System and method for determining and communicating presence information

• US 10,686,936 B2
• Filed: 01/11/2019
• Issued: 06/16/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Twilio, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Twilio, Inc.
• Inventors: Lawson, Jeff, Cooke, Evan, Simutis, Robert J., Malatack, Patrick, Conroy, Kyle
• Primary Examiner(s): Dean, Jr., Joseph E
• Application Number:
  US16/245,779
• Publication Number:
  US 20190222692A1
• Time in Patent Office: 522 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/043 using or handling presence information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
• 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 3/42374 where the information is provided to a monitoring entity such as a potential calling party or a call processing server
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/16 Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold

Abstract

A system and method for communicating presence information that can include at a first server of a communication platform, receiving an authorization token of a first client application; verifying at least one permission associated with the authorization token; registering a presence status of the first client application upon verifying the at least one permission of the authorization token; at a second server of the communication platform, accepting an incoming communication request; retrieving communication instructions according to the incoming communication request; identifying an instruction to communicate with a communication destination of the first client application; accessing the presence status resource of the first client application; establishing communication with the first client application according to the accessed presence status resource.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a presence server, a communication from a first client device to register presence statuses for a first account, the communication transmitted by a first client application executing on the first client device, the first client application being associated with the first account;

in response to receiving the communication, setting a publication subscription between the presence server and the first client device;

updating a presence status resource for the first account based on presence status updates received from the first client application via the publication subscription between the presence server and the first client device, the first client application transmitting the presence status updates in response to each detected change in presence status of the first client device;

receiving, at the presence server, a request from a communication platform system, the request being for presence statuses of a plurality of devices of the first client application;

in response to receiving the request, gathering the presence statuses of the plurality of devices from the presence status resource, the presence status resource including a presence status of the first client device and a presence status of a second client device executing the first client application; and

returning the data describing the presence statuses of the plurality of devices to the communication platform system, the communication platform system using the data describing the presence statuses of the plurality of device to select a device to route communications transmitted as part of a communication session executed in relation to the first client application.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the request is transmitted by the communication platform system in response to the communication platform system receiving a connection application protocol interface (API) request to initiate a communication session from a client system executing the first client application.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the communication platform system is external to the client system.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the communication platform system determines, based on the data describing the presence statuses of the plurality of devices, that a first device of the plurality of devices is available to engage in the communication session with the client system.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

consolidated presence statuses for the plurality of devices of the first client application.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the presence server exposes the statuses of the plurality of devices through a presence API, and the request is a presence API call.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication session is one of a voice call, a video call, and a text message.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the communication platform system determines, based on an authorization token included in the connection API request, that the client system is authorized to engage in the communication session.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the communication platform system determines that the client system is authorized to engage in the communication session by verifying a signature included in the authorization token with an account key associated with the first client application, the signature being applied to the authorization token by the first client application executing on the client system prior to being transmitted to the communication platform system.

10. The presence server of claim 2, wherein the communication platform system is external to the client system.

11. The presence server of claim 2, wherein the communication platform system determines, based on the data describing the presence statuses of the plurality of devices, that a first device of the plurality of devices is available to engage in the communication session with the client system.

12. A presence server comprising:

one or more computer processors; and

one or more computer-readable mediums storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more computer processors, cause the presence server to perform operations comprising;

receiving a communication from a first client device to register presence statuses for a first account, the communication transmitted by a first client application executing on the first client device, the first client application being associated with the first account;

in response to receiving the communication, setting a publication subscription between the presence server and the first client device;

updating a presence status resource for the first account based on presence status updates received from the first client application via the publication subscription between the presence server and the first client device, the first client application transmitting the presence status updates in response to each detected change in presence status of the first client device;

receiving a request from a communication platform system, the request being for presence statuses of a plurality of devices of the first client application;

in response to receiving the request, gathering the presence statuses of the plurality of devices from the presence status resource, the presence status resource including a presence status of the first client device and a presence status of a second client device executing the first client application; and

returning the data describing the presence statuses of the plurality of devices to the communication platform system, the communication platform system using the data describing the presence statuses of the plurality of device to select a device to route communications transmitted as part of a communication session executed in relation to the first client application.

13. The presence server of claim 12, wherein the request is transmitted by the communication platform system in response to the communication platform system receiving-a connection application protocol interface (API) request to initiate a communication session from a client system executing the first client application.

14. The presence server of claim 12, the operations further comprising:

consolidated presence statuses for the plurality of devices of the first client application.

15. The presence server of claim 12, wherein the presence server exposes the statuses of the plurality of devices through a presence API, and the request is a presence API call.

16. The presence server of claim 13, wherein the communication platform system determines, based on an authorization token included in the connection API request, that the client system is authorized to engage in the communication session.

17. The presence server of claim 16, wherein the communication platform system determines that the client system is authorized to engage in the communication session by verifying a signature included in the authorization token with an account key associated with the first client application, the signature being applied to the authorization token by the first client application executing on the client system prior to being transmitted to the communication platform system.

18. The presence server of claim 12, wherein the communication session is one of a voice call, a video call, and a text message.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more computer processors of a presence server, cause the presence server to perform operations comprising:

receiving a communication from a first client device to register presence statuses for a first account, the communication transmitted by a first client application executing on the first client device, the first client application being associated with the first account;

in response to receiving the communication, setting a publication subscription between the presence server and the first client device;

updating a presence status resource for the first account based on presence status updates received from the first client application via the publication subscription between the presence server and the first client device, the first client application transmitting the presence status updates in response to each detected change in presence status of the first client device;

receiving a request from a communication platform system, the request being for presence statuses of a plurality of devices of the first client application;

in response to receiving the request, gathering the presence statuses of the plurality of devices from the presence status resource, the presence status resource including a presence status of the first client device and a presence status of a second client device executing the first client application; and

returning the data describing the presence statuses of the plurality of devices to the communication platform system, the communication platform system using the data describing the presence statuses of the plurality of device to select a device to route communications transmitted as part of a communication session executed in relation to the first client application.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the request is transmitted by the communication platform system in response to the communication platform system receiving-a connection application protocol interface (API) request to initiate a communication session from a client system executing the first client application.