Arrangement for indicating presence of individual

• US 7,817,012 B2
• Filed: 06/17/2008
• Issued: 10/19/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property II LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property II LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gudelis, Marius J., Ehlinger, James C., Gilboy, Christopher P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lieu; Julie
• Application Number:
  US12/140,988
• Publication Number:
  US 20080285734A1
• Time in Patent Office: 854 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 340/5.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/105 Multiple levels of security
• 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 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 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/08 Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery signalling during connection H04W76/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information

Abstract

When an entity (such as a customer using a communication device 131, 141, 151 . . . ) attempts to communicate with a target (such as an employee), an arrangement indicates to the customer, “status” information describing at least the employee'"'"'s present and future ability to communicate with the entity (such as by returning his call). At least one sensing device 111-119 is configured to provide sensing information concerning the target employee'"'"'s status in response to an action of the target employee with respect to the sensing device. A monitoring server 102 is configured to receive the sensing information and to govern communication to the entity (customer) of the target'"'"'s “status.” In one implementation, a particular sensing device (such as a cash register 111, computer terminal 112, or time clock 113) is configured to perform both (A) a primary function that is not related to providing the sensing information, and (B) the secondary function of providing the sensing information. In this implementation, the particular sensing device provides the sensing information in response to the person'"'"'s ordinary use of the particular sensing device as he goes about his job (performing the particular sensing device'"'"'s primary function), so that the person does not have to explicitly perform any purely presence-related action in order to cause the particular sensing device to communicate the sensing information.

Claims

1. A system for indicating a status of a target to an entity that attempts to communicate with the target, the system comprising:

at least one sensing device configured to provide sensing information concerning the status of said target in response to an action of the target with respect to the at least one sensing device; and

a monitoring device, configured to receive the sensing information from the at least one sensing device, and to govern communication to the entity of the status of said target, the status describing at least one of;

a present ability, or a future ability of said target to communicate with the entity, wherein;

the target comprises a person;

the status comprises an indication of whether the person is present or absent;

one of said at least one sensing device is dedicated to only provide the sensing information to the monitoring device;

the person performs a presence-related action in order to cause the one of said at least one sensing device to provide the sensing information; and

the one of said at least one sensing device comprises a proximity sensor configured to passively sense a physical presence of the person without an explicit performance of a presence-related action by the person, the proximity sensor comprising at least one of;

an infrared detector, an optical detector, or a weight detector.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein:

another one of said at least one sensing device is configured to perform both a primary function that is not related to providing the sensing information, and a secondary function of providing the sensing information; and

the another one of said at least one sensing device provides the sensing information in response to a use by the person of the another one of said at least one sensing device to perform the primary function of the another one of said at least one sensing device, so that the person does not have to explicitly perform a presence-related action in order to cause the another one of said at least one sensing device to communicate the sensing information.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the another one of said at least one sensing device comprises at least one of:

a cash register, computer terminal, or a time clock.

4. The system of claim 2, further comprising:

a database, operatively connected to the monitoring device, and configured to store information concerning the target.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein said information comprises at least one of:

an indication of a presence or an absence of the person;

a summary of a general work schedule of the person;

an indication of a title of the person, a department of the person or a descriptive data of the person;

an indication of an expected date and a time of return of the person;

a description of a nature of absence of the person;

an indication of an alternative individual that callers might connect with in an absence of the person;

an indication of how a database entry was arrived at; and

a history of recent incoming calls to an extension of the person that have gone unanswered.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the monitoring device comprises:

a qualifying portion configured to consult an index that associates entity identifiers with an authorization level of corresponding entities, and to qualify the communication of the status of the target to the entity based on the indicated authorization level of the entity.

7. A method of indicating a status of a target to an entity that attempts to communicate with the target, comprising:

automatically providing sensing information concerning the status of the target in response to an action of the target with respect to at least one sensing device; and

based on the sensing information from the at least one sensing device, governing communication to the entity of the status of the target, the status describing at least one of;

a present ability or a future ability of the target to communicate with the entity, wherein;

the target comprises a person;

the status comprises an indication of whether the person is present or absent;

one of said at least one sensing device is dedicated to only provide the sensing information to the monitoring device;

the person performs a presence-related action in order to cause the one of said at least one sensing device to provide the sensing information; and

the one of said at least one sensing device comprises a proximity sensor configured to passively sense a physical presence of the person without an explicit performance of a presence-related action by the person, the proximity sensor comprising at least one of;

an infrared detector, an optical detector, or a weight detector.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein:

another one of said at least one sensing device is configured to perform both a primary function that is not related to providing the sensing information, and a secondary function of providing the sensing information; and

the secondary function of providing comprises providing the sensing information in response to a use of the another one of said at least one sensing device by the person to perform the primary function of the another one of said at least one sensing device, so that the person does not have to explicitly perform a presence-related action in order to cause the another one of said at least one sensing device to communicate the sensing information.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

accumulating sensing information to form status data that is stored in a database; and

using the status data from the database to govern communication of the status of the target to the entity.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

consulting an index that associates entity identifiers with an authorization level of corresponding entities; and

qualifying the communication of the status of the target to the entity based on the indicated authorization level of the entity.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the another one of said at least one sensing device comprises at least one of:

a cash register, computer terminal, or a time clock.

12. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions including instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform steps of a method of indicating a status of a target to an entity that attempts to communicate with the target, comprising:

automatically providing sensing information concerning the status of the target in response to an action of the target with respect to at least one sensing device; and

based on the sensing information from the at least one sensing device, governing communication to the entity of the status of the target, the status describing at least one of;

a present ability or a future ability of the target to communicate with the entity, wherein;

the target comprises a person;

the status comprises an indication of whether the person is present or absent;

one of said at least one sensing device is dedicated to only provide the sensing information to the monitoring device;

the person performs a presence-related action in order to cause the one of said at least one sensing device to provide the sensing information; and

the one of said at least one sensing device comprises a proximity sensor configured to passively sense a physical presence of the person without an explicit performance of a presence-related action by the person, the proximity sensor comprising at least one of;

an infrared detector, an optical detector, or a weight detector.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein:

another one of said at least one sensing device is configured to perform both a primary function that is not related to providing the sensing information, and a secondary function of providing the sensing information; and

the secondary function of providing comprises providing the sensing information in response to a use of the another one of said at least one sensing device by the person to perform the primary function of the another one of said at least one sensing device, so that the person does not have to explicitly perform a presence-related action in order to cause the another one of said at least one sensing device to communicate the sensing information.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, further comprising:

accumulating sensing information to form status data that is stored in a database; and

using the status data from the database to govern communication of the status of the target to the entity.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, further comprising:

consulting an index that associates entity identifiers with an authorization level of corresponding entities; and

qualifying the communication of the status of the target to the entity based on the indicated authorization level of the entity.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the another one of said at least one sensing device comprises at least one of:

a cash register, computer terminal, or a time clock.