Dynamic information publication enabling direct access to a preferred communication channel connection in integrated communication server

• US 8,081,745 B2
• Filed: 12/14/2006
• Issued: 12/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Burrell, Mark, Fletcher, Joseph, Maguire, Justin III, Monaghan, Mickey, Bouchard, Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): DEANE JR, WILLIAM J
• Application Number:
  US11/611,091
• Publication Number:
  US 20080148154A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,832 Days
• Field of Search: 379/201.1, 379/142.07, 37926501-2661, 379/245, 379/207.12, 379 9301- 9309, 455/456.1, 709204-238
• US Class Current: 379/201.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1895 for short real-time information, e.g. alarms, notifications, alerts, updates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/043 using or handling presence information
• 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

Abstract

The method and system guides a user to easily and effectively communicate with a potential recipient via an integrated communication server. The integrated communication server will track and aggregate user presence information about the potential recipient. The aggregated user presence information includes the current state, activity, and/or availability of the potential recipient. The integrated communication server dynamically analyzes and compares the aggregated user presence information with user preference information of the potential recipient in order to identify an appropriate communication method. The identified appropriate communication method is published to the user indicating that it has a great likelihood of reaching the potential recipient successfully in the right way at the right time.

Claims

1. A method for publishing presence information about a group of recipient parties when a sending party initiates a communication channel with one or more recipient parties, the method including:

obtaining a user profile of a sending party from a database;

generating a list comprising at least one recipient party based on the user profiled of the sending party;

obtaining information through a communication server about the recipient party including presence information and user profile of the recipient party;

processing the obtained presence information to extract current state information and communication preferences of the recipient party;

generating a presence information publication according to the processed presence information and communication preferences, the presence information publication including an identifier of the recipient party, a preferred communication method of the recipient party for initiating a communication channel between a sending party and the recipient party and the extracted current state information of the recipient party; and

providing the presence information publication on a display device to the sending party.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting a change in the information about the recipient party; and

upon detecting a change, dynamically updating the presence information publication to reflect the change.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a publication includes determining several communication choices available to initiate a communication channel between the sending party and the recipient party.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising determining, for each of the several communication choices, a level of likelihood of successfully communicating with the recipient party.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the ordered list of communication choices is determined based on the level of likelihood of successfully communicating with the recipient party.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

selecting from the determined several communication choices a preferred communication choice with a highest level of likelihood of successfully communicating with the recipient party; and

presenting the preferred communication choice to the sending party in a first level and a list of alternative communication choices selected from the determined several communication choices in a second level, the list of alternative communication choices being presented in an order according to the determined likelihood of successfully communicating with the recipient party.

7. The method of claim 3 wherein the level of likelihood is determined based on determination factors about the recipient.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the determination factors include at least one of modality preference, communication channel preference, device preference, functionality of device, availability of device, activity of the recipient party, or current presence state of the recipient party.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the sending party'"'"'s indication to select a communication choice from the ordered list of communication choices; and

upon reception of the sending party'"'"'s indication, initiating the communication channel with a recipient in accordance with the selected communication choice.

10. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable components that when executed by a processor assist a user in determining a preferred communication modality for communicating with a recipient, comprising:

a storage component configured to store and update information about the recipient;

a process component configured to obtain a user profile of a sending party, to generate a list comprising at least one recipient party based on the user profiled of the sending party, to obtain information about the recipient party through a communication server including presence information and user profile of the recipient party, to extract current state information and communication preferences of the recipient party from the obtained presence information to generate a presence information publication according to the processed presence information and communication preferences, the presence information publication including an identifier of the recipient party, a preferred communication method of the recipient party for initiating a communication channel between a sending party and the recipient party and the extracted current state information of the recipient party; and

a user interface component for providing the presence information publication on a display to the sending party.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising:

a tracking component for collecting user presence information from the recipient, aggregating user presence information and monitoring changes in the user presence information of the recipient, wherein the set of communication preferences is updated in accordance with the changes in the user presence information of the recipient.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the processing component determines several communication choices available to initiate a communication channel between the sending party and the recipient party and determines, for each of the several communication choices, a level of likelihood of successfully communicating with the recipient party, and the user interface component presents the presence information publication according to the determined likelihood of success in reaching the recipient.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein a preferred communication modality is determined from the set of communication preferences.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein as the user selects the preferred communication modality, the user interface component provides a corresponding user graphic interface to assist the user to communicate with the recipient.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the user interface component presents a description about the aggregated user presence information.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the process component applies a set of rules to determine one or more communication preferences, and wherein the set of rules dynamically maps the recipient'"'"'s preference and a recipient'"'"'s current state.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the user interface component provides a visual indicator associated with a communication preference from the set of communication preferences;

and wherein the visual indicator associated with the communication preference is configured to initiate a communication channel connection with the recipient as indicated by the communication preference.

18. A method for determining a preferred communication modality, the method comprising:

collecting current state information about a user from a user database;

obtaining user preference information which is specified by the user;

generating a list comprising at least one recipient party based on the user preference information;

obtaining information about the recipient party through a communication server including presence information and user profile of the recipient party;

processing the obtained presence information to extract current state information and communication preferences of the recipient party;

comparing the extracted current state information of the recipient party, communication preferences of the recipient party and the user preference information to identify a first preferred communication modality;

identifying a device capable of implementing the first preferred communication modality and displaying the identification of the capable device on a display to the user;

determining accessibility of the recipient party via the identified device and the first preferred communication modality; and

upon determining the accessibility of the recipient party, enabling the recipient party to communicate with the user via the first preferred communication modality and the identified device.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein if there is a change in the current state information of the recipient party, the accessibility of the recipient party is determined again based on the change.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

if the recipient party is not accessible via the first preferred communication modality, identifying the second preferred communication modality;

determining accessibility of the recipient party via the identified device and the second preferred communication modality; and

upon determining the accessibility of the recipient party, enabling the recipient party to communicate with the recipient party via the second preferred communication modality and the identified device.