Contact data structure and management

• US 20070023507A1
• Filed: 07/26/2005
• Published: 02/01/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Lardieri, Stephen, Wall, Jeffrey, Starbuck, Bryan, Castro, Alexander, Coburn, Mark
• Application Number:
  US11/190,507
• Publication Number:
  US 20070023507A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/382
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/20 of structured data, e.g. relational data

Abstract

Contact data is modified by first identifying contact data associated with a particular contact entry. A file containing the identified contact data is locked and at least one value contained in the contact data is modified. A version stamp associated with the modified value is stored in the file. Additionally, a time stamp associated with the modified value is stored in the file. The file containing the identified contact data is then unlocked.

Claims

1. A method of modifying contact data, the method comprising:

identifying contact data associated with a particular contact entry;

locking a file containing the identified contact data;

modifying at least one value contained in the contact data;

storing a version stamp in the file, wherein the version stamp is associated with the modified value;

storing a time stamp in the file, wherein the time stamp is associated with the modified value; and

unlocking the file containing the identified contact data.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

synchronizing the identified contact data with another device;

determining whether a conflict exists between the identified contact data and contact data on the other device; and

if a conflict exists, resolving the conflict by comparing a time stamp associated with the identified contact data and a time stamp associated with the contact data on the other device.

3. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein resolving the conflict further includes comparing a version stamp associated with the identified contact data and a version stamp associated with the contact data on the other device.

4. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein determining whether a conflict exists includes applying at least one conflict resolution rule associated with the contact data.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the identified contact data has an associated unique identifier.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the identified contact data includes an ordered list of values associated with a particular contact parameter.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the identified contact data includes:

base parameters associated with all contact entries; and

customized parameters defined by a third party and associated with a subset of contact entries.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the time stamp identifies the last time the associated value was modified.

9. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

assigning a unique identifier to the contact data; and

assigning a file name to the contact data.

10. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein the unique identifier remains unchanged in response to a change in the file name assigned to the contact data.

11. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising associating a label to at least one value contained in the contact data, wherein the label includes metadata associated with the value.

12. A method comprising:

creating a directory structure including a plurality of public directories and a plurality of private directories, wherein the directory structure represents an address book;

creating a plurality of files such that each of the plurality of files is associated with a particular contact in an address book, wherein each of the plurality of files includes at least one time stamp associated with a contact value, and wherein the time stamp indicates the last time the associated contact value was modified; and

storing the plurality of files in the directory structure.

13. A method as recited in claim 12, wherein each of the plurality of files is an XML file.

14. A method as recited in claim 12, further comprising modifying any of the plurality of files to include additional contact parameters and associated values.

15. A method as recited in claim 12, wherein the plurality of files in the directory structure are managed by an operating system file handler.

16. A method as recited in claim 12, wherein each of the plurality of files in the directory structure has an associated unique identifier.

17. A method as recited in claim 12, wherein each of the plurality of files in the directory structure includes:

an associated unique identifier; and

a file name that is not associated with the unique identifier.

18. An application program interface embodied on one or more computer-readable media, comprising:

a first namespace related to associating contact data with a particular file;

a second namespace related to assigning a unique identifier to the particular file; and

a third namespace related to resolving conflicts in two sets of contact data being synchronized, wherein the third namespace relies on a time stamp associated with each set of contact data and a version stamp associated with each set of contact data.

19. An application program interface as recited in claim 18, further comprising a fourth namespace related to updating contact data in a particular file.

20. An application program interface as recited in claim 18, wherein the third namespace further relies on a plurality of conflict resolution rules to resolve conflicts in two sets of contact data being synchronized.