Apparatus and method for automated presence status inquiries
In some embodiments, presence inquiry system may include one or more of the following steps: (a) a memory comprising, (i) presence information submitted from at least two presence providers, (ii) a requestor's presence information, and (iii) an access determination program that checks a requestor's caller ID received from a phone call to determine whether the requestor is allowed access to an entity's presence information, (b) a processor coupled to the memory that executes the access determination program.
1 . A method for determining the availability of presence information to a requestor of the presence information, the method comprising the steps of:
calling a PIS provider that has access to at least two presence provider's presence network;
inputting a name of an entity whose presence information is desired;
obtaining the entity's presence information from a PIS database; and
providing the entity's presence information to the requestor.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of authenticating the requestor's identity by the PIS provider.
3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the identity is authenticated by verifying caller ID information transferred from the requestor.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the PIS database contains the combined presence data of the at least two presence providers.
5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of determining if the entity is located in the PIS database.
6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of verifying the requestor has access to the entity's presence information.
7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the verification of the requestor's access is performed by determining if a requestor's caller ID information is located on an entity's presence acceptance list.
8 . A presence inquiry system comprising:
a memory comprising:
presence information submitted from at least two presence providers;
a requestor's presence information; and
an access determination program that checks a requestor's caller ID received from a phone call to determine whether the requestor is allowed access to an entity's presence information; and
a processor coupled to the memory that executes the access determination program.
9 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the requestor's caller ID information is received when a requestor calls the presence inquiry system.
10 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the memory further comprises a text to speech program that when executed by the processor provides the requestor with the entity's presence information in audible form.
11 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the presence information can include a text string providing additional information about an entity.
12 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the requestor inputs an entity's information for which presence information is desired from a phone.
13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the requestor can type in the entity's information on a keypad or speak the entity's information over the phone.
14 . A machine readable medium comprising machine executable instructions, including:
access instructions that determine if a caller has access to a presence inquiry database having at least two presence provider's presence information;
input instructions that receive entity information from the caller;
retrieve instructions that retrieve an entity's presence information from the presence inquiry database; and
delivery instructions that deliver the entity's presence information to the caller if the caller has access.
15 . The machine readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the caller calls from a telephone user interface.
16 . The machine readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the caller is granted access to the presence inquiry database by verifying caller ID information transferred from the caller.
17 . The machine readable medium of claim 14 , further comprising search instructions to determine if the entity's presence information is located in the presence inquiry database.
18 . The machine readable medium of claim 14 , further comprising verification instructions to determine if the caller has access to the entity's presence information.
19 . The machine readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the verification instructions determine if a caller's caller ID information is located on an entity's presence acceptance list.
20 . The machine readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the caller can type in the entity's information on a keypad or speak the entity's information over the phone.