Patent ID: 6697840
Filing Date: 2004-02-24
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A method for use in collaborative systems to effect presence awareness comprising the steps of:enabling a prescribed user to log on to a presence awareness system including presence awareness policies of one or more users; receiving an indication from said prescribed user that he/she wants to join an existing collaborative session including one or more current users; determining whether said presence awareness policies of said existing session and those of said current users in said existing session allow said prescribed user to join said existing session, if so, enabling said prescribed user and said current users to communicate via said session, otherwise, notifying said prescribed user that he/she cannot join said existing session; determining whether said prescribed user wants to modify his/her presence awareness policies, prior to or any time after joining said existing session; if it is determined that said prescribed user wants to modify his/her presence awareness policies, further including the step of enabling said prescribed user to modify his/her presence awareness policies, prior to and any time after joining said existing session; and employing a systematic state-space exploration tool to analyze substantially all possible concurrent behaviors of the system in order to verify substantially all possible specifiable presence awareness policies thereby establishing a relatively high degree of assurance that said presence awareness system can correctly implement substantially all of said specifiable presence awareness policies prior to use of the system application.