Apparatus, system and method for use in generating and maintaining an electronic address book

• US 20040186848A1
• Filed: 07/21/2003
• Published: 09/23/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wang, Pauli, Miller, Ryan K., Bhatia, Gitanjali, Kobashikawa, Brian T., Thompson, Brooke A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,539,699 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/102
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

The present invention provides an apparatus, system and method for use in generating and maintaining an electronic address book. The address book is generated and maintained by searching through archives of e-mails for e-mail addresses, evaluating the e-mail addresses based on criteria, and adding the e-mail addresses to an address book if the criteria is satisfied. In some embodiments, the address book is generating and maintaining by accessing an archive, searching the archive for the e-mail addresses, retrieving e-mail addresses, applying criteria to retrieved e-mail addresses, and adding addresses to an electronic address book if the criteria is met. The apparatus for use in establishing and updating an electronic address book includes means for scanning an archive and retrieving e-mail addresses, means for filtering the e-mail addresses if a criterion is met, and means for adding the e-mail addresses to the address book.

Claims

1. A method for use in populating an electronic address book, comprising:

searching through at least one archive of e-mails for an e-mail address;

evaluating the e-mail address based on a first defined criterion; and

adding the e-mail address to an address book if the first criterion is satisfied.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the searching includes searching an “

In”

field, a “

sent”

field and a “

cc”

field.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the evaluating includes determining if the e-mail address already exists in the address book, and not adding the e-mail address in the address book if it already exists in the address book.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the evaluating includes evaluating the e-mail address based on a second defined criterion;

and

the adding includes adding the e-mail address to the address book if both the first and the second criterion are satisfied, and not adding the e-mail address to the address book unless both the first and second criteria are satisfied.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

determining if the archive from which the e-mail address was retrieved includes an organization;

organizing the address book according to at least a portion of archive from which the e-mail address was retrieved; and

the adding includes adding the e-mail such that the e-mail address is added according to the organized address book.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a retrieved list of e-mail addresses retrieved during the searching that satisfy the first criterion; and

the adding includes adding the e-mail addresses if the e-mail address is confirmed to be added.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

generating a verification list of at least the e-mail address added to the address book.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving confirmation of additions based on the retrieved list prior to the adding the e-mail address.

9. A method for use in generating and maintaining an address book, comprising:

accessing an electronic archive containing e-mail addresses;

searching the archive for the e-mail addresses;

retrieving one or more e-mail addresses;

applying a first criterion to a first retrieved e-mail address; and

adding the first retrieved address to an electronic address book if the first criterion is met.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the applying includes applying a second criterion to the first retrieved address;

and

the adding includes adding the first retrieved address to the electronic address book if both the first and second criteria are met.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

supplying a plurality of criteria options; and

receiving a selection of criteria including the first and second criteria.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the archive includes an archive of e-mails;

and

the searching includes searching a plurality of fields associated with each e-mail of the archive.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

accessing an external archive associated with an external device;

searching the external archive for e-mail addresses;

retrieving e-mail addresses from the external archive;

applying the first and second criteria; and

adding the retrieved e-mail addresses from the external archive if the retrieved e-mail addresses from the external archives meet both the first and second criteria.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining if the archive includes an organizational folder;

determining if the e-mail address was retrieved from the organization folder;

generating a folder within the addresses book; and

the adding includes adding the first e-mail address to the electronic address book in the generated folder.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

generating a nickname in association with the first e-mail address; and

adding the nickname associated with the first e-mail address to the address book.

16. An apparatus for use in generating and updating an electronic address book, comprising:

an electronic address book configured to store one or more e-mail addresses;

means for scanning configured to search one or more archives for at least one e-mail address and to retrieve the at least one e-mail address;

means for filtering configured to receive the at least one e-mail address from the means for scanning and to pass the e-mail address if the e-mail address satisfies a criterion of the means for filtering; and

means for adding configured to add the at least one e-mail address to the address book if the at least one address is passed by the filter.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the archive includes a plurality of e-mails having a plurality of fields;

and

the means for scanning is configured to scan the plurality of fields of the plurality of e-mails.

18. A computer readable medium encoded with code segments for use in populating an electronic address book, the computer readable medium comprising:

a code segment for searching through at least one electronic archive of e-mails for e-mail addresses;

a code segment for evaluating a retrieved e-mail address based on a first defined criterion; and

a code segment for adding the e-mail address to an address book if the first criterion is satisfied.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

a code segment for evaluating the e-mail address based on a second criterion; and

the code segment for adding is configured to add the retrieved e-mail address to the electronic address book if both the first and second criteria are satisfied.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

a code segment for supplying a plurality of criteria options; and

a code segment for receiving a selection of criteria including the first and second criteria.