Methods and apparatuses for identification of device presence

• US 7,853,703 B1
• Filed: 03/24/2005
• Issued: 12/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: McBarron, Brian P., Herf, Michael Bryan
• Primary Examiner(s): Neurauter, Jr.; George C
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sikri; Anish
• Application Number:
  US11/089,915
• Time in Patent Office: 2,091 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 709/228, 455/412.1
• US Class Current: 709/228
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/043 using or handling presence information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4547 for personal communications, i.e. using a personal identifier
• 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

Abstract

In one embodiment, device presence enables persistent access to a set of resources, which may be data or services. Unique device identifiers are assigned to different computers of a user to identify the computers of the user of a network. For example, a device identifier is specific for a user and specific for a messaging system. Some time-consuming and device-specific tasks, such as synchronization of photo albums, transmitting files, sharing a printer, etc., may be interrupted temporarily, such as when the computer is restarted. Using the device identifiers, the messaging system can uniquely identify the devices involved in the tasks and detect the presence of the devices so that, after the interruption, the tasks can be resumed without user intervention.

Claims

1. A non-transitory machine readable storage medium storing instructions which when executed by a data processing system causes the system to perform a method, comprising:

assigning a first device identifier to a first communication device of a network, the first device identifier corresponding to a particular user using the first communication device in the network, wherein the first device identifier comprises a unique user identifier to identify the particular user using the first communication device and a first unique data item to uniquely identify the first communication device;

signing the first communication device onto the network using the first device identifier without signing the particular user onto the network, wherein the first device identifier allows the presence of the first communication device to be detected on the network regardless of whether or not the particular user signs onto the network using the unique user identifier; and

signing the particular user onto the network using the unique user identifier, wherein the first device identifier allows the particular user to sign off of the network while maintaining device presence so that a task involving the first communication device can be performed while the particular user is not online.

2. The medium of claim 1, wherein the network comprises one from a group consisting:

an instant messaging network, a communication network, a real-time communication network, a connected network, and a network with log in authentication.

3. The medium of claim 2, wherein the first device identifier is independent from network communication parameters wherein the first communication device is capable of communicating with devices of the instant messaging network according to the unique user identifier without the first device identifier and wherein the communication device generates the device identifier.

4. The medium of claim 2, wherein the method further comprises:

generating the first device identifier for the particular user at a server;

wherein the first device identifier is sent from the server to the first communication device through a network connection.

5. The medium of claim 2, wherein the method further comprises:

providing credentials to sign the first device identifier onto the instant messaging network without signing the unique user identifier onto the instant messaging network.

6. The medium of claim 2, wherein the method further comprises:

identifying the first communication device using the first device identifier in communication in the instant messaging network.

7. The medium of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a device identifier of a remote device of the network, the device identifier of the remote device to represent the remote device for a different user identifier of the network; and

detecting whether or not the device identifier representative of the remote device is available for a communication connection on a network for the network.

8. The medium of claim 7, wherein the method further comprises:

associating the device identifier of the remote device with a task involving the remote device; and

connecting to the remote device to perform the task responsive to a detection that the remote device is available on the network.

9. The medium of claim 8, wherein the detection resumes the task after interruption.

10. The medium of claim 8, wherein the detection is responsive to a schedule for the task.

11. The medium of claim 8, wherein said detecting comprises:

submitting the different user identifier to a server; and

receiving a notification from the server when the device identifier representative of the remote device for the different identifier is available on the network.

12. The medium of claim 11, wherein the notification comprises one or more communication parameters usable to make communication connections with the remote device.

13. The medium of claim 1, further comprising:

tracking a list of device identifiers representative of communication devices that are online in the network;

wherein one or more of the communication devices are capable of being online in the network without their respective user identifiers being online.

18. The medium of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

assigning a second device identifier to a second communication device of the network, the second device identifier corresponding to the same particular user, wherein the second device identifier comprises the unique user identifier to identify the same particular user using the second communication device and a second unique data item to uniquely identify the second communication device; and

assigning a third device identifier to the first communication device that is different than the first device identifier, wherein the third device identifier comprises a different unique user identifier to identify a different user using the first communication device and a third unique data item to uniquely identify the first communication device.

14. A method, comprising:

assigning a first device identifier to a first communication device of a network, the first device identifier corresponding to a particular user in the network, wherein the first device identifier comprises a unique user identifier to identify the particular user using the first communication device and a first unique data item to uniquely identify the first communication device;

signing the first communication device onto the network using the first device identifier without signing the particular user onto the network, wherein the first device identifier allows the presence of the first communication device to be detected on the network regardless of whether or not the particular user signs onto the network using the unique user identifier; and

signing the particular user onto the network using the unique user identifier, wherein the first device identifier allows the particular user to sign off of the network while maintaining device presence so that a task involving the first communication device can be performed while the particular user is not online.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

signing the particular user onto the network using the unique user identifier corresponding to the particular user;

arranging a task between the first communication device and another communication device on the network using the device identifier corresponding to the first communication device;

starting the task; and

automatically resuming the task without user interaction when the first communication device is detected to be available after one of the first communication device and the other communication device is offline regardless of whether the particular user is signed on.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

assigning a second device identifier to a second communication device of the network, the second device identifier corresponding to the same particular user, wherein the second device identifier comprises the unique user identifier to identify the same particular user using the second communication device and a second unique data item to uniquely identify the second communication device; and

assigning a third device identifier to the first communication device that is different than the first device identifier, wherein the third device identifier comprises a different unique user identifier to identify a different user using the first communication device and a third unique data item to uniquely identify the first communication device.

15. A data processing system, comprising:

means for assigning a first device identifier to a first communication device of a network, the first device identifier corresponding to a particular user using the first communication device in the network, wherein the first device identifier comprises a unique user identifier to identify the particular user using the first communication device and a first unique data item to uniquely identify the first communication device;

means for signing the first communication device onto the network using the first device identifier, wherein the first device identifier allows the presence of the first communication device to be detected on the network regardless of whether or not the particular user signs onto the network using the unique user identifier; and

means for signing the particular user onto the network using the unique user identifier, wherein the first device identifier allows the particular user to sign off of the network while maintaining device presence so that a task involving the first communication device can be performed while the particular user is not online.

20. The data processing system of claim 15, further comprising:

means for assigning a second device identifier to a second communication device of the network, the second device identifier corresponding to the same particular user, wherein the second device identifier comprises the unique user identifier to identify the same particular user using the second communication device and a second unique data item to uniquely identify the second communication device; and

means for assigning a third device identifier to the first communication device that is different than the first device identifier, wherein the third device identifier comprises a different unique user identifier to identify a different user using the first communication device and a third unique data item to uniquely identify the first communication device.

16. A method, comprising:

assigning a device identifier to a first communication device of an instant messaging network for a user identifier of the instant messaging network, the device identifier to represent the first communication device, the instant messaging network capable of providing communication connections for communication devices according to user identifiers, wherein the device identifier comprises the user identifier and a first unique data item to uniquely identify the first communication device;

signing the device identifier of the first communication device onto the instant messaging network;

signing the user identifier onto the instant messaging network;

sending the device identifier to a second communication device of the instant messaging network to associate the device identifier with a task between the first and second communication devices, wherein the device identifier allows the user identifier to sign off of the network while maintaining device presence so that the task can be performed while the user identifier is not online;

generating device presence information for the device identifier when the device identifier signs onto the network;

detecting whether or not the device identifier representative of the first communication device is available for a communication connection on the instant messaging network based on the device presence information; and

resuming the task between the first and second communication devices without user interaction when the first communication device is detected to be available on the instant messaging network after one of the first and second communication devices is offline.