U.S. patent application number 12/050673 was filed with the patent office on 2008-07-10 for group access management system.
This patent application is currently assigned to AT&T Delaware Intellectual Property, Inc., formerly known as BellSouth Intl. Prop. Corp.. Invention is credited to Dale W. Malik.
Application Number | 20080168566 12/050673 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 29552854 |
Filed Date | 2008-07-10 |
United States Patent
Application |
20080168566 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Malik; Dale W. |
July 10, 2008 |
GROUP ACCESS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Abstract
A system for limiting group access is provided. A representative
system includes a group access management system operable to store
a plurality of resource lists, the resource lists comprising at
least one contact and at least one group comprising at least one
member and further comprising a group class of service marker
associated with the at least one group. The system further
comprises a network service router coupled to the group access
management system and being operable to route a service request, if
the service request includes an adequate class of service marker
with respect to the group class of service marker. Methods and
other systems for limiting group access are also provided.
Inventors: |
Malik; Dale W.; (Dunwoody,
GA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
THOMAS, KAYDEN, HORSTEMEYER & RISLEY, LLP/;AT&T Delaware Intellectual
Property, Inc.
600 GALLERIA PARKWAY, S.E., SUITE 1500
ATLANTA
GA
30339-5994
US
|
Assignee: |
AT&T Delaware Intellectual
Property, Inc., formerly known as BellSouth Intl. Prop.
Corp.
Willmington
DE
|
Family ID: |
29552854 |
Appl. No.: |
12/050673 |
Filed: |
March 18, 2008 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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10217916 |
Aug 13, 2002 |
7346696 |
|
|
12050673 |
|
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|
|
60382106 |
May 21, 2002 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
726/27 |
Current CPC
Class: |
Y10S 707/99939 20130101;
H04L 63/105 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
726/27 |
International
Class: |
G06F 21/00 20060101
G06F021/00 |
Claims
1. A system for limiting group access, comprising: a group access
management system operable to store a plurality of resource lists,
the resource lists comprising at least one contact and at least one
group comprising at least one member, said at least one group
further comprising a group class of service marker associated with
said at least one group; a network service router coupled to the
group access management system and being operable to route a
service request, if the service request includes an adequate class
of service marker with respect to the group class of service
marker.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein said at least one group further
comprises a rule.
3. The system of claim 2, further comprising: a service manager
coupled to the network service router and operable to retrieve said
at least one group from the group access management system and
execute the rule, showing said at least one group as accessible in
response to the rule.
4. The system of claim 2, wherein the rule comprises indicating the
group is accessible in response to a particular subset of said at
least one member of said at least one group being accessible.
5. The system of claim 2, wherein the rule comprises indicating the
group is accessible in response to all members of said at least one
group being accessible.
6. The system of claim 2, wherein the rule comprises indicating the
group is accessible in response to any member of said at least one
group being accessible.
7. The system of claim 1, wherein the group further comprises a
show group status.
8. The system of claim 1, wherein said at least one group further
comprises a group attribute associated with said at least one
group.
9. The system of claim 8, wherein said group attribute comprises a
mask to prevent the group from being viewable by other network
users.
10. The system of claim 8, wherein said group attribute allows
every user to view said at least one group.
11. A method for managing group access, comprising: creating a
group comprising at least one member; storing the group in a group
access management system on a network; and assigning a class of
service level to the group.
12. The method of claim 11, further comprising: receiving a request
from a user to add the group to a profile associated with the user
and stored in the group access management system.
13. The method of claim 12, further comprising: checking a class of
service marker associated with the user; and adding the group to
the profile in response to the class of service marker.
14. The method of claim 12, further comprising: receiving a
permission from an administrator of the group access management
system; and adding the group to the profile upon receiving
permission from the administrator.
15. The method of claim 12, further comprising: denying addition of
the group to the profile without a permission from an administrator
of the group access management system.
16. The method of claim 11, further comprising: assigning a rule to
the group.
17. The method of claim 16, further comprising: receiving a request
for a status with respect to the group; executing the rule; and
updating the status base upon a result of executing the rule.
18. The method of claim 16, wherein the rule comprises: waiting for
a subset of members of the group to be accessible before indicating
a status of accessible for the group.
19. The method of claim 18, wherein the subset comprises a
particular subset of members of the group.
20. The method of claim 11, further comprising: assigning an
attribute to the group; and using the attribute to mask the group
from a plurality of non-member users.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. patent
application entitled, "GROUP ACCESS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM," which is
entirely incorporated herein by reference, having Ser. No.
10/217,916, filed Aug. 13, 2002, which claims priority to copending
U.S. provisional application entitled, "INTEGRATION OF INSTANT
MESSAGING AND COMPUTER OPERATING SYSTEMS," having Ser. No.
60/382,106, filed May 21, 2002, which are entirely incorporated
herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention is generally related to
telecommunications and more particularly to services provided to
clients via instant messaging applications.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
[0003] The development of the internet has driven vast
technological developments, particularly in the areas of networking
hardware and software. Networking hardware developments have
enabled networks to transfer large files in fractions of a second.
Software developments, such as the world-wide-web (web) and e-mail,
have facilitated communications over these networks that have
allowed users to remain in almost constant contact with work. These
types of communications have become of utmost importance in the
business setting, where response time has become a key survival
factor for many companies. Other networking software has allowed
users to access and run applications from remote locations, thus
enabling a businessperson to remain more productive, even on a
business trip.
[0004] Moreover, the internet has changed the way people
communicate. E-mail has become the dominant means of communications
in many settings, being preferred over traditional mail, and even
telephones in some cases. Almost instantaneous communication with
little charge has driven much of the popularity of e-mail. Once
used only in university and military settings, e-mail has gained
widespread public acceptance.
[0005] In a world economy based largely upon communication, the
relative speed of e-mail in comparison to traditional mail is often
not fast enough or as effective. Demand for faster access to more
information has resulted in the development of a number of instant
messaging (IM) services. IM brings presence information into the
communications arena, and it allows users to have real-time chat
sessions with other users who are present on the system. The
real-time nature of IM has led to quick acceptance by many in the
business community of IM as an invaluable tool for communication.
However, current IM systems often have administration and
management problems.
[0006] Therefore, there is a need for systems and method that
address these and/or other perceived shortcomings of the prior
art.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] One embodiment, among others, of the present invention
provides systems and methods for a limiting group access. A
representative system includes a group access management system
operable to store a plurality of resource lists, the resource lists
comprising at least one contact and at least one group comprising
at least one member and further comprising a group class of service
marker associated with the at least one group. The system further
comprises a service router coupled to the group access management
system and being operable to route a service request, if the
service request includes an adequate class of service marker with
respect to the group class of service marker.
[0008] A method, among others, for managing group access includes:
creating a group comprising at least one member; storing the group
in a group access management system; and assigning a class of
service level to the group.
[0009] A method, among others, for adding a group to a user
resource list includes: sending a request to add a group to a user
resource list; providing a class of service marker; and adding the
group to the user resource list if the class of service marker
allows the group to be added.
[0010] Other systems, methods, features, and advantages of the
present invention will be or become apparent to one with skill in
the art upon examination of the following drawings and detailed
description. It is intended that all such additional systems,
methods, features, and advantages included within this description
and within the scope of the present invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] The invention can be better understood with reference to the
following drawings. The components in the drawings are not
necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearly
illustrating the principles of the present invention. Moreover, in
the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts
throughout the several views.
[0012] FIG. 1A is a block diagram illustrating an interoperability
architecture for instant messaging used in one embodiment, among
others, of the present invention.
[0013] FIG. 1B is a block diagram illustrating an alternative
embodiment, among others of an interoperability architecture for
instant messaging used in one embodiment, among others, of the
present invention.
[0014] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the interoperability
architecture used in one embodiment, among others, of the present
invention.
[0015] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a one embodiment, among others,
of a system of the present invention for managing group.
[0016] FIG. 4 is an embodiment, among others, of a data structure
for storing a group and facilitating the use of the system of FIG.
3.
[0017] FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating operation of the system
of FIG. 3.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0018] The preferred embodiments of the present invention now will
be described more fully with reference to the accompanying
drawings. The invention may, however, be embodied in many different
forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set
forth herein; rather, these embodiments are intended to convey the
scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Furthermore,
all "examples" given herein are intended to be non-limiting.
[0019] Referring now to FIG. 1A, shown is a block diagram
illustrating an interoperability architecture for instant messaging
used in one embodiment, among others, of the present invention.
Each of a plurality of remote computers 100a-i access a network 110
through a local internet service provider (ISP) server 120a, 120b,
140. The local ISP 120a, 120b, 140 can offer network 110 access
through myriad connection types, including a digital subscriber
line (DSL) service, an integrated services digital network (ISDN)
service, an analog dial-up service, ethernet, T-1, or any other
service for transmitting data through a network 110. Universal
servers 130a-c are located between the internet and each of local
ISP servers 120a, 120b, and located inside local ISP 140. These
universal servers 130a-c provide interoperability between a
plurality of proprietary instant messaging clients 100a-i. Of
course, the scope of the presentation includes networks other than
those with universal servers or instant messaging.
[0020] Referring now to FIG. 1B, shown is an illustration of an
alternative embodiment, among others, of a universal architecture.
Greater detail regarding this interoperability architecture may be
found in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/135,929, entitled
"Instant Messaging Architecture and System for Interoperability and
Presence Management," which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The universal architecture uses a universal protocol, such as the
extensible markup language (XML) protocol to allow users of
different ISPs 120a, 140 that use proprietary protocols to
communicate with one another. Universal servers 130a, 130c located
at each of the ISPs 120a, 140 are the key feature of the universal
architecture. FIG. 1B illustrates two separate ISP networks 120a,
140. The discussion of the ISP 120a, 140 will be limited to the
components that provide the universal service.
[0021] The ISP 120a contains a local IM server 150a, and is
connected to the universal server 130sa. The local IM server 150a
provides the standard IM function for the ISP 140a. The universal
server 130a provides the universal function that allows the first
user 160a, who is registered with the first ISP 120a, to
communicate with a second user 160b registered with the second ISP
140. The first ISP 120a provides connections to a plurality of
clients 170a, 170b on computers 100a, 100b, which allows users
160a, 160b to access the proprietary IM and universal functions of
the ISP 120a. The first ISP 120a is "bimodal," in that it uses both
a proprietary and universal format to provide a proprietary IM
function that only allows the users who are registered with the ISP
120a to send and receive instant messages. For example, if only one
user has registered with the universal server 130a, then the local
IM server 150a will transfer instant messages between the first and
second users 160a, 160b using the proprietary protocol. However, if
both the first and second users 160a, 160b are registered with the
universal server 130a, then the first ISP 120a can transfer instant
messages between them using the universal protocol. By supporting
both formats at the first ISP 120a, users can migrate to the
universal format over time. When all users 160a, 160b have migrated
the proprietary format can be discontinued.
[0022] The universal server 130a removes the restrictions
associated with proprietary IM functions associated with the ISP
120a. The universal server 130a uses a universal format, such as
XML, or any other suitable format, that allows users 160a, 160b
registered with an ISP 140a, such as BellSouth DotNet, to send and
receive instant messages from other users 160c, 160d registered
with another ISP 140b, such as America Online (AOL).
[0023] The user 160a accesses the local IM server 150a of the ISP
120a through the IM client 170a located on the user's computer
100a. The IM client 170a typically includes a proprietary software
program that is capable of opening communications sockets that
allow the IM client 170a to communicate with the local IM server
150a using either the proprietary or universal protocols. The
software program is capable of formatting an instant message sent
from the IM client 170a to the appropriate format used by the IM
function of the ISP 120a. In this manner, the user 170a is capable
of communicating with any other user 160b registered with the ISP
120a. However, the local IM server 150a on a first ISP 120a is also
connected to a first universal server 130a. The first universal
server 130a is in turn, connected to a second universal server 130b
on the second ISP 140b via a distributed network, such as the
internet 110. This allows the user 160a to communicate not only
with the user 160b who is registered with the first ISP 120a, but
also with users 160c who are registered with the second ISP 140
that uses a different proprietary IM protocol to send and receive
instant messages within the network of the second ISP 140.
[0024] In order for the first user 160a to be able to send and
receive messages with a third user 160c on the second ISP 140, the
IM client 170a must be able to identify the IP address and presence
information associated with the third user 160c. The presence
information for the third user 160c is stored on the universal
server 130a connected to the first ISP 120a. The universal server
130a on the first ISP 120a stores the IP address and presence
information for the third user 160c. Therefore, the first user
160a, who is registered with the universal server 130a on the first
ISP 120a has access to the IP address and presence information of
the third user 160c.
[0025] One skilled in the art will recognize the difference between
the first local ISP 120a and the second ISP 140. The second local
ISP 140 is an alternative embodiment that includes within the ISP
140 both the universal server 130c and a local IM server 150b.
Here, the local IM server 150b does not communicate with the
universal server 130c. Thus, the first user 160a will not be able
to communicate with a fourth user 160d if the fourth user 160d is
not registered with the universal server 130b, but instead is only
registered with a local IM server 150b. As a result, the fourth
user 160d is able to send and receive instant messages using only
the proprietary format over local IM server 150b. Therefore, the
user 160d is limited to communicating via instant messages with
users of the second ISP 140b, such as the third user 160c.
[0026] An advantageous feature of the universal architecture is
that it is designed to be easily integrated within existing ISPs
120a, 140, such as AOL and Microsoft Network (MSN) without
disrupting the current IM function of these ISPs 120a, 140. Each
ISP 120a, 140 that adopts the universal architecture requires only
a slight modification to the existing network. The ISP 120a, 140
either adds a universal server 130a between the local IM server
150a and the internet 110, or adds an additional server to function
as the universal server 130b and can install a universal
application program on the local IM server 150a, 150b and each IM
client 170a-d attached to the network. The universal application
program that is installed at each ISP 120a, 140 converts the ISP
120a, 140 to function as "bimodal." That is, the ISP 120a, 140 is
capable of using the proprietary IM protocol of the local IM server
150a, 150b and the universal protocol of the universal
architecture. The bimodal nature of the universal architecture
allows the universal server 130a, 130b to be implemented into
existing ISPs 120a, 140 such as AOL and MSN without disrupting the
current proprietary IM functions of those services. This allows the
current users 160a-d to continue using the proprietary IM function
of their particular ISP 120a, 140 until every user 160a-d can be
converted to the universal protocol.
[0027] Referring now to FIG. 2, shown is a block diagram
illustrating an embodiment, among others, of the universal server
130 of FIG. 1A & B, which is used in conjunction with an
embodiment, among others, of the present invention. The client 170
includes at least three layers of functionality in one embodiment,
among others, to communicate with the universal server 130. The
first layer is the presentation layer 205. The presentation layer
205 includes the logic that is used to present the instant
messenger or another application to a user. The second layer is a
middleware layer 210. The middleware layer 210 includes logic used
to handle the message routing of the instant messaging application
between the presentation layer and the service layer. The third
layer is the service layer 215. The service layer 215 handles both
the applications management and communications management of the
client. The service layer 215 communicates with the communications
layer 220 on the universal server 130.
[0028] Preferably, there are three basic layers to the instant
messaging service. The first layer is the communications manager
(CCM) 220. The communications manager 220 manages the connections
between the client communications manager 215 and the universal
server 130. In one embodiment, among others, of the universal
server 130, communications between the client service layer 215 and
the universal server 130 communications manager 220 occur in
extensible markup language (XML). Further, the communications may
be secure socket layer (SSL) encrypted for security. Moreover, the
communications can be compressed by a compression/decompression
algorithm implemented on a compression-decompression module, more
commonly referred to as a CODEC, to provide faster data
transfer.
[0029] The communications manager 220 includes a number of
connection sockets between the communications manager 220 and a
plurality of users. The communications manager 220 can further
include a load balancer (not shown) to balance the connections over
a number of different communications managers. The load balancer
can maintain a connection to the same connection socket during the
period while the user is logged on and connected to an operable
communications manager 220, and can automatically connect the user
to an alternate connection socket when a communications manager
might fail. Thus, a continuous connection can be maintained during
an active session despite hardware failures. The load balancer can
also protect the server against denial of service attacks, which
have become increasingly prevalent on the internet.
[0030] A standard communications manager 220 will typically attempt
to recover and reallocate a connection socket after a period of
time with no activity from the client 170. In this situation the
communications manager 220 assumes that the client is no longer
present on the system. However, because presence is an important
piece of the instant messaging architecture, the communications
layer 215 on the client-side sends a signal to the universal server
130 to keep the connection socket active on the communications
manager 220.
[0031] The second layer is the service router 225, with one example
known as a JabberD in the Jabber architecture, such as that
available from Jabber, Inc. of Denver, Colo., which performs a
similar function to the message router 210 on the client side of
the network. A number of different service managers 230 can be
coupled to the service router 225, each of which can provide a
different service to the client 170 over the internet. Thus when a
service is requested, the service router 225 routes the request to
the requested service manager 230. In the instant messaging
architecture the service manager 230 is a Jabber service manager
(JSM) which allows text communication between parties. The JSM 230
also keeps track of presence and roster information 235, 240,
respectively, for a particular user on the network who has logged
into the instant messaging system. Presence 235 typically refers to
the user's status on the network, while roster 240 typically refers
to the status on the network of those on the user's resource
list.
[0032] Similarly to the communications manager 220, the service
router 225 can utilize a self-similar architecture using the CODEC
(not shown) and load balancer (not shown) to optimize the
connection between the communications manager 220 and the service
router 225. Use of the CODEC enables high speed data transmission
between the communications manager 220 and the service router 225.
The load balancer provides a robustness that allows the client to
maintain contact with a selected service manager 230 during a
session.
[0033] In one embodiment, among others, of the universal server
130, the database containing the non-persistent data, such as
presence and roster information 235, 240, can be severed from the
service manager 230. The presence information 235 typically
includes a list of all users who are registered with the universal
server 130, while the roster list includes a non-persistent list of
those resource which are present on the network. Thus, the
non-persistent data can be maintained and updated at a single
database, and the plurality of service routers 225 can connect to
the same presence information 235. After severing this database
from the service manager 230 the service manager 230 can be
equipped, as described above, with a CODEC (not shown) and load
balancer (not shown), again utilizing a self-similar architecture
to provide quality of service and communication efficiencies.
[0034] The service router 225 is further coupled, in one
embodiment, among others, to an XML database (XDB) library 245. The
XDB library 245 is used as a translator such that the service
router 225 can communicate with a database system 250 that includes
persistent data relating to a plurality of clients. The database
system 250 which contains most of the persistent data for the
services on the network, such as resource lists, preferences, etc.
In one embodiment, among others, of the universal server 130 the
database system 250 can be an Oracle 9i database. The XDB library
245 can be further coupled to an authentication server, such as a
username and password database 255. Thus a username and password
can be required before the user is authenticated and allowed to
access the database system 250 for any profile information.
[0035] After registering with the database system 250, the user is
provided with a resource list. The client 170 can then contact the
service manager 230 to find out which of the resources on the
resource list is present and/or available on the network.
Typically, presence refers to the registration state of a client
170. If a client 170 is logged-in to the network, the client 170 is
present on the network. Typically, availability refers to the
status of a user at the client computer. A user can be made
unavailable by the network if there has been no activity on the
client computer 170 for a period of time. Otherwise, a client 170
can be made unavailable by user choice, if the user does not wish
to be disturbed. One skilled in the art will recognize that these
are merely definitions of various states that can be defined
according to any specific implementation of the presence and roster
databases 235, 240. Furthermore, these databases 235, 240 that
contain non-persistent information could keep track of any other
states that might be defined by the specific implementation of the
service manager 230.
[0036] Typically with respect to other instant messaging systems,
the resource list only comprises a list of other users for which
the client 170 wishes to know the status. However, the resource
list of some embodiments of the present invention could include
access to a plurality of applications, and there could be multiple
service managers that include managers for the plurality of
applications coupled to the service router 225. These service
managers could provide access to a multitude of different
applications and resources, such as Microsoft Word and/or Visio,
provided by Microsoft Corp. of Redmond, Wash., and/or billing entry
applications, etc. Moreover, the Jabber service manager 230 could
keep track of the presence of these other applications and other
resources on the network. For example, if a client wished to access
an e-mail account from a remote location and the system was down,
the Jabber service manager 230 could alert the user that the server
was down. Thus the client 170 would not waste resources searching
and waiting for e-mail from a server that is off-line.
[0037] Thus, the Jabber instant messenger can be used similarly to
an operating system. When a resource server 260 is present on the
network, the resource(s) associated with that resource server can
be displayed as an icon on the client computer display, and when a
resource server is down, the resource(s) can be removed from the
client computer 170 display. Thus, icons, for example, could appear
and disappear from a client computer 170 display as they become
present and available, and not present or unavailable. Selecting
the icon while it is displayed will cause a routing request to be
sent to the service router 225. Upon receiving the routing request,
the service router 225 will determine the correct routing of the
routing request and deliver the proper service to the client
computer 170.
[0038] Referring now to FIG. 3, shown is an embodiment, among
others, of the universal server including an embodiment of a group
access management system 300 for creating and editing groups. This
group access management system 300 allows an administrator to
create group lists 305, and push the group lists 305 into a client
profile or class of service to be displayed on the client 200. Thus
a group 305 can be created to be displayed on every client 170 with
a certain class of service level or every client 170 to whom a
database 250' administrator desires the group 305 to be shown. This
system would help the database 250' administrator in the creation
of newsgroups, for example.
[0039] The administrator creating the group 305 would be allowed to
set extra field markers such as attribute 310 or class of service
320 that allow only members 330 of the group 305 or members of a
certain class of service level to access the group. Thus when a
user that is not included on the list of members 330 and does not
have a class of service marker 320 that allows the user to add the
group 305, the user will have to wait for authorization before the
group 305 is posted to the user's resource list.
[0040] Further, the administrator can designate certain groups to
be public groups according to the attribute field. When a group is
designated a public group, all users of the system will be allowed
to view the public group and add a number of these public groups to
their resource list, regardless of the user's respective class of
service level. Using this attribute field, a user could request
that the universal server 130 provide a list of all public groups.
The universal server 130 could then mask off all of the private
group lists (filtering out all of the private groups), such that
the user would be allowed to view only the public groups. Moreover,
a user could search all groups and be allowed to view the public
groups in addition to those groups to which the user's class of
service level allows access.
[0041] One skilled in the art will recognize that this
administrative application tool can override the class of service
accessibility discussed in the provisional application above with
respect to the service router 225. Thus, an administrator can mask
a group 305 from a user who may technically have access to two
different service center groups by providing that only one of the
service center groups be available to that user.
[0042] Referring now to FIG. 4, shown is a data structure,
illustrating the organization of the group from FIG. 3 within a
particular user's profile. The persistent database 250'' has a
plurality of records 400 that are associated with various users of
the universal server 130 (FIG. 3). Each of these records 400
contain a plurality of fields, including, but not limited to
preferences 405 and resource lists 410. In turn, the resource list
410 comprises a plurality of contacts 415, 420, 425, 430. Each of
these contacts 415, 420, 425, 430 includes a link to a unique
identifier identifying a user associated with the each of the
contacts 415, 420, 425, 430.
[0043] However, in the present invention, a group contact 430 may
be added to the resource list. The group contact 430 can in one
embodiment, among others, contain a link to a public or private
group 430, that may be created centrally by a database 250''
administrator, or an individual user. In turn the database 250, in
one embodiment, among others, could store the group 450 centrally,
without requiring each user to separately store the group list 450.
Referring back to the user's resource list, the phone service group
listing 430 could further include a rule 440 for the group. The
rule could be used to indicate presence of the group 430 when a
particular member 460 or subset of the group is present and
available. The rule could be set by the user, but could also be set
automatically by the universal server 130 upon addition of the
group 430 to the resource list 410.
[0044] Now referring back to the centralized group list 450, the
group list 450 can include a plurality of users 460, such as, for
example, but not limited to, operators. Each of the individual
users 460 would be linked to a unique identifier, which would allow
two users to use the same "handle," being differentiated by a
unique identifier. Further, the group list 450 could include other
fields such as, for example, but not limited to, attributes 470,
class of service 480, and rules 490.
[0045] The attributes field 470 could consist of a marker which
indicates the viewability of the group 450 with respect to the
users of the universal server 130. The attributes 470 can be set
such that every user of the universal server 130 can view the group
450, or so that it is not viewable to every user. This field 470
can be useful in creating private groups, such that only certain
users or that no users may view the group 450.
[0046] The class of service field 480 can be used to create a group
450 which cannot be added to the resource list 410 of users without
the required class of service marker. Thus, for example, if the
group 450 is classified as class of service 1, and the user has
class of service 2, the user would not be able to add the group 450
to the user's resource list 410. This class of service marker 480
provides a tool by which the database 250'' administrator can
control access of the user to any particular group 450.
Alternatively, the universal server 130 in one embodiment, among
others, may prompt the user to upgrade the user's respective class
of service marker to add the group 450 to their resource list 410.
In one embodiment, among others, this upgrade may be facilitated by
a charge to the user's account.
[0047] Finally, the rules field 490 may be used to provide an
alternative way to control access to the group list 450. The
database 250'' administrator may use this field to add various
users of the universal server 130 to a list of those permitted to
access the group list 450. Moreover, it can be used to further
defined other fields of the group list 450. For example, a rule may
be written whereby one of the attributes of the group could be to
show the group to a certain subgroup of users.
[0048] Referring now to FIG. 5, shown is one embodiment, among
others, of a flowchart illustrating operation of the system of FIG.
3. The first step 500 is for an administrator to create a group
list using the administrative application tool, adding attributes
and class of service requirements under the group. After the group
has been created, in the next step 510, the group is stored in the
persistent database. In accordance with the next step 520, the
database receives a request to add the group to a resource list
corresponding to a user. The database 250 then checks to see that
the class of service marker associated with the particular using
wishing to add the group is sufficient in step 530. If the class of
service marker is sufficient, the next step 540 is to add the group
430 to the resource list 410.
[0049] If the class of service marker is insufficient to add the
group 430 to the resource list 410 of the user, the next step 550
can be to send a request to the database 250 administrator to
request that the user be allowed to add the group 430 to their
resource list 410. The administrator may, in the next step 560, add
the user to the rules 490 allowing the user to add the group 430 to
their resource list 410. Alternatively, the administrator may
decline the user, in which case the user is refused permission,
according to step 570, to allow the group 430 to their resource
list 410.
[0050] Process and function descriptions and blocks in flow charts
can be understood as representing, in some embodiments, modules,
segments, or portions of code which include one or more executable
instructions for implementing specific logical functions or steps
in the process, and alternate implementations are included within
the scope of the preferred embodiment of the present invention in
which functions may be executed out of order from that shown or
discussed, including substantially concurrently or in reverse
order, depending on the functionality involved, as would be
understood by those reasonably skilled in the art of the present
invention. In addition, such functional elements can be implemented
as logic embodied in hardware, software, firmware, or a combination
thereof, among others. In some embodiments involving software
implementations, such software comprises an ordered listing of
executable instructions for implementing logical functions and can
be embodied in any computer-readable medium for use by or in
connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or
device, such as a computer-based system, processor-containing
system, or other system that can fetch the instructions from the
instruction execution system, apparatus, or device and execute the
instructions. In the context of this document, a computer-readable
medium can be any means that can contain, store, communicate,
propagate, or transport the software for use by or in connection
with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.
[0051] It should be emphasized that the above-described embodiments
of the present invention are merely possible examples of
implementations set forth for a clear understanding of the
principles of the invention. Many variations and modifications may
be made to the above-described embodiment(s) of the invention
without departing substantially from the principles of the
invention. All such modifications and variations are intended to be
included herein within the scope of this disclosure and the present
invention and protected by the following claims.
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