Title of Invention

METHOD FOR ALERTING CHANGES IN PRESENCE OF A TARGET USER TO AN INITIATING USER IN AN OFFLINE MODE

Abstract

This invention in general relates to the communication service technologies which utilize Presence service. User's Presence is a key in the communication circumstances as it could influence the conversation (Ex: person-person, telephone call, 1M (Instant Message). More particularly the present invention relates to a system and method for alerting changes in presence. The Presence Service may be based on OMA IMPS, IETF defined SIP SIMPLE technology etc. This invention provides a system for intimating the presence subscribed users, another user changing his presence state via preferred notification method such as SMS. Providing such a system will increase the user's flexibility to know the presence change of another user through his preferred means anytime and may stimulate the messaging market. The invention describes a system that can be applied to various communication technologies utilizing presence service, where the system allows the user to subscribe for the change in presence attribute of the other user, thereby allowing him to initiate communication at an appropriate time. The system thus creates environment where both users communicate at their convenience and value each other's presence.

Full Text

FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY This invention in general relates to communication service technologies which utilize Presence service. User's Presence is a key in the communication circumstances as it could influence the conversation (Ex: person-person, telephone call, IM (Instant Message). More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for alerting changes in presence. The Presence Service may be based on OMA IMPS, IETF defined SIP SIMPLE technology etc. DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART Currently to know the user changing presence, which builds appropriate environment to communicate, is possible through manual process where the initiating user has to continuously monitor and wait for the target user to change his presence state as expected, before he starts communication. After the intended presence is notified, the initiating user can begin his communication. The transaction flow as depicted in Figure - 1 can be described as below: 1. Initiating user requests for target user's presence information. 2. Server returns the requested presence information. E.g. "Not Available" 3. Target user indicates his new presence to the Server. E.g. "Not Available" to "Available" 4. Server acknowledges. 5. Server notifies the updated presence information to requested user. 6. Initiating user acknowledges. 7. Initiating user's client may alert the user (implementation specific) 8. Initiating user decides and then starts communication, if required for the current presence state. 9. Server acknowledges. 10. Server conveys the invitation to the target user. 11. Target user's client acknowledges. The following limitations are present in the existing art: 1. Inability to deliver a presence information change alert, if the user who has requested for subscription to Presence Services is not logged in, 2. Presence Change alerts are not available according to preferred mode of communications 3. Consumes the user's time, effort. 4. Less user flexibility / friendly. 5. Restricts system usability. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The primary object of invention is, therefore, to provide a system for intimating the subscribed users, of another user changing his presence state via their preferred notification method such as SMS or MMS or Normal Phone call or any other user specific communication mechanism for which presence server can interface with. Providing such a system will increase the user's flexibility to know the presence change of another user through his preferred means anytime and may stimulate the messaging market. The invention describes a system that can be applied to various communication technologies utilizing presence service, where the system allows the user to subscribe for the change in presence attribute of the other user, thereby allowing him to initiate communication at an appropriate time. The system thus creates environment where both users communicate at their convenience and value each other's presence. The objectives of the system can be achieved as mentioned below: Server monitors the change in presence of the subscribed alerts and notifies the subscriber when it encounters the intended presence, thus facilitating good communication environment for the users. Accordingly, the present invention relates to a system and method for alerting a user for the subscribed change in presence of another user wherein the initiating user client allows subscribing for presence change alerts of another user; the initiating user client notifies if any of the subscribed alert expires; the initiating user client allows viewing the alerts subscribed by him; the initiating user client can cancel any / all of the alerts subscribed by him. Accordingly the present invention further relates to a system and method wherein the server provides the list of alerts already subscribed by a user; the server removes the alerts from the server, which are requested by the user; the server supports subscribing of presence change alerts; the server notifies the presence change to the subscriber in the communication mode preferred by the user, as specified in his profile; the server notifies the expiry of an alert to the subscriber and removes them from the server. Accordingly, this invention explains a method for alerting changes in presence via different modes of communication such as SMS, MMS, IM, PoC in an IMPS based presence system wherein an initiating user subscribes for alert for a change in presence, of a particular user along with his preferred way of notification and for any change in presence of a user, server verifies if there are any alerts requested and informs the requesting user through a chosen mode of communication. The initiating user requests for target user's presence information and the server returns the requested presence information. The initiating user subscribes the alert by specifying presence attribute and expiry time and the server acknowledges receipt of the alert. The target user indicates his new presence to the Server where the server acknowledges and verifies if there are any valid subscription alerts. The server notifies change in presence to the offline user through the subscriber's preferred mode of communication. The initiating user decides and starts communication, if required for the current presence state and the server acknowledges and conveys the invitation to the target user where the target user's client acknowledges the same. The client allows the user to subscribe the alerts for a change in presence of another user and allows mentioning the presence attribute. While subscribing alerts, the user specifies the expiry period so that within which period if there is a presence change, the subscribing user is alerted otherwise expired notification is sent where the said expiry notification is either a client implementation or from the sen/er. The server stores the subscribed alerts and if there is change in presence of a user, the server verifies if there are any alerts pending for that particular user and presence attribute. If there are any alerts pending, the server notifies the subscribed user in the communication mode as specified by the user, in his profile and the server monitors the expiry of the alerts, which are removed from the server after sending the expired notification to the subscribed user. The client allows the user for retrieval of the alerts subscribed for change in presence and for those where notification is not received yet where the client allows canceling of the subscribed alerts if the user wants and if any of the alerts are cancelled by the user, the server removes those alerts from the server. To achieve the presence change alert, the client allows the user to subscribe the alerts along with presence attribute and expiry period for the change in presence of another user. The client monitors the expiry of the alerts and the expiry is notified to the user. The client allows the user to view the alerts he has subscribed. The client allows the user to cancel any / all of the alerts he has subscribed before. The server supports subscribing of presence change alerts. The server verifies if there is any alert pending, for any change of presence. The server notifies the presence change to the subscribed user in the communication mode as specified by the user, in his profile. The server removes the alerts which have expired, after sending expired notification to the subscriber. The presence client allows the user to request for external notifications for presence change alerts where the request is defined by element with the value along with attributes 'expiry' and 'mode' stored on the server which can be updated by the user with an XCAP PUT operation. The presence client allows the user to request canceling external notifications for presence change alerts where the said request is defined by element with the value stored on the server which can be updated by the user with an XCAP PUT operation. Accordingly, the said invention further explains a system for alerting changes in presence via different modes of communication like SMS, MMS. IM, PoC in an IMPS based presence system comprising an initiating user, who subscribes alert for a change in presence, of a particular user along with his preferred manner of notification and for any change in presence of a user, a server verifies if there are any alerts requested and informs the requesting user through a chosen mode of communication. The other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from ensuing the detailed description of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPAYNING DRAWINGS Figure 1 illustrates Conventional Communication Technology. Figure 2 illustrates the flow diagram for present invention, Figure 3 illustrates sending alerts via SMS. Figure 4 illustrates sending alerts via MMS, DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood however that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. The following description and drawings are not to be construed as limiting the invention and numerous specific details are described to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention, as the basis for the claims and as a basis for teaching one skilled in the art how to make and/or use the invention. However in certain instances, well-known or conventional details are not described in order not to unnecessarily obscure the present invention in detail. The initiating user subscribes alert for a change in presence, of a particular user along with his preferred way of notification. For any change in presence of a user, server verifies if there are any alerts requested and informs the requesting user preferably through his chosen mode of communication. Both client and server have a role in order to achieve the objectives. The operation goes as described below for Figure - 2: 1. Initiating user requests for target user's presence information. 2. Server returns the requested presence information. E.g. "Not Available" 3. Initiating user subscribes the alert (specifying Presence attribute and expiry time) 4. Server acknowledges receipt of the alert. 5. User may log off. 6. Target user indicates his new presence to the Server. E.g. "Not Available" to "Available" 7. Server acknowledges. 8. Server verifies if there any valid subscription alerts. 9. Server notifies change in presence to the offline user through the subscriber's preferred mode of communication. 10. User may login. 11. Initiating user decides and then starts communication, if required for the current presence state. 12. Server acknowledges. 13. Server conveys the invitation to the target user. 14. Target user's client acknowledges. The client should allow the user to subscribe the alerts for a change in presence of another user. The client should also allow mentioning the presence attribute, for which the server has to alert him. This is useful especially when initiating user feels that the current presence state is not suitable for communicating with the other user. While subscribing alerts the user may specify the expiry period so that within which if there is a presence change, only then the subscribing user is alerted otherwise expired notification may be sent. The expiry notification may be either a client implementation or from the server. The server stores the subscribed alerts. If there is change in presence of a user the server verifies if there are any alerts pending for that particular user and presence attribute. If there are any alerts pending, the server then notifies the subscribed user in the communication mode as specified by the user, in his profile. If there are no alerts pending, the server behaves in the way it is mentioned in the related art above section. The server also monitors the expiry of the alerts, which are removed from the server may be after sending the expired notification to the subscribed user. The client should allow the user for retrieval of the alerts subscribed for change in presence and for those where notification is not received yet. This helps user to know the pending alerts towards any particular user and also if the user wants to cancel some of the alerts. The client should allow canceling of the subscribed alerts if the user wants to do so. If any of the alerts are cancelled by the user, the server removes those alerts from the server. In order to achieve the presence change alert, the system has the following requirements: 1. The client allows the user to subschbe the alerts (along with presence attribute and expiry period) for the change in presence of another user. 2. The client may monitor the expiry of the alerts. If client is monitoring then the expiry is notified to the user. 3. The client allows the user to view the alerts he has subscribed. 4. The client allows the user to cancel any/all of the alerts he has subscribed before. 5. The server should support subscribing of presence change alerts. 6. The server should verify if there is any alert pending, for any change of presence. 7. The server should notify the presence change to the subscribed user in the communication mode as specified by the user, in his profile. 8. The server should remove the alerts which have expired, may be after sending expired notification to the subscriber. The examples below provide the method for Presence Change Alerts in IMPS and SIMPLE technology. The presence notifications may need to be delivered even outside the presence services like IMPS, SIMPLE IM etc for the presence subscriptions. If presence alerts are requested by the user, presence service network stores the request made by the user as a setting. For example in case of SIMPLE presence technology user request for presence alerts can be set as a rule on the presence service network. The alert subscnber will be able to turn ON or OFF this rule. The Presence Rules are described from the element of the Presence Authorization Rules document as defined by IETF. The child element of any element may include a new child element , which tells whether external notification method has to be used to notify the presence. The 'expiry' attribute of the element describes the duration after which the external method for presence notification is not required. The 'mode' attribute of the allows the user to specify the mode (example SMS, MMS etc) in which the presence alert has to sent The data semantics for the child element may be defined as • instructs the Presence Server to use NOTIFY method to send presence information. • instructs the Presence Server to use external means to send presence information. The 'expiry' attribute allows the duration to be specified in minutes. The attribute value is valid only when the is . The 'mode' attribute allows the user to specify the mode (example SMS, MMS etc) in which the presence alert has to sent. The attribute value is valid only when the is . If the attribute value is null then preferred mode of communication as specified in the user profile can be used for the sake of alerting. The method to update the value of the element is using the XCAP PUT request. The example below shows how the value of element is updated. PUT http://xcap.example.eom/services/pres-rules/users/sip:ronald.underwood@exampl e.com/presrules HTTP/1.1 Content-Length: (...) true external-notification > Note element has to be included in the schema defined for Presence Authorization Rules document. The notification method may be decided based on the user profile, where the user may have specified his preferred mode of communication such as SMS etc. In case the presence server doesn't have access or some other reason the preferred mode of communication is not known then SMS may be the default type of notification. In this example we assume user has specified his current preferred mode of communication is via SMS, then the alert notification can be sent to the subscriber as shown in the Figure-3. The interface from the Presence Application Server entity to the SMSC can be any of the protocols like SMPP, EMI UCP etc. If the protocol is SMPP then the SMPP PDU "submit_sm", as defined in the SMPP protocol specification Version 5.0 by SMS Forum may be used by the presence application server to submit an alert to other user via the SMSC. The "submit^sm" PDU consists of the field 'short_message', which will carry presence alert. The content of the alert notification is as defined by the Service Provider policy considering aspects like privacy. If the protocol is EMI UCP then the command "SMS message transfer operation", as defined in the EMI UCP protocol specification Version 4.0 may be used to submit an alert to other user via the SMSC. The content of the alert notification is as defined by the Service Provider policy considering aspects like privacy. From SMSC the notifications are delivered to the Subscribers client as in the current method of delivering SMS. Note that the presence server may invoke a SMS client, if exists, in order to send SMS consisting of presence alert addressing to the subscribed user. In another example the preferred mode of communication is MMS, then the alert notification can be sent to the subscriber as shown in Figure-4. The interface from the Presence Application Server entity to the MMS Proxy/Relay can be the MM1 interface defined by OMA and 3GPP, which uses "M-send-req" to send presence alerts. Also the presence server may use MM3 interface defined by 3GPP for this purpose. Similar such interfaces can be used when conveying the presence alerts to different applications. The above-presented description is of the best mode contemplated for carrying out the present invention. The manner and process of making and using it is in such a full, clear, concise and exact terms as to enable to any person skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use this invention. New embodiments in particular, which also lie within the scope of the invention can be created, in which different details of the different examples can in a purposeful way be combined with one another. This invention is however, susceptible to modifications and alternate constructions from that disclosed above which are fully equivalent. Consequently, it is not the intention to limit this invention to the particular embodiment disclosed. On the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications and alternate constructions coming within the spirit and scope of the invention as generally expressed by the following claims which particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter of the invention. GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND THEIR DEFINITIONS EMI - External Machine Interface IM" Instant Message IMPS - Instant Messaging and Presence Service IETF - Internet Engineering Task Force PoC - Push To Talk Over Cellular SIP - Session Initiation Protocol SIMPLE - SIP for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions SMSC " Short Message Service Centre SMS - Short Message Service SMPP - Short Message Peer to Peer UCP - Universal Computer Protocol WE CLAIM 1. A method for alerting changes in presence via different modes of communication such as SMS, MMS, IM, PoC in an IMPS based presence system wherein an initiating user subscribes alert for a change in presence, of a particular user together with his preferred manner of notification and for any change in presence of a user, server verifies if there are any alerts requested and informs the requesting user through a chosen mode of communication. 2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the initiating user subscribes the alert by specifying presence attribute and expiry time and the server acknowledges receipt of the alert. 3. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the target user indicates his new presence to the Server where the server acknowledges and verifies if there are any valid subscription alerts. 4. A method as claimed in claim 3 wherein the server notifies change in presence to the offline user through the subscriber's preferred mode of communication. 5. A method as claimed in claim 4 wherein while subscribing alerts the user specify the expiry period so that within which if there is a presence change, the subscribing user is alerted otherwise expired notification is sent where the said expiry notification is either a client implementation or from the server. 6. A method as claimed in claim 5 wherein the server stores the subscribed alerts and if there is change in presence of a user the server verifies if there are any alerts pending for that particular user and presence attribute. 7. A method as claimed in claim 6 wherein if there are any alerts pending, the server notifies the subscribed user in the communication mode as specified by the user, in his profile and the server monitors the expiry of the alerts, which are removed from the server after sending the expired notification to the subscribed user. A method as claimed in claim 7 wherein the client allow the user for retrieval of the alerts subscribed for change in presence and for those where notification is not received yet where the client allows canceling of the subscribed alerts if the user wants and if any of the alerts are cancelled by the user, the server removes those alerts from the server. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the client monitor the expiry of the alerts and the expiry is notified to the user. i.A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the client allows the user to view the alerts he has subscribed. -A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the client allows the user to cancel any/all of the alerts he has subscribed before. :.A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the server supports subscribing of presence change alerts. I. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the server verifies if there is any alert pending, for any change of presence. .A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the server notify the presence change to the subscribed user in the communication mode as specified by the user, in his profile. .A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the server removes the alerts which have expired, after sending expired notification to the subscriber. 16. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the presence client allows the user to request for external notifications for presence change alerts where the request is defined by element with the value along with attributes 'expiry' and 'mode' stored on the server which can be updated by the user with an XCAP PUT operation. 17. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the presence client allows the user to request canceling external notifications for presence change alerts where the said request is defined by element with the value stored on the server which can be updated by the user with an XCAP PUT operation. 18. A system for alerting changes in presence via different modes of communication such as SMS, MMS, IM, PoC in an IMPS based presence system comprising an initiating user, who subscribes alert for a change in presence, of a particular user together with his preferred manner of notification and for any change in presence of a user, a server verifies if there are any alerts requested and informs the requesting user through a chosen mode of communication. 19. A method for alerting changes in presence via different modes of communication such as SMS, MMS, IM, PoC in an IMPS based presence system substantially described particularly with reference to the accompanying drawings. 20. A system for alerting changes in presence via different modes of communication such as SMS, MMS, IM, PoC in an IMPS based presence system substantially described particularly with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Documents:

1435-CHE-2004 AMENDED PAGES OF SPECIFICATION 10-12-2012.pdf

1435-CHE-2004 CORRESPONDENCE OTHERS. 10-12-2012.pdf

1435-CHE-2004 OTHER PATENT DOCUMENT 10-12-2012.pdf

1435-CHE-2004 POWER OF ATTORNEY 10-12-2012.pdf

1435-CHE-2004 AMENDED CLAIMS 10-05-2012.pdf

1435-CHE-2004 AMENDED PAGES OF SPECIFICATION 10-05-2012.pdf

1435-CHE-2004 EXAMINATION REPORT REPLY RECEIVED 10-05-2012.pdf

1435-CHE-2004 FORM-1 10-05-2012.pdf

1435-CHE-2004 FORM-13 19-06-2006.pdf

1435-CHE-2004 POWER OF ATTORNEY 10-05-2012.pdf

1435-che-2004-abstract.pdf

1435-che-2004-claims.pdf

1435-che-2004-correspondnece-others.pdf

1435-che-2004-description(complete).pdf

1435-che-2004-description(provisional).pdf

1435-che-2004-drawings.pdf

1435-che-2004-form 1.pdf

1435-che-2004-form 13.pdf

1435-che-2004-form 5.pdf