CONTACT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20080205655A1
• Filed: 05/07/2008
• Published: 08/28/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SyncUp Corp.
• Original Assignee: SyncUp Corp.
• Inventors: Keefe, Michael, Wilkins, John, Rehman, Sam
• Granted Patent: US 8,364,711 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 380/279
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/08 Key distribution or management, e.g. generation, sharing or updating, of cryptographic keys or passwords network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting key management in a packet data network H04L63/06

Abstract

In an embodiment of a method of providing contact information, the method includes creating a contact record in a contact management system, where a process associated with a subject of the contact record and/or a recipient of data associated with the contact record is included in creating the contact record. A unique serial number is generated corresponding to the contact record and the serial number is conveyed to the recipient. A request by an application is received for the contact record from the contact management system corresponding to the serial number and data associated with the contact record is transmitted to the application.

Claims

1. A method of providing contact information, comprising the steps of:

creating a contact record in a contact management system, wherein the step of creating the contact record includes a process associated with a subject of the contact record and/or a recipient of data associated with the contact record;

generating a unique serial number corresponding to the contact record;

conveying the serial number to the recipient;

receiving a request by an application for the contact record from the contact management system corresponding to the serial number; and

transmitting data associated with the contact record to the application.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of creating the contact record in the contact management system includes the steps of:

registering the subject; and

verifying registration information of the subject.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of creating the contact record in the contact management system includes the steps of submitting and storing keywords in the contact record.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of creating the contact record includes the steps of creating and storing a publicly available information profile of the subject of the contact record.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of creating the contact record in the contact management system includes the steps of generating and presenting a message to the subject that indicates a utility of including contact information in the contact record.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of creating the contact record in the contact management system includes the steps of specifying a preferred method of contacting the subject of the contact record.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of creating the contact record in the contact management system includes the steps of creating and storing a data field defined by the subject.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of creating the contact record in the contact management system includes the steps of indexing data associated with the contact record and storing the indexed data within a search engine database.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising the steps of accepting a request from a third party search engine by the search engine database and providing a response to the third party search engine by the search engine database.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of creating the contact record in the contact management system includes the step of generating a public encryption key and a private encryption key pair.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of creating the contact record in the contact management system includes the step of storing a public encryption key in the contact record.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of creating the contact record in the contact management system includes the step of setting an approval criterion by the subject.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the approval criterion includes exchanging an item of value as consideration for approval.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of setting an approval criterion includes the step of setting a personal identification number (PIN) or a password for the contact record.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of setting the approval criterion includes the step of generating and storing a key or other identifier and wherein the step of receiving the request by the application for the contact record from the contact management system includes the step of receiving the key or other identifier such that the request for the contact record from the contact management system corresponding to the serial number is pre-approved.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the approval criterion includes establishing a binding agreement on a use of the data associated with the contact record following approval.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating the unique serial number corresponding to the contact record includes the step of providing the subject with a field to enter a unique serial number of variable length defined by the subject.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating the unique serial number corresponding to the contact record includes the step of generating a serial number that is conducive for data entry using a T9 keyboard.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating the unique serial number corresponding to the contact record includes the steps of creating a proxy serial number and referencing the unique serial number by the proxy serial number.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating the unique serial number corresponding to the contact record includes the step of reserving a preferred sequence of characters and/or numbers.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of conveying the serial number to the recipient includes the steps of:

inputting search criteria into a search input field by the recipient;

submitting the search criteria as a search request to a search engine; and

receiving a search result from the search engine in response to the submitting step, wherein the search result includes the serial number.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the step of receiving the search result includes receiving a publicly available information profile associated with the serial number.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of conveying the serial number to the recipient includes the step of entering a second serial number or selecting a second serial number by the recipient when making a request for the serial number.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of conveying the serial number to the recipient includes the step of transmitting the serial number by a first device to a second device using a short range wireless transmission protocol.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of conveying the serial number to the recipient includes the step of correlating the serial number to a second serial number associated with a second contact record.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of conveying the serial number to the recipient includes the step of substituting a second serial number for the serial number.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of conveying the serial number to the recipient includes the step of incorporating the serial number into an electronic banner advertisement.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the step of incorporating the serial number into the electronic banner advertisement includes the steps of creating a hyperlink for making the request for the contact record corresponding to the serial number from the contact management system.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of conveying the serial number to the recipient includes the steps of:

incorporating a form in an electronic banner advertisement;

entering the serial number into the form; and

conveying the serial number via the form and the electronic banner advertisement to the recipient.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the step of conveying the serial number via the form and the electronic banner advertisement generates the request for the contact record from the contact management system corresponding to the serial number.

31. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for the contact record from the contact management system requires an approval for a grant of the request and wherein the request includes an offer of a thing of value as consideration for the approval of the request for the contact record.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein the step of conveying the serial number via the form to the recipient operates in conjunction with an enterprise application for tracking an advertising campaign and generating a prospective customer lead.

33. The method of claim 1, wherein the claimed steps are performed through a third party application using a composite application technology.

34. The method of claim 2, wherein a third party application facilitates the step of registering the subject.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein the third party application facilitates bill presentment and payment on behalf of the contact management system.

36. The method of claim 33, wherein the third party application is an online meeting application.

37. The method of claim 33, wherein the third party application is a web browser and wherein the step of transmitting the data associated with the contact record to the application creates a bookmark entry in the web browser.

38. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of transmitting the data associated with the contact record to the application includes the step of encrypting the data.

39. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of transmitting the data associated with the contact record to the application includes the step of applying a data mask to the contact record such that the transmitted data associated with the contact record is a subset of data associated with the contact record.

40. The method of claim 8, further including the step of applying a data mask to the contact record such that the indexed data is a subset of data associated with the contact record.

41. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of transmitting the data associated with the contact record to the application includes the steps of generating a digest and verifying information associated with the data by the digest.

46. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating the unique serial number corresponding to the contact record includes the step of utilizing the serial number to sign a digital work.

47. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving the request by the application for the contact record from the contact management system corresponding to the serial number includes the step of receiving a publicly available information profile of a requester.

48. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating the unique serial number corresponding to the contact record includes a namespace identifier.

49. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving the request by the application for the contact record from the contact management system corresponding to the serial number includes the steps of receiving a namespace identifier for the serial number and directing the request to the contact management system corresponding to the namespace.

42. A method of sorting contact records in a contact management system, comprising the steps of:

detecting a user accessing the contact records;

updating a time variable, a date variable, and a total number of times accessed variable related to each of the contact records;

communicating the updated variables to the contact management system for the contact records;

processing by the contact management system the updated variables to form an ordinal list of the contact records based on recent access and frequency of access; and

making the ordinal list available for request by the network devices.

43. A method for detecting the presence of a user on a network device, comprising the steps of:

detecting a user activity on the network device;

communicating the user activity to a contact management system;

updating a contact record of the contact management system associated with the user with the user activity on the network device; and

receiving an update based on the updated contact record by a recipient.

44. A method of utilizing an update to contact information, comprising the steps of:

detecting an update to a contact record in a contact management system; and

providing an update to a process based on the step of detecting the update to the contact record.

45. The method of claim 44, wherein the process is one or more of the processes of populating an electronic form, presenting a commercial offer, and updating a subscription-based service.

50. A method for retrieving a public key from a contact management system via a network device, comprising the steps of:

submitting a serial number corresponding to a contact record to the contact management system;

receiving the contact record from the contact management system corresponding to the serial number, the contact record containing a public encryption key;

storing the public encryption key in the network device; and

creating a cross reference between the public encryption key, the serial number and an electronic communication address found within the contact record.

51. A method for encrypting a communication on a network device, comprising the steps of:

detecting an electronic communication address or a serial number of a recipient of the communication;

detecting a public encryption key corresponding to the electronic communication address or the serial number of the recipient; and

presenting an interface to a user enabling the user to encrypt the communication using the public encryption key.

52. The method of claim 51, wherein the step of detecting the electronic communication address or the serial number of the recipient includes the steps of:

requesting an update from a contact management system for a contact record corresponding to the public encryption key;

receiving the update for the contact record corresponding to the public encryption key from the contact management system, the contact record containing the public encryption key; and

updating a public encryption key record stored on the network device with the public encryption key contained in the update for the contact record.