Patent Document ID: 8402148
Application ID: 11965141
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A system to facilitate communications between parties comprising at least one of a contactor and a contactee, the system comprising: a user interface that receives input specifying N parameters, the N parameters comprising a cost to the contactee of deferring a communication between the parties until a predetermined time, the cost is specified for at least one contactor based on identity of the at least one contactor and a comparison of a current state of the contactee and a future state of the contactee at the predetermined time, the current state comprising at least one first communication modality currently available to the contactee and the future state comprising at least one second communication modality projected to be available to the contactee at the predetermined time; a data store that receives the N parameters from the user interface, wherein: N is an integer, the N parameters relate to at least one of a communications preference, context, or policy, the N parameters are employed to guide decisions that facilitate communications between the parties, and at least one of the N parameters relates to the cost to the contactee of deferring the communication; and at least one computer processor that facilitates communications between the parties based upon a negotiation of the N parameters, wherein the negotiation comprises assessing the cost to the contactee of deferring the communication and a cost to the contactor of deferring the communication until the predetermined time.