Mobile network presence service

• US 9,014,675 B1
• Filed: 05/03/2007
• Issued: 04/21/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/03/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Sun, Yaojun
• Primary Examiner(s): Nealon, William
• Application Number:
  US11/799,809
• Time in Patent Office: 2,910 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 455/414.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/043 using or handling presence information
• 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: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A presence service is described that is particularly adapted for use by mobile telecommunications devices. Mobile devices operate as presentities that have one or more watchers. The watchers may themselves be mobile devices. The mobile devices can alternately be in or out of a display state. The display state corresponds to a state in which a user of the mobile device is accessing or is likely to access presence information of a different mobile device. A mobile device reports its state changes to a presence server when it has at least one watcher that is in the display state. If the mobile device has no watchers that are in the display state, and if the mobile device is not itself in the display state and watching other mobile devices, presence state reports from the mobile device are kept to a minimum.

Claims

1. A method of providing a presence service for a first presentity at a client device, wherein the client device offers at least one communication service through which a user of the client device can be contacted, the method comprising:

making a determination about whether the first presentity is in a display state, wherein the first presentity is in the display state when presence access logic is activated;

detecting a state change between a state in which the communication service is in use to a state in which the communication service is not in use; and

if the first presentity is in an active session with a presence server, transmitting to the presence server a report of the state change from the client device; and

if the first presentity is not in an active session with the presence server and has at least one active watcher, receiving a prompt from the presence server to enter an active session and to report an updated presence state to the presence server,

wherein during the active session with the presence server, the first presentity receives up-to-date presence information about presentities the first presentity is watching and the first presentity sends up-to-date presence information of the first presentity to the presence server.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the client device stores an indication of whether the first presentity is in the active session with the presence server, the method further comprising:

if (a) the first presentity has no active watchers and (b) the first presentity is not in the display state, storing an indication that the presentity is not in an active session;

if (a) the first presentity has no active watchers and (b) the first presentity is not a watcher of any second presentity, storing an indication that the presentity is not in an active session;

if the first presentity has an active watcher, storing an indication that the presentity is in an active session; and

if the first presentity (a) is in the display state and (b) is a watcher of any second presentity, storing an indication that the presentity is in an active session;

wherein the method further comprises checking the stored indication of whether the first presentity is in an active session.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein, in response to a transition of the first presentity out of the display state, the client device transmits a report of the transition out of the display state if and only if the client device is in an active session.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising, determining, in response to a transition of the first presentity into the display state, whether to report the transition into the display state wherein the determination is not dependent on whether the first presentity has an active watcher;

and

if a determination is made to report the transition into the display state, transmitting from the client device a report of the transition into the display state.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the determination of whether to report the transition into the display state depends at least in part on whether the first presentity is a watcher of any second presentity.

6. A method performed by a presence server system comprising:

storing presence states of at least a first presentity and a second presentity;

determining that the first presentity has entered a display state, wherein the first presentity is in the display state when presence access logic is activated;

determining whether the second presentity is in an active session with the presence server; and

, based on the determination;

a) if the second presentity is in an active session, the presence server system reporting to the first presentity the stored presence state of the second presentity;

or

b) if the second presentity is not in an active session, causing the second presentity to report its updated presence state to the presence server, and the presence server system reporting the updated presence state to the first presentity,

wherein during the active session with the presence server system, the presence server system sends to the second presentity up-to-date presence information about presentities the second presentity is watching and the presence server system receives from the second presentity up-to-date presence information of the second presentity.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein causing the second presentity to report its updated presence state includes causing the second presentity to enter an active session.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising determining that the first presentity has exited the display state, and causing the second presentity to exit the active session.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein causing the second presentity to report its updated presence state includes reporting to the second presentity that the second presentity has an active watcher.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

sending a plurality of messages to a third presentity;

determining, based at least in part on whether the third presentity has responded to the plurality of messages, whether the third presentity is out-of-network; and

if the third presentity is out-of-network, storing an indication that the third presentity is out-of-network.

11. A presence system comprising:

a mobile telecommunications client device, and a presence application stored on and executable by the client device, wherein the presence application is operative;

to store presence state information identifying which of a plurality of presence states is occupied by the client device, at least one of the states being a display state;

to store information identifying whether the client device is in an active presence session with a presence server, wherein during the active presence session with the presence server, the client device receives up-to-date presence information about presentities the client device is watching and the client device sends up-to-date presence information of the client device to the presence server;

in response to the client device transitioning into the display state, to cause the client device to transmit a report of the state transition when the client device is not in an active presence session with the presence server and the client device has at least one active watcher; and

in response to the client device transitioning out of the display state, to cause the client device to transmit a report of the state transition only if the client device is in an active presence session with the presence server.

12. The presence system of claim 11, wherein the client device is a flip phone, the display state being a state in which the flip phone is open.

13. The presence system of claim 11, wherein the presence application has a user interface operative to display presence information, and wherein the client device enters the display state in response to opening of the user interface and exits the display state in response to closing of the user interface.

14. The presence system of claim 11, wherein the client device has a display, the display state being a state in which the display is on.

15. The presence system of claim 11, wherein the presence application is further operative, in response to a determination that the client device has at least one active watcher, to enter an active presence session.

16. The presence system of claim 11, further comprising a presence server operative to receive state transition reports transmitted from the client device, wherein at least one of the presence server and the presence application is operative, in response to the client device transitioning into the display state, to determine whether the client device is a watcher of a presentity, and to cause the client device to enter an active presence session if the client device is a watcher of a presentity.

17. The presence system of claim 11, further comprising a presence server operative to receive state transition reports transmitted from the client device, wherein at least one of the presence server and the presence application is operative, in response to the client device transitioning out of the display state, to determine whether the client device has any active watchers, and to cause the client device to exit the active presence session if the client device does not have any active watchers.

18. The presence system of claim 11, wherein the presence state information includes an availability state for the client device to be contacted through a communications service, the presence application being operative, in response to a change in the availability state of the client device, to cause the client device to transmit a report of the state transition only if the client device is in an active presence session.

19. The presence system of claim 11, further comprising at least one watcher device that is a watcher of the client device, wherein the client device operates to enter an active session in response to at least one watcher device entering the display state.