Information picker
First Claim
1. In a computing system that is in communication with at least one application, a method for controlling how the contact information is provided to one or more applications, the method comprising:
- detecting a request from an application for desired contact information;
in response to the request, selecting an appropriate contact persona from one or more possible contact personas that are available to the computing system, each contact persona comprising available contact information;
identifying at least some of the available contact information that is intended to be provided to the application in response to the request and determining an appropriate format in which the identified contact information will be presented to the application. presenting to the user the information that is intended to be provided to the application and allowing the user to determine whether that information will actually be actually provided to the application and whether other information will be provided to the application; and
providing the identified contact information in the appropriate format to the application as designated by the user.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A user is able to informatively control how contact information is provided to one or more applications through the use of a persona interface object, corresponding personas and contact information, and an information picker interface. The persona interface identifies available personas, each persona having different contact information. The user can select a persona to use in response to an applications request for information. The personas can be modified and developed through the information picker interface, which can also be used to inform the user about what information is being requested and how it will be used.
86 Citations
41 Claims
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1. In a computing system that is in communication with at least one application, a method for controlling how the contact information is provided to one or more applications, the method comprising:
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detecting a request from an application for desired contact information;
in response to the request, selecting an appropriate contact persona from one or more possible contact personas that are available to the computing system, each contact persona comprising available contact information;
identifying at least some of the available contact information that is intended to be provided to the application in response to the request and determining an appropriate format in which the identified contact information will be presented to the application. presenting to the user the information that is intended to be provided to the application and allowing the user to determine whether that information will actually be actually provided to the application and whether other information will be provided to the application; and
providing the identified contact information in the appropriate format to the application as designated by the user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. In a computing system that is in communication with at least one application, a method for controlling how the contact information is provided to one or more applications, the method comprising:
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providing an interface object for allowing a user to select a contact persona from a plurality of possible contact personas, each contact persona corresponding to a person and respective contact information about the person, wherein the respective contact information corresponding to a first contact persona differs from the available contact information corresponding to a second contact persona, even though the first and second contact personas are both associated with the same person;
in response to a user selection of a particular contact persona, displaying the respective contact information corresponding to the selected contact persona; and
enabling the user to modify the respective contact information corresponding to the selected contact persona; and
upon an application seeking contact information from the computing system, providing the respective contact information corresponding to the selected contact persona. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A computer program product for use in a computing system that is in communication with at least one application, the computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions for implementing a method for controlling how the contact information is provided to one or more applications, the method comprising:
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detecting a request from an application for desired contact information;
in response to the request, selecting an appropriate contact persona from one or more possible contact personas that are available to the computing system, each contact persona comprising available contact information;
identifying at least some of the available contact information that is intended to be provided to the application in response to the request and determining an appropriate format in which the identified contact information will be presented to the application;
presenting to the user the information that is intended to be provided to the application and allowing the user to determine whether that information will actually be actually provided to the application and whether other information will be provided to the application; and
providing the identified contact information in the appropriate format to the application as designated by the user. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. In a computing system that is in communication with at least one application, a method for controlling how the contact information is provided to one or more applications, the method comprising:
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providing an interface object for allowing a user to select a contact persona from a plurality of possible contact personas, each contact persona corresponding to a person and respective contact information about the person, wherein the respective contact information corresponding to a first contact persona differs from the available contact information corresponding to a second contact persona, even though the first and second contact personas are both associated with the same person;
in response to a user selection of a particular contact persona, displaying the respective contact information corresponding to the selected contact persona; and
enabling the user to modify the respective contact information corresponding to the selected contact persona; and
upon an application seeking contact information from the computing system, providing the respective contact information corresponding to the selected contact persona. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39)
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40. One or more computer-readable media having a data structure thereon that represents an application programming interface configured to control the presentation of a person'"'"'s contact information to a requesting application, the data structure comprising:
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computer-executable instructions for accessing a plurality of contact personas, each contact persona comprising contact information corresponding to the person;
computer-executable instructions for receiving a request from an application for contact information about the person;
computer-executable instructions for providing appropriate contact information to the application and as specified by an appropriate one of the contact personas, wherein the appropriate contact persona is determined in response to user input selecting the contact persona.
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41. A method for controlling how the contact information is provided to an application, the method comprising:
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the application requesting contact information from a computing system having access to the contact information;
receiving the contact information from the computing system, wherein the contact information was identified and selected by the computing system in response to a user selecting an appropriate contact persona from one or more possible contact personas that are available to the computing system, each contact persona comprising available contact information defining the user in a different way;
wherein prior to receiving the contact information, the available contact information corresponding to the selected persona is displayed to the user in such a manner as to allow the user to select which of the corresponding available information will be provided to the application; and
providing the contact information from the corresponding available contact information to the application as selected by the user.
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Specification