each of said plurality of client systems being associated with a respective one of said at least two users; and

at least one server system communicably coupled to said computer data network, said at least one server system including

at least one processor, and at least one computer program storage memory communicably coupled to the processor, the computer storage memory including at least one computer program executable by the processor,

the computer program including

first program code for receiving a request for a real-time group action involving a group of users, each user having at least one condition associated therewith, a status of the condition associated with each user being indicative of an availability of the user for participating in the real-time group action, wherein the availability of each user is based at least in part upon a digital indication of an online presence of the respective user,

second program code for determining the status of the condition associated with each user within the group in response to the request,

third program code for determining whether the real-time group action can be performed based at least in part on the status of the condition associated with each user within the group,

fourth program code for determining at least one user to substitute for the at least one unavailable user within the group in the event the real-time group action cannot be performed based on the status of the condition associated with at least one user within the group, the condition status indicating that the at least one user is unavailable to participate in the real-time group action,

fifth program code for determining the status of the condition associated with each user within the group including the at least one substitute user,

sixth program code for determining whether the real-time group action can be performed based at least in part on the status of the condition associated with each user within the group and the at least one substitute user, and

seventh program code for performing the real-time group action in the event the real-time group action can be performed based at least in part on the status of the condition associated with each user within the group and the at least one substitute user.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein the second program code for determining the status of the condition associated with each user within the group, the third program code for determining whether the real-time group action can be performed based at least in part on the status of the condition associated with each user within the group, the fourth program code for determining at least one user to substitute for the at east one unavailable user within the group the fifth program code for determining the status of the condition associated with each user within the group including the at least one substitute user, the sixth program code for determining whether the real-time group action can be performed based at least in part on the status of the condition associated with each user within the group and the at least one substitute user, and the seventh program code for performing the real-time group action, are responsive to the processing of at least one rule.