Contact schema
First Claim
1. In a computing system that is connected with one or more storage media configured to store contact information, a method for defining and relating a plurality of contacts with the contact information stored on the one or more storage media based upon a schema, the method comprising:
- an act of providing a schema for defining and interrelating the plurality of contacts based on contact information stored in the one or more storage media, each contact comprising one of a person, a group, and an organization;
a step for using the schema to define each person, group and organization having contact information stored on the one or more storage media; and
an act of using the schema to determine role occupancies that interrelate at least one person with at least one contact other than a person, each role occupancy corresponding with role occupancy data that defines a relationship between the at least one person and at least one contact other than a person.
2 Assignments
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Accused Products
Abstract
A schema is provided that defines people, groups and organizations by their corresponding contact information and other related characteristics. The schema defines a person by personal data, name data, location data, and e-address data. A group is defined by group membership data and e-address data. An organization is defined by location data and by e-address data. The schema also defines role occupancies for interrelating the various contacts. The role occupancies are defined by role occupancy data that may include employee data, team member data, group membership data, family data, customer or business data, and other types of data that can link two or more contacts. By interrelating contacts based on role occupancies, the schema is able to provide rich querying of one or more databases for obtaining desired contact information.
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Citations
38 Claims
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1. In a computing system that is connected with one or more storage media configured to store contact information, a method for defining and relating a plurality of contacts with the contact information stored on the one or more storage media based upon a schema, the method comprising:
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an act of providing a schema for defining and interrelating the plurality of contacts based on contact information stored in the one or more storage media, each contact comprising one of a person, a group, and an organization;
a step for using the schema to define each person, group and organization having contact information stored on the one or more storage media; and
an act of using the schema to determine role occupancies that interrelate at least one person with at least one contact other than a person, each role occupancy corresponding with role occupancy data that defines a relationship between the at least one person and at least one contact other than a person. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. In a computing system that is connected with one or more storage media configured to store contact information, a method for defining and relating a plurality of contacts with the contact information stored on the one or more storage media based upon a schema, the method comprising:
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an act of providing a schema for defining and interrelating the plurality of contacts based on contact information stored in the one or more storage media, each contact comprising one of a person, a group, and an organization;
an act of using the schema, for each person, to define personal data, name data, location data, and e-address data corresponding to the person;
an act of using the schema, for each group, to define group membership data and e-address data corresponding to the group;
an act of using the schema, for each organization, to define location data and e-address data corresponding to the organization; and
an act of using the schema to determine role occupancies that interrelate at least one person with at least one group or organization, each role occupancy corresponding with role occupancy data. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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21. A computer program product for defining and relating a plurality of contacts with contact information stored on one or more storage media, the contacts including at least one of a person, a group and an organization, the computer program product comprising:
one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon a data structure, the data structure including;
one or more data fields containing data defining a first contact comprising a person;
one or more data fields containing data defining a second contact, the second contact comprising a group or an organization; and
one or more data fields containing role occupancy data that interrelates the first contact with the second contact. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A computer program product for defining and relating a plurality of contacts with contact information stored on one or more storage media, the contacts including at least one of a person, a group and an organization, the computer program product comprising:
one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon a data structure, the data structure including;
one or more data fields containing data defining a person;
one or more data fields containing data defining a group;
one or more data fields containing data defining an organization; and
one or more data fields containing role occupancy data interrelating the person with the group and the organization. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. A computer program product for defining and relating a plurality of contacts with contact information stored on one or more storage media, the contacts including at least one of a person, a group and an organization, the computer program product comprising:
one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon a data structure, the data structure including;
one or more data fields containing personal data, name data, location data, and e-address data defining each person having contact information stored on the one or more storage media;
one or more data fields containing group membership data and e-address data defining each group having contact information stored on the one or more storage media;
one or more data fields containing location data and e-address data defining each organization having contact information stored on the one or more storage media; and
one or more data fields containing role occupancy data interrelating at least one person having contact information stored on the one or more storage media with at least one group or organization having contact information stored on the one or more storage media. - View Dependent Claims (38)
Specification