A system and a method are disclosed for a presence engine and a method of
operating a presence engine for encoding or decoding availability status
into a signal representative of an audio signal. The presence engine is
configured to manage availability status of a user. The presence engine
comprises an input configured to receive a signal representative of an
audio signal and an output configured to send a signal representative of
an audio signal. The presence engine also comprises a processor
configured to encode availability status of a user into a signal
representative of an audio signal and/or configured to decode
availability status of a user from a signal representative of an audio
signal.