DE102004015261B4 - Method for automatically generating current presence information and apparatus for carrying out the method - Google Patents

Abstract

Method for automatically generating current presence information of a telecommunication subscriber in a telecommunication network, characterized in that at least two individual parameters are selected from a plurality of already known individual parameters concerning the subscriber or his terminal, at least one individual parameter being one Setting for the configuration of the terminal (terminal parameters _{1,2 ... n} ) is concerned, and the selected individual parameters are linked by means of previously defined rules to a new Presence information.

Description

Area of Expertise the invention

The The invention relates to a method for the automatic generation of current presence information of a telecommunications subscriber or also an application in a telecommunication network. Both Presence information is also called context information that the situation of a mobile subscriber or his terminal or an application on this device reflects. advanced adaptable Applications and services are increasingly becoming context information consider, additional and personalized to the telecom subscriber To offer telecommunications services.

The Theme presence services is already in the initial standardization committees discussed. For 3GPP, Mobile, already exist two standards, which the presence service as such and the architecture and functionalities describe (see 3GPP TS 22.141 "Technical Specification Group Services and System Aspects; Presence service; Stage 1 (Release 6) "Version 6.2.0 of March 2003. Furthermore, the standard 3GPP TS 23.141 "Technical Specification Group Services exists and System Aspects; Presence service; Architecture and Functional Description (Release 6) "Version 6.3.0 of June 2003.

Also for others Networks, the concept of presence information is already being standardized. Another standard is RFC 2778 (Request for Comments) IETF, "A Model for Presence and Instant Messaging ", As of February 2000, this standard largely covers the content with the 3GPP standards.

The Timely provision of current context information is a prerequisite for this, that the behavior of the application or service meets expectations of the user, and the use of contextual information adds value to it.

The Presence information is essentially composed of presence information about the User and presence information about that terminal of the user, as well as so-called service components. So far known Presence information are described in the standards mentioned. This presence information can be both dynamic and static. For a static presence information this is, for example, the communication address of the subscriber. Dynamic information is his whereabouts.

According to the standard Presence information is transmitted to the network in a so-called presence server stored. The structure of this information is already through the Standard roughly specified. If now an application ("watcher") this Presence information a subscriber wants to use, so they can access them. This can be done either by a targeted query, this is called "fetcher" or "bollard" (if querying at regular intervals). Alternatively, a monitor happen at regular intervals, here the supervisor registers (also called "watcher") and becomes informed as soon as a presence information of the monitored participant changes.

The Contains concept continue to have access permissions so that each participant can determine whom he gives his presence information accessible does and to what extent.

In the DE 102 41 092 For example, the creation of presence / contextual display data from the presence computer of a participant or a group of participants for display is described. This display data is sent upon receipt of a polling message from a subscriber. Presence display data may also be changed dynamically so as to avoid storing data that is unfavorable or inappropriate for display on the communication terminal. In the method, the presence computer already has context information available or must be entered manually.

The WO 03/065701 describes the query of several foreign Presence information and presenting this information on a terminal.

So far In essence, the user must have his presence / context information specify manually. Only simple data, like the current one Location (e.g., Cell-ID), or the states of his terminal (online, offline) can through suitable functions in the network are automatically determined.

The Problem with this concept is easily recognizable. The user is so constantly prompted his presence information to update. This is for the user very expensive and is often forgotten. Consequence is that the presence information of the user is not are current enough to give him reasonable support offered presence-dependent To ensure services.

task The invention is a possibility Specify how this presence information with minimal effort for the Users as up to date as possible can be kept. Furthermore, it is an object of the method to a device for its implementation specify.

Presentation of the invention

These Task is solved by the characteristics of the independent Process claim 1. The essential idea of the invention is that the generation of context information as independent as possible manual inputs of the mobile subscriber takes place. This is it cheap, if possible many desired Presence information is automatically generated from existing context information can be.

The Generation of the information is done by available Information that is advantageously updated automatically can, be collected in a central location, then according to predetermined Rules to combine new Presence information.

This Procedure has several advantages. In addition to the use of contextual information for the Personalization of your own applications, these enhancements by additional Information used to refine the presence information of a person and thus also made available to other interested participants become. It can therefor Also context information can be used as individual information for the description of the condition of the participant are not usable. Furthermore, it is conceivable that Additional Information in the presence information inflow, the so far at all were not usable, for example the setting of the ringtone or the ringer volume on the terminal.

These Task will continue to be solved in a similar manner the independent one Device claim 8.

advantageous Embodiments and further developments are specified in the subclaims.

obvious is the use of pre-existing presence information. A combination of these presence attributes / individual parameters can generate new information.

Next the accessibility of the participant (Busy, Idle) and its availability (Reachability) can be found in the mentioned standards the location information. Location based services have been in the past already gained importance. To be mentioned by way of example here Navigation services and location-dependent Information services, such as restaurant or hotel finders, Event calendar etc.

In addition to the mentioned parameters can now also settings of the used terminal are taken into account, for example the volume of the ringtone. It is also conceivable that also attitudes the applications on the terminal could be read out and recycled.

Further, previously inaccessible Parameters can be determined by built-in sensors in the terminal. This is it conceivable that the terminal hardware for additional Sensors is extended, for example, the outside temperature, the Skin resistance, the strength pressing the button, or more information about the current state of the button Deliver to the user and his environment. These can be incorporated into his profile without that the user must provide explicit information about it.

Presence information not only over collected the subscriber of the telecommunications network. meanwhile are terminals in the marketplace that offer the user more than just communication. Many applications already exist on end devices by default, here can be called the calendar, the clock with alarm clock function. additional equipment can be supplemented by the user as needed. This can too as software, such as downloading and saving one Game, or by buying hardware. In addition to the already known Headsets and installation devices for cars always win digital cameras here more popularity. Also terminals with built-in MP3 players are already on the market. Further additions are for obvious to the person skilled in the art.

• – bei welchem Netzbetreiber ist der Teilnehmer gerade registriert?, oder
• – in welcher Zelle des Mobilfunknetzes befindet er sich?,
• – ist eine Rufumleitung eingestellt?,
• – existiert ein Anrufbeantworter?,
• – hat diese noch Speicherplatz? oder
• – welche Datenübertragungsart verwendet der Benutzer gerade?, (beispielsweise GPRS, UMTS, WLAN etc.),

sind noch viele weitere Parameter denkbar. Beispielhaft genannt werden soll hier die Verwendung von zusätzlichen Diensten, die der Teilnehmer möglicherweise abonniert hat, mit dessen voreingestellten Parametern, sowie weitere Presence-Informationen, die den Standards entnommen werden können, beispielsweise der "Mood", der von den Standardisierern neu definiert wurde, derzeit aber noch nicht realisiert ist.In addition to the parameters of the subscriber and the terminal, parameters stored in the network for the presence information can also be used. In addition to the usual parameters, for example

• - in which network operator is the subscriber currently registered ?, or
• - in which cell of the mobile network is it located ?,
• - is a call forwarding set ?,
• - exists an answering machine ?,
• - Does this still have storage space? or
• What type of data transmission does the user currently use (eg GPRS, UMTS, WLAN, etc.),

many more parameters are possible. example The use of additional services subscribed to by the subscriber, with its default parameters, as well as other presence information that can be extracted from the standards, such as the "mood" that has been redefined by the standardizers, should be mentioned here. but not yet realized.

For the device according to the invention Different implementations are conceivable. The different terminal parameters are advantageously using a resident on the terminal Detected function and transmitted to the device for collecting the parameters. Collecting the context information logically takes place centrally, for example in the mobile network. Also conceivable are other realizations, for example that one of the terminals performs a "master function".

The Separation of information collection and evaluation allows so-called client- and server-based evaluation of the configuration parameters. Through a local evaluation will be an individual on the user tailored interpretation of the configuration data of the terminal allows. Everyone Subscriber can then define the rules in his own terminal.

on the other hand allows a server-based evaluation, ie centrally in the network, the Passing on the information to third parties, ie persons, respectively Applications that are not in direct contact with the user or his terminal stand. Furthermore, in this case, a uniform evaluation the parameter for all participants are guaranteed.

Summary the drawings

in the The invention will be explained below with reference to exemplary embodiments. there demonstrate

1 a scheme of how different parameters are combined into new presence information,

2a a first embodiment using two terminal parameters,

2 B A second embodiment using a terminal parameter and a network parameter,

2c A third embodiment using a terminal parameter and a second terminal parameter, which was determined by a sensor,

3 A fourth exemplary embodiment with the indication of how three terminal parameters directly affect the presence information

4 an architectural description according to the standard 3GPP TS 23.141,

5a an embodiment of the device centrally in the network

5b an embodiment of the device in the terminal.

description the preferred embodiment

The 1 shows schematically how the inventive method works. Various parameters of the subscriber and his terminal (terminal parameters _{1, ... n} , network parameters _i ) are collected in a central location (context manager). It may be necessary in particular that the parameters in the terminal still have to be converted in a suitable manner (parameter converter) in order to be able to be made available to the function. The context manager takes these parameters into account and generates new presence information (subscriber _{1, ... n} , application _{1, ... n} ) that is stored in the presence server and is then available to different subscribers.

The 2a to 2c should now illustrate how the inventive method work. In a first embodiment, only parameters are used, which the subscriber has stored in his terminal (# 123). The terms used here do not refer to a specific manufacturer, corresponding settings exist in terminals of various manufacturers, the designations may differ.

Of the User has in his terminal first a special profile (profiles) activated. In this case acts it is the profile "quiet", as it is currently is in a meeting. This initially has the effect of being Mobile phone does not ring, but he only by a vibrator alarm on alerting incoming calls.

Farther the participant uses the appointment calendar realized on the terminal. In this calendar he has one for the current time Entry (Calendar) deposited, which signals that he is in a meeting.

The function that makes the mapping of terminal parameters or sensor values into context information can be both in the network, and in reside in the terminal in this case. A localization of the function in the network requires a standardization of the transmitted terminal parameters in order to be able to perform the mapping in context information for different types of terminals in a meaningful way. When localized in the terminal, only the type of context information generated would have to be standardized before being transmitted to the presence server. From the information available here, the context manager can now deduce that the participant does not want to be disturbed at the present time. This information is stored, for example, as "Not Avaiable" in the presence server (context information Tln A). For this, the participant no longer has to make this third entry himself.

In a second embodiment, 2 B , in addition to information of the terminal (# 456), information from the network (Net) are used. For example, a mobile subscriber (Tln B) calls a service hotline in any country (Location (Country)). Furthermore, he has made in his terminal (# 456) a setting for the menu language (Language), and possibly for the T9 language used. By comparing the default language of the terminal and its location information, the server of the hotline can now determine in which language the information is to be made. So the caller gets either a corresponding announcement or a suitable contact assigned.

2c shows a third embodiment of the invention. An attribute of the participant defined by the presence standard is "mood," that is, the current state of a user. It is very inconvenient for the user to keep this value up-to-date as it can change frequently.

Around To keep the value up to date, you can now use various terminal parameters evaluate, for example ringing melody, volume setting (volume), the Pressure that the user exerts on the operation of the keyboard or his skin resistance. The last two parameters are through an additional in the terminal required sensor (terminal sensor). The resulting measured values can then by heuristics or user-specifiable rules the current emotional state derive (context information Tln C). For example, a hectic one heavy, repeated squeezing the delete key or a longer one Navigate in the Help indicator for a certain user experience which are then mapped to a context like "Do not disturb".

In each of the examples, an interface in the terminal passes the raw data to a parameter converter, which uses the rules and heuristics mentioned to determine the condition and, via a signaling channel, forwards the information described in a suitable format to the context manager in the network. A fourth embodiment, see 3 , once again clearly shows how the presence information of a particular subscriber is stored in the presence server. The left box shows this information, which consists of different entries. The status of the user is currently "online", which means that he has logged in with his mobile device in the mobile network or in the WLAN, Internet, etc. The communication address, a static presence information, is # 123 here. As a means of communication is a mobile phone deposited, which limits the subscriber to certain types of communication, namely, for example, audio and text messages.

In the 3 It can now be seen how in the terminal of the subscriber A (Tln A, # 123) three settings that he has made are combined to form a new presence information. Similar to the embodiment of 2a the subscriber has set as a profile that he does not want to be disturbed, which means that the terminal does not ring when a call is through, for example.

Farther is on the terminal existing calendar entered a meeting (calender = "meeting"). As a third parameter was determined as the location that he is in his office (Location = "Office"). The third parameter can optionally be determined in the mobile network in which the Subscriber is logged in. Localization methods are those skilled in the art known.

Out this three information is now a through the context manager Presence information generated in its entries of the Parameter "Willingness", ie his readiness to accept calls on "unavailable" sets. As soon as one of the three parameters in the terminal changes, especially if the Profile of "do not disturb "again changed to "normal", or the location of the subscriber changes, the Willingness parameter may change be converted again without the participant himself something to do this.

The 4 shows a reference architecture, as specified in the standard TS 23.141. The Presence service gives the subscriber's home network the ability to manage presence information of the user of their terminal and of their services used, even if it is in other foreign networks. This data is collected in the so-called presence server in his (home network). Here, the input goes through all the presence information, through the groove Presence Network Agent and other elements outside these two.

The Network parameters here are technology-independent functions. Lying under can various networks exist, for example a GSM or UMTS mobile radio network, a GPRS, WLAN, Internet, etc. Important are the interfaces to the Presence server and presence agent, as these are standardized and the basis for it are that Presence information from different sources finally combined in the presence server can be.

On the right side shows the network elements that are used around the presence information provided in the presence server to other participants or applications. This application is called "watcher application". To further functionality and definition of the interfaces is based on the standard 3GPP TS 23,141 referenced.

Finally, the show 5a and 5b possible implementations of the context manager according to the invention. 5a represents a context manager that is centrally located in the network. To do this, it has various interfaces (SS1) that lead to the external agents from which it receives the individual parameters (P-External Agent, P-User Agent, P-Network Agent). Since this individual information can come from both terminals and network elements, converters are necessary to bring the individual information into a uniform format (Conv E, U, N). Then the information is collected and combined. This happens according to the predefined rules, which are also stored (Rules). The finished result of the new presence information is then forwarded via the interface (SS2) to the presence server in order to be stored there.

The 5b shows an alternative in which the context manager is implemented in the terminal of the subscriber. This is mainly used when no parameters of the network or other external individual parameters are used to generate the presence information. In the example shown here, information from the settings profiles of the terminal, settings of the applications running in the terminal, and further measured values are determined by additional sensors implemented in the terminal. The further procedure of the collection and combination to a new presence information information proceeds as with 5a described.

Claims (10)

Method for automatically generating current presence information of a telecommunication subscriber in a telecommunication network, characterized in that at least two individual parameters are selected from a plurality of already known individual parameters concerning the subscriber or his terminal, at least one individual parameter being one Setting for the configuration of the terminal (terminal parameters _{1,2 ... n} ) is concerned, and the selected individual parameters are linked by means of previously defined rules to a new Presence information. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the already known individual parameters include the following information: - Reachability - Availability - Priority information - Positioning data of the subscriber or terminal (geographical position, relative location: office, home ) - more information from applications on the terminal - presence attributes (network parameters _{1,2 ... n} ) Method according to claim 1, characterized that continues to receive readings of additional in the terminal resident sensors are used. Method according to claim 3, characterized that the sensors determine at least one of the following measured values: - temperature - Print with key operation - Frequency with key operation - skin resistance. Method according to claim 2, characterized that the settings for the configuration of the terminal at least include one of the following parameters: - Settings profile (loud, quiet, meeting, ...) - Volume - Menu language - Ringtone - Address book entry or call list. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that further settings or information regarding at least one of the following applications are evaluated on the terminal: - Calendar (appointments, tasks) - Clock or alarm clock - Game - data connection - further accessories (headset, car kit, camera, MP3 player) Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized indicated that further settings or information in the Telecommunications network concerning at least one of the states of the Subscriber or terminal be evaluated: - Call diversion (Follow-me) - Localization information (Cell-ID) - Registration in the network (provider) - Communication condition (Resources) - used Services (data transfer) - Reachability (Availability) - Answering machine. Device for automatically generating current presence information of a telecommunication subscriber in a telecommunication network (Context Manager), comprising - means for receiving (SS1) and converting (Conv E, Conv U, Conv N, Conv P, Conv A, Conv S) of individual parameters relating to the setting for the configuration of the terminal (terminal parameters _{1, ... n} ) and individual parameters (Profiles, Applications, Sensors) according to the patent claims 2 to 7, and - means for collecting (collecting) the individual parameters, and - means for linking the individual parameters to a new presence information, according to predetermined rules (rules), and - means for forwarding (SS2) the new presence information. Device according to claim 8, characterized in that they are at a central location in the telecommunications network is localized. Device according to claim 8, characterized in that it in the terminal (terminal) of the telecommunications subscriber is localized.