Method and apparatus for sharing information over a network
First Claim
1. A method of generating a contact list comprising:
- Initiating a request to generate a list of contacts;
Accessing a storage of electronic mail messages corresponding to a user; and
Collecting a plurality of contacts from said stored electronic mail messages.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Embodiments of the present invention include an information sharing system that provides an online business service from a provider that uses the Internet to enable individuals and organizations to link together contact databases that reside in multiple desktop applications and create a unified meta-database. This database can be searched by individual subscribers in order to locate a specific entity (such as an organization or a person, by name, title or organization, such as an executive in a target organization), identify if a path to the executive exists through a chain of contacts across the linked contact databases, and request a referral based introduction to the specific executive.
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Citations
31 Claims
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1. A method of generating a contact list comprising:
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Initiating a request to generate a list of contacts;
Accessing a storage of electronic mail messages corresponding to a user; and
Collecting a plurality of contacts from said stored electronic mail messages. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method of processing a contact list comprising:
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Generating a list of user contacts pertaining to a user;
Providing a list of member contacts to a network, each member having associated with it relationships to a number of contacts; and
Determining whether each of said user contacts is a member contact. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method of synchronizing a contact list comprising:
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Providing a list of user contacts pertaining to a user;
Providing a list of member contacts to a network, each member having associated with it relationships to a number of contacts; and
At a predetermined time, comparing said list of user contacts to said list of member contacts. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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18. A method of searching a network of contacts wherein the network includes a number of relationships between contacts the method comprising:
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Collecting data associated with each of the contacts in said network;
Creating a keyword index for said data;
Creating a relationship graph between each contact in the network;
Obtaining search criteria for a user;
Finding a match between said search criteria and said keyword index; and
Searching said relationship graph to determine a relationship between said user and a contact in the network corresponding to said match. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A method of managing a network of contacts wherein the network includes a number of relationships between contacts, the method comprising:
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Selecting a member of the network of contacts by a user; and
Setting a trust level in a relationship between said user and said member. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27)
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28. A server system, comprising:
A server to store a network of contacts wherein the network includes a number of relationships between contacts, said server to receive a list of user contacts pertaining to a user and to determine whether each of said user contacts is represented in said network. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30)
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31. A computer system, comprising:
A computer to access a storage of electronic mail messages corresponding to a user and collect a plurality of contacts from said stored electronic mail messages.
Specification