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Method for facilitating electronic communications
| Details |
Inventors: Waesterlid, Anders;
Assignee: Ericsson Inc. (Research Triangle Park, NC)
Primary Examiner: D'Agosta; Stephen
Assistant Examiner:
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Coats & Bennett, P.L.L.C.
A communication method allows members of an affinity group to obtain up-to-date information concerning the status of other members of the affinity group. Each member of the affinity group is provided with a communication device for communicating with other members. The communication device includes a memory for storing member status information. When the status of one member in the affinity group changes, a status update message is sent from the member whose status has changed to other members of the affinity group. When a status update message is receiving from other members, the status information data contained in the message is used to update the member status information stored in memory. |
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention is a connectionless status reporting method that allows members of an affinity group to send status information to and receive status information from other members of the affinity group.
The invention provides members of the affinity group with up-to-date information concerning the status of other members in the affinity group without having to establish a connection to a server to obtain such information.
This makes it easier to contact members of the affinity group and to avoid common communication pitfalls, such as voice mail, phone tag, etc.
The present invention is particularly well-suited for mobile communication networks, though it can be applied to advantage in fixed networks as well.
Each member of the affinity group is provided with a communication device, such as a cellular phone or personal digital assistant (PDA).
The communication device includes a memory for storing member status information.
An application running on the member's communication device monitors the member's status and sends a status update message to other members when a status change is detected.
Status update messages may be sent directly from one member to another, or, alternatively, be sent to a centralized messaging server which then forwards the message to all other members.
When a member receives a status update message from another member, the application running on the member's device updates the member status information stored in memory to reflect the current status of the member.
The member can view member status information on a display to determine the status of a particular member.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the application can be programmed to allow each member to select the particular status items that the member wants to report to other members of the group.
Also, status reporting can be limited to particular periods of time, such as during working hours.
An advantage of the present invention is that each member receives status updates concerning other members as long as the member's communication device is turned on
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