Contextual Presence System and Associated Methods

1. A contextual presence system (CPS) for dynamically forming a context group and for propagating payload data between members of the context group, each member having a device running an application configured with a context identifier (ID) that identifies the context group and a user ID that uniquely identifies the member within the context group, the system comprising: a database capable of associating the context with each user ID; a context manager, communicatively coupled with the database, capable of: receiving, from each member device, a join context request containing the context ID and said corresponding user ID; storing within the database, for each received join context request, the context ID in association with the user ID to create the context group; and a payload handler capable of receiving payload data from one of said devices of a corresponding one of said members and for propagating the payload data to each other of said devices corresponding to other of said members of said context group; wherein the contextual presence system (a) has no knowledge of the context ID prior to receiving the join request, (b) transports the payload data without evaluation of the payload data content, and (c) concurrently supports more than one context group.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the CPS is capable of creating the context group in real-time upon receiving the join context request when the context ID does not exist within the database.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the size and content of the payload data is defined by the application running on a user device that sent the join context request.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the user ID is defined by the application running on a user device that sent the join context request.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the context manager is further capable of validating validates the join context request using a CPS application ID to identify the application sending the join context request.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the context ID is generated by the application running on a user device that sent the join context request based upon a parameter under control of a user of the device.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the user device may join more than one context group.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the database is further operable to store connectivity information of each of the user devices corresponding to said members of the context group.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the payload handler is configured as a plurality of internetworked edge nodes in communication with the context manager, and wherein the payload data is received by a first edge node and propagated to at least one of the other said devices via a second of the edge nodes without passing through a server of the context manager; each of the edge nodes being located remotely from the member devices.

10. The system of claim 9 , the payload handler further comprising a payload manager capable of storing, on each of the edge nodes, a routing table defining propagation of the payload data based upon connectivity of each said member of the context group.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the edge nodes are geographically distributed.

12. A computer implemented method for dynamically forming a context group between members of a context group, comprising the steps of: receiving, within a contextual presence server and from a first user device running an application, a first join context request comprising (a) a context ID defined by the application and based upon the functionality of the application and (b) a first user ID of the first user device for uniquely identifying the first user device within the context group; creating the context group within a database by associating the context ID and with the first user ID, wherein (a) the context ID is not known within the contextual presence server prior to receiving the first join context request, (b) the context group does not exist within the database prior to receiving the first join request, and (c) the contextual presence server concurrently supports more than one context group; receiving, from one of the first and a second user devices, a payload message comprising payload data, the context ID, and a corresponding one of the first and second user IDs; and propagating the payload data to corresponding other of said first and second user devices based upon the context ID and the corresponding one of the first and second user IDs, wherein the payload data is propagated without evaluation of the payload data content.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising the steps of: receiving, from a second user device running a copy of the application, a second join context request comprising the context ID and a second user ID of the second user device; and adding the second user ID to the context group by associating the second user ID with the context ID within the database.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the steps of receiving the second join context request and adding are repeated for each received additional join context request.

15. The method of claim 12 , further comprising the steps of: receiving, from one of the first and second user devices, a leave context message comprising the context ID and a corresponding one of the first and second user IDs; and removing said corresponding one of the first and second user IDs from the context group; wherein the context group is deleted from the database directly upon receiving the leave context message if the removed corresponding one of the first and second IDs was the only ID of the context group.