SEARCHING AND RANKING CONTACTS IN CONTACT DATABASE

• US 20080275865A1
• Filed: 08/17/2007
• Published: 11/06/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/04/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications USA Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications USA Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: KRETZ, Martin, GAJDOS, Rudolf George Tom
• Granted Patent: US 8,234,272 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4552 Lookup mechanisms between a plurality of directories; Synchronisation of directories, e.g. metadirectories
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information

Abstract

In one aspect, a method may include receiving a request from a first mobile device for a search for contacts meeting a criterion; searching a database of contacts for the contacts meeting the criterion and including the contacts meeting the criterion in search results; determining whether a second mobile device associated with one of the contacts meeting the criterion is within a vicinity of the first mobile device; and ranking the search results based on the determination. In another aspect, the method may further include determining a database distance between a reference contact and each of one or more of the search results, where the request is associated with a reference contact in the database of contacts; and ranking the search results based on the determined database distance; where the database of contacts may include a plurality of subsets of contacts, where contacts in the subsets are linked to another contact in the database of contacts; where determining a database distance between the reference contact and each of the one or more of the search results may include determining the number of links between the reference contact and each of one or more of the search results.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a request from a first mobile device for a search for contacts meeting a criterion;

searching a database of contacts for the contacts meeting the criterion and including the contacts meeting the criterion in search results;

determining whether a second mobile device associated with one of the contacts meeting the criterion is within a vicinity of the first mobile device; and

ranking the search results based on the determination.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the database of contacts is stored in a server separate from the first mobile device and the second mobile device and wherein the method further comprises delivering the ranked search results to the first mobile device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for the search comprises a name of a person.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the second mobile device associated with the one of the contacts meeting the criterion includes the first mobile device transmitting electromagnetic radiation directly to the second mobile device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the vicinity includes ten meters and the first and second devices include mobile telephones.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a database distance between a reference contact and each of one or more of the search results, wherein the request is associated with the reference contact in the database of contacts;

and

ranking the search results based on the determined database distance;

wherein the database of contacts includes a plurality of subsets of contacts, wherein contacts in the subsets are linked to another contact in the database of contacts;

wherein determining a database distance between the reference contact and each of the one or more of the search results includes determining the number of links between the reference contact and each of one or more of the search results.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising ranking the search results based on a correlation between the reference contact and each of the one or more of the search results.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein correlating the reference contact with one or more search results includes comparing a profession, an interest, a calendar event, an updated time, a location, a physical address, a network address, a cell tower identifier, a wireless local area network identifier, a country code, an area code, or an age associated with the reference contact with a profession, an interests, a calendar event, a search time, a location, a physical address, a network address, a cell tower identifier, a wireless local area network identifier, a country code, an area code, or an age, respectively, associated with the one or more search results.

9. A method comprising:

receiving a request for a search for contacts meeting a criterion;

searching a database of contacts for the contacts meeting the criterion and including the contacts meeting the criterion in search results, wherein the request is associated with a reference contact in the database of contacts;

determining a database distance between the reference contact and each of one or more of the search results;

wherein the database of contacts includes a plurality of subsets of contacts, wherein contacts of subsets are linked to another contact in the database of contacts; and

wherein determining the database distance between the reference contact and each of the one or more of the search results includes determining the number of links between the reference contact and each of the one or more of the search results; and

ranking the search results based on the determined database distance.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the contacts of subsets are linked to the other contact in the database of contacts by virtue of a placed or received call, a sent or received text message, a sent or received multi-media message, calendar event information, history of a shared file, photograph meta data, or a recognized face in a photograph.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising ranking the search results based on a correlation between the reference contact and each of the one or more of the search results.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein correlating the reference contact with each of the one or more search results includes comparing a profession, an interest, a calendar event, an updated time, a location, a physical address, a network address, a cell tower identifier, a wireless local area network identifier, a country code, an area code, or an age associated with the reference record with a profession, an interest, a calendar event, a search time, a location, a physical address, a network address, a cell tower identifier, a wireless local area network identifier, a country code, an area code, or an age, respectively, associated with the one or more search results.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising

determining whether a second device associated with one of the contacts meeting the criterion is within a vicinity of a first device associated with the reference contact;

and

ranking the search results based on the determination of whether the second device is within the vicinity.

14. A method comprising:

receiving a request for a search for contacts meeting a criterion;

searching a database of contacts for the contacts meeting the criterion and including the contacts meeting the criterion in search results, wherein the request is associated with a reference contact in the database;

determining whether a second device associated with one of the contacts meeting the criterion is within a vicinity of a first device associated with the reference contact; and

ranking the search results based on the determination of whether the second device is within the vicinity; and

ranking the search results based on a correlation between the reference contact and each of one or more of the search results.

15. The method of 14, wherein correlating the reference one or more search results includes comparing a profession, an interest, a calendar event, a search time, a location, a physical address, a network address, a cell tower identifier, a wireless local area network identifier, a country code, an area code, or an age associated with the reference record with a profession, an interest, a calendar event, an update time, a location, a physical address, a network address, a cell tower identifier, a wireless local area network identifier, a country code, an area code, or an age, respectively, associated with the one or more search results.

16. A device comprising:

a receiver to receive a request from a first mobile device for a search for contacts meeting a criterion; and

a processor to;

search a database of contacts for the contacts meeting the criterion and including the contacts meeting the criterion in search results,

determine whether a second mobile device associated with one of the contacts meeting the criterion is within a vicinity of the first mobile device, and

rank the search results based on the determination.

17. The device of claim 16, wherein the vicinity includes ten meters and the first and second devices include mobile telephones.

18. The device of claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured to

determine a database distance between a reference contact and each of one or more of the search results, wherein the request is associated with the reference contact in the database of contacts;

and

rank the search results based on the determined database distance;

wherein the database of contacts includes a plurality of subsets of contacts, wherein contacts in the subsets are linked to another contact in the database of contacts;

wherein determining a database distance between the reference contact and each of the one or more of the search results includes determining the number of links between the reference contact and each of one or more of the search results.

19. The device of claim 18, wherein the contacts of subsets are linked to the other contact in the database of contacts by virtue of a placed or received call, a sent or received text message, a sent or received multi-media message, calendar event information, history of a shared file, photograph meta data, or a recognized face in a photograph.

20. The device of claim 18, wherein the processor is further configured to rank the search results based on a correlation between the reference contact and each of the one or more of the search results.

21. A device comprising:

means for receiving a request from a first mobile device for a search for contacts meeting a criterion;

means for searching a database of contacts for the contacts meeting the criterion and including the contacts meeting the criterion in search results;

means for determining whether a second mobile device associated with one of the contacts meeting the criterion is within a vicinity of the first mobile device; and

means for ranking the search results based on the determination.

22. The device of claim 21, wherein the database of contacts is stored in a server separate from the first mobile device and the second mobile device and wherein the device further comprises means for delivering the ranked search results to the first mobile device.

23. The device of claim 21, further comprising

means for determining a database distance between a reference contact and each of one or more of the search results, wherein the request is associated with a reference contact in the database of contacts;

and

means for ranking the search results based on the determined database distance;

wherein the database of contacts includes a plurality of subsets of contacts, wherein contacts in the subsets are linked to another contact in the database of contacts;

wherein the means for determining a database distance between the reference contact and each of the one or more of the search results includes means for determining the number of links between the reference contact and each of one or more of the search results.

24. The device of claim 23, further comprising means for ranking the search results based on a correlation between the reference contact and each of the one or more of the search results.