Method and apparatus for incorporating user interaction based presence in email systems

An apparatus comprising:

• a processor;
• at least one input/output port, the at least one input/output port being configured to enable the apparatus to communicate across a network;
• and
• an email arrangement, the email arrangement including instructions embodied on a computer-readable medium and arranged to be executed by the processor, the instructions arranged to cooperate with the at least one input/output port to send and to receive emails, wherein the instructions include presence logic, the presence logic being arranged to monitor user interaction based presence with respect to a first email, and wherein the email arrangement is arranged to create and to send the first email using the at least one input/output port to at least a first recipient, and the presence logic is arranged to receive a presence notification via the at least one input/output port, the presence notification being arranged to identify the user interaction based presence associated with the first recipient, the user interaction based presence is a current activity of the first recipient with respect to the first email, wherein the current activity is one selected from the group including drafting a response to the first email, forwarding the first email, and closing the first email after reading the first email, wherein the presence logic is arranged to generate and to send a presence notification which identifies a state change associated with the first email using the network arrangement, and wherein the presence notification is a message, the message including a presence line type arranged to indicate that the message is to be processed as a presence notification and not as a standard email message.

One or more tangible non-transitory, computer-readable media comprising instructions stored thereon that, when executed on a processor, are operable to:

• send an email to at least a first recipient;
• obtain a presence notification from the first recipient, the presence notification being arranged to identify a user interaction based presence associated with the first recipient with respect to the email, wherein the logic operable to obtain the presence notification is further operable to receive a message that includes the presence notification and to identify the presence notification, wherein the logic operable to identify the presence notification is further operable to identify a presence line type in the message;
• and
• present information associated with the user interaction based presence, wherein the message is an email message and the presence line type in the message indicates that the message is to be processed as a presence notification and not as a standard email message.