The present invention relates generally to presence services for mobile devices and, more particularly, to updating mobile devices with presence information.
Originally, cellular networks were developed to provide voice services over circuit-switched networks. Although circuit-switched networks are still in widespread use, the current trend is toward packet-switched networks that provide high-speed packet data services in addition to voice services. These high-speed packet data services generally allow mobile users to enjoy the same types of things that Internet users can do on fixed networks.
One such service is instant messaging (IM). Desktop IM has gained widespread acceptance when used in conjunction with fixed networks. Currently, there are more than 100 million registered users of instant messaging services and more than 50 million regular users. Based on that success and adoption rate, wireless service providers may capitalize on the demand for IM services by extending the same services to mobile users. However, wireless service providers face different problems and constraints in offering IM services to mobile providers than do their fixed network counterparts. One such problem, for example, is providing accurate and timely presence notification to mobile users.
Providing accurate presence notifications to mobile users requires communicating presence changes as they occur. However, communicating presence notifications can generate potentially heavy network traffic, and burden precious wireless network resources. Therefore, wireless service providers must balance the need to provide accurate presence notifications to their mobile users with the availability and/or usage of network resources.