Data processing apparatus and a method of operating data processing apparatus for generating representations of availability status for application programs

• US 7,685,608 B2
• Filed: 12/22/2006
• Issued: 03/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Palm, Inc. (TCL Technology Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Jager, Ivo Ruben Willem, O'Shaughnessy, Kevin Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; David Q
• Application Number:
  US11/615,797
• Publication Number:
  US 20080155567A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,187 Days
• Field of Search: 719/321, 709/206, 709/224, 455/418
• US Class Current: 719/321
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4061 Push-to services, e.g. push-to-talk or push-to-video
• 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 4/10 Push-to-Talk [PTT] or Push-On-Call services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/45 for Push-to-Talk [PTT] or Push-to-Talk over cellular [PoC] services

Abstract

A system and a method are disclosed for a data processing apparatus (200) is described which comprises a plurality of application programs (206, 210) configured to utilize an availability status of a user; and a presence engine (208). The presence engine (208) is configured to receive data representative of the availability status of the user and generate one or more representations of the received availability status suitable for one or more of the plurality of application programs (206, 210). The one or more representations of the received availability status are made available to the corresponding one or more of the plurality of application programs (206, 210).

Claims

1. A data processing apparatus having one or more processors, the apparatus comprising:

a plurality of application programs executable by the one or more processors, the plurality of application programs configured to utilize an availability status of a user; and

a presence engine configured to;

receive data representative of the availability status of the user;

generate one or more representations of the received availability status suitable for one or more of the plurality of application programs;

make available the one or more representations of the received availability status to the corresponding one or more of the plurality of application programs;

determine which of the plurality of application programs have been recorded as utilizing the availability status of the user; and

provide those application programs that have been recorded as utilizing the availability status of the user with the representation of the availability status that is suitable for that application program.

2. The data processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the availability status of the user is a communications availability status of the user.

3. The data processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the presence engine is configured to receive the data representative of the availability status of the user in a format that is native to an application program.

4. The data processing apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a first computer memory and wherein the presence engine is further configured to store the data representative of the availability status of the user in the first computer memory.

5. The data processing apparatus of claim 4, wherein the first computer memory is configured such that the data representative of the availability status of the user stored in the first computer memory is accessible by more than one of the plurality of application programs.

6. The data processing apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a second computer memory and wherein the presence engine is further configured to store the one or more representations of the availability status in the second computer memory.

7. The data processing apparatus of claim 6, wherein the second computer memory is configured such that the representations of the availability status stored in the second computer memory are accessible by more than one of the plurality of application programs.

8. The data processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the presence engine is further configured to generate the one or more representations of the received availability status by using a concordance stored in computer memory to look up the one or more representations that are suitable for the one or more of the plurality of application programs using the received availability status.

9. The data processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least two of the application programs utilize different representations of the availability status.

10. The data processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the data processing apparatus comprises a mobile computing device.

11. A method of operating a data processing apparatus comprising:

receiving, by the data processing apparatus, data representative of an availability status of a user;

generating, by the data processing apparatus, one or more representations of the received availability status suitable for one or more of a plurality of application programs configured to utilize an availability status of a user;

making available, by the data processing apparatus, the one or more representations of the received availability status to one or more of the plurality of application programs;

determining, by the data processing apparatus, which of the plurality of application programs have been recorded as utilizing the availability status of the user; and

providing, by the data processing apparatus, those application programs that have been recorded as utilizing the availability status of the user with the representation of the availability status that is suitable for that application program.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the availability status of the user is a communications availability status of the user.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the method comprises receiving data representative of an availability status of a user in a format that is native to an application program.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising storing the data representative of the availability status of the user in a first computer memory.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the data representative of the communications availability status of the user is stored in first computer memory such that it is accessible by more than one of the plurality of application programs.

16. The method of claim 13, farther comprising storing the one or more representations of the availability status of the user in a second computer memory.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the one or more representations of the availability status are stored in second computer memory such that it is accessible by more than one of the plurality of application programs.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein generating the one or more representations of the received availability status comprises using a concordance stored in computer memory to look up the one or more representations that are suitable for the one or more of the plurality of application programs using the received availability status.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein at least two of the application programs utilize different representations of the availability status.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the method is executable on a mobile computing device, the mobile computing device including a wireless communications module configured for cellular telephony.

21. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions executable by one or more processors, the instructions when executed cause the one more processors to perform steps of:

receiving data representative of an availability status of a user;

generating one or more representations of the received availability status suitable for one or more of a plurality of application programs configured to utilize an availability status of a user;

making available the one or more representations of the received availability status to one or more of the plurality of application programs;

determining which of the plurality of application programs have been recorded as utilizing the availability status of the user; and

providing those application programs that have been recorded as utilizing the availability status of the user with the representation of the availability status that is suitable for that application program.

22. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, further comprising:

receiving data representative of an availability status of a user in a format that is native to an application program.

23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein generating the one or more representations of the received availability status comprises using a concordance stored in computer memory to look up the one or more representations that are suitable for the one or more of the plurality of application programs using the received availability status.

24. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein at least two of the application programs utilize different representations of the availability status.