System and method for presence perimeter rule downloading

• US 7,428,417 B2
• Filed: 09/26/2003
• Issued: 09/23/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Unify Inc. (Atos SE)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Communications Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Caspi, Rami, Beyda, William J.
• Primary Examiner(s): FERGUSON, KEITH
• Application Number:
  US10/672,364
• Publication Number:
  US 20050070298A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,824 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561-457, 455/404.1, 455/404.2, 455/422.1, 455/403, 455/500, 455/517, 340/573.4, 340/573.1, 342/457
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• 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 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information

Abstract

A telecommunications system includes a plurality of network clients (150) including a positioning controller (504) and a communications controller (502); and a positioning server (152) including a coordinating controller (161) for maintaining a database of network clients to be tracked and provide updates of position-related information to a presence server (104); wherein an associated network client is configured to transmit position information received via said positioning controller (504) to said positioning server (152) via said communications controller (502) when said associated network client is determined to be outside a predetermined range.

Claims

1. A telecommunications system, comprising:

a plurality of network clients including a positioning controller and a communications controller; and

a positioning server including a coordinating controller for maintaining a database of network clients to be tracked and provide updates of position-related information to a presence server;

wherein an associated network client is configured to transmit position information received via said positioning controller to said positioning server via said communications controller when said associated network client is determined to be outside a predetermined location and wherein said presence server is configured to maintain one or more availability rules associated with a user of said network client based on whether it is determined to be in the predetermined location and update an availability when the network client determined to be outside the predetermined location, the network client including a boundary hysteresis timer for determining a boundary threshold prior to transmitting said position information.

2. A telecommunications system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said positioning controller receives global positioning network signals for determining a position of said associated network client.

3. A telecommunications system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said communications controller comprises a cellular network controller for transmitting on a cellular telephone network to said positioning server.

4. A telecommunications system in accordance with claim 1, wherein positioning server includes an e-mail message generator for communicating said updates to said presence server.

5. A telecommunications system in accordance with claim 1, wherein positioning server includes an Instant Messaging message generator for communicating said updates to said presence server.

6. A telecommunications system in accordance with claim 1, wherein positioning server includes a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) message generator for communicating said updates to said presence server.

7. A telecommunications system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said presence server maintains a database of location and presence correlation pairs for registered users and receives location updates from said positioning server.

8. A telecommunications system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said positioning server maintains a database of location and presence correlation pairs for registered users and provides presence updates to said presence server.

9. A telecommunications device, comprising:

a positioning controller adapted to determine positioning information for said telecommunications device; and

a cellular telephone controller adapted to receive said positioning information from said positioning controller and cause said positioning information to be transmitted to an associated server when said telecommunications device is determined to have changed status; and

wherein said telecommunications device further includes a rules database of location and presence and availability related information;

wherein said cellular telephone controller receives updates to said rules database from said associated server.

10. A telecommunications device as recited in claim 9, wherein said positioning controller receives global positioning information signals to determine said positioning information.

11. A telecommunications device as recited in claim 10, wherein said cellular telephone controller transmits changes to location and presence status to said associated server when said telecommunications device is determined to be outside a predetermined location.

12. A telecommunications device as recited in claim 10, wherein said cellular telephone controller transmits changes to location status to said associated server.

13. A telecommunications server, comprising:

a presence control unit adapted to receive and maintain presence and availability information for a plurality of users; and

a location control unit adapted to receive and maintain location information for said plurality of users, said location information correlated with said presence and availability information;

wherein said location control unit is adapted to receive updates to said location information for particular ones of said plurality of users when said particular ones determine they are outside a predetermined location, the particular ones including a boundary hysteresis timer for determining a boundary threshold prior to transmitting said updates.

14. A telecommunications server in accordance with claim 13, including a first interface for receiving predefined presence-location correlation rules from associated users.

15. A telecommunications server in accordance with claim 14, wherein receiving said location information comprises receiving user-positioning updates from a remote user from an operably coupled wireless network.

16. A telecommunications server in accordance with claim 15, wherein said operably coupled wireless network comprises a cellular telephone network.

17. A telecommunications server in accordance with claim 15, wherein said operably coupled wireless network comprises a personal communication service (PCS) network.

18. A telecommunications server in accordance with claim 15, further comprising a second interface for transmitting user-positioning updates to an operably coupled enterprise server.

19. A telecommunications server in accordance with claim 18 wherein said receiving said user-positioning updates comprises receiving said user-positioning updates via a telephone dial-in and said second interface comprises an e-mail interface.

20. A telecommunications server in accordance with claim 18 wherein said receiving said user-positioning updates comprises receiving said user-positioning updates via a telephone dial-in and said second interface comprises an Instant Messaging interface.

21. A telecommunications server in accordance with claim 15, further comprising a second interface for transmitting user-positioning updates to one or more local users in a packet telephony format.

22. A telecommunications method, comprising:

receiving one or more user positioning and presence correlation rules at a local controller;

transmitting said one or more positioning and presence correlation rules to a remote device;

receiving positioning updates at said remote device; and

transmitting presence and availability updates to other local controllers or remote devices as specified in said one or more positioning and presence correlation rules when a particular one of said remote devices determines it is outside a predetermined location, wherein said particular one determines it is outside said predetermined location responsive to a boundary hysteresis timer for determining a boundary threshold.

23. A telecommunications method in accordance with claim 22, wherein said receiving one or more user positioning and presence correlation rules comprises receiving at a server one or more rules set via a network interface device operably coupled to said one or more local controllers.

24. A telecommunications method in accordance with claim 23, wherein said receiving positioning updates comprises receiving one or more signals from a global positioning network.

25. A telecommunications method in accordance with claim 22, further comprising transmitting positioning updates from said remote device to one or more servers via a radio-linked network.

26. A telecommunications method in accordance with claim 25, wherein said radio-linked network comprises a cellular telephone network.

27. A telecommunications method in accordance with claim 25, wherein said radio-linked network comprises a personal communication service (PCS) network.

28. A telecommunications method in accordance with claim 25, wherein said one or more user positioning and presence correlation rules comprise one or more time-of-day parameters.

29. A telecommunications method in accordance with claim 25, wherein said one or more user positioning and presence correlation rules comprise one or more day-of-week parameters.