Patent ID: 8634858

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving, at one or more server computers from a communications device, availability information, wherein the availability information is based on user input received at the communications device; setting, at the one or more server computers and based on the availability information, a state for an availability indicator for the user to one of a first state that indicates that the user is available at the communications device and a second state that indicates that the user is not available at the communications device; transmitting, from the one or more server computers to one or more additional users, information regarding the state of the availability indicator; and subsequent to transmitting information regarding the state of the availability indicator: receiving, at the one or more server computers from a mobile device other than the communications device, a location signal that includes information indicative of the location of the mobile device, determining a distance between a physical location of the mobile device and a physical location of the communications device based on the location signal, and updating, at the one or more server computers, based on the distance between the physical location of the mobile device and the physical location of the communications device, the availability indicator, wherein updating the availability indicator comprises: responsive to determining that the distance satisfies a threshold condition, placing the availability indicator in the first state; and responsive to determining that the distance does not satisfy the threshold condition, placing the availability indicator in the second state.