Methods, systems, and computer program products for updating availability information in voice-call applications

• US 7,593,743 B2
• Filed: 12/03/2004
• Issued: 09/22/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: East, Allen M.
• Primary Examiner(s): GESESSE, TILAHUN
• Application Number:
  US11/003,153
• Publication Number:
  US 20060121923A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,754 Days
• Field of Search: 455517-519, 455/521, 455/414.1, 455/414.2, 455/416, 370/352, 370/312
• US Class Current: 455/519
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2072 Schedules, e.g. personal calendars
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42374 where the information is provided to a monitoring entity such as a potential calling party or a call processing server
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor

Abstract

A method of updating user availability information in a voice-call application executing on a mobile terminal includes automatically retrieving user activity information from an activity application and updating the user availability information for the voice-call application based on the retrieved user activity information. The voice-call application may be a push-to-talk (PTT) application, and updating the user availability information may include correlating the retrieved activity information to PTT availability information and updating the user availability information with the PTT availability information. Related systems and computer program products are also discussed.

Claims

1. A method of updating user availability information in a voice-call application executing on a mobile terminal, comprising:

automatically retrieving user activity information from an activity application that has access to scheduling information for a user of the voice-call application, the user activity information comprising information indicating scheduled activities for the user; and

updating the user availability information for the voice-call application based on the retrieved user activity information, the user availability information comprising information indicating the willingness of the user to send/receive communications; and

distributing a selected subset of the user availability information to one or more other users, the selected subset of the user availability information comprising a level of detail that is based on user preference information specified by the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the voice-call application is a push-to-talk (PTT) application, and wherein updating the user availability information comprises:

correlating the retrieved activity information to PTT availability information; and

updating the user availability information with the PTT availability information.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein automatically retrieving user activity information comprises automatically retrieving user activity information from a calendar and/or task application executing separately from the PTT application.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein correlating comprises correlating the retrieved activity information to future PTT availability information, and wherein updating comprises updating the user availability information with the future PTT availability information at a corresponding future time.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the activity application is executing on a personal computer, and wherein automatically retrieving the user activity information and updating the user availability information are performed by the mobile terminal

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising transmitting the PTT availability information to the mobile terminal, wherein the activity application is executing on a personal computer, and wherein automatically retrieving activity information and correlating the retrieved activity information to PTT availability information are performed by the personal computer.

7. The method of claim 2, further comprising transmitting the PTT availability information to the mobile terminal, wherein the activity application is executing on a personal computer, and wherein automatically retrieving activity information and correlating the retrieved activity information to PTT availability information are performed by a central server that is configured to communicate with the personal computer and the mobile terminal.

8. The method of claim 2, further comprising transmitting the retrieved activity information from a personal computer to the mobile terminal, wherein the activity application is executing on the personal computer, and wherein automatically retrieving user activity information is performed by the personal computer, and wherein updating the user availability information is performed by the mobile terminal.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein updating the user availability information comprises updating a PTT presence status indicator in the PTT application.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein updating the user availability information is performed when the mobile terminal is in an active mode of operation and/or a standby mode of operation.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining the user preference information comprising a respective level of trust preference associated with each of the other users, and wherein distributing further comprises distributing the selected subset of the user availability information based on the respective level of trust preferences for each of the other users.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining the user preference information comprising correlation preferences, and wherein updating further comprises correlating the retrieved activity information to the user availability information based on the correlation preferences.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically retrieving user activity information and updating the user availability information comprise automatically retrieving the user activity information and updating the user availability information responsive to at least one of a radio signal, an infrared signal, and a synchronization signal.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving an indication of changes to the user activity information, and wherein automatically retrieving the user activity information and updating the user availability information are responsive to the received indication.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically retrieving the user activity information and updating the user availability information comprise automatically retrieving the user activity information and updating the user availability information at predetermined times.

16. A system for updating user availability information in a voice-call application executing on a mobile terminal, comprising:

an availability application configured to automatically retrieve user activity information from an activity application that has access to scheduling information for a user of the voice-call application, the user activity information comprising information indicating scheduled activities for a user, update the user availability information for the voice call application based on the retrieved activity information, the user availability information comprising information indicating the willingness of the user to send/receive communications, and distribute a selected subset of the user availability information to one or more other users, the selected subset of the user availability information comprising a level of detail that is based on user preference information specified by the user.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the voice-call application is a push-to-talk (PTT) application, and wherein the availability application includes a correlation module configured to correlate the retrieved activity information to PTT availability information and update the user availability information with the PTT availability information.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the availability application includes a retrieval module configured to automatically retrieve user activity information from a calendar and/or task application executing separately from the PTT application.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the availability application is configured to retrieve the user activity information from an activity application executing on the mobile terminal and/or on a personal computer.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the availability application is further configured to update the user availability information when the mobile terminal is in an active mode of operation and/or a standby mode of operation.

21. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

an interface module configured to obtain the user preference information comprising a respective level of trust preference associated with each of the other users,

wherein the availability application is configured to distribute the selected subset of the user availability information based on the respective level of trust preferences for each of the other users.

22. A system for updating user availability information in a voice-call application executing on a mobile terminal, comprising:

means for automatically retrieving user activity information from an activity application that has access to scheduling information for a user of the voice-call application, the user activity information comprising information indicating scheduled activities for the user;

means for updating the user availability information for the voice-call application based on the retrieved activity information, the user availability information comprising information indicating the willingness of the user to send/receive communications; and

means for distributing a selected subset of the user availability information to one or more other users, the selected subset of the user availability information comprising a level of detail that is based on user preference information specified by the user.

23. A computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for updating user availability information in a voice-call application executing on a mobile terminal, wherein:

the computer readable storage medium comprises computer readable program code that automatically retrieves user activity information from an activity application that has access to scheduling information for a user of the voice-call application, the user activity information comprising information indicating scheduled activities for the user;

the computer readable storage medium comprises computer readable program code that updates the user availability information for the voice-call application based on the retrieved activity information, the user availability information comprising information indicating the willingness of the user to send/receive communications; and

the computer readable storage medium comprises computer readable program code that distributes a selected subset of the user availability information to one or more other users, the selected subset of the user availability information comprising a level of detail that is based on user preference information specified by the user.

24. The computer readable storage medium of claim 23, wherein the voice-call application is a push-to-talk (PTT) application, and wherein the computer readable program code that updates the user availability information comprises:

computer readable program code that correlates the retrieved activity information to PTT availability information; and

computer readable program code that updates the user availability information with the PTT availability information.

25. The computer readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein the computer readable program code that correlates the retrieved activity information correlates the retrieved activity information to future PTT availability information, and wherein the computer readable program code that updates the user availability information updates the user availability information with the future PTT availability information at a corresponding future time.

26. The computer readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein the computer readable program code that automatically retrieves activity information comprises computer readable program code that automatically retrieves activity information from a calendar and/or task application executing separately from the PTT application.

27. The computer readable storage medium of claim 23, wherein the computer readable program code that updates the user availability information updates the user availability information when the mobile terminal is in an active mode of operation and/or a standby mode of operation.

29. The computer readable storage medium of claim 23, wherein the computer readable storage medium further comprises computer readable program code that obtains user preference information comprising a respective level of trust preference associated with each of the other users, and wherein the computer readable program code that distributes the selected subset comprises computer readable program code that distributes the selected subset of the user availability information based on the respective level of trust preferences for each of the other users.

28. A method of updating push-to-talk (PTT) presence information in a push-to-talk application executing on a mobile terminal, comprising:

obtaining user preference information;

automatically retrieving user activity information from a calendar and/or task application executing on a personal computer;

transmitting the retrieved activity information from the personal computer to the mobile terminal,

determining availability information based on the retrieved activity information;

updating the PTT presence information with the availability information; and

distributing a selected subset of the PTT presence information to other users based on the preference information.