METHODS AND APPARATUS TO PROVIDE CONTACT MANAGEMENT WITH DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE

• US 20080101581A1
• Filed: 10/27/2006
• Published: 05/01/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Pearson, Larry B.
• Granted Patent: US 8,483,381 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/218.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4931 Directory assistance systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4933 with operator assistance

Abstract

Methods and an apparatus for providing contact management with directory assistance. An example method obtains a directory assistance service record associated with a user, wherein the directory assistance service record includes at least a first data object associated with a directory listing and a second data object associated with the user; queries a first directory with the first data object to obtain listing information associated with the directory listing; and stores the obtained listing information in a second directory as one or more contact records associated with the second data object.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

obtaining a directory assistance service record associated with a user, wherein the directory assistance service record comprises at least a first data object associated with a directory listing and a second data object associated with the user;

querying a first directory with the first data object to obtain listing information associated with the directory listing; and

storing the obtained listing information in a second directory as one or more contact records associated with the second data object.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising querying the second directory with the second data object to identify one or more user records associated with the second data object.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein storing the obtained listing information in the second directory comprises relating each of the one or more contact records with respective ones of the one or more identified user records.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the directory assistance service record comprises a billing record.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein querying the first directory with the first data object comprises querying the first directory with a telephone number associated with the directory listing.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the directory assistance service record is associated with the user obtaining directory assistance via at least one of a cellular telephone call, an analog telephone call, a digital telephone call, a voice over Internet Protocol telephone call, a Short Messaging Service transmission, an electronic mail transmission, a digital television transmission, or a Internet Protocol transmission.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the listing information comprises at least one of a locality name, a telephone number, a fax number, a forename, a surname, a business name, a business description, a mailing address, a job title, a web page address, an electronic mail address, an instant messaging address, or a pager number.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data object or the second data object comprise at least one of a telephone number, a mailing address, a locality name, a forename, a surname, or a business name.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the second directory comprises a networked computing platform communicatively coupled with at least one of a personal computer, a voice over Internet Protocol telephone, a personal digital assistant, a cell telephone, a public switched telephone network, a set-top-box, or a portable media player.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising transferring some or all of the one or more contact records to one or more user devices.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more user devices comprise at least one of a personal computer, a voice over Internet Protocol telephone, a personal digital assistant, a cell telephone, a set-top-box, a portable media player, or a electronic mail server.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein transferring some or all of the one or more contact records comprises transferring some or all of the one or more contact records to the one or more user devices prior to a user request.

13. An article of manufacture storing machine readable instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to:

obtain a directory assistance service record associated with a user, wherein the directory assistance service record comprises at least a first data object associated with a directory listing and a second data object associated with the user;

query a first directory with the first data object to obtain listing information associated with the directory listing; and

store the obtained listing information in a second directory as one or more contact records associated with the second data object.

14. The article of manufacture storing machine readable instructions of claim 13 which, when executed, further cause the machine to query the second directory with the second data object and identify one or more user records associated with the second data object.

15. The article of manufacture storing machine readable instructions of claim 14 which, when executed, cause the machine to store the obtained listing information in the second directory comprises relating each of the one or more contact records with respective ones of the one or more identified user records.

16. The article of manufacture storing machine readable instructions of claim 13, wherein the directory assistance service record comprises a billing record.

17. The article of manufacture storing machine readable instructions of claim 13 which, when executed, cause the machine to query the first directory with the first data object by querying the first directory with a telephone number associated with the directory listing.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 13, wherein the listing information comprises at least one of a locality name, a telephone number, a fax number, a forename, a surname, a business name, a business description, a mailing address, a job title, a web page address, an electronic mail address, an instant messaging address, or a pager number.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 13, wherein the first data object or the second data object at least one of a telephone number, an electronic mail address, an instant messaging address, or an Internet Protocol address.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 13, wherein the second directory comprises a networked computing platform communicatively coupled with at least one of a personal computer, a voice over Internet Protocol telephone, a personal digital assistant, a cell telephone, a switched public switched telephone network, a set-top-box, a portable media player.

21. The article of manufacture storing machine readable instructions of claim 13 which, when executed, further cause the machine to transfer some or all of the one or more contact records to one or more user devices.

22. The article of manufacture of claim 21, wherein the one or more user devices comprise at least one of a personal computer, a voice over Internet Protocol telephone, a personal digital assistant, a cell telephone, a set-top-box, a portable media player associated with the user, or an electronic mail server.

23. The article of manufacture of claim 21, wherein the machine readable instructions which, when executed, transfer some or all of the contact record by transferring some or all of the one or more contact records to the one or more user devices prior to a user request.

24. An apparatus comprising:

a directory assistance service record parser to obtain a directory assistance service record associated with a user, wherein the directory assistance service record comprises at least a first data object associated with a directory listing and a second data object associated with the user;

a contact directory to store one or more user records respectively associated with one or more contact records; and

a contact directory processor to query a first directory with the first data object, obtain listing information associated with the directory listing, and write the obtained listing information as one or more contact records in the contact directory.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the contact directory processor is also to query the contact directory with the second data object and identify one or more user records associated with the second data object.

26. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the directory assistance service record comprises a billing record.

27. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the listing information comprises at least one of a locality name, a telephone number, a fax number, a forename, a surname, a business name, a business description, a mailing address, a job title, a web page address, an electronic mail address, an instant messaging address, or a pager number.

28. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the first data object or the second data object comprise at least one of a telephone number, an electronic mail address, an instant messaging address, or an Internet Protocol address.

29. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the contact directory is communicatively coupled with at least one of a personal computer, a voice over Internet Protocol telephone, a personal digital assistant, a cell telephone, a public switched telephone network, a set-top-box, or a portable media player.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the contact directory is to transfer some or all of the one or more contact records to at least one of the personal computer, the voice over Internet Protocol telephone, the personal digital assistant, the cell telephone, the set-top-box, the portable media player, or the electronic mail server.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the contact directory is to transfer some or all of the one or more contact records prior to a user request.