Flexible file format for updating an address book

• US 20060179066A1
• Filed: 02/04/2005
• Published: 08/10/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Sliger, Michael V., Shipp, Neil L., Romano, Victor E.
• Granted Patent: US 7,584,209 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/197 Version control for software G06F8/71
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Mechanisms for updating an address book. A first computing system generates an address book update file format and provides the file to a second computing system. The file format contains several data fields. One of the data fields consists of a configurable list of attribute property identifications. These property identifications represent address book information such as e-mail address, phone number, first name, surname, and the like. A second data field comprises contact data that includes at least some of the properties identified by the configurable list. Changes to the information contained in the address book update may be made by simply adding or deleting attribute property identifications. This has the effect of allowing modifications to the address book file format without having to generate a new file format.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable media having thereon an address book update data structure, the address book update data structure comprising the following:

a first data field comprising a configurable list of a plurality of attribute property identifications that represent all of the properties that would be present in a fully populated address book entry; and

a second data field comprising contact data associated with an address book entry to be updated, wherein the contact data includes at least some of the properties that are identified by the configurable list.

2. The one or more computer-readable media in accordance with claim 1, wherein the second data field further comprises:

a list data structure that identifies which of the properties are included in the contact data of the second data field.

3. The one or more computer-readable media in accordance with claim 2, wherein the list data structure is a bitmap, with a bit dedicated for specifying a presence of each of the properties that would be present in a fully populated address book entry.

4. The one or more computer-readable media in accordance with claim 1, wherein the address book update data structure further comprises:

a third data field representing global data applicable to the address book update data structure as a whole.

5. The one or more computer-readable media in accordance with claim 1, wherein the properties represented by the attribute property identifications include at least one of first name, surname, e-mail address, telephone number, and office location.

6. In a computing network including a first computing system that updates a second computing system using an address book update data structure, a method for the first computing system to update an electronic address book at the second computing system in a manner that is independent of a version of the address book, the method comprising:

an act of identifying all of the properties that would be included in a fully populated address book entry for a specific version of the address book, wherein different versions of the address book may offer different properties as compared to other versions;

an act of including a list of a plurality of attribute property identifications that collectively represent all of the identified properties that would be present in a fully populated address book given the specific version of the address book;

an act of structuring the address book update data structure to include at least one contact data record that includes at least some of the identified properties; and

an act of providing the address book update data structure to the second computing system.

7. A method in accordance with claim 6, wherein the contact record data includes a list data structure that identifies which of the properties are included in the contact data.

8. The method in accordance with claim 7, wherein the list data structure is a bitmap, with a bit dedicated for specifying a presence of each of the properties that would be present in a fully populated address book entry.

9. The method in accordance with claim 6, wherein the properties represented by the attribute property identifications include contact data that includes at least one of first name, surname, e-mail address, telephone number, and office location.

10. A computer program product for use in a computing environment including a first computing system that updates a second computing system using an address book update data structure, the computer program product for implementing a method for the first computing system to update an electronic address book at the second computing system in a manner that is independent of a version of the address book, the computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable media having thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of the computing environment, cause the computing environment to perform the method, the method comprising:

an act of identifying all of the properties that would be included in a fully populated address book entry for a specific version of the address book, wherein different versions of the address book may offer different properties as compared to other versions;

an act of including a list of a plurality of attribute property identifications that collectively represent all of the identified properties that would be present in a fully populated address book given the specific version of the address book;

an act of structuring the address book update data structure to include at least one contact data record that includes at least some of the identified properties; and

an act of providing the address book update data structure to the second computing system.

11. A computer program product in accordance with claim 10, wherein the contact record data includes a list data structure that identifies which of the properties are included in the contact data.

12. The computer program product in accordance with claim 11, wherein the list data structure is a bitmap, with a bit dedicated for specifying a presence of each of the properties that would be present in a fully populated address book entry.

13. The computer program product in accordance with claim 10, wherein the properties represented by the attribute property identifications include contact data that includes at least one of first name, surname, e-mail address, telephone number, and office location.

14. A computer program product in accordance with claim 10, wherein the one or more computer-readable media are physical memory media.

15. In a computing network including a first computing system that updates an address book of a second computing system using an address book update data structure, the address book update data structure including attribute property identifications, a method for the second computing system to update the address book using the address book update data structure, the method comprising:

an act of accessing property data contained within the address book update data structure;

an act of accessing a list data structure contained within the address book update structure;

an act of using the data list structure to find attribute property identifications associated with the property data; and

an act of using the property identifications and the associated property data to update an address book.

16. A method in accordance with claim 15, wherein the list data structure is a bitmap, with a bit dedicated for specifying a presence of each of the properties that would be present in a fully populated address book entry.

17. A method in accordance with claim 15, wherein the property data includes at least one of first name, surname, e-mail address, telephone number, and office location.