Patent ID: 7035923

Claim:
A method for providing information bearing on how a subscriber should communicate with a user comprising: a) receiving state information bearing on availability of the user from a plurality of devices; b) determining communication capabilities of the user; c) evaluating the state information and the communication capabilities to create presence information identifying a preferred method for the subscriber to communicate with the user and identifying a prioritized list of methods for the subscriber to communicate with the user, the prioritized list including the preferred method for the subscriber to communicate with the user; d) sending the presence information to a presence application associated with the subscriber; e) evaluating the state information and the communication capabilities with a plurality of presence rules to create the presence information for each of a plurality of categories associated with a plurality of subscribers; and f) sending the presence information to a plurality of presence applications, which are associated with the plurality of categories, wherein different views of presence for the user are created and delivered to the presence applications based on the associated categories.