System and method for determining availability statuses for users

• US 9,060,050 B1
• Filed: 06/18/2014
• Issued: 06/16/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RingCentral Incorporated
• Original Assignee: RingCentral Incorporated
• Inventors: Chau, Vi Dinh, Sanjeeva, Naveen, Nikitin, Anton
• Primary Examiner(s): Phillips, Hassan
• Assistant Examiner(s): DUONG, DUC T
• Application Number:
  US14/308,661
• Time in Patent Office: 363 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/043 using or handling presence information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• 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: H04M 3/42357 where the information is provided to a monitoring entity such as a potential calling party or a call processing server
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42365 Presence services providing information on the willingness to communicate or the ability to communicate in terms of media capability or network connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42374 where the information is provided to a monitoring entity such as a potential calling party or a call processing server
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for determining availability statuses for users of a communication service provider system. One of the methods includes obtaining data identifying a plurality of availability status features for a user of a communication service provider system and a respective weight for each of the availability status features; determining a respective current value of each of the availability status features; and determining an aggregate user availability status based at least in part on the current values of the availability status features and on the weights for the availability status features.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

obtaining data identifying a plurality of availability status features for a user of a communication service provider system and a respective weight for each of the availability status features, wherein the plurality of availability status features includes an action pattern feature that identifies successive actions taken by the user with respect to a particular service provided by the communication service provider system;

determining a respective current value of each of the availability status features, wherein determining a current value of the action pattern feature comprises determining an availability status from the successive actions taken by the user with respect to the particular service; and

determining an aggregate user availability status based at least in part on the current values of the availability status features and on the weights for the availability status features.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of availability status features includes an account parameters feature that identifies availability indicators associated with account parameters configured by the user with the communication service provider system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of availability status features includes a telephony status feature that identifies a line status for one or more communication devices associated with the user.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the line status feature identifies an aggregated line status aggregated from respective line statuses of each of a plurality of communication devices associated with the user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of availability status features includes a communication status feature that identifies a non-telephony communication status of the user.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of availability status features includes a session activity feature that identifies a time elapsed since a most recent interaction by the user with any service provided by the communication service provider system.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of availability status features includes a location-based feature that identifies an availability indicator for a user that is derived from a physical location of the user.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining the weights for the availability status features from interactions of other users with the communication service provider system based on, for each availability status feature, a proportion of time that the other users responded to communications while a value of the availability status feature indicated that the other user was unavailable to respond to the communication.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user input modifying one or more of the availability status features or one or more of the weights; and

modifying the availability status features for the user and the weights in response to the input.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of availability status features includes an external availability status feature that identifies availability statuses for the user obtained by the communication service provider system from services that are not provided by the communication service provider system.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the particular service is a telephony service, and wherein determining a current value of the action pattern feature comprises:

determining that the user has ignored more than a threshold number of successive incoming phone calls; and

in response, setting the current value of the action pattern feature to an unavailable status.

12. A system comprising one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that when executed by the one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

obtaining data identifying a plurality of availability status features for a user of a communication service provider system and a respective weight for each of the availability status features, wherein the plurality of availability status features includes an action pattern feature that identifies successive actions taken by the user with respect to a particular service provided by the communication service provider system;

determining a respective current value of each of the availability status features, wherein determining a current value of the action pattern feature comprises determining an availability status from the successive actions taken by the user with respect to the particular service; and

determining an aggregate user availability status based at least in part on the current values of the availability status features and on the weights for the availability status features.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the plurality of availability status features includes an account parameters feature that identifies availability indicators associated with account parameters configured by the user with the communication service provider system.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the plurality of availability status features includes a telephony status feature that identifies a line status for one or more communication devices associated with the user.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the plurality of availability status features includes a communication status feature that identifies a non-telephony communication status of the user.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the plurality of availability status features includes an external availability status feature that identifies availability statuses for the user obtained by the communication service provider system from services that are not provided by the communication service provider system.

17. A non-transitory computer storage medium encoded with a computer program, the computer program comprising instructions that when executed by one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

obtaining data identifying a plurality of availability status features for a user of a communication service provider system and a respective weight for each of the availability status features, wherein the plurality of availability status features includes an action pattern feature that identifies successive actions taken by the user with respect to a particular service provided by the communication service provider system;

determining a respective current value of each of the availability status features, wherein determining a current value of the action pattern feature comprises determining an availability status from the successive actions taken by the user with respect to the particular service; and

determining an aggregate user availability status based at least in part on the current values of the availability status features and on the weights for the availability status features.

18. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 17, wherein the plurality of availability status features includes an account parameters feature that identifies availability indicators associated with account parameters configured by the user with the communication service provider system.

19. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 17, wherein the plurality of availability status features includes a telephony status feature that identifies a line status for one or more communication devices associated with the user.

20. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 17, wherein the plurality of availability status features includes a communication status feature that identifies a non-telephony communication status of the user.