Nearby contact alert based on location and context

• US 8,526,969 B2
• Filed: 06/08/2009
• Issued: 09/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Zheng, Yu, Agarwal, Sharad, Hehmeyer, Alex
• Primary Examiner(s): Zewdu, Meless N
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chang, Jean
• Application Number:
  US12/480,511
• Publication Number:
  US 20100311395A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,548 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.2, 455/456.1, 455/457, 370/328, 380/283
• US Class Current: 455/456.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• 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: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/15 Information service where the information is dependent on the location of the subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4931 Directory assistance systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Attributes including presence and organization information for contacts of a subscriber are used in determining a subset of contacts matching a predefined criterion. Determined subset of contacts is sent as an alert to notify the subscriber to the subsets'"'"' nearby proximity.

Claims

1. A method to be executed at least in part in a computing device for providing a nearby contact alert, the method comprising:

determining a future travel and an expected future location of a subscriber based on the subscriber'"'"'s future itinerary based on an analysis of presence data for the subscriber by a nearby contact module;

determining a subset of expected nearby contacts by filtering the subscriber'"'"'s contacts at the nearby contact module based on the expected future location of the subscriber, future itineraries of the subscriber'"'"'s contacts, a predefined criterion defined by a context of a relationship of the subscriber with the expected nearby contacts, and an inferred rule based on a recent communication between the subscriber and the expected nearby contacts, wherein the criterion is based on an attribute of the subscriber and attributes of the expected nearby contacts and wherein the criterion is customized by the subscriber through selection and modification of default rules; and

providing an alert to the subscriber associated with the expected nearby contacts during the future travel, wherein the alert includes information associated with the expected nearby contacts and a context for the alert in form of at least one of;

a previous interaction with the expected nearby contacts and a topic of the previous interaction.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the predefined criterion is determined based on at least one from a set of:

a group of contacts within an enterprise directory and a context of prior conversations with the contacts.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the attribute of the subscriber and the attributes of the expected nearby contacts are determined based on at least one from a set of:

an enterprise directory, a subscriber directory, and a third party directory.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the attribute of the subscriber and the attributes of the expected nearby contacts include a frequency of interaction within a predefined period.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the attribute of the subscriber and the attributes of the expected nearby contacts include a staleness of interaction within a predefined period.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the expected future location of subscriber and expected future locations of the expected nearby contacts are determined based on at least one from a set of:

Global Positioning Service (GPS) information, cellular network information, information obtained from an active connection a non-cellular network, and presence information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the alert is a visual alert.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the alert is an audio alert.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the alert includes additional information including at least one from a set of:

an address, a contact number, an email address, an organizational structure, an expertise, an availability status, a schedule, a location, and a membership group.

10. A system for utilizing location and presence attributes for providing a nearby contact alert, the system comprising:

a server and a communication management framework, the server configured to execute the communication management framework and further configured to;

determine a future travel and an expected future location of a subscriber based on the subscriber'"'"'s future itinerary based on an analysis of presence data for the subscriber by a nearby contact module;

determine a subset of expected nearby contacts by filtering the subscriber'"'"'s contacts at the nearby contact module based on the expected future location of the subscriber, future itineraries of the subscriber'"'"'s contacts, a predefined criterion defined by a relationship of the subscriber with the expected nearby contacts, and an inferred rule based on a recent communication between the subscriber and the expected nearby contacts, wherein the criterion is based on an attribute of the subscriber and attributes of the expected nearby contacts and wherein the criterion is customized by the subscriber through selection and modification of default rules;

display a list of the subset of expected nearby contacts to the subscriber, wherein the subset of expected nearby contacts are selected from at least one from a set of;

a group of contacts within an organization, a social group, and a subscriber defined group; and

provide an alert to the subscriber associated with the expected nearby contacts during the future travel, wherein the alert includes name and location of the expected nearby contacts and a context for the alert in form of at least one of;

a previous interaction with the expected nearby contacts and a topic of the previous interaction and wherein the alert is provided to a client device executing a communication mode including one or more of;

voice communication, video communication, instant messaging, electronic mail, data sharing, application sharing, and whiteboard sharing.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the predefined criterion is defined by explicit subscriber preferences and automatically inferred rules associated with the attributes of the expected nearby contacts.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the determination of the subset of expected nearby contacts employs at least one from a set of:

a branch-and-bound algorithm, a progressive improvement algorithm, and a heuristic algorithm.

13. The system of claim 10, further comprising at least one from a set of:

a smart phone, a laptop, a desktop computer, a handheld computer, and a smart automobile console executing a communication application within the communication management framework for providing the alert to the subscriber and facilitating communications.

14. The system claim 10, wherein the subscriber is enabled to select one of accepting and rejecting a communication session invitation from one of the subset of the expected nearby contacts.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the subset of expected nearby contacts is updated in response to one of:

a request by the subscriber, expiration of a predefined period, and receiving a presence status change for one of the contacts.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the location of the subscriber is published to make expected nearby contacts aware.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the server is further configured to alert the subscriber regarding the subset of expected nearby contacts based on a future itinerary of the subscriber.