Aggregated Presence Over User Federated Devices

• US 20110035443A1
• Filed: 08/04/2009
• Published: 02/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Jensen, Patrick John
• Granted Patent: US 9,258,376 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/043 using or handling presence information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/222 using geographical location information, e.g. messages transmitted or received in proximity of a certain spot or area
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• 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 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel

Abstract

One embodiment of a system for aggregating and distributing presence information comprises a hosted presence aggregator server. The hosted presence aggregator server receives an update of presence information from a user device and relays the presence information update to another user device, wherein the user devices are part of a federation of user devices controlled by a single user which relay updates in presence status of the single user to one another via the hosted presence aggregator server.

Claims

1. A system for aggregating and distributing presence information comprising:

a hosted presence aggregator server comprising a processor and memory, the hosted presence aggregator server receiving an update of presence status from a user device and relaying the presence status update to another user device, wherein the user devices are part of a federation of user devices controlled by a single user which relay updates in presence status of the single user to one another via the hosted presence aggregator server.

2. The system of claim 1 comprising:

a aggregator presence agent installed at a user device which is part of the federation of user devices, wherein an update in presence status of the single user made to the user device installed with the aggregator presence agent is detected by the aggregator presence agent and transmitted to the hosted presence aggregator server.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein updates in presence information to the hosted presence aggregator server are communicated using Hypertext Transfer Protocol from the user device.

4. The system of claim 1, comprising:

a policy specifying a desired act-on behavior to be implemented by devices in the federation for a particular presence state.

5. The system of claim 1, comprising:

a policy specifying how supplemental presence information should be distributed to devices in the federation.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the supplemental presence information comprises current location coordinates for the single user.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein a user device in the federation which receives the supplemental presence information provides the supplemental presence information along with presence status information to a user device of another user who is monitoring the single user.

8. A method for aggregating and distributing presence information comprising:

receiving an update of presence status from a user device; and

relaying the presence information update to another user device, wherein the user devices are part of a federation of user devices controlled by a single user which relay updates in presence status of the single user to one another.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein updates in presence status of the single user are communicated using Hypertext Transfer Protocol from the user device.

10. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

specifying a policy designating desired act-on behavior to be implemented by devices in the federation for a particular presence state.

11. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

specifying a policy describing how supplemental presence information should be distributed to devices in the federation.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the supplemental presence information comprises current location coordinates for the user.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein a user device in the federation which receives the supplemental presence information provides the supplemental presence information along with presence status information to a user device of another user who is monitoring the single user.

14. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

transmitting the policy to each of the user devices in the federation so that each of the user devices may behave in response to presence status information of the single user in accordance with the policy.

15. A computer readable medium having computer instructions for aggregating and distributing presence information, the computer instructions when executed by one or more computers cause the one or more computers to:

receiving an update of presence status from a user device; and

relaying the presence information update to another user device, wherein the user devices are part of a federation of user devices controlled by a single user which relay updates in presence status of the single user to one another.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein updates in presence status of the single user are communicated using Hypertext Transfer Protocol from the user device.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 15, the instructions causing the one or more computers to:

specify a policy designating desired act-on behavior to be implemented by devices in the federation for a particular presence state; and

.

specify a policy describing how supplemental presence information should be distributed to devices in the federation.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the supplemental presence information comprises current location coordinates for the single user.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein a user device in the federation which receives the supplemental presence information provides the supplemental presence information along with presence status information to a user device of another user who is monitoring the single user.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 17, the instructions causing the one or more computers to:

transmit the policies to each of the user devices in the federation so that each of the user devices may behave in response to presence status information of the single user in accordance with a respective policy.