User Availability Awareness via Server-Side Presence Management

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Solution Overview

Problem

Mobile devices, due to limited computing resources and power availability, face challenges in maintaining user availability status for online communication without continuously running communication applications, which can drain battery life and lead to connection loss issues.

Innovation Solution

Implementing a background task or short-lived executable to monitor device activity and network connection, sending periodic status updates to a communication service, allowing it to determine and assign user availability status without requiring a constant application run or network connection.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If a communication application is continuously running on the mobile device to provide user availability status, then the availability status can be maintained accurately, but the battery life is drained more quickly and computing resources are consumed

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveavailability status accuracyVSAvoidbattery consumption

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary actions by establishing presence subscription and message forwarding rules in advance on the server side. When the user is offline, pre-configured rules determine message routing and presence status automatically, eliminating the need for continuous application execution on the mobile device while maintaining accurate availability status.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The server acts as an intermediary between the user and the communication network. It maintains presence information, subscribes to message notifications, and manages message routing based on user availability status. This intermediary approach allows the mobile device to remain offline without losing connectivity or availability status accuracy.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Reliability

If a persistent notification channel is maintained to receive communications on the mobile device, then messages can be received in real-time, but the battery power is drained more quickly

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvemessage reception capabilityVSAvoidbattery consumption

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts the persistent notification channel functionality from the mobile device and relocates it to the server. The server maintains the subscription to message notifications and manages the communication channel, allowing the mobile device to be completely offline without affecting message reception capability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The server performs self-service by automatically managing presence subscription, message notification subscription, and message forwarding based on pre-configured rules. When messages arrive, the server automatically determines routing based on user availability status without requiring the mobile device to be online or consume battery power.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

3Reliability

If the mobile device connects continuously to the network to maintain availability status, then the status remains current, but connection loss issues occur more frequently due to wireless connectivity susceptibility

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveavailability status currencyVSAvoidconnection loss susceptibility

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The patent inverts the traditional approach by having the server maintain presence information and message subscription rather than requiring the mobile device to do so. The server continuously monitors and maintains availability status, eliminating the need for the mobile device to maintain continuous network connection while ensuring status currency.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #13The other way round (Inversion)

4Use of energy by moving object

If background tasks are implemented to send periodic status updates, then availability status can be maintained without continuous application running, but the status may become stale with intermittent connectivity

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvebattery conservationVSAvoidavailability status accuracy

Core Design Contradiction:

Use of energy by moving objectVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The server maintains continuous presence subscription and message notification subscription, ensuring uninterrupted monitoring of user availability status. This continuous action on the server side compensates for intermittent mobile device connectivity, preventing status staleness while allowing the mobile device to conserve battery power.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #20Continuity of useful action

Data Source

PatentUS10198716B2User availability awareness

Publication Date: 2019.02.05 MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING LLC

AI summary

One or more techniques and/or systems are disclosed for providing awareness of user availability. A user may activate a device, and a request to manage an availability status can be sent from the device to a communication service. The communication service may resultantly set up monitoring of the user status, and the availability status of the user can be set to available. If an active status update is not received from the user device, the availability status of the user can be changed from available to away. If an active status update for the user continues not to be received (e.g., for a few hours) and/or device connectivity seems lost, the availability status of the user can be changed from away to offline. This can be done in a resource/power efficient manner by not requiring continual execution of an associated application and/or continual network connectivity of the device.