Working Elsewhere Status for Remote User Availability

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional communication solutions lack the ability to effectively manage availability information of remote users, particularly in decentralized work environments where users may be working from locations other than their regular work site, limiting the scalability of presence information management.

Innovation Solution

Implementing a 'working elsewhere' status that indicates a user's availability at a location other than their regular work location, allowing for adjustments in user status through user selection or inference from associated applications, and making this status available to calendaring and communication applications, enabling scheduling and communication sessions.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If conventional presence indicators are used to represent user availability, then local site management is effective, but remote user availability cannot be properly represented

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveremote connectivity capabilityVSAvoidavailability information

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

The system dynamically adjusts presence status based on user location and availability state. Users can transition between different presence states (available, busy, away) and the system automatically updates their status based on location changes detected through GPS or network location services, making the presence information adaptive to remote work scenarios

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces a presence information service as an intermediary layer between users and communication applications. This service collects availability information from multiple sources (user profile, calendar, location services) and provides standardized presence status to various applications, enabling remote users to communicate their availability without requiring changes to each individual application

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Adaptability or versatility

If users work from locations other than their regular work site, then remote work flexibility is improved, but presence information management becomes insufficient

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvework location flexibilityVSAvoidstatus management

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The system automatically detects user location through GPS, Wi-Fi positioning, or network address analysis and updates presence status without requiring manual user input. Users can optionally override automatic detection or set their own status, but the system provides default self-service functionality that eliminates the need for manual status updates when moving between locations

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

The presence information service provides a universal status management mechanism that works across multiple communication applications and platforms. A single presence status update is propagated to calendar applications, messaging services, video conferencing tools, and other integrated applications, eliminating the need for separate status management in each application

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

3Adaptability or versatility

If remote connectivity is expanded exponentially, then connectivity capability is improved, but ability to manage availability information deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveremote connectivityVSAvoidpresence management system

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts presence information management from individual applications and centralizes it in a dedicated presence information service. This service handles the complexity of collecting, processing, and distributing availability information from multiple sources to multiple applications, isolating the complexity from the rest of the system and making it manageable through a single specialized component

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Data Source

PatentUS8856238B2Representing remotely available users through working elsewhere status

Publication Date: 2014.10.07 MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING LLC

AI summary

An application provides a “working elsewhere” status for users working at a location other than their regular work location and still available for meetings, communication sessions, etc. The application determines a user location being other than regular work location and the user still being available through user selection, information from user associated application(s), and/or from a presence notification. The application adjusts the user status to a working elsewhere status and makes the new status available to other applications such as calendaring, communication applications, presence service(s), and comparable ones. Meetings may be scheduled, communication sessions facilitated if the working elsewhere status is sufficient/acceptable for other users.