People lists

• US 20040199582A1
• Filed: 11/18/2003
• Published: 10/07/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AOL Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Traylor, Michael, Panzer, John, Buonomo, Michael Anthony, Mazzeo, Jack, Kucharewski, Valerie
• Granted Patent: US 7,908,327 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/56 Unified messaging, e.g. interactions between e-mail, instant messaging or converged IP messaging [CPM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/27457 Management thereof, e.g. manual editing of data
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/551 Call history recording a computer conference H04L12/1831
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/556 Statistical analysis and interpretation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4931 Directory assistance systems

Abstract

Enabling management of contacts includes passively recognizing a set of contacts that are, as a group, repeatedly sent communications by a member, bringing the member'"'"'s attention to the recognized set of contacts, enabling the member to name the set of contacts, and enabling the member to address future communications to the set of contacts through use of the name associated by the member with the set of contacts.

Claims

1. A method for enabling management of contacts, the method comprising:

passively recognizing a set of contacts that are, as a group, repeatedly sent communications by a member;

bringing the member'"'"'s attention to the recognized set of contacts;

enabling the member to name the set of contacts; and

enabling the member to address future communications to the set of contacts through use of the name associated by the member with the set of contacts.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein passively recognizing the set of contacts comprises:

storing communications sent by the member during a period of time;

examining the communications sent by the member during the period of time; and

identifying a set of contacts that was sent at least a minimum number of communications by the member during the period of time.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein passively recognizing the set of contacts comprises:

storing a predetermined number of communications sent by the member;

examining the predetermined number of communications sent by the member; and

identifying a set of contacts that was sent at least a minimum number of communications out of the predetermined number of communications by the member.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising enabling the member to accept or to reject the recognized set of contacts brought to the member'"'"'s attention.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising enabling the member to delay a rejected set of contacts from being brought to the member'"'"'s attention.

6. The method off claim 1 further comprising enabling the member to assign a unique identifier to the set of contacts.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the communications sent to the set of contacts and the future communications are sent from multiple applications.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the multiple applications include communications applications.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the communications applications include an e-mail application and at least one application other than an e-mail application.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the communications applications include an instant messaging application and at least one application other than an instant messaging application.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein the communications applications include a digital image sharing application and at least one application other than a digital image sharing application.

12. The method of claim 8 wherein the communications applications include an alerting application that sends alerts and reminders to users and at least one application other than an alerting application that sends alerts and reminders to users.

13. The method of claim 8 wherein the communications applications include an application for sharing and exchanging contact information and at least one application other than an application for sharing and exchanging contact information.

14. The method of claim 7 wherein the multiple applications include other sharing applications.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the other sharing applications include an electronic calendar application and at least one application other than an electronic calendar application.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein the other sharing applications include an electronic journal application and at least one application other than an electronic journal application.

17. The method of claim 14 wherein the other sharing applications include an e-mail filtering application and at least one application other than an e-mail filtering application.

18. The method of claim 14 wherein the other sharing applications include an application that enables the specification of parental controls over a child account and at least one application other than an application that enables the specification of parental controls over a child account.

19. An apparatus comprising a computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon that when executed by a machine result in at least the following:

passively recognizing a set of contacts that are, as a group, repeatedly sent communications by a member;

bringing the member'"'"'s attention to the recognized set of contacts;

enabling the member to name the set of contacts; and

enabling the member to address future communications to the set of contacts through use of the name associated by the member with the set of contacts.

20. A system for enabling management of contact comprising:

means for passively recognizing a set of contacts that are, as a group, repeatedly sent communications by a member;

means for bringing the member'"'"'s attention to the recognized set of contacts;

means for enabling the member to name the set of contacts; and

means for enabling the member to address future communications to the set of contacts through use of the name associated by the member with the set of contacts.