Presence system and method for presence management

A presence management method performed by a computer for managing presences of a user identified by a user identifier that specifies the user, the presence management method comprising:

• a reception step for receiving, by the computer, a renewal request that includes:
• a user identifier of a renewer, who is a user other than the owner of the presences;
• a user identifier of an object to be renewed, the object possessing a presence that the renewer attempts to set, and
• a presence that the renewer attempts to set;
• a category acquisition step for acquiring, by the computer, category information associated with the renewer, wherein the category information represents the category of the content of the presence;
• an association memory step for storing, in a storage medium, an association table that stores an association of the identifiers of the presences of the object to be renewed, and the category information;
• a presence specification step for referring to the association table stored in the storage medium, and for specifying the presence identifier associated with the category information corresponding to the renewer, and
• a presence setting step for setting, by the computer, the presence included in the renewal request, associated with the specified presence identifier.

A computer readable recording medium on which a presence management program is recorded in order to execute the management of presences of a user identified by a user identifier that specifies the user, the presence management program comprising:

• a reception step for receiving a renewal request that includes:
• a user identifier of a renewer, who is a user other than the owner of the presences;
• a user identifier of an object to be renewed, the object possessing a presence that the renewer attempts to set, and
• a presence that the renewer attempts to set;
• a category acquisition step for acquiring category information associated with the renewer, wherein the category information represents the category of the content of the presence;
• an association memory step for storing an association table that stores an association of the identifiers of the presences of the object to be renewed, and the category information;
• a presence specification step for referring to the association table, and for specifying the presence identifier associated with the category information corresponding to the renewer, and
• a presence setting step for setting the presence included in the renewal request, associated with the specified presence identifier.

A presence management program for managing presences of a user identified by a user identifier that specifies the user, the presence program causing a computer to function as:

• a reception unit for receiving a renewal request that includes:
• a user identifier of a renewer, who is a user other than the owner of the presences;
• a user identifier of an object to be renewed, the object possessing a presence that the renewer attempts to set, and
• a presence that the renewer attempts to set;
• a category acquisition unit for acquiring category information associated with the renewer, wherein the category information represents the category of the content of the presence;
• an association table that stores an association of the identifiers of the presences of the object to be renewed, and the category information;
• a presence specification unit for referring to the association table, and for specifying the presence identifier associated with the category information corresponding to the renewer, and
• a presence setting unit for setting the presence included in the renewal request, associated with the specified presence identifier.

A presence system that manages presences of a user identified by a user identifier, the presence system comprising:

• an acquisition unit for acquiring a user identifier of a requester, who is a user other than the owner of a given presence, a user identifier of an object that possesses a presence and category information that expresses the category of any presence, and that is associated with the renewer or the object;
• a deciding unit for determining the type of command to process the presence of the object;
• a command creation unit for creating commands that include the type of the command that the deciding unit determines, category information that the acquiring unit acquires, and the user identifier of the object;
• and
• a command execution unit for receiving commands created by the command creation unit, for performing renewal of the presence of the object, subscription/subscription cancellation, or transfer/transfer cancellation in accordance with the commands thereof.