Providing merged presence calculation information based on analogous multi-utility events
View Patent ↗Methods and systems are disclosed for collecting presence information from multiple utilities associated with a user and creating merged presence calculation information where events are determined to be analogous in content. The analogous content may relate to one or more of timing, context, user information, location, and the like. More specifically, email out-of-office and calendar events may be treated as analogous events. From the analogous events, merged presence calculation information is created and then provided to a presence server for an efficient aggregate presence calculation.
1. A method, comprising:
collecting presence information from a first utility and a second utility associated with a user, wherein the presence information comprises time-based data;
comparing the first utility presence information with the second utility presence information;
determining, as a result of the comparison, to treat the first utility presence information and the second utility presence information as different or analogous events, wherein the analogous events provide redundant presence information; and
selecting, via a processor, at least one instance of the redundant presence information to drop from a subsequent presence aggregation calculation for the user.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein only unique presence information from the redundant presence information is maintained for the subsequent presence aggregation calculation, the method further comprising:
forwarding the unique presence information to a presence aggregator, wherein the presence aggregator is configured to calculate a resultant presence state for the user with the unique presence information and information collected from one or more other sources.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first utility presence information is associated with a first priority, and wherein the second utility presence information is associated with a second priority.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein selecting the at least one instance of the redundant presence information to drop is at least partially based on the first priority and the second priority.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first utility is an email application and the second utility is a calendar application.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the email application is an email out-of-office utility, and wherein the calendar application includes one or more scheduled calendar events.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the match is detected between the first utility and the second utility presence information when the email out-of-office utility is active during at least a portion of the one or more scheduled calendar events.
8. The method of claim 6 , wherein determining to treat the matching presence information as analogous events further comprises:
analyzing the matching presence information based on rules stored in a memory, the rules configured to provide qualification criteria for analogous events.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein before collecting presence information from the first and second utilities the method further comprises:
determining whether a server version associated with the user is compatible with a first presence information collection script; and
updating a memory location associated with the user to reflect the determined server version.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein upon determining that the server version is compatible with the first presence information collection script, the method further comprises:
applying the first presence information collection script to collect the presence information for the user.
11. The method of claim 9 , wherein upon detecting that the server version is incompatible with the first presence information collection script, the method further comprises:
applying a second presence information collection script to collect the presence information for the user.
12. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform a method comprising:
collecting presence information from a first utility and a second utility associated with a user, wherein the presence information comprises time-based data;
comparing the first utility presence information with the second utility presence information;
determining, as a result of the comparison, to treat the first utility presence information and the second utility presence information as different or analogous events, wherein the analogous events provide redundant presence information; and
selecting, via a processor, at least one instance of the redundant presence information to drop from a subsequent presence aggregation calculation for the user.
13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12 , wherein only unique presence information from the redundant presence information is maintained for the subsequent presence aggregation calculation, wherein the method further comprises:
forwarding the unique presence information to a presence aggregator, wherein the presence aggregator is configured to calculate a resultant presence state for the user with the unique presence information and information collected from one or more other sources.
14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the method further comprises:
associating the first utility presence information with a first priority and the second utility presence information with a second priority; and
basing the selection of the at least one instance of the redundant presence information to drop on the first and second priority.
15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the first utility is an email out-of-office utility, and wherein the second utility is a calendar application, the calendar application including one or more scheduled events.
16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the match is detected between the first utility and the second utility presence information when the email out-of-office utility is active during at least a portion of the one or more scheduled calendar events.
17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12 , wherein before collecting the presence information from the first and second utilities the method further comprises:
determining whether a server version associated with the user is compatible with a first presence information collection script; and
updating a memory location associated with the user to reflect the determined server version.
18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17 , wherein upon determining that the server version is compatible with the first presence information collection script the method further comprises:
applying the first presence information collection script to collect the presence information for the user.
19. A system for creating merged presence calculation information for determined analogous events, comprising:
a first utility configured to store, in memory, presence information associated with a user;
a second utility configured to store, in memory, presence information associated with the user; and
a merged multi-utility presence module contained in memory and executed by a processor, wherein the merged multi-utility presence module is configured to collect presence information from the first utility and the second utility associated with the user, wherein the presence information comprises time-based data, compare the first utility presence information with the second utility presence information, determine, as a result of the comparison, to treat the first utility presence information and the second utility presence information as different or analogous events, wherein the analogous events provide redundant presence information, and select, via the processor, at least one instance of the redundant presence information to drop from a subsequent presence aggregation calculation for the user.
20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the merged multi-utility presence module is further configured to maintain only unique presence information from the redundant presence information for the subsequent presence aggregation calculation, and wherein the first utility is an email out-of-office utility, and wherein the second utility is a calendar application including one or more scheduled calendar events.