Address book information sharing system and method thereof

• US 20060168344A1
• Filed: 12/01/2004
• Published: 07/27/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation), Toshiba Tec Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation), Toshiba Tec Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Tsuchiya, Hiroteru
• Application Number:
  US11/000,086
• Publication Number:
  US 20060168344A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/245
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4523 using lightweight directory access protocol [LDAP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2757 by data transmission, e.g. downloading

Abstract

An address book information sharing system includes an LDAP server having a sharing address book and a LDAP server function and a plurality of communication terminals having an LDAP client function and respective address books which share the address book information between the communication terminals via the LDAP server. Each communication terminal executes an address book conversion process so as to apply address information of its address book to the LDAP and writes and registers the results of the conversion process into the sharing address book of the LDAP server. Each communication terminal further obtains the address information of the sharing address book by inquiering the LDAP server and converts the address information so as to apply the address information obtained to the address book thereof. The results are stored.

Claims

1. An address book information sharing system comprising an LDAP server, with a server software of a lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) installed, having a storage device which stores a sharing address book, a first communication terminal, a second communication terminal, and a communication network for connecting them, wherein:

the first communication terminal includes an address book storage device which stores address information of a plurality of communication destinations,

an address book relating table for relating the address information stored in the address book storage device to address information stored in the sharing address book of the LDAP server,

address book converter which refers to the address book relating table and converting the information stored in the address book storage device of the first communication terminal to information compatible with the sharing address book, and

an LDAP client unit having a client LDAP software installed for writing and registering the address book information converted by the address book converter device into the sharing address book of the LDAP server via the communication network, wherein

the second communication terminal includes address book storage device which stores address information of a plurality of communication destinations,

an LDAP client unit having a client LDAP software installed for accessing the LDAP server via the communication network and obtaining the information of the sharing address book,

an address book relating table for relating the information stored in the sharing address book of the LDAP server to the information stored in the address book storage device of the second communication terminal, and

address book converter which converts the address information of the sharing address book of the LDAP server obtained by the LDAP client unit to information compatible with the address information stored in the address book storage device by referring to the address book relating table, and for writing the converted sharing address book information into the address book storage device.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein:

the first communication terminal further includes notice generator which provides the communication network with a sharing address book update notice, when the LDAP client unit writes and registers the sharing address book information into the sharing address book of the LDAP server, and

a notice receptor which receives the sharing address book update notice is further connected to the communication network.

3. A communication terminal comprising;

An address book storage device which stores address information of a plurality of communication destinations,

an address book relating table for relating the address information stored in the address book storage device to address information stored in a sharing address book of an LDAP server, having a server software of a lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) installed, and having storage device of a sharing address book,

address book converter which converts the address information stored in the address book storage device to information compatible with the sharing address book by referring to the address book relating table, and

an LDAP client unit having a client LDAP software installed for writing and registering the address book information converted by the address book converter in the sharing address book of the LDAP server via the communication network.

4. A terminal according to claim 3, wherein:

the communication terminal further includes notice generator which provides the communication network with an address book update notice, when the LDAP client unit writes and registers the sharing address book information into the sharing address book of the LDAP server.

7. A communication terminal according to claim 3, wherein:

the address book relating table describes a relation between field items of the address book of the communication terminal and attribute types of the sharing address book of the LDAP server.

8. A communication terminal according to claim 4, wherein:

the address book relating table describes relation between field items of the address book of the communication terminal and attribute types of the sharing address book of the LDAP server.

9. A communication terminal according to claim 3, wherein:

the address book relating table is stored in a ROM capable of electrically writing and erasing.

10. A communication terminal according to claim 4, wherein:

the address book relating table is stored in a ROM capable of electrically writing and erasing.

11. A communication terminal according to claim 3, wherein:

the address book converter judges whether field items of a record of the address book of the communication terminal are related to attribute types of the sharing address book of the LDAP server by referring to the address book relating table and generates an entry corresponding to the record, sets attribute types of the generated entry having attribute types related to the field items by the address book relating table and attribute values of the same values as field values of the record, when judging that they are related,

wherein the address book converter ignores the field items and performs no conversion process, when there are no attribute types corresponding to a part of the field items of the record, and

wherein the address book converter ignores whole the record and performs no conversion process, when judging that no field items are related to attribute types of the sharing address book of the LDAP server.

12. A communication terminal according to claim 4, wherein:

the address book converter judges whether field items of a record of the address book of the communication terminal are related to attribute types of the sharing address book of the LDAP server by referring to the address book relating table and generates an entry corresponding to the record, sets attribute types of the generated entry having attribute types related to the field items by the address book relating table and attribute values of the same values as field values of the record, when judging that they are related,

wherein the address book converter ignores the field items and performs no conversion process, when there are no attribute types corresponding to a part of the field items of the record, and

wherein the address book converter ignores whole the record and performs no conversion process, when judging that no field items are related to attribute types of the sharing address book of the LDAP server.

13. A terminal according to claim 3, wherein:

the address book information is all converted by the address book converter and the converted address book information is written and registered into the sharing address book of the LDAP server.

14. A terminal according to claim 4, wherein:

the address book information is all converted by the address book converter and the converted address book information is written and registered into the sharing address book of the LDAP server.

15. A terminal according to claim 3, wherein:

only address book information updated is converted by the address book converter independently of the sharing address book information of the LDAP server and the converted address book information is written and registered into the sharing address book of the LDAP server.

16. A terminal according to claim 4, wherein:

only address book information updated is converted by the address book converter independently of the sharing address book information of the LDAP server and the converted address book information is written and registered into the sharing address book of the LDAP server.

17. A terminal according to claim 15, wherein:

the conversion process by the address book converter and writing and registering the converted address book information into the sharing address book of the LDAP server are automatically executed with the updating of the address book information executed independently of the sharing address book information of the LDAP server as a turning point.

18. A terminal according to claim 16, wherein:

the conversion process by the address book converter and writing and registering the converted address book information into the sharing address book of the LDAP server are automatically executed with the updating of the address book information executed independently of the sharing address book information of the LDAP server as a turning point.

5. A communication terminal comprising:

An address book storage device which stores address book information of a plurality of communication destinations,

an LDAP client unit with a client LDAP software installed and with a server software of a lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) installed via a communication network for accessing the LDAP server having storage device of a sharing address book and obtaining the information of the sharing address book,

an address book relating table for relating the address information stored in the sharing address book of the LDAP server to the address information stored in the address book storage device of the communication terminal, and

address book converter which refers to the address book relating table, converting the address information of the sharing address book of the LDAP server obtained by the LDAP client unit to information compatible with the address information stored in the address book storage device, and writing the converted sharing address book information into the address book storage device.

6. A terminal according to claim 5, wherein:

the communication terminal further comprises a selector which selects the sharing address book of the LDAP server and/or a selector which selects an entry included in the sharing address book.

19. A terminal according to claim 5, wherein:

the address book relating table specifies relation between attribute types of the sharing address book of the LDAP server and field items of the address book of the communication terminal.

20. A terminal according to claim 6, wherein:

the address book relating table specifies relation between attribute types of the sharing address book of the LDAP server and field items of the address book of the communication terminal.

21. A terminal according to claim 5, wherein:

the address book relating table is stored in a ROM capable of electrically writing and erasing.

22. A terminal according to claim 6, wherein:

the address book relating table is stored in a ROM capable of electrically writing and erasing.

23. A terminal according to claim 5, wherein:

the address book converter judges whether field items of a record of the address book of the communication terminal are related to attribute types of the sharing address book of the LDAP server by referring to the address book relating table and generates an entry corresponding to the record, sets attribute types of the generated entry having attribute types related to the field items by the address book relating table and attribute values of the same values as field values of the record, when judging that they are related,

wherein the address book converter ignores the field items and performs a process not reflecting on the generated record, when there are no attribute types corresponding to a part of the field items of the record, and

wherein the address book converter ignores whole the record and performs no conversion process, when judging that no field items are related to attribute types of the sharing address book of the LDAP server.

24. A terminal according to claim 6, wherein:

the address book converter judges whether field items of a record of the address book of the communication terminal are related to attribute types of the sharing address book of the LDAP server by referring to the address book relating table and generates an entry corresponding to the record, sets attribute types of the generated entry having attribute types related to the field items by the address book relating table and attribute values of the same values as field values of the record, when judging that they are related,

wherein the address book converter ignores the field items and performs a process not reflecting on the generated record, when there are no attribute types corresponding to a part of the field items of the record, and

wherein the address book converter ignores whole the record and performs no conversion process, when judging that no field items are related to attribute types of the sharing address book of the LDAP server.

25. A method for sharing address book information comprising steps of:

writing and registering address information of a communication destination stored in address book storage device of a first communication terminal having a client LDAP software installed into an LDAP server, having an LDAP server software installed and a storage device which stores the address information of a sharing address book;

accessing the LDAP server by a second communication terminal having a client LDAP software installed; and

obtaining the address information of the sharing address book from the LDAP server by the second communication terminal and storing the obtained sharing address information in the second communication terminal, wherein the step of writing and registering the address information further comprises steps of;

relating the address book information stored in the first communication terminal to the information of the sharing address book of the LDAP server,

converting the address information of the address book to address information compatible with the sharing address book, and

writing and registering the address information converted into the sharing address book of the LDAP server, and wherein, the step of obtaining the address information further comprises steps of;

accessing the LDAP server and obtaining the address information of the sharing address book,

relating the address information stored in the sharing address book of the LDAP server to the address information of the address book of the second communication terminal,

converting the address information of the sharing address book obtained from the LDAP server to address information compatible with the address information of the address book of the second communication terminal, and

storing the address information of the sharing address book obtained from the LDAP server, which is converted to the address information compatible with the address information of the address book in the second communication terminal.

26. A method for sharing address book information according to claim 25, wherein:

the step of writing and registering the address book information into the LDAP server by the first communication terminal, further comprising;

sending an address book update notice to a communication network to which the communication terminal is connected, when writing and registering the address book information thus converted into the sharing address book of the LDAP server.

27. A method for sharing address book information comprising steps of:

relating address information stored in a storage device of a communication terminal having a client LDAP software installed to information of a sharing address book of an LDAP server, having a server software of a lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) installed, and having a storage device of a sharing address book;

converting the address book information stored in the storage device of the communication terminal to information compatible with the sharing address book; and

writing and registering the address book information thus converted into the sharing address book of the LDAP server.

28. A method for sharing address book information according to claim 27, further comprising a step of sending an address book update notice toward a communication network to which the communication terminal is connected when writing and registering the address book information thus converted into the sharing address book of the LDAP server.

29. A method for sharing address book information comprising steps of:

accessing an LDAP server having a server software of a lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) installed, and having a storage device of a sharing address book by a communication terminal and obtaining address information of the sharing address book;

relating the address information stored in the sharing address book of the LDAP server to the address information stored in the address book storage device of the communication terminal;

converting the address information of the sharing address book obtained from the LDAP server to information compatible with the address information of the address book of the communication terminal; and

storing the address information of the sharing address book obtained from the LDAP server, which is converted to the information compatible with the address information of the address book in the communication terminal.

30. A method for sharing address book information according to claim 29, wherein the communication terminal further comprises a step of selecting the sharing address book of the LDAP server and/or selecting an entry included in the sharing address book, when accessing the LDAP server and obtaining the address information of the sharing address book.