Availability Manager for Telecommunications Endpoint Users
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing technologies face challenges in determining the availability of telecommunications endpoint users across various communication media and locations, leading to inefficiencies in connecting the right group of people for collaborative efforts, especially in global and complex enterprises, due to unreliable data and indirect inference methods.
Innovation Solution
An availability manager system that determines user availability based on discrete rules and continuous functions, calculating exponential decay of availability over time, to select the most appropriate communication medium for a communication session, thereby ensuring accurate and efficient connection of participants.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If indirect inference methods are used to determine user availability, then the system can operate with simpler data collection, but the reliability of availability determination deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an availability determination system that acts as an intermediary between communication participants. This system directly collects availability data from multiple sources (user status, calendar information, communication history) rather than relying on indirect inference, thereby improving reliability while maintaining manageable complexity through automated data aggregation and processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms by continuously monitoring user availability status and communication outcomes. It uses this feedback to refine availability predictions and adjust data collection strategies, ensuring high reliability without requiring overly complex data gathering processes.
2Reliability
If direct availability data collection is implemented, then the reliability of availability determination improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The availability determination system is designed as a multi-functional platform that handles various data collection tasks (status monitoring, calendar checking, communication history analysis) through a unified architecture. This universal approach improves reliability by gathering comprehensive data while avoiding the complexity of multiple separate systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables self-service data collection by automatically gathering availability information from multiple sources without requiring manual intervention. Users provide initial preferences and the system autonomously collects and processes data, improving reliability while keeping operational complexity low.
3Measurement precision
If multiple data sources are integrated for availability determination, then the accuracy of connection decisions improves, but the information processing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the availability determination process into distinct modules: data collection from various sources, data validation, availability calculation, and decision-making. Each module handles specific tasks independently, improving accuracy through comprehensive data analysis while managing complexity through modular design and clear separation of concerns.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques are disclosed for determining, for each candidate communication medium, the availability of one or more telecommunications endpoint users for participating in a communication session of interest (i.e., either new or existing) via the evaluated medium. In accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention, an availability manager determines the availability based on (i) one or more discrete rules, or (ii) one or more continuous functions, or both. The continuous functions are specified with respect to the time that has elapsed since a previous session, the time remaining in an active session, and the expected duration of a new session. Once it has determined the availability of one or more participants in the communication session, the availability manager of the illustrative embodiment transmits one or more signals to a call-processing server, which then sets up the participants on the session via the appropriate communication medium such as voice, instant messaging, and so forth.