Method and system for inferring presence of a principal based on past presence information

A method of determining presence of a principal on one or more devices or communication channels, the method comprising:

• determining with a presence server a relevance of each of a plurality of past presence attributes related to a principal stored at the presence server and indicating a past presence of the principal on one or more of a plurality of devices;
• storing the determined relevance as a relevance attribute of each stored past presence attribute;
• receiving at the presence server a request for a presence of the principal after determining the relevance of each past presence attribute and storing the determined relevance;
• retrieving with the presence server the plurality of past presence attributes and relevance attributes stored by the presence server and related to the principal;
• determining by the presence server a current presence of the principal in real time in response to the request, wherein the plurality of past present attributes indicate presence of the principal at a time prior to a time of the current presence;
• determining with the presence server an order for the retrieved plurality of past presence attributes based on the relevance attributes of each stored presence attribute;
• and
• providing in response to the request for the presence of the principal the current presence of the principal, two or more of the retrieved past presence attributes related to the principal and indicating the past presence of the principal, and the relevance attributes of each of the plurality of past presence attributes, wherein the two or more of the retrieved past presence attributes are provided from the presence server in the determined order.

A system for determining presence of a principal on one or more devices or communication channels, the system comprising:

• a repository;
• and
• a presence enabler of a presence server communicatively coupled with the repository and adapted to determine a presence of the principal, receive an indication of the presence of the principal, and store a plurality of past presence attributes related to the indication of the presence of the principal in the repository and indicating a past presence for the principal and wherein the presence enabler is further adapted to periodically determine a relevance of each of the stored past presence attributes, store the determined relevance as a relevance attribute of each past presence attribute, and in response to a change of the relevance of the past presence attributes, determine an order for the past presence attributes based on the relevance attribute of each past presence attribute determine a current presence of the principal in real time in response to the request, wherein the plurality of past present attributes indicate presence of the principal at a time prior to a time of the current presence, and provide the current presence of the principal, two or more stored past presence attributes indicating the past presence of the principal, and stored relevance attributes of each past presence attribute to one or more subscribers to the presence attributes, wherein the two or more of the retrieved past presence attributes are provided in the determined order.