FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to the art of unified
communication and more especially to a system dealing with routing state
and presence state of users.
BACKGROUND
Let's imagine that user A is going to attend a meeting. For this
period he configures his office phone to forward all incoming calls to user B.
In ten minutes after that user C calls user A. As the "Immediate Forward"
routing rule is set as active then user C is forwarded to user B. But user C
may not want to talk to user B and he would prefer to know the result of
routing of his call before he actually makes the call. It would allow him to
decide whether to make a call now and be forwarded to another user or to
wait until user A returns from the meeting and will be able to answer the call
himself.
The same problem exists with other types of call routing: forward to
Voice Mail, present call to home phone of the user if he works at home and
so on. In all these cases it would be useful for the caller to know how the call
will be routed by the system in order to take appropriate decisions.
There is a need to automatically detect the routing policy of a user to
be called before the call establishment.
Accordingly, a new and/or improved system and/or method is
disclosed which addresses the above-referenced desire(s) and/or others.
SUMMARY
This summary is provided to introduce concepts related to the
present inventive subject matter. This summary is not intended to identify
essential features of the claimed subject matter nor is it intended for use in
determining or limiting the scope of the claimed subject matter.
In accordance with one embodiment, a method is provided for
enriching presence statuses of users in a contact list with call routing rules
associated with said users, the presence statuses indicating an availability of
said users, called contact users, for communication and being delivered by a
presence server to an application implemented in a communication device
owned by a user, called application user, the method comprising the
following steps in the presence server:
sending a request to a call server managing call routing rules of said
contact users, the request containing identifiers of said contact users,
receiving a response from the call server, the response containing
routing statuses of said contact users, the call server having determined call
routing rules stored respectively in correspondence with the identifiers and
having interpreted the call routing rules to create a routing status for each
contact user,
sending a message to the communication device, the message
containing the routing status for each contact user, in order that the
application displays the routing status of contact users.
The invention advantageously provides the possibility to a caller, like
said application user, to know how the call will be routed by call routing rules
of the callee, like said contact users. It allows the caller to adjust its behavior
accordingly, for example to call and be forwarded to Voice Mail or to wait
until the callee is able to take the call.
In an embodiment, the method further comprises the following steps:
subscribing to events that are to be provided by the call server and
that are associated with the identifiers of the contact users,
when an event related to a change in the call routing rules of at least
one contact user occurs, receiving a notification from the call server,
sending an update request related to said event to the call server,
receiving an update response from the call server, the update
response containing the routing status of the contact user associated with
the identifier of the contact user
sending an update message to the communication device, the
update message containing the routing statuses of the contact user
associated with the identifier of the contact user.
In an embodiment, the notification and the update request contain
the identifier of said contact user.
In an embodiment, the notification and the update request contain an
identifier of said event.
A further object of the invention is a presence server for enriching
presence statuses of users in a contact list with call routing rules associated
with said users, the presence statuses indicating an availability of said
users, called contact users, for communication and being delivered by the
presence server to an application implemented in a communication device
owned by a user, called application user, the presence server comprising:
an interface for sending a request to a call server managing call
routing rules of said contact users, the request containing identifiers of said
contact users,
an interface for receiving a response from the call server, the
response containing routing statuses of said contact users, the call server
having determined call routing rules stored respectively in correspondence
with the identifiers and having interpreted the call routing rules to create a
routing status for each contact user,
an interface for sending a message to the communication device, the
message containing the routing status for each contact user, in order that
the application displays the routing status of contact users.
The invention relates further to a computer program adapted to be
executed in a presence server for enriching presence statuses of users in a
contact list with call routing rules associated with said users, said program
including instructions which, when the program is executed in said server,
execute the steps of the method of the invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURE
Some embodiments of the present invention are now described, by
way of example only, and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in
which:
- FIG. 1 is a schematic block-diagram of a communication system
according to an embodiment of the invention,
- FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing steps performed to execute a method
for enriching presence status with call routing status in a telecommunication
network according to an embodiment of the invention,
- FIG. 3 is an example of an application displaying presence status
enriched with call routing status according to an embodiment of the
invention.
The same reference number represents the same element or the
same type of element on all drawings.
DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS
The figures and the following description illustrate specific exemplary
embodiments of the invention. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in
the art will be able to devise various arrangements that, although not
explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the invention
and are included within the scope of the invention. Furthermore, any
examples described herein are intended to aid in understanding the
principles of the invention, and are to be construed as being without
limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions. As a result,
the invention is not limited to the specific embodiments or examples
described below, but by the claims and their equivalents.
Referring to FIG. 1, a communication system comprises a presence
server PS, a call server CS, a communication device CD, which are able to
communicate between them through a telecommunication network TN.
The telecommunication network TN may be a wired or wireless
network, or a combination of wired and wireless networks.
The telecommunication network TN can be a packet network, for
example, an IP ("Internet Protocol") high-speed network such as the Internet
or an intranet, or even a company-specific private network.
The telecommunication network TN can be either a public or private
network (in enterprise or at home).
Each communication device can be a mobile terminal or a fixed
terminal.
As mobile terminal, the communication device can be a radio
communication mobile terminal. For example, the communication device is a
mobile phone, or is a communicating Personal Digital Assistant PDA, or an
intelligent telephone like SmartPhone.
In another example, the communication device is connected to a
base station of a public wireless network of limited scope, such as WLAN
(Wireless Local Area Network) or conforming to a standard 802.1 x, or
medium range according to the protocol WiMAX (World Wide
Interoperability Microwave Access).
In another example, the communication device is a cellular mobile
radio communication terminal, connected by a channel to a radio access
network through a femto base station.
As fixed terminal, the communication device can be a personal
computer connected directly via a modem to link of type xDSL (Digital
Subscriber Line) or ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network Services)
connected to the packet network PT, or can be an IP phone using a SIP
based protocol or a proprietary protocol.
The communication device CD comprises a unified communication
application UCA able to communicate with the telecommunication network
TN and in particular with the presence server PS and with another
communication device, and implementing protocols and coding/decoding
algorithms for different kind of communications.
The unified communication application UCA exploits presence
information of a user received from the presence server PS in order to
display presence status of such user.
It is assumed that a presence status includes an indication of an
availability of an user to receive a communication via a real time interactive
communication system. For example, a presence status of "away" refers to
an user who is online but is idle for a period of time (e.g. with no mouse or
keyboard activities).
It is assumed that a presence information includes a presence status
of an user, and may also include descriptions of activities of an user, a
timestamp indicating a start time of a period of time during which an user's
identity is idle on a device being used in a real time interactive
communication system, a type of place in which an user is utilizing the
device, and/or a geographic location of the device.
The unified communication application UCA manages data storage
that contains a buddy list or a contact list for the user. The unified
communication application UCA displays the buddy list that identifies
contacts (i.e. other users) with whom the user may communicate via a real
time interactive communication system such as instant messaging.
The presence server PS aggregates real-time presence information
regarding user availability and delivers the information to users logged in
and connected to the presence server.
The presence server PS comprises a client interface INTc for
communicating with communication devices and delivers them presence
information regarding user availability.
The presence server PS comprises a network interface INTn for
communicating with the call server CS. The network interface INTn
interrogates the call server CS in order to retrieve call routing rules attributed
to a user. The network interface INTn listens to any event corresponding to a
change in the call routing rules of a user, the event being provided by the
call server CS.
The presence server PS manages a presence service that allows
users to publish their presence statuses as well as subscribe to each others'
presence statuses. The presence server receives and sends PS the
presence status of each user between client devices of each user. The client
interface INTc of the presence server manages dynamically a database
wherein an identifier IdU of a given user is stored in correspondence with
identifiers IdCU of other users that are contacts in the buddy list of said
given user.
The call server CS provides a call routing service and handles the
routing of calls of users owning several communication devices.
The call server CS comprises an update interface INTu for
communicating with the presence server PS and providing call routing rules
of a user to the presence server PS.
The call server CS manages a database DB containing call routing
rules RR stored in correspondence with identifiers IdCU of users.
For example, the call server takes into account any internal routing
(in the system comprising the call server itself), external routing (like third
party applications), general settings (for example "All incoming calls are
forwarded to Voice Mail"), personal settings ("Only calls from user A are
forwarded to Voice Mail"). The call server enables users to choose how
incoming calls are to be transmitted, by choice of protocol, network and
terminal. The user can be invited to define contexts corresponding to
situations in which the user may find himself, such as and "available", "in the
office", "at home", etc. . . At a given time, a context is active for each of the
users of the call routing service. For example, the activation of a context
possibly can be made manually by the user or automatically in relation to
personal time schedules for which the activation periods of these contexts
have been specified.
In specific exemplary embodiments, the communications between
the communication device CD, the presence server PS and the call server
CS can be based on protocols such as the protocol XMPP (Extensible
Messaging and Presence Protocol) or the SIMPLE protocol (Session
initiation protocol for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging
Extensions).
With reference to FIG. 2, a method for enriching presence status
according with call routing status to one embodiment of the invention
comprises steps S 1 to S 11 executed automatically within the communication
system.
At step S 1, the user of the communication device CD launches the
unified communication application UCA which establishes connection with
the presence server PS and displays a buddy list designating other users
that are contacts of the user. The presence server PS identifies the
authorized user of the application UCA, for example by means of an
authentication with login and password, and retrieves an identifier IdU of the
user.
For sake of clarity hereinafter, the user of the application UCA is
called application user, and users in the buddy list of the application user are
called contact users.
At step S2, the client interface INTc of the presence server PS
determines a set of contact users associated with the application user, i.e. a
set of users that are in the buddy list of the user in the unified
communication application. To this end, the presence server PS determines
the identifier IdCU of each contact user associated with the identifier IdU of
the application user.
At step S3, the presence server PS interrogates the call server for
retrieving call routing rules associated with the set of contact users.
The network interface INTn of the presence server PS sends a
request Req to the call server CS, the request containing the identifiers IdCU
of the contact users.
At step S4, the update interface INTu of the call server CS
deternnines the call routing rules RR stored respectively in correspondence
with the identifiers IdCU in the database DB.
The update interface INTu interprets the call routing rules RR of
each contact user in order to create a routing status RS for each contact
user.
At step S5, the update interface INTu of the call server CS sends a
response Rep to the presence server PS, the response containing the
routing statuses RS of the contact users, associated respectively with the
identifiers IdCU of the contact users.
At step S6, the client interface INTc of the presence server PS sends
a message Mes to the communication device CD, the message containing
routing statuses RS of the contact users, associated respectively with the
identifiers IdCU of the contact users. The message may also contain
presence statuses of contact users combined with routing statuses of contact
users.
The unified communication application UCA displays the routing
statuses RS of the contact users in the buddy list.
At step S7, the presence server PS subscribes to events that are to
be provided by the call server CS and that are associated with the identifiers
IdCU of the contact users.
The subscribed events relate to any change in the call routing rules
RR of contact users. The purpose of these events is to alert and update the
presence server PS of any change in the call routing rules RR of contact
users
At step S8, when an event related to a change in the call routing
rules RR of a given contact user occurs, the update interface INTu of the call
server CS sends a notification Not to the presence server PS, the notification
containing at least the identifier IdCU of said contact user.
At step S9, the network interface INTn of the presence server PS
sends an update request ReqU to the call server CS, the update request
containing the identifier IdCU of the contact user.
In a variant, the event is associated with an event identifier IdE, and
said event identifier is included in the messages exchanged during steps S8
and S9 instead of the identifier IdCU of the contact user.
At step S 10, the update interface INTu of the call server CS
interprets the change in the call routing rules RR of the contact user and
creates a new routing status RS for said contact user. The update interface
INTu of the call server CS sends an update response RepU to the presence
server PS, the update response containing the routing status RS of the
contact user associated with the identifier IdCU of the contact user.
At step S 11, the presence server PS sends an update message
MesU to the communication device CD, the update message containing
routing status RS of the contact user associated with the identifier IdCU of
the contact user. The unified communication application UCA displays the
routing status RS of the contact users in the buddy list.
FIG. 3 represents an Unified Communication application (UC
application) which displays the telephonic presence of buddies, i.e. the
presence status enriched with call routing status of buddies. For example,
Alice is at home and free on mobile phone, Bob is at work and free on desk
phone, and Carol is not logged in the system and is not available. The
application can be configured to display color icons meaning different
telephonic statuses.
The following section illustrates an example of an unified
communication application running on a communication device of a user
which is a buddy of Alice, Bob and Carol and can see presence status of all
these three users.
The presence server and the call server may be considered as
forming part of a unified communication system and the method described
with reference to FIG. 2 may be assimilated to a call emulation executed be
the unified communication system.
Let's consider a part of working day of three users: Alice, Bob and
Carol.
8:00 - Alice is at home. All her business calls are routed to her
mobile phone. All her buddies see in their Unified Communications
application the telephonic status of Alice: "Free on mobile phone". Bob is
already at work, all his buddies see in their Unified Communications
application the telephonic status of Bob: "Free on desk phone". Carol is at
home and she is not logged in Unified Communications application so all her
buddies see her status as "Not available". On FIG. 3 the Unified
Communications application of said user is shown.
9:00 - Alice arrives at work and changes her routing settings in
order to have incoming calls on her fixed desk phone. Buddies of Alice are
notified about changes in her call routing rules. Then Unified
Communications system emulates the calls from buddies to Alice and uses
the result to present the telephonic status of Alice ("Free on desk phone') to
her buddies.
9:30 -Alice needs to participate in a meeting. She configures her call
routing rules in order to forward all incoming calls to Voice Mail. The buddies
are notified again, calls from them are emulated again and the new status is
presented to them: "Calls are forwarded to Voice Mail".
10:00 - Carol, who is a buddy of Alice, arrives to work and wants to
discuss something with Alice. Carol logins to Unified Communications
system. The system emulates calls from Carol to all her buddies and
presents the results of the calls, including the result of the emulation of the
call from Carol to Alice ("Calls are forwarded to Voice Mail"). Carol decides to
wait until Alice is accessible on her phone in order to talk to Alice directly.
The invention described here relates to a method and a server for
enriching presence status with call routing status. In an embodiment, the
steps of the method of the invention are determined by the instructions of a
computer program incorporated in a server such as the presence server PS
according to the invention. The program includes program instructions
which, when said program is executed in a processor of the data processing
device the operation whereof is then controlled by the execution of the
program, execute the steps of the method according to the invention.
As a consequence, the invention applies also to a computer
program, in particular a computer program on or in an information medium
readable by a data processing device, adapted to implement the invention.
That program may use any programming language and be in the form of
source code, object code or an intermediate code between source code and
object code, such as a partially compiled form, or in any other desirable form
for implementing the method according to the invention.
The information medium may be any entity or device capable of
storing the program. For example, the medium may include storage means
or a recording medium on which the computer program according to the
invention is recorded, such as a ROM, for example a CD ROM or a
microelectronic circuit ROM, or a USB key, or magnetic recording means, for
example a diskette (floppy disk) or a hard disk.

CLAIMS
1. A method for enriching presence statuses of users in a contact list
with call routing rules associated with said users, the presence statuses
indicating an availability of said users, called contact users, for
communication and being delivered by a presence server (PS) to an
application (UCA) implemented in a communication device (CD) owned by a
user, called application user, comprising the following steps in the presence
server (PS):
sending (S3) a request (Req) to a call server (CS) managing call
routing rules of said contact users, the request containing identifiers (IdCU)
of said contact users,
receiving (S5) a response (Res) from the call server (CS), the
response containing routing statuses (RS) of said contact users, the call
server having determined call routing rules (RR) stored respectively in
correspondence with the identifiers (IdCU) and having interpreted the call
routing rules (RR) to create a routing status (RS) for each contact user,
sending (S6) a message (Mes) to the communication device (CD),
the message containing the routing status (RS) for each contact user, in
order that the application (UCA) displays the routing status (RS) of contact
users.
2 . A method according to claim 1, further comprising the following
steps:
subscribing (S7) to events that are to be provided by the call server
(CS) and that are associated with the identifiers (IdCU) of the contact users,
when an event related to a change in the call routing rules (RR) of at
least one contact user occurs, receiving (S8) a notification (Not) from the call
server,
sending (S9) an update request (ReqU) related to said event to the
call server (CS),
receiving (S10) an update response (ResU) from the call server
(CS), the update response containing the routing status (RS) of the contact
user associated with the identifier (IdCU) of the contact user,
sending (S1 1) an update message (MesU) to the communication
device (CD), the update message containing the routing statuses (RS) of the
contact user associated with the identifier (IdCU) of the contact user.
3 . A method according to claim 2, wherein the notification (Not) and the
update request contain the identifier (IdCU) of said contact user.
4 . A method according to claim 2, wherein the notification (Not) and the
update request contain an identifier (IdE) of said event.
5. Presence server (PS) for enriching presence statuses of users in a
contact list with call routing rules associated with said users, the presence
statuses indicating an availability of said users, called contact users, for
communication and being delivered by the presence server (PS) to an
application (UCA) implemented in a communication device (CD) owned by a
user, called application user, the presence server (PS) comprising:
an interface (INTn) for sending a request (Req) to a call server (CS)
managing call routing rules of said contact users, the request containing
identifiers (IdCU) of said contact users,
an interface (INTn) for receiving a response (Res) from the call
server (CS), the response containing routing statuses (RS) of said contact
users, the call server having determined call routing rules (RR) stored
respectively in correspondence with the identifiers (IdCU) and having
interpreted the call routing rules (RR) to create a routing status (RS) for each
contact user,
an interface (INTc) for sending a message (Mes) to the
communication device (CD), the message containing the routing status (RS)
for each contact user, in order that the application (UCA) displays the routing
status (RS) of contact users.
6 . A computer program adapted to be executed in a presence server
(PS) for enriching presence statuses of users in a contact list with call
routing rules associated with said users, the presence statuses indicating an
availability of said users, called contact users, for communication and being
delivered by a presence server (PS) to an application (UCA) implemented in
a communication device (CD) owned by a user, called application user, said
program including instructions which, when said program is executed in said
presence server, execute the following steps :
sending (S3) a request (Req) to a call server (CS) managing call
routing rules of said contact users, the request containing identifiers (IdCU)
of said contact users,
receiving (S5) a response (Res) from the call server (CS), the
response containing routing statuses (RS) of said contact users, the call
server having determined call routing rules (RR) stored respectively in
correspondence with the identifiers (IdCU) and having interpreted the call
routing rules (RR) to create a routing status (RS) for each contact user,
sending (S6) a message (Mes) to the communication device (CD),
the message containing the routing status (RS) for each contact user, in
order that the application (UCA) displays the routing status (RS) of contact
users.