Method for realizing a presence service and presence system

• US 8,041,398 B2
• Filed: 08/29/2005
• Issued: 10/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Unify Patente GmbH & Co. KG (Atos SE)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Enterprise Communications GmbH and Co KG (Mitel Networks Corporation)
• Inventors: Hutt, Manfred, Nierhaus, Florian, Zimmermann, Rainer
• Primary Examiner(s): Perez-Gutierrez, Rafael
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chakour, Issam
• Application Number:
  US11/547,519
• Publication Number:
  US 20090191851A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,241 Days
• Field of Search: 455/566, 455/466, 455/418, 455/420, 709204-206
• US Class Current: 455/566
• 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 aspect, a method for realizing a presence service with a buddy list that can be displayed on a display device of a terminal is provided. In an activated state, the buddy list itself is displayed, and in a deactivated state, the buddy list itself is not visible. The buddy list is updated by a control device during a change in state of at lest one subscriber to be monitored and/or of at least one device assigned to the subscriber. According to the invention, the updating of the buddy list ensues in the deactivated state by means of the control device while using a method other than one used in the activated state.

Claims

1. A method for achieving a presence service in a communication network, comprising:

providing a presence server that is configured to wait for arrival of an update message from a device;

the presence server receiving the update message;

the presence server checking the update message to determine if the update message signals a change in state of a user or a device associated with the user;

the presence server determining whether an entry exists for the user or the device associated with the user in at least one buddy list if the presence server determines that the update message signals the change in state of the user or the device associated with the user,

if no entry in the at least one buddy list exists for the user or the device associated with the user in the at least one buddy list, the presence server awaiting for another update message;

if an entry exists for the user or the device associated with the user in the at least one buddy list, the presence server determining whether the at least one buddy list is in a deactivated state or an activated state,

if the at least one buddy list is in the deactivated state, the presence server suppressing sending of any buddy list update message to the at least one buddy list, the buddy list update message configured to identify the change in state of the user or the device associated with the user such that the buddy list update message is not transmitted to the at least one buddy list and storing the change in state and after a predetermined time has elapsed the presence server sending a group message to the at least one buddy list that identifies states of all users of the at least one buddy list and all devices associated with those users of the at least one buddy list; and

if the at least one buddy list is in the activated state, the presence server sending at least one buddy list update message such that the change in state is indicated on a display device of a terminal device via the at least one buddy list without waiting for the predetermined time to elapse; and

wherein at least one buddy list is in the deactivated state and the at least one buddy list in the deactivated state is also updated if a change in any non-realtime-critical states of the user or the device associated with the user is detected by the presence server via the update message without waiting for the predetermined time to elapse; and

wherein the at least one buddy list is configured to display realtime-critical state information of the user or device associated with the user and non-realtime-critical state information of the user or device associated with the user; and

wherein for the at least one buddy list in the deactivated state, the at least one buddy list in the deactivated state is updated via the group message only for changes in non-realtime-critical states of the users or devices associated with those users of the at least one buddy list.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the at least one buddy list is in the deactivated state when the at least one buddy list is hidden on the display device or the at least one buddy list is situated outside of a visible region of the display device.

3. A presence system for achieving a presence service in a communication network, comprising:

a central presence server;

a plurality of terminals communicatively coupled to the central presence server;

at least one buddy list connected to the central presence server and at least one of the terminals of the plurality of terminals, the at least one buddy list comprising status information for each terminal;

the presence server configured to receive update messages from the terminals;

for each update message, the presence server configured to check the update message to determine if the update message signals a change in state of at least one of the terminals;

the presence server also configured to determine if the at least one buddy list is in a deactivated state or an activated state,

if the at least one buddy list is in the deactivated state, the presence server configured to suppress the sending of any buddy list update message to the at least one buddy list such that the buddy list update message is not transmitted to the at least one buddy list and stores the change in state at least until a predetermined time has elapsed and after the predetermined time has elapsed the presence server sending a buddy list update message to the at least one buddy list that identifies the change in state, each buddy list update message configured to identify the change in state of the at least one terminal of the plurality of terminals; and

if the at least one buddy list is in the activated state, the presence server configured to send at least one buddy list update message such that the change in state is displayable on a display device of the at least one of the terminals via the at least one buddy list without waiting for the predetermined time to elapse; and

when the at least one buddy list is in the deactivated state the at least one buddy list is hidden by an application such that the at least one buddy list is not displayed on the display device.

4. The presence system as claimed in claim 3, wherein each buddy list update message sent to the at least one buddy list when the at least one buddy list is in the deactivated state is a group message and each terminal is one of a personal computer, a corded telephone, a mobile phone or a Personal Digital Assistant.

5. A method for achieving a presence service in a communication network, comprising:

providing a presence server that is configured to wait for arrival of an update message from a device;

the presence server receiving the update message;

the presence server checking the update message to determine if the update message signals a change in state of a user or a device associated with the user;

the presence server determining whether an entry exists for the user or the device associated with the user in at least one buddy list if the presence server determines that the update message signals the change in state of the user or the device associated with the user,

if no entry in the at least one buddy list exists for the user or the device associated with the user in the at least one buddy list, the presence server awaiting for another update message;

if an entry exists for the user or the device associated with the user in the at least one buddy list, the presence server determining whether the at least one buddy list is in a deactivated state or an activated state,

if the at least one buddy list is in the deactivated state, the presence server suppressing sending of any buddy list update message to the at least one buddy list, the buddy list update message configured to identify the change in state of the user or the device associated with the user such that the buddy list update message is not transmitted to the at least one buddy list and storing the change in state and after a predetermined time has elapsed the presence server sending a group message to the at least one buddy list that identifies states of all users of the at least one buddy list and all devices associated with those users of the at least one buddy list; and

if the at least one buddy list is in the activated state, the presence server sending at least one buddy list update message such that the change in state is indicated on a display device of a terminal device via the at least one buddy list without waiting for the predetermined time to elapse; and

wherein when the at least one buddy list is in the deactivated state the at least one buddy list is hidden by an application such that the at least one buddy list is not displayed on the display device.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5 wherein the states identified in the group message are comprised of a last valid state of each monitored user or device associated with that user.

7. The method as claimed in claim 5, further comprising increasing the predetermined time when the at least one buddy list is in the deactivated state for at least a first amount of time.

8. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the predetermined time is set user-individually or controller-individually.

9. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the at least one buddy list is configured to display realtime-critical state information of the user or device associated with the user and non-realtime-critical state information of the user or device associated with the user.

10. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein at least one buddy list is in the deactivated state and the at least one buddy list in the deactivated state is also updated if a change in any non-realtime-critical states of the user or the device associated with the user is detected by the presence server via the update message without waiting for the predetermined time to elapse.

11. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein following a change of the at least one buddy list from the deactivated state to the activated state the at least one buddy list is updated immediately.

12. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein transmission of information regarding the deactivated state of the at least one buddy list takes places implicitly if a connection between a controller and the terminal is broken by the terminal.

13. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein transmission of information regarding the at least one buddy list being in the activated state or deactivated state takes places by way of explicit signaling.

14. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein for cases where a deactivated signal is signaled, information about whether updating the at least one buddy list should continue to take place or not is also transmitted.

15. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein in the at least one buddy list is comprised of user information that is selected from the group consisting of:

information about users to be monitored, information about the devices of the monitored users, and combinations thereof.

16. The method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the deactivated state exists if:

the at least one buddy list is hidden on the display device, or the user information is situated outside of a visible region of the display device, or the user information is shown by a symbol representing the user information, or a portion of the user information is shown by a symbol representing this portion.

17. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein when the at least one buddy list is in the activated state, the at least one buddy list update message is sent to the at least one buddy list and the at least one buddy list is updated after the change in state of the device associated with the user occurs.

18. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein when the at least one buddy list is in the activated state and the at least one buddy list is updated immediately after the change in state.