System and method for social-networking based presence

• US 8,032,622 B2
• Filed: 03/20/2007
• Issued: 10/04/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: RingCentral Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Siemens Enterprise Communications, Inc. (Atos SE)
• Inventors: Caspi, Rami, Beyda, William J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Follansbee, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hussain, Imad
• Application Number:
  US11/726,018
• Publication Number:
  US 20080235349A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,659 Days
• Field of Search: 709/218, 709/223
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1859 adapted to provide push services, e.g. data channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/043 using or handling presence information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• 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

Abstract

A telecommunications system includes a network; a social networking service operably coupled to the network and configured to allow registration of users, to allow identification of registered users'"'"' interests, and to identify associated users, said associated users being associated with registered users; a presence service operably coupled to the network and configured to determine an availability of associated users responsive to one or more availability criteria; a translation unit configured to convert user information from a social networking service format to a presence service format; and a messaging service operably coupled to the network and configured to send notification messages to associated users determined to be available and having a common interest corresponding to an event responsive to an occurrence of the event and one or more availability criteria.

Claims

1. A telecommunications system, comprising:

a telecommunication network;

a plurality of telecommunication devices connected to and communicating through said telecommunication network, each of said plurality of telecommunication devices identified with a respective registered telecommunication system user;

a social networking service operably coupled to the telecommunication network, the registered users of the telecommunication devices being registered with the social networking service, each of the registered users of the telecommunication device having user information accessible via the social networking service that identify that user'"'"'s registered interests and identify associated users, the associated users being comprised of other social networking service users associated with the registered telecommunication system user that are also registered telecommunication system users;

a presence and availability service (PAS) operably coupled to the telecommunication network and said plurality of telecommunication devices, said PAS determining an availability of the associated users that match availability criteria, the availability criteria comprising being present within a predetermined amount of time of an event, being located within a predetermined distance of the event, and having prescribed implied availability information;

a calendar service, the registered telecommunication system users of the telecommunication devices registered with the calendar service and having events scheduled via the calendar service, the scheduled events being communicated to the PAS such that the PAS accesses the scheduled events to determine the availability of the associated users;

a positioning service identifying a present location of the users of the telecommunication devices and communicating the present location of the users of the telecommunication devices to the PAS;

a context agent monitoring implied availability information of the associated users and communicating the implied availability information of the associated users to the PAS;

a translation unit configured to convert the user information from a social networking service format of the social networking service to a presence and availability service format of the presence and availability service;

a messaging service operably coupled to the telecommunication network and said plurality of telecommunication devices, said PAS communicating with and causing said messaging service to send notification messages, said messaging service sending said notification messages to the associated users determined to be available and having a common interest corresponding to the event and responsive to an occurrence of the event and matching the availability criteria;

the PAS determining the availability of the associated users by communicating with the social networking service and the calendar service to determine which of the associated users are available within the predetermined amount of time of the event, by communicating with the positioning service to determine which of the associated users is within the predetermined distance of the event, and also by communicating with the context agent to determine which of the associated users have the prescribed implied availability information.

2. The telecommunications system of claim 1, wherein the translation unit is a network-based translation unit.

3. The telecommunications system of claim 1, wherein the translation unit is configured such that the respective registered telecommunication system user can manually select the user information that is converted from a social networking service format of the social networking service to a presence and availability service format of the presence and availability service.

4. The telecommunications system of claim 1, wherein the translation unit is configured to convert user information from a social networking service into dummy telecommunication system user information in the PAS.

5. The telecommunications system of claim 1, wherein the translation unit is configured to convert a user entry from a social networking service into a user entry in the presence and availability service.

6. The telecommunications system of claim 1 wherein said positioning service includes a global positioning system for determining a location of said associated users.

7. The telecommunications system of claim 6, wherein the availability criteria include one or more geographic criteria.

8. The telecommunications system of claim 1, wherein said PAS communicates with said messaging service over said telecommunication network and the availability criteria are user input criteria.

9. The telecommunications system of claim 1, wherein said messaging service comprises a text messaging service.

10. The telecommunications system of claim 1, wherein said messaging service comprises an e-mail service.

11. The telecommunications system of claim 1, wherein the messaging services sends a notification message when a predetermined number of the associated users are determined to be available.

12. The telecommunications system of claim 1, wherein the calendar service is configured to communicate with the context agent to update the implied availability information of the associated users.

13. The telecommunications system of claim 1 wherein availability of each of the associated users is also determined as being available by the PAS communicating with the social networking service and receiving user information showing that the associated user is present and reachable.

14. A telecommunications method, comprising:

selecting an event by a selecting user for which availability of at least one associated user is to be determined on a social network system, the event being related to an interest of the selecting user, the selecting user and the at least one associated user being registered with the social network system, having a common interest corresponding to the event, having user information accessible via the social network system, and being identified with at least one telecommunication device that connects to and communicates through a telecommunication network, the telecommunication network being coupled to a presence and availability service (PAS) operated on at least one computer device connected to the telecommunication network, a calendar service, a positioning service, a context agent, and a messaging service;

selecting availability criteria on the PAS, the availability criteria comprising being present within a predetermined amount of time of the event, being located within a predetermined distance of the event, and having prescribed implied availability information;

interfacing the social networking system over said telecommunication network to the PAS, such that the PAS determines the at least one associated user that shares the interest of the selecting user and meets the selected availability criteria, comprising;

the PAS accessing the calendar service of the at least one associated user and comparing the availability criteria to scheduled events that are scheduled via the calendar service,

the positioning service indentifying a present location of the at least one associated user and communicating the present location of the at least one associated user to the PAS,

the PAS comparing the present location of the at least one associated user to the availability criteria, and

the context agent identifying implied availability information of the at least one associated user and communicating the implied availability information to the PAS; and

the messaging service transmitting a notification message to the at least one telecommunication device identifying the determined at least one associated user, the notification message being transmitted responsive to the at least one associated user determined to meet the availability criteria by the PAS.

15. The telecommunications method of claim 14, wherein said PAS communicates with said messaging service over said telecommunication network and the availability criteria further comprises time criteria.

16. The telecommunications method of claim 14, wherein the availability criteria further comprises location criteria, and said PAS resides in a presence server connected to said messaging service, said PAS communicating with said messaging service.

17. The telecommunications method of claim 14, wherein the event comprises an Internet conferencing-type event.

18. The telecommunications method of claim 14, wherein the event comprises a geographic event.

19. The telecommunications method of claim 14, wherein the notification message comprises a text message.

20. The telecommunications method of claim 14, wherein the notification message comprises an e-mail message.