System and method for provisioning presence application services

1. A provisioning system for supporting presence applications, comprising:

an ontology depository having at least one domain-specific ontology model accessible via the Internet for a particular presence application, wherein the ontology model for the particular presence application includes a collection of:

abstracted entities that are appropriately classified;

relationships among the entities; and

information about how to collect presence data from persons, places and things; and

a presence entity having a structure operable to reference a domain-specific ontology model of said ontology depository via the Internet for customizing a presence client software module associated with said presence entity, whereby said presence entity becomes operable to engage in a particular presence application relating to said domain-specific ontology model.

2. The provisioning system for supporting presence applications as recited in claim 1 , wherein said at least one domain-specific ontology model for a particular presence application comprises a Unified Markup Language (UML)-based data model.

3. The provisioning system for supporting presence applications as recited in claim 1 , wherein said at least one domain-specific ontology model for a particular presence application comprises an Extended Markup Language (XML)-based data model.

4. The provisioning system for supporting presence applications as recited in claim 1 , wherein said at least one domain-specific ontology model for a particular presence application comprises a semantic net data model.

5. The provisioning system for supporting presence applications as recited in claim 1 , wherein said at least one domain-specific ontology model for a particular presence application comprises a General Markup Language (GML)-based data model.

6. The provisioning system for supporting presence applications as recited in claim 1 , wherein said at least one domain-specific ontology model for a particular presence application comprises a data model based on a semantic software application selected from the group consisting of a Resource Description Framework (RDF) application, an Ontology Inference Layer (OIL) application, an Ontology Web Language (OWL) application, a Semantic Web Initiative (SWI)-compliant application, and a Meta Object Framework (MOF) application.

7. The provisioning system for supporting presence applications as recited in claim 1 , wherein said structure operable to reference a domain-specific ontology model comprises a presence client software module operable to invoke a Universal Resource Locator (URL) path associated with said ontology depository including said domain-specific ontology model.

8. The provisioning system for supporting presence applications as recited in claim 1 , wherein said structure associated with said presence entity is operable to dynamically reference a domain-specific ontology model of said ontology depository.

9. The provisioning system for supporting presence applications as recited in claim 1 , wherein said structure associated with said presence entity is operable to effectuate a static reference to a domain-specific ontology model during said structure's compile time.

10. The provisioning system for supporting presence applications as recited in claim 1 , wherein said particular presence application is selected from the group consisting of transportation applications, shipping and delivery applications, premises security monitoring applications, private enterprise applications, government agency applications, and instant messaging applications.

11. A service provisioning methodology for supporting presence applications, comprising:

providing an ontology depository having at least one domain-specific ontology model accessible via the Internet for a particular presence application, wherein the ontology model for the particular presence application includes a collection of:

abstracted entities that are appropriately classified;

relationships among the entities; and

information about how to collect presence data from persons, places and things; and

customizing a presence client software module associated with a presence entity by referencing a domain-specific ontology model of said ontology depository via the Internet, whereby said presence entity becomes operable to engage in a particular presence application relating to said domain-specific ontology model.

12. The service provisioning methodology for supporting presence applications as recited in claim 11 , wherein said at least one domain-specific ontology model for a particular presence application comprises a Unified Markup Language (UML)-based data model.

13. The service provisioning methodology for supporting presence applications as recited in claim 11 , wherein said at least one domain-specific ontology model for a particular presence application comprises an Extended Markup Language (XML)-based data model.

14. The service provisioning methodology for supporting presence applications as recited in claim 11 , wherein said at least one domain-specific ontology model for a particular presence application comprises a semantic net data model.

15. The service provisioning methodology for supporting presence applications as recited in claim 11 , wherein said at least one domain-specific ontology model for a particular presence application comprises a General Markup Language (GML)-based data model.

16. The service provisioning methodology for supporting presence applications as recited in claim 11 , wherein said at least one domain-specific ontology model for a particular presence application comprises a data model based on a semantic software application selected from the group consisting of a Resource Description Framework (RDF) application, an Ontology Inference Layer (OIL) application, an Ontology Web Language (OWL) application, a Semantic Web Initiative (SWI)-compliant application, and a Meta Object Framework (MOP) application.

17. The service provisioning methodology for supporting presence applications as recited in claim 11 , wherein said customizing a presence client software module associated with a presence entity is effectuated by invoking a Universal Resource Locator (URL) path associated with said ontology depository including said domain-specific ontology model.

18. The service provisioning methodology for supporting presence applications as recited in claim 11 , wherein said customizing a presence client software module associated with a presence entity is effectuated by dynamically referencing a domain-specific ontology model of said ontology depository.

19. The service provisioning methodology for supporting presence applications as recited in claim 11 , wherein said customizing a presence client software module associated with a presence entity is effectuated by a static reference to a domain-specific ontology model during said presence client software module's compile time.

20. The service provisioning methodology for supporting presence applications as recited in claim 11 , wherein said particular presence application is selected from the group consisting of transportation applications, shipping and delivery applications, premises security monitoring applications, private enterprise applications, government agency applications, and instant messaging applications.

21. A system for provisioning presence applications over a presence service network, comprising:

means operable to host an ontology depository accessible via the Internet that includes a domain-specific ontology model corresponding to each of a plurality of presence applications, wherein the ontology model for each of the plurality of presence applications includes a collection of:

abstracted entities that are appropriately classified;

relationships among the entities; and

information about how to collect presence data from persons, places and things; and

means for customizing a presence client software module associated with a presence entity with a particular presence application accessed from the ontology model via the Internet.

22. The system for provisioning presence applications over a presence service network as recited in claim 21 , wherein said domain-specific ontology model comprises a Unified Markup Language (UML)-based data model.

23. The system for provisioning presence applications over a presence service network as recited in claim 21 , wherein said domain-specific ontology model comprises an Extended Markup Language (XML)-based data model.

24. The system for provisioning presence applications over a presence service network as recited in claim 21 , wherein said domain-specific ontology model comprises a semantic net data model.

25. The system for provisioning presence applications over a presence service network as recited in claim 21 , wherein said domain-specific ontology model for a particular presence application comprises a General Markup Language (GML)-based data model.

26. The system for provisioning presence applications over a presence service network as recited in claim 21 , wherein said domain-specific ontology model comprises a data model based on a semantic software application selected from the group consisting of a Resource Description Framework (RDF) application, an Ontology Inference Layer (OIL) application, an Ontology Web Language (OWL) application, a Semantic Web Initiative (SWI)-compliant application, and a Meta Object Framework (MOF) application.

27. The system for provisioning presence applications over a presence service network as recited in claim 21 , wherein said means for customizing a presence client software module associated with a presence entity comprises means for referencing a domain-specific ontology model for a particular presence application using a Universal Resource Locator (URL) path associated with said ontology depository.

28. The system for provisioning presence applications over a presence service network as recited in claim 21 , wherein said means for customizing a presence client software module associated with a presence entity is operable to dynamically reference a domain-specific ontology model of said ontology depository.

29. The system for provisioning presence applications over a presence service network as recited in claim 21 , wherein said means for customizing a presence client software module associated with a presence entity is operable to effectuate a static reference to a domain-specific ontology model during said presence client software module's compile time.

30. The system for provisioning presence applications over a presence service network as recited in claim 21 , wherein said particular presence application is selected from the group consisting of transportation applications, shipping and delivery applications, premises security monitoring applications, private enterprise applications, government agency applications, and instant messaging applications.