Method of enabling a wireless information device to access the presence information of several entities
The method allows a user to define groups of entities that will be queried automatically for Presence information by his wireless information device. The user, once he has selected the group to be queried, need do no more than select at one time a ‘Pinging’ function using an on-screen dialog or other menu, which initiates the automatic querying. There is no need to manually query each member of the group for its Presence information.
1. A method comprising:
receiving, at a server, a search request from a first wireless device, the search request comprising at least one pre-defined criterion selected from pre-defined criteria displayed in one or more presence information menu lists shown on a first wireless device;
performing, at the server, a search, based on the search request, of one or more data stores for entities having presence information matching the at least one pre-defined criterion;
providing, from the server, a search result of one or more resulting entities having presence information matching the at least one pre-defined criterion to said first wireless device;
logging, at the server, an identification and the search request of the first wireless device from which the search request is received to maintain an audit trail of search requests, including automatic denials to search requests from pre-defined categories of entities; and
sending, from the server, the identification of the first wireless device and the search request to each of the resulting entities having presence information matching the at least one pre-defined criterion of the search request,
wherein, in addition to the at least one pre-defined criterion, the search request comprises one or more free scripted queries to be interpreted by a search engine using artificial intelligence.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the pre-defined criteria comprises a pre-defined group of contacts.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein a group of several, linked criteria can be stored as a profile for future re-use.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the presence information is stored at a database, programmed to automatically respond when polled or requested by the wireless device.
5. A server comprising:
a memory configured to store program code; and
a processor configured to, when executing the program code, cause the server to:
receive a search request from a first device, the search request comprising at least one pre-defined presence information criterion selected from pre-defined presence information criteria displayed in one or more presence information menu lists shown on the first device;
perform a search, based on the search request, of one or more data stores for entities having presence information matching the at least one pre-defined criterion;
send to the first device a search result of one or more resulting entities having presence information matching the at least one pre-defined criterion on the first device;
log an identification and the search request of the first device from which the search request is received to maintain an audit trail of search requests, including automatic denials to search requests from pre-defined categories of entities; and
send the identification of the first device and the search request to each of the resulting entities having presence information matching the at least one pre-defined criterion of the search request,
wherein, in addition to the at least one pre-defined criterion, the search request comprises one or more free scripted queries to be interpreted by a search engine using artificial intelligence.
6. The server of claim 5 , wherein at least one of the pre-defined criteria comprises a pre-defined group of contacts.
7. The server of claim 5 , wherein a group of several, linked criteria can be stored as a profile for future re-use.
8. The server of claim 5 , adapted to:
communicate with a database, wherein the presence information for one or more entities is stored in a data store of the server database; and
send the search request to the database.
9. The server of claim 5 , programmed to determine the search result from presence information for one or more entities stored in a data store.
10. The server of claim 5 , wherein a server based data store storing presence information for one or more entities determines the search result.
11. The server of claim 5 , wherein the pre-determined criteria can be saved and re-used at a later time.
12. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium with an executable program stored thereon, wherein the program instructs a microprocessor, running on a server, to cause the server to:
receive, from a wireless information device, a search request comprising at least one pre-defined criterion selected from pre-defined criteria displayed in one or more presence information menu lists shown on the wireless information device,
perform a search, based on the search request, of one or more data stores for entities having presence information matching the selection of at least one pre-defined criterion from the pre-defined criteria;
provide to the wireless information device a search result from the one or more data stores comprising one or more resulting entities having presence information matching the at least one pre-defined criterion;
log an identification and the search request of the wireless information device from which the search request is received to maintain an audit trail of search requests, including automatic denials to search requests from pre-defined categories of entities; and
send the identification of the first wireless information device and the search request to each of the resulting entities having presence information matching the at least one pre-defined criterion of the search request,
wherein, in addition to the at least one pre-defined criterion, the search request comprises one or more free scripted queries to be interpreted by a search engine using artificial intelligence.