Method and Apparatus Pertaining to Network-Facilitated Services
A control circuit can extend presence information by including a service identifier element in the presence information, the service identifier element identifying a suite of services. Corresponding presence information that includes the service identifier element is transmitted to a watcher. By one approach the presence information further includes a version element defining a version of the suite of services. If desired, the presence information further includes a description element that is a human-readable string of characters that provides information about the suite of services.
1 . A method comprising:
extending presence information by including a service identifier element in the presence information, the service identifier element identifying a suite of services; and
transmitting to a watcher, after the extending, the presence information that includes the service identifier element.
2 . The method of claim 1 wherein extending further comprises including a version element in the presence information, the version element defining a version of the suite of services.
3 . The method of claim 1 wherein extending further comprises including a description element in the presence information, the description element being a human-readable string of characters that provides information about the suite of services.
4 . The method of claim 1 wherein the suite of services is the Rich Communications Suite (RCS) as specified by Global System of Mobile communications Association (GSMA).
5 . A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions being configured to cause performance of the method set forth in claim 1 .
6 . A network device comprising:
a processor executing a presence server that is configured to perform the operations of:
extending presence information by including a service identifier element in the presence information, the service identifier element identifying a suite of services; and
transmitting to a watcher, after the extending, the presence information that includes the service identifier element.
7 . The network device of claim 6 wherein the operation of extending further comprises including a version element in the presence information, the version element defining a version of the suite of services.
8 . The network device of claim 6 wherein the operation of extending further comprises including a description element in the presence information, the description element being a human-readable string of characters that provides information about the suite of services.
9 . The network device of claim 6 wherein the suite of services is the Rich Communications Suite (RCS) as specified by Global System of Mobile communications Association (GSMA).
10 . A method comprising:
electronically publishing presence information associated with a presentity to a presence server, the presence information including a service identifier element that identifies a suite of services used by the presentity.
11 . The method of claim 10 wherein the presence information further includes a version element defining a version of the suite of services.
12 . The method of claim 10 wherein the presence information further includes a description element that is a human-readable string of characters that provides information about the suite of services.
13 . The method of claim 10 wherein the suite of services is the Rich Communications Suite (RCS) as specified by Global System of Mobile communications Association (GSMA).
14 . An electronic device comprising:
a processor executing a presentity agent configured to perform an operation of electronically publishing presence information associated with a presentity to a presence server, the presence information including a service identifier element that identifies a suite of services used by the presentity.
15 . The electronic device of claim 14 wherein the presence information further includes a version element defining a version of the suite of services.
16 . The electronic device of claim 14 wherein the presence information further includes a description element that is a human-readable string of characters that provides information about the suite of services.
17 . The electronic device of claim 14 wherein the suite of services is the Rich Communications Suite (RCS) as specified by Global System of Mobile communications Association (GSMA).
18 . A method comprising:
receiving, at a watcher, presence information from a presence server, the presence information including a service identifier element identifying a suite of services.
19 . The method of claim 18 wherein the presence information further includes a version element, the version element defining a version of the suite of services.
20 . The method of claim 18 wherein the presence information further includes a description element, the description element being a human-readable string of characters that provides information about the suite of services.
21 . The method of claim 18 wherein the suite of services is the Rich Communications Suite (RCS) as specified by Global System of Mobile communications Association (GSMA).
22 . An electronic device comprising:
a processor executing a watcher agent configured to perform an operation of receiving presence information from a presence server, the presence information including a service identifier element identifying a suite of services.
23 . The electronic device of claim 22 wherein the presence information further includes a version element defining a version of the suite of services.
24 . The electronic device of claim 22 wherein the presence information further includes a description element that is a human-readable string of characters that provides information about the suite of services.
25 . The electronic device of claim 22 wherein the suite of services is the Rich Communications Suite (RCS) as specified by Global System of Mobile communications Association (GSMA).