Patent Application

App. No. 11/805,019

Abstract

Claims (42)

1 . A method comprising:

creating a presentity for an issue or a transaction;

receiving a state of the issue or the transaction from a handler of the issue or the transaction;

registering the state in the presentity; and

reporting the registered state to watchers of the presentity.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein:

the issue or the transaction is an intangible entity.

3 . The method of claim 1 wherein:

the issue or the transaction comprises a plurality of entities;

creating comprises

creating a separate presentity for each one of the entities, and

creating a separate presentity for the issue or the transaction as a whole;

receiving comprises

receiving a state of one of the entities;

registering comprises

registering the state of the one entity in the presentity of the one entity,

determining a state of the issue or the transaction as the whole, and

registering the state of the issue or the transaction as a whole in the presentity of the issue or the transaction as the whole;

reporting comprises

reporting the state of the entity to the watchers of the presentity of the entity, and

reporting the state of the issue or the transaction as the whole to the watchers of the presentity of the issue or the transaction as a whole.

4 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:

registering the handler with the presentity as a proxy for the issue or the transaction;

sending a message to the presentity;

determining the registered proxy from the presentity; and

forwarding the message to the handler that is the registered proxy.

5 . The method of claim 4 further comprising:

the handler handing off the issue or the transaction to a second handler;

deregistering initial said handler as the proxy from the presentity; and

registering the second handler as the proxy for the issue or the transaction with the presentity.

6 . A computer-readable storage medium containing instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of one of claims 1 - 5 .

7 . An apparatus comprising:

a presence service adapted to create a presentity for an issue or a transaction, receive a state of the issue or the transaction from a handler of the issue or the transaction, register the state in the presentity, and report the registered state to watchers of the presentity.

8 . The apparatus of claim 7 wherein:

the issue or the transaction is an intangible entity.

9 . The apparatus of claim 7 wherein:

the issue or the transaction comprises a plurality of entities; and

the presence service is adapted to create a separate presentity for each one of the entities, create a separate presentity for the issue or the transaction as a whole, receive a state of one of the entities, register the state of the one entity in the presentity of the one entity, determine a state of the issue or the transaction as the whole, register the state of the issue or the transaction as a whole in the presentity of the issue or the transaction as the whole, report the state of the entity to the watchers of the presentity of the entity, and report the state of the issue or the transaction as the whole to the watchers of the presentity of the issue or the transaction as a whole.

10 . The apparatus of claim 7 wherein:

the presence service is further adapted to register the handler with the presentity as a proxy for the issue or the transaction, and to respond to receipt of a message to the presentity by determining the registered proxy from the presentity and forwarding the message to the handler that is the registered proxy.

11 . The apparatus of claim 10 wherein:

the presence service is further adapted to deregister the handler as the proxy from the presentity, and register a second handler, to whom initial said handler has handed off the issue or the transaction, as the proxy for the issue or the transaction with the presentity.

Assignments (20)