Representing remotely available users through working elsewhere status

• US 8,856,238 B2
• Filed: 02/09/2012
• Issued: 10/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/09/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Los, David, Matthew, Jaya, Siu, Nelson
• Primary Examiner(s): WON, MICHAEL YOUNG
• Application Number:
  US13/369,570
• Publication Number:
  US 20130212252A1
• Time in Patent Office: 971 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203
• US Class Current: 709/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063114 Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

An application provides a “working elsewhere” status for users working at a location other than their regular work location and still available for meetings, communication sessions, etc. The application determines a user location being other than regular work location and the user still being available through user selection, information from user associated application(s), and/or from a presence notification. The application adjusts the user status to a working elsewhere status and makes the new status available to other applications such as calendaring, communication applications, presence service(s), and comparable ones. Meetings may be scheduled, communication sessions facilitated if the working elsewhere status is sufficient/acceptable for other users.

Claims

1. A method executed on a computing device for providing an availability status, the method comprising:

determining a location of a user to be other than a regular work location of the user;

determining an actual location of the user by utilizing a global positioning system (GPS), a wireless network triangulation, or a wired network tracking of the location of the user;

determining that the user is available at least in a limited manner;

assigning the user a “

working elsewhere”

status indicating the user'"'"'s availability at the location other than the regular work location of the user; and

publishing the user'"'"'s “

working elsewhere”

status in addition to at least one of a “

free,”

“

busy,”

“

tentative,” and

“

out of office”

status to one or more applications consuming status information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the user'"'"'s location and availability is determined by one of:

a local application and a hosted service.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the local application is one of:

a scheduling application and a communication application.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the hosted service is one of:

a scheduling service, a communication service, and a location based service.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the “

working elsewhere”

status is published as a presence status by the hosted service.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining the location and availability of the user from a user selection of availability status.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

assigning the “

working elsewhere”

status based on inferring the location and availability of the user.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the location and availability of the user is inferred based on information obtained from at least one from a set of:

a personal calendar, a work calendar, available communication modalities at a computing device of the user, active communication modalities at the computing device of the user, and the actual location of the user.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

publishing the actual location of the user along with the “

working elsewhere”

status to authorized users.

10. A computing device for providing an availability status, the computing device comprising:

a memory configured to store instructions; and

a processor coupled to the memory, the processor executing an application in conjunction with the instructions stored in the memory, wherein the application is configured to;

determine a location of a user to be other than a regular work location of the user;

determine an actual location of the user by utilizing a global positioning system (GPS), a wireless network triangulation, or a wired network tracking of the location of the user;

determine that the user is available at least in a limited manner;

assign the user a “

working elsewhere”

status indicating the user'"'"'s availability at the location other than the regular work location of the user; and

publish the user'"'"'s “

working elsewhere”

status in addition to at least one of a “

free,”

“

busy,”

“

tentative,” and

“

out of office”

status to one or more applications consuming status information.

11. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the application is further configured to:

infer the location and availability of the user on information obtained from at least one from a set of;

a personal calendar, a work calendar, available communication modalities at the computing device of the user, active communication modalities at the computing device of the user, a location service, a social networking site schedule, a work-related application usage, a building access system usage, and a biometric access system usage.

12. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the application is further configured to:

publish additional information comprising one or more of the actual location of the user, available communication modalities for the user, and scheduling information for the user along with the “

working elsewhere”

status.

13. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the additional information is published based on at least one from a set of:

a user preference, a default rule, a customizable rule, and a permission level of other users.

14. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the application is one of:

a communication application, a scheduling application, and a location based service application.

15. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the application is configured to determine a modality of communication with the user based on the “

working elsewhere”

status, the modality comprising one or more of;

an audio communication, a video communication, a data exchange, an application sharing, and a text message exchange.

16. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the location of the user is one of:

a home location, a different work-related location, and a transportation mode.

17. A computer-readable memory device with instructions stored thereon for providing an availability status, the instructions comprising:

determining a location of a user to be other than a regular work location of the user;

determining an actual location of the user by utilizing a global positioning system (GPS), a wireless network triangulation, or a wired network tracking of the location of the user;

determining that the user is available at least in a limited manner;

assigning the user a “

working elsewhere”

status indicating the user'"'"'s availability at the location other than the regular work location of the user;

publishing the user'"'"'s “

working elsewhere”

status in addition to at least one “

free,”

“

busy,”

“

tentative,” and

“

out of office”

status to one or more applications consuming status information;

indicating details of available communication modalities within the user'"'"'s “

working elsewhere”

status;

enabling the user to choose the available communication modalities depending on the user location; and

enabling another user to at least one of schedule an online meeting, move an in-person meeting, cancel an in-person meeting, and select an available communication modality for a planned communication session with the user based on the “

working elsewhere”

status and the indicated details within the “

working elsewhere”

status.

18. The computer-readable memory device of claim 17, wherein the instructions further comprise:

notifying a communication service to limit communication modalities for the user based on the “

working elsewhere”

status.

19. The computer-readable memory device of claim 17, wherein the instructions further comprise:

determining an authorization level of another user to receive the location and schedule information associated with the user; and

publishing the actual location and additional schedule information of the user to the other user if the other user'"'"'s authorization level is sufficient.