WO2009101314A1

WO2009101314A1 - Presence management system

Info

Publication number: WO2009101314A1
Application number: PCT/FR2009/050154
Authority: WO
Inventors: Gilles Privat; Thibaud Flury
Original assignee: France Telecom
Priority date: 2008-02-08
Filing date: 2009-02-02
Publication date: 2009-08-20

Abstract

The invention relates to a system for managing the presence of an entity that comprises a device for determining and updating the presence state of an entity according to a plurality of presence dimensions and relative to at least one environment, a presence state being represented by a set of continuous variables.

Description

Presence Management System

The present invention relates to a presence management system in communication applications, such as telecommunication applications.

Initially, presence management appeared in instant messaging applications. Currently, it is integrated in a large number of communication applications such as Voice over IP (for Internet Protocol in English) or to computer-assisted collaborative work (CSCW, for Computer Supported / Cooperative Work in English) . Presence management is also integrated with applications that are not dedicated to communication, such as office suites. There are different solutions for presence management.

Some proprietary solutions such as those developed by Microsoft for Microsoft Live Messenger, by AOL for AOL Instant Messenger or by Mirabilis for ICQ, these names being registered trademarks. Other solutions come from consortia such as XMPP (for Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol in English), SIMPLE (for SIP for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions in English, with SIP meaning Session Initation Protocol in English) or IMPS (for Instant Messaging and Presence Service in English). These different solutions are based on the ability to represent and manage a minimum number of discrete presence data such as "available", "out", "in meeting", "on the phone", etc.

Some of these solutions also try to broaden the notion of presence by introducing data to describe the mood, the activity or the environment of the person whose presence is managed. These data are also discrete and listed. These solutions take into account the information that the person whose presence is managed explicitly enters (for example, the presence data itself or an activity in an agenda that defines the presence data) and the information that the application can be determined directly (for example, whether or not the person whose presence is being managed is connected to the application, the fact that they are writing or phoning ...).

In their research, presented in the document titled "Ubiquitous Presence Systems", appearing in the minutes of ACM Symposium on Applied Computing of 2006, Dijon, France, Matthias Kranz, Paul Holleis and Albrecht Schmidt sought to integrate into the concept of presence of contextual information, related to the activity of the person whose presence is managed. This contextual information is acquired from the physical environment of the person via sensors. This contextual information makes it possible to define new presence data. These new presence data are linked to the context of the person whose presence is being managed and are no longer solely the result of explicit interactions of the person with the application in question. However, these new presence data are also discrete and limited in number.

Existing solutions and research work have the disadvantage of representing presence by discrete and enumerated data.

There is therefore the need to represent the presence in a richer way in shades and less predefined.

Thus, the present invention relates, according to a first aspect, to a presence management system of an entity comprising a device for determining and updating a presence state of an entity according to several presence dimensions and relative to at least one environment, a state of presence being represented by a set of continuous variables.

Presence management according to the invention makes it possible to obtain a nuanced and non-predefined state of presence. The determination of a state of presence relative to an environment makes it possible to determine a state of presence adapted to a recipient of this state of presence while preserving the entity whose presence state is determined.

According to a preferred characteristic, the presence management system according to the invention comprises a base of presence states for each of the pairs (entity, environment) and according to each of the presence dimensions.

Presence states of an entity with respect to environments are stored in a database and are therefore permanently accessible. According to a preferred characteristic, the device for determining and updating a presence state of the entity is an inference device working on a set of fuzzy linguistic variables.

The use of fuzzy linguistic variables is a way to represent a state of presence by a set of continuous variables. According to a preferred characteristic, the presence dimensions are chosen from at least the following types:

- a dimension according to which an entity is more or less physically available,

- a dimension according to which an entity is more or less involved in an activity,

- a dimension according to which an entity is more or less willing to communicate.

Thus, the determination of a state of presence takes into account different dimensions of the notion of presence and makes it possible to obtain a more nuanced presence state. According to a preferred characteristic, an environment is a fuzzy set comprising at least one entity, the membership of an entity in an environment being defined by a degree of membership.

According to a preferred feature, the presence management system according to the invention further comprises a device for representing a state of presence of an entity.

According to a preferred characteristic, the representation of a presence state of an entity is provided to a recipient entity belonging to at least one same environment as the entity, the representation of a presence state being defined according to a degree of proximity between the entity and the recipient entity.

Thus, the presence management system according to the invention provides a recipient entity with a representation of a presence state of an entity according to an environment to which both the entity and the destination entity belong. The closer the entity and the destination entity are, the more accurate the representation of a presence state of the supplied entity to the destination entity.

The invention also relates to a method for determining and updating a presence state of an entity comprising a step of determining and updating a presence state of an entity according to several presence dimensions and relative to at least one environment, a presence state being represented by a set of continuous variables.

The process according to the invention has the same advantages as the system described above.

The invention also relates to a computer program product comprising program instructions for performing the method of determining and updating a presence state of an entity as described above. The invention will be better understood in the light of the following description of a particular embodiment of a presence management system according to the invention, with reference to the appended drawings in which:

FIG. 1 represents an example of entities and environments, FIG. 2 represents a presence management system according to the invention,

FIG. 3 represents a method for determining and updating a presence state implemented by the presence management system of FIG. 2; FIG. 4 represents a method of providing a representation of a presence of a state of presence implemented by the presence management system of FIG. 2.

The invention is described below for a set of entities. A presence state can be defined for each of these entities. Subsequently, entity denotes an entity for which a presence state can be determined and updated by the presence management system according to the invention.

As non-limiting examples of the invention, an entity may designate: - a person,

- a place, it may be, for example, a place from which information is communicated to persons (for example, for surveillance),

- An object, it can for example be a communicating object that can be observed or controlled by another object or by a person.

Entities can be grouped into environments. An entity can belong to one or more environments. For example, when the entity is a person, these environments can correspond to sets of interlocutors of different natures (family, work colleagues, friends ...). An environment is defined as a fuzzy set, that is to say a set whose elements that compose it are characterized by a degree of belonging to this set. The degree of membership of an element in a fuzzy set varies continuously between zero and one. The more an element belongs to the fuzzy set considered, the more the degree of belonging takes on a value close to one. On the other hand, the less the element belongs to the fuzzy set, the more the degree of membership takes a value close to zero.

For example, the degree of membership of an entity in an environment can be defined from the communication activity of that entity within the environment. For example, the degree of membership of an entity to an environment can be initialized from a previously established list of contacts that entity has had with other entities belonging to the same environment. Then, the degree of membership can be updated by taking into account, among other things, the communication activity of the entity within the environment, the number of environments to which the entity belongs, the number of entities common to these environments, the degree of membership of the entity to each of the other environments to which it belongs, etc.

Figure 1 shows an example of entities and environments.

The entity E, shown in FIG. 1, may, by way of non-limiting example of the invention, be a person.

This entity E belongs to three environments V ₁ , V ₂ and V ₃ . The environment V ₁ also includes an entity E ₁ . In the case where E is a person, V ₁ may, for example, correspond to the family of E and E ₁ may, for example, be the spouse of E.

In addition to the entity E, the environment V ₂ comprises two entities E ₁ and E ₂ . For example, V ₂ is the home of E, E ₁ is the spouse of E and E ₂ is the home of E. The environment V ₃ also includes an entity E ₃ . For example, V ₃ corresponds to E & E work colleagues ₃ is a particular colleague of

E.

FIG. 2 represents a presence management system 20 according to the invention.

With reference to FIG. 2, the presence management system determines and updates a presence state of an entity E. A representation of this presence state can be provided to an entity ED, destination entity. While existing presence management solutions express presence by discrete states of limited number, the present invention considers that the presence is continuous. In addition, according to the invention, the presence is also multidimensional.

Among the different dimensions of presence one can, for example, consider:

- A "physical" or "practical" presence: the entity is more or less physically available, that is to say, it is in an identified place with means of communication also available. In the case where the entity is an object, it may be, for example, off or on, it may or may not be connected to communication means.

- A "cognitive" presence, related to attention. In the case where the entity is a person, it is more or less involved in an activity and its attention is more or less retained by an activity. In the case where the entity is an object, it can be more or less engaged in a process of treatment.

- An "emotional" or "subjective" presence: the entity may be more or less willing to communicate or have more or less desire to communicate. For example, a person may want to communicate with a particular person but not with others. Other dimensions of presence can also be defined. Thus, the above examples are given for illustrative purposes and are not limiting of the invention.

According to the invention, a presence state of an entity is determined relative to at least one environment and according to the different presence dimensions defined above.

This presence state is used to inform one or more other entities belonging to at least one same environment as the entity for which a presence state is determined. Recipient entities are the entities to which a representation of a presence state of the considered entity is provided.

The determination of a state of presence of an entity relative to an environment is a means of preserving the entity for which a representation of this presence state is provided and of adapting this representation as a function of the recipient entities.

With reference to FIG. 2, the presence management system 20 comprises a base 21 of states of presence.

The presence state database 21 comprises the entity considered, the environments to which it belongs and the other entities belonging to the same environments.

For the example of FIG. 1, the presence state database 21 comprises the entity E, corresponding to a person, the environments V ₁ , V ₂ and V ₃ respectively corresponding to the family, the home and the colleagues of the work of E and the entities E ₁ , E ₂ and E ₃ respectively corresponding to the spouse, to the house and to a particular colleague of E and respectively belonging to V ₁ and V ₂ , to V ₂ and to V ₃ . The entities and the environments are classified in the base 21 of states of presence in the form of tables comprising in one dimension the entities and in another dimension the environments.

Each table corresponds to a presence dimension ("practical" presence, "cognitive" presence, "affective" presence). The number and nature of the presence dimensions used in the description are not limiting of the invention.

Each of the elements of the tables corresponds to a vector defined for a couple (entity, environment). Each of the components of these vectors is a continuous variable.

According to one embodiment of the invention, each of the components of the vectors is a fuzzy linguistic variable characterized by a truth value which continuously takes a value between zero and one.

According to another embodiment of the invention, each of the components of the vectors is a numerical variable that takes values in a continuous interval. These values may or may not be associated with physical units and are directly derived from digital processing from context data.

The remainder of the description is written for the embodiment implementing fuzzy linguistic variables, which should not be considered as limiting the invention.

Thus, with reference to FIG. 2, the element P _p for the pair (E ₁ , V ₂ ) of the table corresponding to the "practical" presence dimension is a vector of fuzzy linguistic variables. A fuzzy linguistic variable is, for example, "not very available", "moderately available", "very available". These examples are given for illustrative purposes and are not limiting of the invention.

Similarly, the elements P _c , and P ₃ , defined for the pair (E ₁ , V ₂ ), respectively, in the table corresponding to the "cognitive" dimension and in the table corresponding to the "affective" dimension, are fuzzy linguistic variables vectors. A state of presence is given for a couple (entity, environment). A presence state is represented by a vector of the preceding vectors and corresponds to a fuzzy and multidimensional representation that is to say according to the different presence dimensions considered. Thus, in the preceding example, a presence state for the pair (E ₁ ,

V ₂ ) is a vector composed of the vectors P _p , P _c , and P _a .

For an implementation in an application requiring presence management, a presence state can be used in the form of a vector as obtained. A presence state can also be converted to a numeric value. This conversion of fuzzy linguistic variables into numerical variables is a known operation in fuzzy logic (we speak of "defuzzification" in English).

With reference to FIG. 2, the presence management system 20 is powered by context data acquisition devices 22.

The context data relates to the entity and specifies, for example, the location of the entity or the activity performed by the entity.

The acquisition of context data is done over the water from context data sources. Context data sources can be varied and heterogeneous, for example:

- applications used by the entity,

physical sensors such as pressure sensors or location sensors, electrical appliances or various electrical equipment.

A context data source provides the presence management system, either directly or after aggregation and preprocessing, one or more context data relating to the subject entity. For example, for the entity E of FIG. 1, one can have as background data that E is within five meters of a television and that E is on the phone. The two previous context data are, for example, provided respectively by a sensor and by a network traffic detector connected to a home gateway.

The presence management system 20, as shown in FIG. 2, comprises a fuzzy quantization device 23.

The fuzzy quantization device 23 transforms the context data obtained from the context data sources and characterized by digital data defined in their own reference frame into fuzzy linguistic variables, characterized by a truth value.

The fuzzy quantization device 23 provides fuzzy quantized context data.

Thus, in the above example where E is on the telephone, the context data source, i.e. the traffic detector, provides a digital datum corresponding, for example, to a traffic rate expressed in Kbps (kilobits per second). The fuzzy quantization device 23 transforms the context data into a fuzzy linguistic variable such as, for example, "a lot of traffic", "not a lot of traffic", "no traffic".

With reference to FIG. 2, the presence management system 20 comprises a first inference device 24. This inference device 24 determines and updates a presence state of an entity. It is also called device 24 for determining and updating a state of presence of an entity.

The device 24 for determining and updating a presence state of an entity from the context comprises a set of rules that combine the fuzzy quantized context data from the fuzzy quantization device 23 between them. The combination of the fuzzy quantized context data makes it possible to obtain the elements of each of the tables of the state database 21. presence from which a presence state can be defined for the considered entity relative to at least one environment.

With reference to FIG. 2, the presence management system 20 includes a second inference device. This inference device 25 defines a representation of a presence state of an entity. It is also called a device 25 for representing a state of presence of an entity.

A destination entity ED belonging with a degree of non-zero membership to at least one common environment with an entity E may request the presence management system 20 to provide a representation of a presence state of the entity E.

This request is made, for example, by a direct request sent to the presence management system 20 or via an application associated with the presence management system 20 and to which the destination entity accesses.

In response to the request made by the ED entity, the inference device 25 defines a representation of a presence state of the entity E relative to at least one environment common to the entities E and ED.

The inference device 25 defines a representation of a presence state of the entity E from the information contained in the presence state database 21 and from a set of predetermined rules.

To define the representation of a presence state of the entity E to be supplied to the destination entity ED, the inference device 25 notably takes into account the degree of proximity of the entity ED to the entity E. The degree Proximity is, for example, an increasing function of the respective degrees of belonging of the entities E and ED to the environments they have in common.

Thus, for the same state of presence of the entity E, the representation that is provided to a destination entity other than ED may be different from the representation provided to the destination entity ED even if these two entities belong to the same environment. The representation of a presence state of the entity E can be provided to the destination entity ED in the form of a fuzzy linguistic variable or in the form of a numerical value. The conversion of fuzzy linguistic variables into digital variables is provided by a conversion module 26. The presence of the conversion module 26 in the presence management system 20 is optional and depends on the applications considered.

In the embodiment described above, the first inference device 24 and the second inference device 25 have been distinguished. In another embodiment, one could have only one inference device with two sets of different rules for determining respectively (function performed by the inference device 24 or the determination and update device 24). and represent (function performed by the inference device or display device) a presence state of an entity.

The constituent elements of the presence management system 20, such as the presence state base 21, the fuzzy quantization device 23, the presence status determination and update device 24, the representation device 25 a presence state and the conversion module 26 can be hosted on a server or on a set of servers.

FIG. 3 represents a method for determining and updating a state of presence according to the invention.

The method comprises a step 31 of acquiring context data of an entity.

This step 31 is performed by the context data acquisition devices 22 described above. With reference to FIG. 3, the presence management method comprises a fuzzy quantization step 32. Step 32 transforms the context data of an entity, obtained in the previous step 31, into fuzzy quantized context data.

Step 32 is performed by the fuzzy quantization device 23 described above.

The method comprises a step 33 of determining and updating a presence state of the entity concerned relative to an environment.

The operations of step 33 are performed by the device 24 for determining and updating a presence state described above. A state of presence thus obtained is recorded in the base 21 of states of presence.

At the end of step 33, there is thus a base 21 of up-to-date presence states.

The invention also relates to a computer program comprising software modules comprising software instructions necessary for carrying out the steps of a method for determining a state of presence according to the invention.

A software module can be stored in or transmitted by a data carrier. This may be a hardware storage medium, for example a CD-ROM, a magnetic diskette or a hard disk, or a transmissible medium such as an electrical signal, optical or radio.

The invention also relates to providing a representation of a state of presence of an entity.

FIG. 4 represents a method of providing a representation of a state of presence according to the invention.

The method for providing a representation of a state of presence shown in FIG. 4 comprises a step 41 of request by a destination entity of a representation of a state of presence of an entity. A recipient entity belonging to at least one and the same environment as a given entity may request from the presence management system 20 a representation of a presence state of that entity.

Step 42 is a step of providing a representation of a presence state in response to a request made in the previous step 41 by a destination entity.

Representation of a presence state provided in this step to the destination entity is defined by the presence state representation device 25 described above from the data in the state table 21. presence for the couple (entity, environment) and for the different dimensions of presence.

The invention also relates to a computer program comprising software modules comprising software instructions necessary for carrying out the steps of a method for providing a state of presence according to the invention.

The invention can be implemented in communication applications between entities as defined in the present invention, applications in which the linking of the entities is based on the presence of the latter.

When the entity and the recipient entities are people, the applications concerned may be, for example, instant messaging, network games, IP telephony and video telephony or collaborative work. When the entities whose presence is managed are places or objects and the recipient entities are people, the applications concerned can be, for example, remote monitoring and assistance, remote control as a control to manual distance. When the entity is a person and the recipient entities are computer applications, the applications concerned may be, for example, telemonitoring, automated remote control, etc.

When the entity and the recipient entities are objects, the applications concerned may be, for example, a machine-to-machine dialogue.

Claims

1. An entity presence management system characterized in that it comprises a device (24) for determining and updating a presence state of an entity according to several presence dimensions and relative to at least an environment, a state of presence being represented by a set of continuous variables.

2. System according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a base (21) of states of presence for each of the couples (entity, environment) and according to each of the presence dimensions.

3. System according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the device (24) for determining and updating a state of presence of the entity is an inference device working on a set of fuzzy linguistic variables. .

4. System according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the presence dimensions are chosen from at least the following types:

5. System according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that an environment is a fuzzy set comprising at least least one entity, the membership of an entity to an environment being defined by a degree of membership.

6. System according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that it further comprises a device (25) for representing a state of presence of an entity.

7. System according to claim 6, characterized in that the representation of a state of presence of an entity is provided to a recipient entity belonging to at least one same environment as the entity, the representation of a presence state being defined according to a degree of proximity between the entity and the destination entity.

8. A method for determining and updating a state of presence of an entity characterized in that it comprises a step (33) for determining and updating a presence state of an entity according to several presence dimensions and relative to at least one environment, a presence state being represented by a set of continuous variables.

A computer program product having program instructions for executing the method of determining and updating an entity presence state, according to claim 8.