CONVEYING REQUESTS TO SERVICE PERSONS USING AVATARS ACTING AS PROXIES

摘要

In accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, an avatar object is presented which is well-suited for the NewWave service platform. An avatar is a virtual representation of an individual or group as a Global Information Bus (GIB) software service with which other services can interact (i.e., proxy of person). Thus, a service needing to contact a person need not know who that person is. Each avatar includes means for reaching and communicating with the individual wherever they are in the global ecosystem. An avatar is the virtualization of service methods translated to user actions. In short, an avatar is an object personification of the attributes of a person, team, group, or the like, which represents specific qualities associated with the subject of the avatar. Operators, provisions, customer contacts, service support staff and any other management-tasked staff in the customer and network care environment will have an avatar(s) for a network management task manager, such as a Management Operations Canter (MOC). An avatar's virtual image may also represent a history of past work, interactions, success ratings associated with personification of the subject of the avatar. along with its current workload and contact information for forwarding all communications, messages and work to the contact via the appropriate contact mean(s) interacting with the avatar. Initially, an avatar object registers itself as, for example as a contact entity within a DataBus, with a registry within the domain of a service which may need the contact data. Any service requesting information associated with the avatar object locates this proxy using existing NewWave protocols, and then communicates with the avatar through its proxy. In accordance with one embodiment, a service invite a person to participate in a work group based on the needs of the service and attributes of the avatar and then bind their avatar to an associated work document. As the work proceeds, the avatar attributes are updated to reflect its workload and upon completion of the task the avatar's its history is updated to reflect the its association with the particular task and the success rating of the completion of the task.