Enhanced presence detection for routing decisions

• US 9,774,695 B2
• Filed: 06/10/2010
• Issued: 09/26/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bridgeport Networks, Inc. (Alianza, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: CounterPath Corporation (Alianza, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bogdanovic, Ivan Dean, MacDonald, Derek, Bratt, John
• Primary Examiner(s): JOSHI, SURAJ M
• Application Number:
  US12/813,022
• Publication Number:
  US 20110072154A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,665 Days
• Field of Search: 709238
• 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: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus for routing user communication data to a user associated with at least a first user device and a second user device operable in a communication system, including proxying a data message between the first user device and a presence server, extracting, from the data message, information indicative of an availability of the user, and routing user communication data to at least one of the first user device and the second user device based at least in part on the extracted information.

Claims

1. A method for routing user communication data to a user associated with at least a broadband user device and a mobile user device operable in a communication system including a broadband network and a mobile network, the method comprising:

proxying, at a proxy device on a communication path between the broadband user device and a broadband presence server, a data message sent from the broadband user device to the broadband presence server, including accepting the data message sent to the broadband presence server at the proxy device and passing the accepted data message to the broadband presence server;

extracting, from the data message, information indicative of an availability status of the broadband user device at the proxy device and storing the information indicative of the availability status of the broadband user device in a broadband presence register associated with the proxy device, the broadband presence register including information indicative of an availability status of one or more broadband user devices associated with the broadband network;

storing information indicative of an availability status of the mobile user device in a mobile presence register associated with the proxy device, the mobile presence register including information indicative of an availability status of one or more mobile user devices associated with the mobile network; and

routing, at the proxy device, user communication data to at least one of the broadband user device and the mobile user device based at least in part on the information indicative of the availability status of the broadband user device and the information indicative of the availability status of the mobile user device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining information indicative of a geographic location of the first user device, a geographic location of the second user device, or both.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a set of routing rules and associating the generated set of routing rules with the user, wherein at least some of the routing rules are based on one or more of the following:

geographic location of the first user device, geographic location of the second user device, and the availability of the user.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising storing the generated set of routing rules.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising generating at least one exception to a routing rule of the set.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the data message comprises a status indicator.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the communication system includes a cellular domain and a broadband domain.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining schedule information associated with the user from a presence-silent application running on the first user device; and

inferring the availability of the user based at least in part on the schedule information.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

identifying a discrepancy between information indicative of a geographic location of the first user device and the schedule information; and

routing the user communication data after resolving the identified discrepancy.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein routing, at the proxy device, user communication data to at least one of the broadband user device and the mobile user device includes

determining, from the information indicative of the availability status of the broadband user device stored in the broadband presence register that the broadband user device is present in the broadband network but is unavailable,

determining, from the information indicative of the availability status of the mobile user device stored in the mobile presence register that the mobile user device is present in the mobile network and is available, and

routing the user communication to the mobile user device based on the determining.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the information indicative of the availability status of the broadband user device indicates that the broadband user device'"'"'s availability status is an availability status selected from one of an away status, a busy status, an on the phone status, a not available status, and a do not disturb status, and the information indicative of the availability status of the mobile user device indicates that the mobile user device'"'"'s availability status is an available status.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein routing, at the proxy device, user communication data to at least one of the broadband user device and the mobile user device includes

determining, from the information indicative of the availability status of the broadband user device stored in the broadband presence register that the broadband user device is present in the broadband network and is available,

determining, from the information indicative of the availability status of the mobile user device stored in the mobile presence register that the mobile user device is present in the mobile network but is unavailable, and

routing the user communication to the broadband user device based on the determining.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the information indicative of the availability status of the broadband user device indicates that the broadband user device'"'"'s availability status is an available status and the information indicative of the availability status of the mobile user device indicates that the mobile user device'"'"'s availability status is an availability status selected from one of an away status, a busy status, an on the phone status, a not available status, and a do not disturb status.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the broadband presence register and the mobile presence register are implemented in a single data store.

15. Software, embodied on a non-transitory computer-readable medium, including instructions, which when executed on a computer system cause the computer system to implement a method for routing user communication data to a user associated with at least a broadband user device and a mobile user device operable in a communication system including a broadband network and a mobile network, the instructions causing the computer system to:

proxy, at a proxy device on a communication path between the broadband user device and a broadband presence server, a data message sent from the broadband user device to the broadband presence server including accepting the data message sent to the broadband presence server at the proxy device and passing the accepted data message to the broadband presence server;

extract, at the proxy device, from the data message, information indicative of an availability status of the user associated with the broadband user device and storing the information indicative of the availability status of the user associated with the broadband user device in a broadband presence register associated with the proxy device, the broadband presence register including information indicative of an availability status of one or more users associated with one or more broadband user devices associated with the broadband network;

store information indicative of an availability status of the user associated with the mobile user device in a mobile presence register associated with the proxy device, the mobile presence register including information indicative of an availability status of one or more users associated with one or more mobile user devices associated with the mobile network; and

route user communication data to at least one of the broadband user device and the mobile user device associated with the user based at least in part on the information indicative of the availability status of the user associated with the broadband user device and the information indicative of the availability status of the user associated with the mobile user device.

16. A fixed-mobile convergence device for routing user communication data to a user associated with at least a broadband user device and a mobile user device operable in a communication system including a broadband network and a mobile network the device comprising:

a processor;

a storage medium storing software program instructions that are executable by the processor to;

proxy, at a proxy device on a communication path between the broadband user device and a broadband presence server, a data message sent from a broadband user device to the broadband presence server including accepting the data message sent to the broadband presence server at the proxy device and passing the accepted data message to the broadband presence server;

extract, at the proxy device, from the data message, information indicative of an availability status of the broadband user device associated with the data message and storing the information indicative of the availability status of the broadband user device associated with the data message in a broadband presence register associated with the proxy device, the broadband presence register including information of an availability status of one or more broadband user devices associated with the broadband network;

store information indicative of an availability status of the mobile user device in a mobile presence register associated with the proxy device, the mobile presence register including information indicative of an availability status of one or more mobile user devices associated with the mobile network; and

route, at the proxy device, user communication data to at least one of the broadband user device and the mobile user device based at least in part on the information indicative of the availability status of the broadband user device and the information indicative of the availability status of the mobile user device.