DYNAMIC GROUP CREATION OR RECONFIGURATION BASED UPON AVAILABLE METADATA

• US 20080263076A1
• Filed: 04/20/2007
• Published: 10/23/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kelm, Matthew G., Luchini, Mark J., Duffield, Dana M., Sutter, Kevin W.
• Granted Patent: US 8,392,416 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/102
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for the dynamic creation or reconfiguration of a contact group listing based upon retrieved metadata. The method comprising identifying a contact that is to be added to a primary contact list, the primary contact list being configured to be accessed by at least one sub-list group, wherein sub-list groups are associated with predetermined metadata classification criteria. The method further comprises interrogating data sources in order to identify metadata that is associated with the contact, and retrieving from the data sources all metadata that has been associated with the contact. The retrieved metadata is subsequently utilized to dynamically generate or reconfigure sub-list groupings in accordance with the information that is retrieved from the metadata.

Claims

1. A method for the dynamic creation or reconfiguration of a contact group listing based upon retrieved metadata, the method comprising:

identifying a new contact that is to be added to a primary contact list, the primary contact list comprising a plurality of stored contacts, the stored contacts being configured to be accessed by at least one sub-list group, wherein sub-list groups are associated with predetermined metadata classification criteria;

determining if a previous entry of the new contact already exists within the primary contact list, wherein if a previous entry of the new contact does not exist within the primary list then the new contact is added to the primary contact list;

interrogating locally and remotely located data sources in order to identify metadata that is associated with the new contact; and

retrieving from the locally and remotely located data sources all metadata that has been associated with the new contact, wherein the retrieved metadata is combined into a metadata set.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a predetermined metadata classification criterion is further divided into respective hierarchical sub-classes.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising analyzing the retrieved metadata, where in the event that the metadata that is associated with the new contact matches a predetermined classification criterion, an attempt is made to locate a sub-list grouping associated with the predetermined metadata classification criterion that matches the retrieved metadata.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising analyzing the retrieved metadata, where in the event that the metadata that is associated with the new contact matches a predetermined classification criterion an attempt is made to locate a sub-list grouping associated with the hierarchical sub-classes of the predetermined metadata classification criterion that matches the retrieved metadata.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising associating the new contact with a sub-list group in the event that the retrieved metadata that is associated with the new contact matches the classification of the sub-list group.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising creating a new sub-list group and adding the new contact to the created sub-list group in the event that the retrieved metadata that is associated with the new contact matches a predetermined classification criteria but does not match any existing sub-list group that is associated with the predetermined classification criteria.

7. The method of claim 6, where in the event that new or revised metadata that is associated with a contact is received the sub-list group that the contact is associated with is evaluated to determine if the contact should be associated with another sub-list group or if a new sub-list group should be generated.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein multiple sub-list groups can have access to and display a contact entry without the need to have multiple instances of the contact entry exist within each sub-list group.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein displayed views of sub-list groups are determined according to the preferences of a viewer, and further, the displayed view of the sub-list groups can be configured to display multiple sub-list groups that are associated with the same primary contact list.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein a predetermined metadata classification criterion is further divided into respective hierarchical sub-classes.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein a sub-list grouping associated is associated with each respective hierarchical sub-class of the predetermined metadata classification criterion.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein displayed views of sub-list groups are determined according to the preferences of a viewer, and further, the displayed view of the sub-list groups can be configured to display multiple sub-list groups that are associated with the same primary contact list.

17. The computer program product of claim 14, further comprising analyzing the retrieved metadata, where in the event that the metadata that is associated with the new contact matches a predetermined classification criteria, an attempt is made to locate a sub-list grouping associated with the predetermined metadata classification criteria that matches the retrieved metadata.

20. The computer program product of claim 17, further comprising creating a new sub-list group and adding the new contact to the created sub-list group in the event that the retrieved metadata that is associated with the new contact matches a predetermined classification criteria but does not match any existing sub-list group that is associated with the predetermined classification criteria.

23. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein displayed views of sub-list groups are determined according to the preferences of a viewer, and further, the displayed view of the sub-list groups can be configured to display multiple sub-list groups that are associated with the same primary contact list.

10. A method for the dynamic creation or reconfiguration of a contact group listing based upon retrieved metadata, the method comprising:

interrogating locally and remotely located data sources in order to identify metadata that is associated with a new contact;

retrieving from the locally and remotely located data sources all metadata that has been associated with the new contact, wherein the retrieved metadata is combined into a metadata set.

analyzing the retrieved metadata,

associating the new contact with a sub-list group in the event that the retrieved metadata that is associated with the new contact matches a predetermined classification criterion associated with the sub-list group;

creating a new sub-list group and adding the new contact to the created sub-list group in the event that the retrieved metadata that is associated with the new contact matches the predetermined classification criterion but does not match any existing sub-list group that is associated with the predetermined classification criterion; and

displaying the sub-list group at a display device.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein multiple sub-list groups can have access to and display a contact entry without the need to have multiple instances of the contact entry exist within each sub-list group.

16. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein a predetermined metadata classification criterion is further divided into respective hierarchical sub-classes.

19. The computer program product of claim 16, further comprising associating the new contact with a sub-list group in the event that the retrieved metadata that is associated with the new contact matches the classification of the sub-list group.

15. A computer program product that includes a computer readable medium useable by a processor, the medium having stored thereon a sequence of instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors dynamically create or reconfigure a contact group listing based upon retrieved metadata by:

identifying a new contact that is to be added to a primary contact list, the primary contact list comprising a plurality of stored contacts, the stored contacts being configured to be accessed by at least one sub-list group, wherein sub-list groups are associated with predetermined metadata classification criteria;

determining if a previous entry of the new contact already exists within the primary contact list, wherein if a previous entry of the new contact does not exist within the primary list then the new contact is added to the primary contact list;

interrogating locally and remotely located data sources in order to identify metadata that is associated with the new contact; and

retrieving from the locally and remotely located data sources all metadata that has been associated with the new contact, wherein the retrieved metadata is combined into a metadata set.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising analyzing the retrieved metadata, where in the event that the metadata that is associated with the new contact matches a predetermined classification criterion an attempt is made to locate a sub-list grouping associated with the hierarchical sub-classes of the predetermined metadata classification criterion that matches the retrieved metadata.

21. The computer program product of claim 18, where in the event that new or revised metadata that is associated with a contact is received the sub-list group that the contact is associated with is evaluated to determine if the contact should be associated with another sub-list group or if a new sub-list group should be generated.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein multiple sub-list groups can have access to and display a contact entry without the need to have multiple instances of the contact entry exist within each sub-list group.