Providing an Aggregate Reachability Status

• US 20070226357A1
• Filed: 03/22/2006
• Published: 09/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: McMurry, Kathleen, Butt, David, Levy, Stephen, Ladd, David, Novice, David, Seavey, Dale, Gits, Peter
• Granted Patent: US 8,478,859 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/229
• 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

Abstract

A customizable mechanism is provided for determining and reporting the overall reachability of a user based on the current statuses of a variety of network elements associated with the user, such as devices or applications that a user may use to communicate with others. The system can evaluate customizable reachability rules to determine an overall reachability status for the user. The system provides for distribution of reachability status and presence statuses of network elements to authorized subscribers.

Claims

1. A method of providing reachability status to subscribers comprising:

presenting a plurality of reachability states, each reachability state representing an aggregate accessibility of a user derived from a plurality of statuses each corresponding to one of a plurality of network elements associated with the user;

for each of the reachability states, presenting at least one reachability rule, each reachability rule corresponding to one of the network elements and indicating a status for satisfying the reachability rule;

receiving a selection of one or more of the reachability rules;

accessing a central storage maintaining the statuses corresponding to the network elements;

identifying an ordering of the reachability rules;

until a current reachability status is selected;

identifying one of the reachability rules based on the identified ordering;

determining whether the identified reachability rule is satisfied; and

if the identified reachability rule is satisfied, selecting the reachability state associated with the identified reachability rule as the current reachability status;

determining one or more subscribers for receiving the current reachability status; and

communicating the current reachability status to subscribers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the reachability rules are presented in an order corresponding to the identified ordering of the reachability rules.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a selection of a preferred contact method;

determining one or more subscribers for receiving a notification of the preferred contact method; and

communicating the notification of the preferred contact method to the one or more determined subscribers.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a selection of one of a plurality of manual reachability states;

setting the current reachability status to the selected one of the manual reachability states.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a visibility rule specifying a set of information that can be communicated to subscribers, wherein the set of information includes identified ones of the current reachability status and the plurality of statuses corresponding to the plurality of network elements associated with the user;

applying the visibility rule to determine which information is communicated to subscribers.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more selected reachability rules:

corresponds to a plurality of network elements, and for each of the plurality of network elements, indicates a status for satisfying the reachability rule.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a plurality of rule sets, wherein each rule set indicates a selection of one or more of the reachability rules;

receiving a rule set selection, wherein the rule set selection identifies one of the rule sets; and

selecting the reachability rules for the reachability states according to the rule set identified by the rule set selection.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of reachability states includes On Vacation, Out of Office, Unavailable, Do Not Disturb, Busy, Interruptible but Busy, Available, and Unknown.

9. A device for providing reachability status to subscribers comprising:

a plurality of network elements associated with a user;

a user interface operable to present a plurality of reachability states, wherein each reachability state represents an aggregate accessibility of the user derived from a plurality of statuses each corresponding to one of the plurality of network elements, and to present at least one reachability rule for each of the reachability states, wherein each reachability rule corresponds to one of the network elements and indicates a status for satisfying the reachability rule; and

a presence aggregation system operable;

to receive a selection of one or more of the reachability rules, to access a central storage maintaining the statuses corresponding to the network elements, to identify an ordering of the reachability rules;

the presence aggregation system further operable to, until a current reachability status is selected, identify one of the reachability rules based on the identified ordering, determine whether the identified reachability rule is satisfied, and select the reachability state associated with the identified reachability rule as the current reachability status if the identified reachability rules is satisfied; and

the presence aggregation system further operable to determine one or more subscribers for receiving the current reachability status and to communicate the current reachability status to subscribers.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein the user interface is operable to present the reachability rules in an order corresponding to the ordering of the reachability rules identified by the presence aggregation system.

11. The device of claim 9, wherein the presence aggregation system is further operable to:

receive a selection of a preferred contact method;

determine one or more subscribers for receiving a notification of the preferred contact method; and

communicate the notification of the preferred contact method to the one or more determined subscribers.

12. The device of claim 9, wherein the presence aggregation system is further operable to:

receive a selection of one of a plurality of manual reachability states;

set the current reachability status to the selected one of the manual reachability states.

13. The device of claim 9, wherein the presence aggregation system is further operable to:

receive a visibility rule specifying a set of information that can be communicated to subscribers, wherein the set of information includes identified ones of the current reachability status and the plurality of statuses corresponding to the plurality of network elements associated with the user;

apply the visibility rule to determine which information is communicated to subscribers.

14. The device of claim 9, wherein at least one of the one or more selected reachability rules:

corresponds to a plurality of network elements, and

for each of the plurality of network elements, indicates a status for satisfying the reachability rule.

15. The device of claim 9, wherein the presence aggregation system is further operable to:

receive a plurality of rule sets, wherein each rule set indicates a selection of one or more of the reachability rules;

receive a rule set selection, wherein the rule set selection identifies one of the rule sets; and

select the reachability rules for the reachability states according to the rule set identified by the rule set selection.

16. The device of claim 9, wherein the plurality of reachability states includes On Vacation, Out of Office, Unavailable, Do Not Disturb, Busy, Interruptible but Busy, Available, and Unknown.

17. Logic for providing reachability status to subscribers, the logic encoded in media and operable when executed to:

present a plurality of reachability states, each reachability state representing an aggregate accessibility of a user derived from a plurality of statuses each corresponding to one of a plurality of network elements associated with the user;

for each of the reachability states, present at least one reachability rule, each reachability rule corresponding to one of the network elements and indicating a status for satisfying the reachability rule;

receive a selection of one or more of the reachability rules;

access a central storage maintaining the statuses corresponding to the network elements;

identify an ordering of the reachability rules;

until a current reachability status is selected;

identify one of the reachability rules based on the identified ordering;

determine whether the identified reachability rule is satisfied; and

if the identified reachability rule is satisfied, select the reachability state associated with the identified reachability rule as the current reachability status;

determine one or more subscribers for receiving the current reachability status; and

communicate the current reachability status to subscribers.

18. The logic of claim 17, wherein the reachability rules are presented in an order corresponding to the identified ordering of the reachability rules.

19. The logic of claim 17, further operable to:

receive a selection of a preferred contact method;

determine one or more subscribers for receiving a notification of the preferred contact method; and

communicate the notification of the preferred contact method to the one or more determined subscribers.

20. The logic of claim 17, further operable to:

receive a selection of one of a plurality of manual reachability states;

set the current reachability status to the selected one of the manual reachability states.

21. The logic of claim 17, further operable to:

receive a visibility rule specifying a set of information that can be communicated to subscribers, wherein the set of information includes identified ones of the current reachability status and the plurality of statuses corresponding to the plurality of network elements associated with the user;

apply the visibility rule to determine which information is communicated to subscribers.

22. The logic of claim 17, wherein at least one of the one or more selected reachability rules:

corresponds to a plurality of network elements, and

for each of the plurality of network elements, indicates a status for satisfying the reachability rule.

23. The logic of claim 17, further operable to:

receive a plurality of rule sets, wherein each rule set indicates a selection of one or more of the reachability rules;

receive a rule set selection, wherein the rule set selection identifies one of the rule sets; and

select the reachability rules for the reachability states according to the rule set identified by the rule set selection.

24. The logic of claim 17, wherein the plurality of reachability states includes On Vacation, Out of Office, Unavailable, Do Not Disturb, Busy, Interruptible but Busy, Available, and Unknown.

25. A system for providing reachability status to subscribers comprising:

means for presenting a plurality of reachability states, each reachability state representing an aggregate accessibility of a user derived from a plurality of statuses each corresponding to one of a plurality of network elements associated with the user;

means for presenting at least one reachability rule for each of the reachability states, each reachability rule corresponding to one of the network elements and indicating a status for satisfying the reachability rule;

means for receiving a selection of one or more of the reachability rules;

means for accessing a central storage maintaining the statuses corresponding to the network elements;

means for identifying an ordering of the reachability rules;

means for selecting a current reachability status comprising;

means for identifying one of the reachability rules based on the identified ordering;

means for determining whether the identified reachability rule is satisfied; and

means for selecting the reachability state associated with the identified reachability rule as the current reachability status if the identified reachability rule is satisfied;

means for determining one or more subscribers for receiving the current reachability status; and

means for communicating the current reachability status to subscribers.