Methods and apparatus for associating mapping functionality and information in contact lists of mobile communication devices

• US 20070229549A1
• Filed: 07/07/2006
• Published: 10/04/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Boudreau, Jesse, Wilson, Nicholas, Dicke, Ronald
• Granted Patent: US 8,244,279 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/676
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/362 received from an external device or application, e.g. PDA, mobile phone or calendar application
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3682 output of POI information on a road map G01C21/3614, G01C21/3685 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2745 using static electronic memories, e.g. chips
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/27453 Directories allowing storage of additional subscriber data, e.g. metadata
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/27475 using interactive graphical means or pictorial representations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2753 providing data content
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72427 for supporting games or graphical animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver

Abstract

In one illustrative example, a method of providing mapping functionality in a contact list of a mobile communication device comprises the acts of providing a contact list organizer function in the mobile communication device for use in organizing a plurality of contacts of a contact book or list; identifying, through a user interface of the mobile communication device, a user input request to map a location of a selected one of the contacts of the contact list; and causing a map corresponding to the location to be visually displayed in a display of the mobile communication device in response to the user input request. In another illustrative example, the method comprises the acts of causing a map of a location to be visually displayed in a display of the mobile communication device; receiving a user input request to associate the location of the map with a contact in a contact book or list of the mobile communication device; and storing location data corresponding to the location in one or more location fields of the contact in response to the user input request. In one embodiment, the contact list is part of an address book having a plurality of address book contacts.

Claims

1. A method of providing mapping functionality in a contact list of a mobile communication device, the method comprising the acts of:

providing a contact list organizer function in a mobile communication device for use in organizing a plurality of contacts of a contact list;

identifying, through a user interface of the mobile communication device, a user input request to map a location of a selected one of the contacts of the contact list; and

causing a map corresponding to the location to be visually displayed in a display of the mobile communication device in response to the user input request.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying the location as an address in one or more address fields of the contact;

sending a request for the location with the address as an input;

receiving latitude and longitude coordinates in response to the request for the location with the address as the input;

sending a request for the location with the latitude and longitude coordinates as an input;

receiving map rendering data corresponding to the location in response to the request for the location with the latitude and longitude coordinates as the input; and

wherein the act of causing the mapping corresponding to the location to be visually displayed is based on the map rendering data.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, through the user interface, a user input selection of the selected contact;

causing a menu of functions to be visually displayed in the display in response to the user input selection of the selected contact, the menu of functions including a mapping function for the selected contact; and

wherein the act of identifying the user input request comprises identifying a selection of the mapping function.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, through the user interface, a user input selection of the address of the contact;

causing a menu of functions to be visually displayed in the display in response to the user input selection of the selected address, the menu of functions including a mapping function for the selected address; and

wherein the act of identifying the user input request comprises identifying a selection of the mapping function.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, through the user interface, a user input selection of the selected contact;

causing a menu of functions to be visually displayed in the display in response to the user input selection of the selected contact, the menu of functions including a mapping function for a first address and a second address of the selected contact; and

wherein the act of identifying the user input request comprises identifying a selection of the mapping function for one of the first address and the second address.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile communication device is adapted to operate in a wireless communication network for wireless telephony communications, and wherein each contact has at least one telephone number field for a telephone number, the method further comprising the acts of:

identifying, through the user interface, a user input selection of a telephone number of a contact for placing a telephone call; and

causing the telephone call to the telephone number to be initiated through a wireless communication network in response to the user input selection.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile communication device is adapted to operate in a wireless communication network for wireless message communications, wherein each contact has at least one electronic mail (e-mail) address field for an e-mail address, the method further comprising:

identifying, through the user interface, a user input selection of an e-mail address of a contact for sending an e-mail message; and

inserting the e-mail address as a destination address of the e-mail message in response to the user input selection.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the location comprises a real-time location of a mobile communication device associated with the selected contact received through a wireless transceiver of the mobile communication device.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving map data corresponding to the map through a wireless transceiver of the mobile communication device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the contact list is part of one of the following:

an address book or list having a plurality of address book contacts;

a telephone book or list having a plurality of telephone numbers;

an e-mail address book or list having a plurality of e-mail address; and

a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) or USIM book.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is embodied in a computer program product comprising a computer readable medium and computer instructions stored in the computer readable medium which are executable by one or more processors of a mobile communication device for performing the method.

12. A mobile communication device having a contact list organizer function for use in organizing a plurality of contacts of a contact list, the mobile communication device comprising:

a wireless transceiver;

one or more processors coupled to the wireless transceiver;

a user interface which includes a visual display;

the one or more processors being operative to;

identify, through the user interface, a user input request to map a location of a selected one of the contacts of the contact list; and

cause a map corresponding to the location to be visually displayed in the visual display in response to the user input request.

13. The mobile communication device of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are further operative to

identify the location as an address in one or more address fields of the contact;

cause, with use of the wireless transceiver, a request for the location to be sent with the address as an input;

receive, through the wireless transceiver, latitude and longitude coordinates in response to the request for the location with the address as the input;

cause, with use of the wireless transceiver, a request for the location to be sent with the latitude and longitude coordinates as an input;

receive, through the wireless transceiver, map rendering data corresponding to the location in response to the request for the location with the latitude and longitude coordinates as the input; and

wherein causing the mapping corresponding to the location to be visually displayed is based on the map rendering data.

14. The mobile communication device of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are further operative to:

identify, through the user interface, a user input selection of the selected contact;

cause a menu of functions to be visually displayed in the display in response to the user input selection of the selected contact, the menu of functions including a mapping function for the selected contact; and

wherein identifying the user input request comprises identifying a selection of the mapping function.

15. The mobile communication device of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are further operative to:

identify, through the user interface, a user input selection of the address of the contact;

cause a menu of functions to be visually displayed in the display in response to the user input selection of the selected address, the menu of functions including a mapping function for the selected address; and

wherein identifying the user input request comprises identifying a selection of the mapping function.

16. The mobile communication device of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are further operative to:

identify, through the user interface, a user input selection of the selected contact;

cause a menu of functions to be visually displayed in the display in response to the user input selection of the selected contact, the menu of functions including a mapping function for a first address and a second address of the selected contact; and

wherein identifying the user input request comprises identifying a selection of the mapping function for one of the first address and the second address.

17. The mobile communication device of claim 12, wherein the mobile communication device is adapted to operate in a wireless communication network for wireless telephony communications, and wherein each contact has at least one telephone number field for a telephone number, and the one or more processors are further operative to:

identify, through the user interface, a user input selection of a telephone number of a contact for placing a telephone call; and

cause the telephone call to the telephone number to be initiated through a wireless communication network in response to the user input selection.

18. The mobile communication device of claim 12, wherein the mobile communication device is adapted to operate in a wireless communication network for wireless message communications, wherein each contact has at least one electronic mail (e-mail) address field for an e-mail address, and the one or more processors are further operative to:

identify, through the user interface, a user input selection of an e-mail address of a contact for sending an e-mail message; and

insert the e-mail address as a destination address of the e-mail message in response to the user input selection.

19. The mobile communication device of claim 12, wherein the location comprises a real-time location of a mobile communication device associated with the selected contact received through the wireless transceiver.

20. The mobile communication device of claim 12, wherein the one or more processor are further operative to:

receive map data corresponding to the map through the wireless transceiver.

21. The mobile communication device of claim 12, wherein the contact list is part of one of the following:

an address book or list having a plurality of address book contacts;

a telephone book or list having a plurality of telephone numbers;

an e-mail address book or list having a plurality of e-mail address; and

a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) or USIM book.

22. A method of providing mapping functionality in a contact list of a mobile communication device, the method comprising the acts of:

causing a map of a location to be visually displayed in a display of a mobile communication device;

receiving a user input request to associate the location of the map with a contact in a contact list of the mobile communication device; and

storing location data corresponding to the location in one or more location fields of the contact in response to the user input request.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the location comprises an address and the one or more location fields comprises one or more address fields of the contact.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the user input request comprises a user input request to create the contact which comprises a new contact in the contact list.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein the user input request comprises a user input request to insert the location with the contact which comprises an existing contact in the contact list.

26. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

causing a menu of functions to be visually displayed in the display, the menu of functions including a location association function for the contact; and

wherein the act of receiving the user input request comprises receiving a selection of the location association function from the menu.

27. The method of claim 22, wherein the mobile communication device is adapted to operate in a wireless communication network for wireless telephony communications, and wherein each contact of the contact list has at least one telephone number field for a telephone number, the method further comprising the acts of:

identifying, through the user interface, a user input selection of a telephone number of a contact for placing a telephone call; and

causing the telephone call to the telephone number to be initiated through a wireless communication network in response to the user input selection.

28. The method of claim 22, wherein the mobile communication device is adapted to operate in a wireless communication network for wireless message communications, wherein each contact of the contact list has at least one electronic mail (e-mail) address field for an e-mail address, the method further comprising:

identifying, through the user interface, a user input selection of an e-mail address of a contact for sending an e-mail message; and

inserting the e-mail address as a destination address of the e-mail message in response to the user input selection.

29. The method of claim 22, wherein the location comprises a real-time location of a mobile communication device associated with the selected contact received through a wireless transceiver of the mobile communication device.

30. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

receiving map data corresponding to the map through a wireless transceiver of the mobile communication device.

31. The method of claim 22, wherein the method is embodied in a computer program product comprising a computer readable medium and computer instructions stored in the computer readable medium which are executable by one or more processors of a mobile communication device for performing the method.

32. A mobile communication device having a contact list organizer function for use in organizing a plurality of contacts of a contact list, the mobile communication device comprising:

a wireless transceiver;

one or more processors coupled to the wireless transceiver;

a user interface which includes a visual display;

the one or more processors being operative to;

cause a map of a location to be visually displayed in the visual display;

receive, through the user interface, a user input request to associate the location of the map with a contact in the contact list; and

store location data corresponding to the location in one or more location fields of the contact in response to the user input request.

33. The mobile communication device of claim 32, wherein the location comprises an address and the one or more location fields comprises one or more address fields of the contact.

34. The mobile communication device of claim 32, wherein the user input request comprises a user input request to create the contact which comprises a new contact in the contact list.

35. The mobile communication device of claim 32, wherein the user input request comprises a user input request to insert the location with the contact which comprises an existing contact in the contact list.

36. The mobile communication device of claim 32, wherein the one or more processors are further operative to:

cause a menu of functions to be visually displayed in the visual display, the menu of functions including a location association function for the contact; and

wherein receiving the user input request comprises receiving a selection of the location association function from the menu.

37. The mobile communication device of claim 32, wherein the mobile communication device is adapted to operate in a wireless communication network for wireless telephony communications, and wherein each contact of the contact list has at least one telephone number field for a telephone number, and the one or more processors are further operative to:

identify, through the user interface, a user input selection of a telephone number of a contact for placing a telephone call; and

cause the telephone call to the telephone number to be initiated through a wireless communication network in response to the user input selection.

38. The mobile communication device of claim 32, wherein the mobile communication device is adapted to operate in a wireless communication network for wireless message communications, wherein each contact of the contact list has at least one electronic mail (e-mail) address field for an e-mail address, and the one or more processors are further operative to:

identify, through the user interface, a user input selection of an e-mail address of a contact for sending an e-mail message; and

insert the e-mail address as a destination address of the e-mail message in response to the user input selection.