System and method using presence in a data network to facilitate communication
A method and system utilizing presence in a presence aware data/messaging network between a user and an organization for communication purposes to indicate when both parties are ready to engage in a dialog session or when one party has new information for the other party. The method and system can be further enhanced if the presence aware network also provides location information or other state information on the user.
1. A method of establishing a dialog session between an organization message application server and a user data network end point, both simultaneously present on a presence aware network, comprising:
assigning a service presence handle to the organization message application server;
detecting a state of a user on the presence aware network;
storing a user presence handle associated with the state of the user of the user data network end point;
instructing the user data network end point to store the service presence handle;
connecting said organization message application server to the presence aware network based on the state of the user indicated by the user presence handle, said connection alerting the user data network end point that the organization has a message for the user;
in response to said alert, receiving, from the user data network end point a first message; and
sending a second message to said user data network end point thereby establishing a dialog session between said user data network end point and said organization message application server.
2. The method as in claim 1 , wherein said organization message application server is associated with a plurality of applications and said step of sending said second message includes selecting an appropriate application from said plurality of applications to establish said dialog session.
3. The method as in claim 2 , wherein said organization message application server tracks and stores user and organization data and said application selection step includes selecting one of said plurality of applications based on said user and organization data.
4. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the presence aware network is an instant messaging network utilizing a presence communications protocol.
5. The method as in claim 4 , wherein the presence communications protocol is Session Initiation Protocol (“SIP”) and SIP for Instant Messaging and Leveraging Extensions (“SIMPLE”) or Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (“XMPP”).
6. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the establishment of a dialog session between the user and the organization is subject to user opt-in or opt-out, wherein the dialog session is not established if a user opt-out has been occurred.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user opt-out indication comprises an indication that the user data network end point has removed the service presence handle.