Managing rich presence collections

Abstract

A method and system for increasing the computational and network efficiency of presence servers having collections of publications is provided. The presence system uses several techniques that enable a presence server to provide rich presence information without requiring expensive processing. First, the presence system accepts batches of publication updates in a single presence update request. Similarly, the presence system accepts batches of subscription requests. Next, the presence system supports new expiration types for publication update requests that eliminate the need for a publishing user to continually refresh presence information that has not changed. Finally, the presence system accepts access lists that contain membership groups rather than an individual list of users that are to have access to a particular presence collection.

I/We claim: 
     
         1 . A system for updating multiple presence publications in a single request, comprising:
 a compose presence publish-related request component that creates requests containing a list of publication modifications to be published, wherein each modification comprises:
 a user identifier that identifies a user whose presence information is being updated; 
 a collection identifier that identifies a collection that the publication belongs to; 
 a type identifier that identifies the category of presence information being updated; and 
   a send component that sends the presence publish-related request to a presence server.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1  wherein each modification further comprises an instance identifier that identifies an instance of a publication within the identified collection. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the list of modifications within a single request comprises presence information to be published and presence information to be unpublished, wherein each modification to publish presence information further comprises a value that specifies the new value for the publication. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising an intermediate presence server that gathers requests and forwards the requests in batches to a global presence server. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the request uses the SIP protocol. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the request contains publication modifications for more than one user. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6  wherein the request is sent by a web service on behalf of the users. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7  wherein the web service provides modifications to calendar information. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the request contains publication modifications having different attributes. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9  wherein one attribute is an expiration policy. 
     
     
         11 . A system for subscribing to multiple publication types in a single request, comprising:
 a compose presence subscribe request component that creates requests comprising:
 a list of user identifiers that identify publishing users having presence information that is being subscribed to; 
 for each identified user, a type identifier that identifies a type of publication to subscribe to; and 
   a send component that sends the presence subscribe request to a presence server.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the request comprises more than one type identifier for a listed user that subscribes the user to more than one type of publication in a single request. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the request further comprises, for each user, a type identifier that identifies a type of publication to unsubscribe from. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the request further comprises a user identifier that identifies the subscribing user whose subscriptions are to be modified. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14  wherein the request contains subscription modifications for more than one subscribing user. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the request uses the SIP protocol. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the request further comprises a filter list that identifies the types of presence information for which a subscribing user should be notified. 
     
     
         18 . A computer-readable medium containing instructions for updating multiple presence publications in a single request, by a method comprising:
 receiving a request containing a list of publication modifications to be published, wherein each modification comprises:
 a user identifier that identifies a user whose presence information is being updated; 
 a collection identifier that identifies a collection that the publication belongs to; 
 a type identifier that identifies the category of presence information being updated. 
   
     
     
         19 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 18  wherein the request contains publication modifications for more than one user. 
     
     
         20 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 18  wherein the list of modifications within a single request comprises presence information to be published and presence information to be unpublished.