Patent ID: 7805425
Filing Date: 2010-09-28
Classification: G06F,G06Q,H04L

Abstract:
1. A method for responding to a query of a database, the method being performed on a computing device coupled to the database, the method comprising: receiving the query of the database from a requestor, the database storing user profiles, each user profile including a corresponding presence publication, the query of the database forming a request for a presence publication of the corresponding presence publications, wherein each corresponding presence publication is one of a plurality of instances of presence information, the plurality of instances of presence information indicating a willingness of a user to communicate and indicating an availability of the user, the user corresponding to the each user profile; in response to receiving the query, converting one or more procedural checks into one or more database operations, and performing the database operations to generate a set of possible results for the query, wherein the one or more procedural checks comprise determining a container of a plurality of containers to satisfy the request for the presence publication wherein the container comprises one or more presence publications and associated permissions in the form of a membership data field, and wherein the one or more procedural checks further comprise determining that the membership data field indicates permission for the requestor to receive the one or more presence publications of the container; storing the set of possible results for the query; computing a specific answer to the query from the stored set of possible results wherein the specific answer comprises the one or more presence publications of the container; responding to the database query with the specific answer; and satisfying further database queries by computing an answer to the query from the stored set of possible results.