Policy-based exposure of presence

• US 9,509,791 B2
• Filed: 01/07/2011
• Issued: 11/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Maes, Stephane H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wang, Liangche A
• Assistant Examiner(s): AGUIAR, JOHNNY B
• Application Number:
  US12/986,577
• Publication Number:
  US 20110167153A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,153 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/217, 709/219, 709/223, 709/224, 709/246, 726/1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/80 of semi-structured data, e.g. markup language structured data such as SGML, XML or HTML content-based retrieval of web data G06F16/95
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/043 using or handling presence information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0227 Filtering policies mail message filtering H04L51/212
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/10 adapted for application session management, e.g. SIP [Session Initiation Protocol] connection management H04W76/00; arrangements for session management H04L67/14

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provide methods and systems for enforcing policy-based exposure of presence. The method includes receiving, from a service provider, a request for presence information about a subscriber, intercepting the request at a policy enforcer, and analyzing the request to determine attributes associated with the request. The method further includes, based in part on the determined attributes of the request, applying a policy to the request, and based on the applied policy, filtering the request for presence information about the subscriber. Further, the method includes forwarding the filtered request to a presence server, and publishing, to the service provider, the filtered presence information about the subscriber.

Claims

1. A method of enforcing policy-based exposure of presence, the method comprising:

intercepting, at a policy enforcer, a request for presence information about a first subscriber to a presence service, the request for the presence information being sent from a service provider for a second subscriber to the presence service, wherein the service provider sends targeted advertisements to the first subscriber, and wherein the request for the presence information comprises a request for a real-time geographic location of the first subscriber;

analyzing, by the policy enforcer, the request for the presence information to determine attributes associated with the request;

applying, by the policy enforcer, a policy to the request, the policy being selected from a plurality of policies based at least in part on the attributes associated with the request for the presence information;

based at least in part on the policy, modifying, by the policy enforcer, the request for the presence information by;

changing, based on the service provider sending targeted advertisements to the first subscriber, the request for the real-time geographic location of the first subscriber to a request for an online or offline connection status of the first subscriber; and

adding a use restriction that the presence information can only be used by the service provider and not by a third party; and

forwarding the request for the presence information from the policy enforcer to the presence service.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the service provider comprises one or more of the following:

a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) User Agent (UA) provider, a customer presence agent, and a third party application provider.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the third party application provider provides one or more of the following applications:

a simple message service (SMS) text application, an instant messenger (IM) application, an email application, a web conferencing application, and a teleconferencing application.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the attributes associated with the request for the presence information comprise a source, a type of information being requested, a destination, and an intended use of the presence information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the policy is included in a policy database comprising the plurality of policies.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the plurality of policies each allows a threshold level of presence information about the first subscriber to be exposed.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the plurality of policies provide to the policy enforcer conditions and/or actions to be taken in relation to the request for the presence information received from the service provider.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the policy comprises a policy script to be applied to the request for the presence information and/or the presence information.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first subscriber is one or more of the following:

an Internet Service Provider (ISP) subscriber, a cellular phone subscriber, and a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) service subscriber.

10. A system for enforcing policy-based advertisements, the system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storage device in communication with the processor, the memory storage device having sets of instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

intercept, at a policy enforcer, a request for presence information about a first subscriber to a presence service, the request for the presence information being sent from a service provider for a second subscriber to the presence service, wherein the service provider sends targeted advertisements to the first subscriber, and wherein the request for the presence information comprises a request for a real-time geographic location of the first subscriber;

analyze, by the policy enforcer, the request for the presence information to determine attributes associated with the request;

apply, by the policy enforcer, a policy to the request, the policy being selected from a plurality of policies based at least in part on the attributes associated with the request for the presence information;

based at least in part on the policy, modify, by the policy enforcer, the request for the presence information by;

changing, based on the service provider sending targeted advertisements to the first subscriber, the request for the real-time geographic location of the first subscriber to a request for an online or offline connection status of the first subscriber; and

adding a use restriction that the presence information can only be used by the service provider and not by a third party; and

forward the request for the presence information from the policy enforcer to the presence service.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the sets of instructions further cause the processor to implement a policy database coupled with the policy enforcer, the policy database configured to store the policy and transmit the policy to the policy enforcer upon request.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the service provider comprises one or more of the following:

a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) User Agent (UA) provider, a customer presence agent, and a third party application provider.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the third party application provider provides one or more of the following applications:

a simple message service (SMS) text application, an instant messenger (IM) application, an email application, a web conferencing application, and a teleconferencing application.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the attributes associated with the request for the presence information comprise a source, a type of information being requested, a destination, and an intended use of the presence information.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the first subscriber is one or more of the following:

an Internet Service Provider (ISP) subscriber, a cellular phone subscriber, and a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) service subscriber.

16. A non-transitory machine-readable medium including sets of instructions stored thereon for enforcing policy-based exposure of presence which, when executed by a machine, causes the machine to:

intercept, at a policy enforcer, a request for presence information about a first subscriber to a presence service, the request for the presence information being sent from a service provider for a second subscriber to the presence service, wherein the service provider sends targeted advertisements to the first subscriber, and wherein the request for the presence information comprises a request for a real-time geographic location of the first subscriber;

analyze, by the policy enforcer, the request for the presence information to determine attributes associated with the request;

apply, by the policy enforcer, a policy to the request, the policy being selected from a plurality of policies based at least in part on the attributes associated with the request for the presence information;

based at least in part on the policy, modify, by the policy enforcer, the request for the presence information by;

changing, based on the service provider sending targeted advertisements to the first subscriber, the request for the real-time geographic location of the first subscriber to a request for an online or offline connection status of the first subscriber; and

adding a use restriction that the presence information can only be used by the service provider and not by a third party; and

forward the request for the presence information from the policy enforcer to the presence service.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the service provider comprises one or more of the following:

a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) User Agent (UA) provider, a customer presence agent, and a third party application provider.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the third party application provider provides one or more of the following applications:

a simple message service (SMS) text application, an instant messenger (IM) application, an email application, a web conferencing application, and a teleconferencing application.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the attributes associated with the request for the presence information comprise a source, a type of information being requested, a destination, and an intended use of the presence information.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the first subscriber is one or more of the following:

an Internet Service Provider (ISP) subscriber, a cellular phone subscriber, and a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) service subscriber.